Uwezo launched its
sixth learning assessment report last week. The report is hardly flattering. It
is a chilling indictment of our education. Learning outcomes are dismal. Shameful regional inequalities in education
achievement persist half a century after we earned the right govern ourselves.
The Uwezo assessment measured the ability of
over 130,000 children to read and complete basic numeracy tasks at the level of
standard 2. Are our children learning? Only 3 out 10 children in standard 3 can
read and add at the level required in standard 2. About 1 in 10 children in
completing standard 8 have not acquired literacy and numeracy skills expected
of a child in standard 2.
Learning achievement in rural and urban
schools reveals shameful, unconscionable disparities. Only 25 per cent of
children in standard 3 in rural schools can read at the level expected of a
child in standard 2. Conversely over 40 per cent of children in standard 3 in urban
schools can read at the level of a child in standard 2. Here is what is more
disconcerting. Children from non-poor households were two times more likely to
read and add at the level expected of a child in class 2.
It is obvious that our children are not
learning. And this is especially worrying in a knowledge-based economy, which
is both global and intensely competitive. Is there something irredeemably wrong
with the current curriculum? Or is it the teachers? Or is the child? Or is it
the household – the parents and the home environment? What have lessons have we
learned?
What do we need to do to improve learning
achievement and prepare our children for an unknown future? I know we are
investing billions of shillings to introduce laptops/tablets into our
classrooms. I also we are changing the education system and the curriculum will
no longer be 8-4-4. These are drastic policy decisions. And they are costly.
This is not the first time we are fiddling
with the both the education system and the curriculum. Will these big-ticket policy
decisions improve learning achievement for our children? Where is the evidence?
I would love to see the systematic evaluation of the 8-4-4 system and the
current curriculum.
I would like to know if this time we are
sure that the reason our children are not learning is because the current
curriculum is defective. I would also like to see any studies conducted in our schools,
which prove that electronic devises will enhance, reading, writing, numeracy
and playful creativity among our children.
Are we changing the curriculum and the
education system just because it’s a good thing to do? Are electronic devises
the new fad?
Are we truly committed to preparing our
children for a brutally competitive knowledge-based economy? If we are
committed we must invest in teacher training, pay teachers well and hold them
accountable. Moreover we must invest in rural economies, reduce poverty and prevent
stunting, which robs millions of children of their learning and productivity potential.
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