Literacy levels low among school-going children in Kenya Report

Literacy levels low among school-going children in Kenya  Report

Children in the Western region are, more than five times, not likely to be able to identify letters and numbers than children in Nairobi, this is according to a Uwezo Kenya report.

According to the report, despite marked progress in increasing access to education in Kenya in recent years, the country has not fully met its commitments under the Education for all Goals.

Nationally, 84% of children aged 7 or below currently enrolled in Standard 1 attended pre-school. In North Eastern 57% of children went to pre-school while in Coast region, 87% of children went to school.

The report, however, indicates that nationally, 9% of children cannot identify letters (16% in Western, 2%in Nairobi) and 11% cannot recognize figures (18% in Western, 3% in Nairobi).

The report further indicates that 11% of children have mothers who have no education (77% in North Eastern, 2% in Central).

63% of children have mothers with primary education or below (86% in North Eastern, 63% in Nyanza).

34% of children are born to teenage mothers (41% in Nyanza, 24% in North Eastern).

The report found that children are not learning at the right pace.

“Learning outcomes are low and have been static for the five years that Uwezo has been assessing them. In 2011, 40% of children aged between 7 and 13 could read a class two story and solve a class 2 division. In 2014, the figure is 39%. The same is true for each individual subject,” read the report.

The report also found that at least 45% of mothers countrywide cannot read a simple English story book.

“The regional disparities are troubling. Our data clearly shows that Kenya is starkly divided when it comes to school readiness, access to school, progression through school and learning outcomes. Children from North Eastern are at a disadvantage on almost every indicator. If we realize a vision for a middles income country by 2020, we need to pay urgent attention to the low levels of achievement in learning outcomes throughout the country and the significant marginalization of children along geographical and socio-economic lines, ” said Uwezo Kenya Country Manager Emmanuel Manyasa who was speaking while releasing the report dubbed ‘Are our children learning?’.

The report indicates that 9% of children cannot identify letters, while 11% cannot recognize figures.

63% of children interviewed have mothers with a primary school education level or below.

Reacting to the report, Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) Secretary general Wilson Sossion called on the government to support Early Childhood Development, and strengthen quality assurance to improve education standards in the country.

A total of 600,000 children were sampled from all counties between 2011 and 2014.

Tags:

kenya education children literacy

Want to send us a story? Submit on Wananchi Reporting on the Citizen Digital App or Send an email to wananchi@royalmedia.co.ke or Send an SMS to 25170 or WhatsApp on 0743570000

Leave a Comment

Comments

No comments yet.

latest stories