Tanzania education system really needs a review

[MK254]

I know our 8-4-4 system is not any better but reading news that 12,000 students sat for a national exam while illiterate surely something not right. Unless the news-makers are just being propagandists. How is it possible that a kid can go through seven years of school life and fail to read or write.

More than 12,000 primary school candidates who sat for the annual national examination in Tanzania were illiterate, private schools owners say.

The examination is a key test, which determines entrance to high school.

Official results show that half of the over 840,000 pupils who sat the examination passed, but the Tanzania Association of Managers and Owners of Non-government Schools and Colleges (Tamongsco) said on Thursday that a sizeable number of the candidates could neither read nor write.

“Out of the 844,930 pupils who sat 2013 Standard 7 national examinations, 12,096 were completely illiterate,” Tamongsco secretary-general Benjamin Nkonya said.

Mr Nkonya said the association was concerned about the number of illiterate students passing through the system, adding that it could get worse if measures were not taken to overhaul the country’s education sector.

He said immediate measures should seek incentives for teachers by increasing their wages.

The secretary-general blamed a 2011 government directive barring pupils from repeating classes for the high number of illiterate pupils.

“Teachers and schools in general know very well the progress of pupils academically, so they are in a better position to decide whether or not pupils should progress to the next class...it all boils down to academic performance,” he said.

The directive rendered teachers powerless, and pupils now progress to the next class regardless of their performance, Mr Nkonya added.

Tanzania continues to perform poorly in Mathematics, English and Science. The average pass mark in government schools is 27 per cent, 33 per cent, and 46 per cent respectively.
Alarm raised as Tanzanian schools churn out illiterates

 

[Crocodiletooth]

noted, pure truely,tanzania perform poorly in east and southern/

 

[Dhuks]

I know of several who went through primary schools without any notable improvement but that is only because our education system was not alive to the challenges of educating kids with special needs but to try and show us that such a number has passed through the Tanzanian education without learnt how to read and write is an effort in being alarmist; its not contemptible

 

[Geza Ulole]

KENYA: 50% of School Children Cannot Read and Write, Says Report

Submitted by IQ4News Kenya on Wed, 24/07/2013 - 8:29am

The report by Uwezo, a research NGO, comes at a time the education sector is riddled with strikes.


By Joab Apollo
Kenya's education sector appears to be faced with myriad challenges. Just after the mass boycott of work by the teaching fraternity over poor pay, the sector is once again brought to the fore for incapacity to churn out school children capable of reading and writing.
A report by Uwezo (Kiswahili for capability), a non-governmental organization specializing in education research, has found out that 50% of standard eight pupils cannot read and write. This means that annually, majority of students joining high school from public primary schools are illiterate.
The report states that private schools are better off in offering quality education.
"Nationally, only three out of ten children in class Three can do class Two work," stated the Uwezo report, adding that 9 out of 100 school children skip schooling, an issue that has been persistently blamed on poverty and teenage pregnancies by education stakeholders
"21 out of 100 children in classes six and seven cannot understand class two level story," the report added.
Teachers Incompetent


The report came at a time when a World Bank report indicated that most teachers in public primary schools in Kenya are incompetent.
While education stakeholders have varying views on the state of education in Kenya, an inquiry by IQ4News in some public schools in the country revealed the same. Most pupils could not even spell their names.
The pupils say that teachers spend most of their time in the staffrooms, leaving them to learn on their own.
"Sometimes we spend the whole day without learning anything. We just play in the fields," said Stella Cherono, a pupil in Nandi County, North Rift region.
"We don't have books and pencils. Our parents tell us there is free primary education offered by the government," she added in Kiswahili language.
However, Jack Omondi, an Educational Inspector in Nyando, Kisumu County, told IQ4News that the Ministry of Education faces plethora of challenges in providing free basic education, especially in remote areas of Kenya.
"In some of these areas, the children have no clue what the value of education is, hence giving teachers herculean time in imparting knowledge. They come to school when they like and often times are in quarries and farms helping their parents to make ends meet," he said
"Some of these schools identified by the Uwezo report are in arid and semi arid areas of Kenya," he added
Teachers, fresh from their month long nationwide strike blame the government for failing to provide adequate facilities and remunerate them well. They say that lack of motivation provides leeway for teachers in public schools to concentrate in private enterprises at the expense of the struggling school children.
"Most teachers have joined efforts to open up private schools, which perform better than in schools where they teach," said Agnes Akeyo, a Primary School teacher in Kisumu County
"The performance in these private schools has nothing to do with the quality of teachers, but time dedicated to students. Some of these private schools employ form four drop outs, less educated than those in public schools, but always pose good results," she added.



Laxity


Parents accuse the government of laxity and having wrong policies.
"When children learn under trees you wonder where a country that attained independence 50 years ago is headed to. They study under very deplorable conditions," said Tom Ngei, a public school parent.
The government is under fire for planning to provide free laptops to all class one pupils beginning next year in efforts to make Kenya an Information Communication Technology hub in the East African region. Most Kenyans believe that a conducive environment by way of better classrooms and proper remuneration of teachers should take effect.



"Despite the introduction of free primary education a decade ago, the country still faces such challenges. Free primary Education money falls into the pockets of fat cats in government," added Ngei.
- Send your press releases, articles and enquiries to editor@iq4news.com
KENYA: 50% of School Children Cannot Read and Write, Says Report | IQ4News Mobile

http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000090102&story_title=Magazines: Let the children read
Need i say more? And more back up

​

7/9/2013

The bad economics of free primary education

Schools are open and thankfully there is now no talk of an impending strike. The government and the teachers' unions have come to some truce and everything appears to be back to normal.

Pupils follow proceedings at Kiamaina Primary School in Nakuru. This, however, is a misleading impression because in reality, the Kenya public primary schools system is in a fairly bad state and the heavy investment is not yielding commensurate returns.
In Summary

• There is credible evidence that shows that low-cost private schools operate with only about a third of the cost of public schools and yet far outperform the public schools.

Schools are open and thankfully there is now no talk of an impending strike. The government and the teachers' unions have come to some truce and everything appears to be back to normal.
This, however, is a misleading impression because in reality, the Kenya public primary schools system is in a fairly bad state and the heavy investment is not yielding commensurate returns. A rethinking of the delivery of public education is of urgent concern and demands the attention of highest level of leadership.
For most developing countries, including Kenya, education takes the largest share of the national budget. In 2010, just over 17 per cent of government expenditure went to education.
In 2011, the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics reports this figure as 13.5 per cent. This is a sizeable investment and a reflection of the realisation of the crucial role that education - or human capital - plays in the development process.
Although the government has prioritised education since independence, a significant recent policy shift was the introduction on the Free Primary Education (FPE) programme in 2003 following the election of the National Rainbow Coalition (Narc) government.
The implementation of FPE reversed hitherto declining primary school enrolment experienced during the 1990s. In 2002, net primary school enrolment was 61.7 per cent and increased to 74.17 in 2003. By 2009 net enrolment rate had reached 82.7 per cent.
Thus the introduction of FPE in Kenya has contributed greatly towards the achievement of the goal of universal primary education. Kenya is likely to meet, or be very close to meeting, the United Nations primary school enrolment Millennium Development Goal by 2015.
The provision of free primary education is considered one of the most important pro-poor policies that also has the potential of reducing future income inequalities.
For most children from poor families, the only sure way to exit poverty and compete with others is by acquiring quality education. From this perspective, Kenya's free primary education is an incredibly important policy.
But there is a great difference between attending school and learning. A number of studies and surveys that have been conducted in Kenya (and in fact in other Africa countries) reveal a sad story of public schools that are totally dysfunctional.
The children are attending school but very little learning is taking place. According to Uwezo Kenya findings from 2011, "only three out 10 children in Class Three can read a Class Two story [in English], while slightly more than half of them can read a paragraph. Four out 100 children in Class Eight cannot read a Class Two story."
The findings are similar in numeracy, where 30 per cent of Class Three children are unable to complete Class Two division, and 10 per cent of Class Eight children cannot do Class Two division.
Such outcomes reflect a system that has broken down and is not preparing children for the 21st Century.
Although many policymakers may not want to admit it, the truth is that many public schools are literally in a comatose condition. The children from poor families who attend these schools are being cheated by the system.
The education may be free but the there is very little value that is added in many of those schools. It beats reason why a government would be investing such large sums and yet not focus on what happens in the schools.
Rise of low-cost private schools
The clearest evidence of the declining quality of public primary schools is the rise of private schools. Ordinarily, introduction of free public primary education should associate with a decrease in the demand for private schooling.
Yet, the response to FPE has been the opposite with a large increase in private school enrolment. Enrolment in Kenya's private schools almost tripled between 2005 and 2009, from 4.4 percentage to 10.5 per cent.
Policymakers should wonder why offering a service for free associates with less demand for that product. Many do not want it even if it is free.
Unlike the traditional elite private schools, many of the private schools that have emerged since the introduction of FPE programme have been low-cost private schools - many in slums and rural areas.
The spending per pupil is much lower in the new private schools compared to public schools. While it is difficult to measure the various funding flows, a Brookings Africa Growth Initiative study found that in February 2013 "nearly two-thirds (64 per cent) of children in private schools pay fees less than the median per child funding levels in public schools." Yet, these low-cost private primary schools outperform the public schools by a large margin.
A World Bank Service Delivery Indicators Project I was involved with in July 2013 tested Grade Four students with tasks at the level of Grade One, Two and Three.
The data showed that "scores in private schools were significantly higher both in English and Mathematics," by 16 per cent and 10 per cent respectively.
It is often claimed that private schools outperform public schools because they are better endowed. This is true to some extent especially as relates to the old traditionally exclusive private schools. However, this is not the case for the well-performing private academies that have emerged since the early 2000s.
A large number of credible studies show that performance by these schools have little to do with resources. If anything, the public schools are at a comparative advantage when it comes to resource endowments.
Failure by Design
In fact, although the data reveals that FPE triggered a large increase in enrolment, this was quickly followed by the exit of students to private schools-mostly newly established low-cost schools.
So actually the main response to FPE has been a shift to low-cost private schooling. The migration to private schools was largely in response to the decline in the quality of public schools especially after the introduction of FPE.
Teachers in public schools are paid better than those in low-cost primary schools. A 2005 study by the Cato Institute reported that public school teachers in Nairobi earned an average monthly salary of nearly three times the pay for their private school counterparts.
The public school teachers are also generally more qualified and tend to have accumulated much more experience. There is really no discernible differences in the quality of infrastructure between many of the new low-cost private schools and the public schools.
The differences in terms of student performance are nevertheless mindboggling.
There are many ills that inflict the public school systems. Many are characterised by high rates of teacher absenteeism and even worse, teachers who are chronically absent from class even when in school. Recent studies show amazingly low teacher effort in public schools. All these and many other failures fall under the simple definition of weak accountability.
For a public education system to function well, teachers and the school administration must be accountable to the students and parents. This is what is generally referred to as client power in service delivery. Client power means that when teachers do not perform, the parents can hold them to account - having them terminated, suspended or any other punitive action.
Where the clients have power over providers, they are able to ensure that services are delivered as expected and the providers are compelled to deliver the services. Teacher absenteeism for example is chronic in some schools primarily because parents have no say in how the schools operate.
My own research and that of others shows that client power weakened dramatically following the introduction of free primary education.
For private schools, including the low-cost ones, client power is very powerful. Parents pay directly for services and expect results. Laxity on the part of teachers is quickly acted upon including immediate termination of non-performers. Failure by the school administrators to deal with provider laxity is punished through exit to other private schools.
The increasing competition among the private schools all but strengthens client power. Non-performance is not an option even in the low-cost private schools. The profit motive and competition are great sources of client power.
The fact that parents do not pay directly for public schooling detaches them from the schools. Unlike the old days when parents were more actively involved in the financing of the schools, FPE created the perception that the schools belonged to the government and not the local communities. Lack of ownership as associates with "free" schooling minimizes the client power.
When not properly understood, the idea of "free" education is itself a source of the failures in education. In reality, no public service is free - it is paid by the same beneficiaries through taxation although there are wide differences in the tax shares.
Nevertheless, when taxpayers do not pay for a service directly, they face a serious problem of what is called fiscal illusion - the misconception that the service is actually free while they indeed pay for it. Fiscal illusion tends to reduce client power and this is one of the major causes of failures in the public school system.
But clients could also impact on the provision of education indirectly through their elected officials. This is what is referred to as voice - which is the capacity to hold policymakers accountable. If teachers are not performing as expected, the citizens can demand action on the part of their elected representatives or punish them at the ballot box.
Unfortunately, in Kenya, this link has been weak and rarely do citizen groups effectively mobilise for political action against providers such as teachers.
One reason for the weak voice is the relationship between politicians and teachers. Public school teachers and their unions represent an important voting block and politicians are often not willing to step on their toes. It is for this reason that the dismal performance of public schools persists.
In essence we can say that the exploitation of the poor children in public schools system is the outcome of the interplay between the politicians and the teachers and their unions.
There is credible evidence that shows that low-cost private schools operate with only about a third of the cost of public schools and yet far outperform the public schools. We know that there is very little teaching going on in many of the public schools and that teachers are often absent from work.
We have evidence that even when in school, teachers spend a lot of the time not doing what they are supposed to be doing. This being the case, why would intelligent policymakers continue to support the status quo?
The imperative of reforms
Clearly, it does not make sense unless there is no seriousness about the long-term development of the country. Alternatively, the failure to demand performance could reflect political capture by the public school providers. Both of these scenarios would be quite unfortunate for the country and especially to the poor children who are not able to exit the public system.
The demonstrated performance of low-cost private schools in Kenya-and indeed in many other countries such as Ghana and India, provides us with many creative options for reforming the public education system.
While public financing of primary education is crucial, it does not necessary imply that delivery must be through the current modalities.
Where widespread failures in the delivery are apparent, it is necessary to consider various innovations that would ensure accountability and entrench a sense of ownership by the clients.
There is also the need to institute reforms that reduce the possibility of political capture that otherwise undermine quality provision of education.
Although the provision of primary education remains the responsibility of the central government, county governments could play a pivotal role in ensuring performance.
Next week, we will focus on proposals to reform Kenya's public primary school system.
Prof Mwangi S. Kimenyi is senior fellow and director of the Africa Growth Initiative mkimenyi@brookings.edu

http://www.nation.co.ke/news/The-bad-economics-of-free-primary-education/-/1056/1982692/-/rnyv2ez/-/index.html

http://www.brookings.edu/research/opinions/2013/09/07-kenya-economics-primary-education-kimenyi

​

4/10/2013

Low-cost private schools play big role in educating the poor

The two articles by Prof Mwangi S. Kimenyi (‘The bad economics of free primary education' and ‘Give parents more powers for school reform to work') in the Saturday Essay were an eye opener on what ails public schools.
In Summary

• According to the Economic Survey 2013, the number of low-cost private primary schools has increased from 8,719 in 2011 to 8,854 in 2012.
• It is time the Ministry of Education put in place a framework to register the thousands private schools and the teachers there.

The two articles by Prof Mwangi S. Kimenyi (‘The bad economics of free primary education' and ‘Give parents more powers for school reform to work') in the Saturday Essay were an eye opener on what ails public schools.
The first article made a critical observation. First, there is a large increase of private schools, especially low-cost schools, and an equal increase in enrolment to these schools despite the Free Primary Education. As the article noted, the increase is ironically in low-cost private schools, where FPE was meant to come in handy.
Secondly, studies have shown that low-cost private schools perform better than the better funded public schools.
Without these low-cost schools, many of Kenya's poorer families would not be able to attend school at all.
REGISTRATION
But, despite the contribution, a majority of these low-cost private schools are not registered, mostly for either lack of land acreage legally required or government-certified teachers.
It is time the Ministry of Education put in place a framework to register the thousands private schools and the teachers there.
All children have a right to a quality education. The well-to-do have been choosing private and high-end public schools for their children for generations.
It is time the poor were given the same opportunity.
In some parts of the country, government schools are non-existent. For instance in Kibera slums, the huge population is only served by three public primary schools.
In places where public schools do exist, they are often overcrowded, understaffed or located in places where children have to cover incredibly long distances to access them.
According to the Economic Survey 2013, the number of low-cost private primary schools has increased from 8,719 in 2011 to 8,854 in 2012.
Presently, 55 per cent of families living below the poverty line send their children to such private schools. Costing as little as Sh300 a month, these schools have raised the bar in the provision of quality education. And, unlike their public counterparts, the pupils in these schools do not suffer the learning gaps that come with widespread teacher strikes.
JAMES MOMANYI, via e-mail
http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/Letter...-poor/-/440806/2019388/-/qtmi6vz/-/index.html

13/9/2013

Give parents more powers for school reform to work

The overwhelming verdict about Kenya's free primary education programme is that it is a failure of epic proportions as far as the quality is concerned.

Pupils follow proceedings at Kiamaina Primary School in Nakuru. The overwhelming verdict about Kenya's free primary education programme is that it is a failure of epic proportions as far as the quality is concerned.
In Summary

• In the Netherlands, where 70 per cent of students apply government vouchers toward private education, it was found that students attending private schools earn higher test scores, in spite of generally coming from a lower social class.

The overwhelming verdict about Kenya's free primary education programme is that it is a failure of epic proportions as far as the quality is concerned.
This fact is beyond debate and it would be hypocritical for policymakers to deny it. While resources could be a factor in explaining poor education outcomes, the lessons from low-cost private schools reveal that resource constraints are not the primary culprit for the public school failures.
Accepting that the system is broken is a first step in instituting reforms. The second step is undertaking a diagnosis of the source of the problems. As discussed previously, there are now many credible studies that have investigated the sources of failure of Kenya's public schools system. These studies point to widespread education delivery governance failures.
Of course we should not ignore resources that are necessarily to facilitate learning. However, it would be mere folly to presume that investing more in education will translate to better results.
The main source of governance failures under free primary education is weak client power. The parents are not able to hold the teachers and school administrators accountable. This outcome is in part the reduced ownership of public schools by communities. In essence reforms must start by increasing client power.
Secondly, there is a problem of ineffective voice-parents are not able to hold politicians to account for the failures within the public school system. Thus, there is need to undertake institutional reforms that make it possible for stakeholder to exercise voice more effectively.
Finally, the failures of the public system are not unique to Kenya but are common outcomes of monopolistic provision. Presently, the provision of public primary education is the reserve of the central government and is not subjected to competition by any other public provider. The involvement of county governments could inject needed competitive pressures in public provision.
VOTING WITH THE FEET
The simplest approach to reform is to make some marginal changes while maintaining the system much as it is. This could for example include better oversight of the schools by strengthening the monitoring and evaluation units of the Ministry of Education.
However, my view is that more need to be done because such changes may not deal with the core problems of client power and voice. The system is broken and is unlikely to be repaired by marginal reforms.
It is evident that the reason why low-cost private schools outperform better funded public schools is because of competition which translates into client power. The good performance of private schools is really the outcome of a well-functioning market mechanism which is the best way to discipline providers.
The availability of choices allows parents to "vote with their feet" not only from public schools but from one private school to another.
This option ought to be available to poor parents.
We have established that it costs more to operate public schools than typical low-cost private schools which perform much better in terms of education outcomes. If the government is spending more and yet the returns are low, it simple commonsense that reallocation is called for.
One option is to provide parents with coupons or vouchers with a face value equivalent to the government spending in public schools.
The voucher would be used to pay for schooling in any private or non-profit school approved by the government. In turn the government would reduce the funding of the public schools accordingly.
The use of education vouchers is a well established strategy to increase competition between private and public schools.
The strategy provides poor students the option available to their relatively well-off counterparts. It is provides the poor the opportunity to choose where to take their children and to make changes if the school administrators and teachers do not deliver. This strategy would result in increasing the client power that is so much lacking under the current arrangements.
Implementing a voucher scheme would not cost the government any more that it is currently spending yet the approach would associate with large gains in learning outcomes. Such a strategy would also act to improve the quality of public schools as administrator would seek to stem the flight of students to non-government schools.
In my view, a voucher strategy represent a low-hanging fruit and one that the government should seek to experiment with.
In many countries developing and developed countries, voucher schemes have been found to almost always associate with better school performance and at lower cost. In Chile for example, results show that the vouchers scheme associates with better performance and less repetition.
Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden also have school voucher programmes. Evaluation of these programmes finds that the voucher schemes have been quite successful in raising learning outcomes.
In the Netherlands, where 70 per cent of students apply government vouchers toward private education, it was found that students attending private schools earn higher test scores, in spite of generally coming from a lower social class.
CONTRACT MANAGEMENT OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS
The fact that the central government funds the public schools does not necessarily mean that the government must be responsible for running the schools. Given the observed failures in the operation of public primary schools, it is important to consider alternative management models.
The government can fund the schools but have the schools managed privately under contract. This is a common strategy employed in both developed and developing countries in response to public school failures. Contract management of public schools has had very positive results. The management contracts for are typically contingent on demonstrating results.
Charter schools are one of the most common alternative education models.
Charter schools receive public funds and operate under a public charter but outside the direct control of the public school system. They have more freedom to develop and implement their curriculum, and succeed based on parents choosing to enroll students there – not having students attend based on proximity. A growing body of literature suggests charter schools have a generally positive influence on student learning outcomes.
Another management approach involves what are called concession schools . In concessional schools, the state organizes for private education organization/firms to provide public education. Usually, the state provides the infrastructure, dictates which students will attend, and pays the private education firm an agreed-upon fee per student per year. The private education firm has the freedom to staff and administer as it chooses and is allowed flexibility in implementing curricula, though they must complete performance requirements set by the state. This system has existed in Bogota, Colombia since 1999, and evidence suggests a positive influence on both higher test scores and declining dropout rates.
COUNTY GOVERNMENT OVERSIGHT
We have noted that one of the reasons for the poor performance of public schools is because of weak voice-the failure of parents to hold politicians accountable.
Although the provision of primary education is the function of the central government, an oversight role by the county governments could associate with significant gains through increased voice. For one, the county governments provide a natural setting for competition.
An oversight role would be an effective strategy because each county government would seek to ensure that teachers and administrators deliver as expected.
County governments could for example establish mechanism to monitor teacher absenteeism and teacher effort. The effort of county governments would pay off in terms of improved performance and voters would be able to compare performance in other counties which would compel the county governments to be responsive to quality concerns.
The option of delegating supervisory powers to county governments has the advantage of creating competitive conditions without necessarily transferring the financing role to the county governments.
The Poor Should Own Schools through "Sweat Equity"
Ownership of schools is a major source of client power. Ownership was greatly weakened following the establishment of free primary education because of rules of strict prohibition by the Ministry of Education for schools to demand payments from parents.
Such rules were established t make sure that such payments did not lead to undermining access to primary education.
While I fully agree on the critical need to make education accessible, I take the view that assuming that the poor should not pay at all for the operation of the school as totally misguided and counter-productive. True, many poor are not able to pay but they still can contribute to the operation of schools.
In the past, members of the community contributed to schools through their own labor-what we call "sweat Equity". Many of us remember when our parents spent whole days working on the school grounds, constructing the mud classrooms, or contributing small amounts of money to buy gifts for awards to students.
Through such contributions-in cash or in kind-the community "owned" the schools and was more involved. Ownership gives the community the right to demand results. We need to revert to this model so that all members of the community buy equity in the schools. The poor can contribute through their labor whether it is repairing the often depilated classrooms and toilets or maintaining the grounds.
IMPLEMENTATION TO CONTRACT TEACHER SCHEME
Often, school systems in both developed and developing countries engage contract teachers to complement permanent staff. Use of contract teachers-often less experienced or sometimes not even trained, has been found to boost learning at relatively low cost. Given budgetary constraints, such teachers are used to support the regular teachers especially where class sizes are large.
Contract teachers assist in grading and also tutoring weaker students. This gives the regular teachers more time to prepare for lessons and allows them to test student more frequently.
In some states of India, housewives have been engaged as assistant teachers with very positive returns. Some studies in Kenya have shown that contract teachers have impressive impact on learning.
Most of the previous studies that have evaluated the impact of contract teachers have been relatively small scale and have been implemented by non-governmental organizations. Such studies could suffer from various biases.
wJust because the use of contract teachers have positive impact in one locality does not necessarily mean that the same would be true nationally. Furthermore, the implementation by NGOs has its shortcomings as only governments have the capacity to scale up such programmes nationally.
The question then is whether the same positive results would hold when implemented by governments.
Recently, I and a team from University of Nairobi and Oxford University undertook a countrywide implementation of contract teacher scheme in Kenya. In additional to this being a large scale national programme, we also had implementation undertaken by an NGO in some schools and in others the implementation was by the government through the regular channels. Students were tested before contract teachers were engaged and they were tested again after the programme had been in place for about one year.
Students in other select schools that did not receive contract teachers were also tested at the same times. The evidence form this study shows that, well implemented contract teacher scheme can be a cost-effective way to improve learning.
A study by Center for Effective Global Action at the University of California found that contract teachers in India "face stronger incentives than regular civil-service teachers to perform well." They were also "less likely to be absent than regular teachers (16% versus 27%) and more likely to be engaging in active teaching (46% versus 39%) when they were present." Given the budgetary constraints, the government should stream line contract teacher policy to help improve learning in public schools.
RESISTANCE TO REFORMS
The proposed reforms would have major impact on the quality of learning in our public schools. The reforms are largely budget neutral and in many cases could associate with lower government spending. History shows that such reforms that increase efficiency also hurt entrenched interests that feed on inefficient operations.
These interests will no doubt oppose the reforms proposed here and it will require strong leadership that will not cave in to such special interests.
Prof Mwangi S. Kimenyi is senior fellow and director of the Africa Growth Initiative mkimenyi@brookings.edu
http://www.nation.co.ke/news/-/1056/1991892/-/qd5w5a/-/index.html

Sisi waswahili husema nyani haoni kundule...

 

[MK254]

I know of several who went through primary schools without any notable improvement but that is only because our education system was not alive to the challenges of educating kids with special needs but to try and show us that such a number has passed through the Tanzanian education without learnt how to read and write is an effort in being alarmist; its not contemptible

A nice one, I agree with you our education systems in Africa is not meant to equip kids with special needs, it's so unfathomable a kid goes through so many years and can't write his/her name.

 

[EngineerLMG]

KENYA: 50% of School Children Cannot Read and Write, Says Report

Submitted by IQ4News Kenya on Wed, 24/07/2013 - 8:29am

The report by Uwezo, a research NGO, comes at a time the education sector is riddled with strikes.


By Joab Apollo
Kenya's education sector appears to be faced with myriad challenges. Just after the mass boycott of work by the teaching fraternity over poor pay, the sector is once again brought to the fore for incapacity to churn out school children capable of reading and writing.
A report by Uwezo (Kiswahili for capability), a non-governmental organization specializing in education research, has found out that 50% of standard eight pupils cannot read and write. This means that annually, majority of students joining high school from public primary schools are illiterate.
The report states that private schools are better off in offering quality education.
“Nationally, only three out of ten children in class Three can do class Two work,” stated the Uwezo report, adding that 9 out of 100 school children skip schooling, an issue that has been persistently blamed on poverty and teenage pregnancies by education stakeholders
“21 out of 100 children in classes six and seven cannot understand class two level story,” the report added.
Teachers Incompetent


The report came at a time when a World Bank report indicated that most teachers in public primary schools in Kenya are incompetent.
While education stakeholders have varying views on the state of education in Kenya, an inquiry by IQ4News in some public schools in the country revealed the same. Most pupils could not even spell their names.
The pupils say that teachers spend most of their time in the staffrooms, leaving them to learn on their own.
“Sometimes we spend the whole day without learning anything. We just play in the fields,” said Stella Cherono, a pupil in Nandi County, North Rift region.
“We don’t have books and pencils. Our parents tell us there is free primary education offered by the government,” she added in Kiswahili language.
However, Jack Omondi, an Educational Inspector in Nyando, Kisumu County, told IQ4News that the Ministry of Education faces plethora of challenges in providing free basic education, especially in remote areas of Kenya.
“In some of these areas, the children have no clue what the value of education is, hence giving teachers herculean time in imparting knowledge. They come to school when they like and often times are in quarries and farms helping their parents to make ends meet,” he said
“Some of these schools identified by the Uwezo report are in arid and semi arid areas of Kenya,” he added
Teachers, fresh from their month long nationwide strike blame the government for failing to provide adequate facilities and remunerate them well. They say that lack of motivation provides leeway for teachers in public schools to concentrate in private enterprises at the expense of the struggling school children.
“Most teachers have joined efforts to open up private schools, which perform better than in schools where they teach,” said Agnes Akeyo, a Primary School teacher in Kisumu County
“The performance in these private schools has nothing to do with the quality of teachers, but time dedicated to students. Some of these private schools employ form four drop outs, less educated than those in public schools, but always pose good results,” she added.



Laxity


Parents accuse the government of laxity and having wrong policies.
“When children learn under trees you wonder where a country that attained independence 50 years ago is headed to. They study under very deplorable conditions,” said Tom Ngei, a public school parent.
The government is under fire for planning to provide free laptops to all class one pupils beginning next year in efforts to make Kenya an Information Communication Technology hub in the East African region. Most Kenyans believe that a conducive environment by way of better classrooms and proper remuneration of teachers should take effect.



“Despite the introduction of free primary education a decade ago, the country still faces such challenges. Free primary Education money falls into the pockets of fat cats in government,” added Ngei.
- Send your press releases, articles and enquiries to editor@iq4news.com
KENYA: 50% of School Children Cannot Read and Write, Says Report | IQ4News Mobile

Need i say more?

Yes you do, because those students are in Standard 3, not Standard 8, when they do the national exam.

At least we identify our problem areas early - 5 years before the national exam.

 

[Geza Ulole]

Yes you do, because those students are in Standard 3, not Standard 8, when they do the national exam.

At least we identify our problem areas early - 5 years before the national exam.

KENYA: 50% of School Children Cannot Read and Write, Says Report

Submitted by IQ4News Kenya on Wed, 24/07/2013 - 8:29am

The report by Uwezo, a research NGO, comes at a time the education sector is riddled with strikes.


By Joab Apollo
Kenya's education sector appears to be faced with myriad challenges. Just after the mass boycott of work by the teaching fraternity over poor pay, the sector is once again brought to the fore for incapacity to churn out school children capable of reading and writing.
A report by Uwezo (Kiswahili for capability), a non-governmental organization specializing in education research, has found out that 50% of standard eight pupils cannot read and write. This means that annually, majority of students joining high school from public primary schools are illiterate.
The report states that private schools are better off in offering quality education.
"Nationally, only three out of ten children in class Three can do class Two work," stated the Uwezo report, adding that 9 out of 100 school children skip schooling, an issue that has been persistently blamed on poverty and teenage pregnancies by education stakeholders
"21 out of 100 children in classes six and seven cannot understand class two level story," the report added.
Teachers Incompetent


The report came at a time when a World Bank report indicated that most teachers in public primary schools in Kenya are incompetent.
While education stakeholders have varying views on the state of education in Kenya, an inquiry by IQ4News in some public schools in the country revealed the same. Most pupils could not even spell their names.
The pupils say that teachers spend most of their time in the staffrooms, leaving them to learn on their own.
"Sometimes we spend the whole day without learning anything. We just play in the fields," said Stella Cherono, a pupil in Nandi County, North Rift region.
"We don't have books and pencils. Our parents tell us there is free primary education offered by the government," she added in Kiswahili language.
However, Jack Omondi, an Educational Inspector in Nyando, Kisumu County, told IQ4News that the Ministry of Education faces plethora of challenges in providing free basic education, especially in remote areas of Kenya.
"In some of these areas, the children have no clue what the value of education is, hence giving teachers herculean time in imparting knowledge. They come to school when they like and often times are in quarries and farms helping their parents to make ends meet," he said
"Some of these schools identified by the Uwezo report are in arid and semi arid areas of Kenya," he added
Teachers, fresh from their month long nationwide strike blame the government for failing to provide adequate facilities and remunerate them well. They say that lack of motivation provides leeway for teachers in public schools to concentrate in private enterprises at the expense of the struggling school children.
"Most teachers have joined efforts to open up private schools, which perform better than in schools where they teach," said Agnes Akeyo, a Primary School teacher in Kisumu County
"The performance in these private schools has nothing to do with the quality of teachers, but time dedicated to students. Some of these private schools employ form four drop outs, less educated than those in public schools, but always pose good results," she added.



Laxity


Parents accuse the government of laxity and having wrong policies.
"When children learn under trees you wonder where a country that attained independence 50 years ago is headed to. They study under very deplorable conditions," said Tom Ngei, a public school parent.
The government is under fire for planning to provide free laptops to all class one pupils beginning next year in efforts to make Kenya an Information Communication Technology hub in the East African region. Most Kenyans believe that a conducive environment by way of better classrooms and proper remuneration of teachers should take effect.



"Despite the introduction of free primary education a decade ago, the country still faces such challenges. Free primary Education money falls into the pockets of fat cats in government," added Ngei.
- Send your press releases, articles and enquiries to editor@iq4news.com
KENYA: 50% of School Children Cannot Read and Write, Says Report | IQ4News Mobile

Mind u ur Primary school is eight years that means ur students are more harder at grasping anything at school compared to Tanzania's that duration is only 7 years!

 

[EngineerLMG]

Samahani, point yako ni?

Kwetu, primary ni miaka 8, secondary 4. Huku, primary ni 7, secondary 6.

Sikuelewi. "More harder"?

 

[Geza Ulole]

Samahani, point yako ni?

Kwetu, primary ni miaka 8, secondary 4. Huku, primary ni 7, secondary 6.

Sikuelewi. "More harder"?

and if a kenyan goes to any Western country he/she can not be admitted to a university she/he has to go to college first!

 

[mjasiliaupeo]

Yes you do, because those students are in Standard 3, not Standard 8, when they do the national exam.

At least we identify our problem areas early - 5 years before the national exam.

"50% of standard eight pupils cannot read and write"

 

[Dhuks]

I really feel pity for you guys, i am no Tanzanian and did not believe the figures bandied here because they make no sense.Geza saw it as an opportunity to get even and posted a pathetic report by an Ngo trying to remain relevant and you guys are getting carried by that?
You would have to be a nuthead to believe that out of a class of forty there is even a slim possibility of ten not being able to read and write after having schooled for ten years.

 

[EngineerLMG]

and if a kenyan goes to any Western country he/she can not be admitted to a university she/he has to go to college first!

A large number choose to study in Kenya. Those who go abroad have to pass through those countries' regulations, just like everyone else.

They don't go to college again - they simpl take an exam.

 

[Geza Ulole]

A large number choose to study in Kenya. Those who go abroad have to pass through those countries' regulations, just like everyone else.

They don't go to college again - they simpl take an exam.

no way u don't have a levels so u can't join universities abroad

 

[MK254]

I really feel pity for you guys, i am no Tanzanian and did not believe the figures bandied here because they make no sense.Geza saw it as an opportunity to get even and posted a pathetic report by an Ngo trying to remain relevant and you guys are getting carried by that?
You would have to be a nuthead to believe that out of a class of forty there is even a slim possibility of ten not being able to read and write after having schooled for ten years.

Point on, most NGOs throw around funny reports and I normally don't believe them. Kenya's literacy rate is 87% (UNICEF), however, I do admit our education system needs a serious review.

 

[MK254]

no way u don't have a levels so u can't join universities abroad

Engaging you is like debating with some over-grown kid who will always yap about how his father is th best warrior in the world. You can't hold a meaningful and constructive debate, unless you're some kind of a dunderhead.
A-level obviously mean you did put up some additional efforts beyond O-level and definitely you deserve to be rewarded when applying for education abroad. But also you must understand just having an A-level is not enough, required scores and subjects vary from course to course.
As for O-levels, applicants are required to have an internationally recognized English language qualification such as IELTS or TOEFL[FONT=AvenirLTStd-Roman, Arial, sans-serif]. But most universities do admit KCSE holders with B in English.[/FONT]

 

[Geza Ulole]

I really feel pity for you guys, i am no Tanzanian and did not believe the figures bandied here because they make no sense.Geza saw it as an opportunity to get even and posted a pathetic report by an Ngo trying to remain relevant and you guys are getting carried by that?
You would have to be a nuthead to believe that out of a class of forty there is even a slim possibility of ten not being able to read and write after having schooled for ten years.

then ur govt should have come out and refute the report btw there are legal implication for any NGO trying to fabricate a report put aside the fact that Uwezo is a credible NGO by all universal standards.

 

[Geza Ulole]

Engaging you is like debating with some over-grown kid who will always yap about how his father is th best warrior in the world. You can't hold a meaningful and constructive debate, unless you're some kind of a dunderhead.
A-level obviously mean you did put up some additional efforts beyond O-level and definitely you deserve to be rewarded when applying for education abroad. But also you must understand just having an A-level is not enough, required scores and subjects vary from course to course.
As for O-levels, applicants are required to have an internationally recognized English language qualification such as IELTS or TOEFL. But most universities do admit KCSE holders with B in English.

These links are some of the universities in the Uk all of them do not accept Kenyans students without A levels or IB, name to me one credible university that admit Kenyans with only a 12 years system. I challenge u

International Qualifications - University of Oxford

The University of Birmingham and Kenya - University of Birmingham

Bristol University | International students | Kenya

Entrance requirements - Kenya - Your country/region - International Office - Loughborough University

all of these universities above specifically ask for a "foundation one year" program as a requirement to join an undergraduate degree program for Kenyan students! BTW i didn't know even English proficiency exam is needed for u guys (TOEFL or IELTs) i thought u r the master of Queen's language :israel:

I can bring u more evidences for universities in the US, Germany, Australia and so many other Western countries too that do not acknowledge ur 12 year system including Tanzania does not allow any Kenyan without 'A' levels or IB to join her universities!

 

[DAR si LAMU]

I know our 8-4-4 system is not any better but reading news that 12,000 students sat for a national exam while illiterate surely something not right. Unless the news-makers are just being propagandists. How is it possible that a kid can go through seven years of school life and fail to read or write.

...hali ni mbaya kwenye hii sector, as imekuwa neglected, ingawa utaambiwa kuwa kuna mapesa mengi yametumika. nadhani, tumekuwa tukiegemea kwenye enrollment zaidi, badala ya kuangalia na quality ya output. hii ingetusaidia kuona namna ya kurekebisha mambo.

...ubora wa walimu katika levels za chini -primary education- ni mdogo, halafu hamna jitihada za kuukuza -kwa kuwakagua, kuwapa mafunzo zaidi, kuboresha maslahi, kutoa motisha, n.k- ili kutoa matokea mazuri. lazima sekta hii ivutie watu wenye uwezo mzuri kielimu na kitaaluma, ama sivyo, ubora utazidi kushuka.

...kuna suala la welfare ya watoto. je, wanakula chakula during the day? je, wanapata mazoezi ya kufanya wakiwa nyumbani? and this will lead to a third. je, majumbani kwao wanauwezo wa kusoma?

...kuna suala la miundombinu ya kufundishia.

...kitu cha kutilia maanani hapa, ni kuwa, hatutaweza kuendelea na kufaidi maendeleo ya teknolojia, kama wengi wa watoto wetu watakuwa wajinga. all these resources we do have, will benefit those who are educated properly. and guess what, by large, they are not our kids.

...human capital is very important, in any kind of development that is, on this world.

 

[tpaul]

did you hear this? more than 5000 students who passed tanzania standard vii exams in 2011 and got enrolled to pursue form 1 studies, could not read, write or even spell their names! it's unfortunate that this particular record has not been entered in the guiness book of records.

 

[Geza Ulole]

did you hear this? more than 5000 students who passed tanzania standard vii exams in 2011 and got enrolled to pursue form 1 studies, could not read, write or even spell their names! it's unfortunate that this particular record has not been entered in the guiness book of records.

in Kenya 50% of standard 8 leavers can not read or write read here for urself...:spit: