A study conducted by Uwezo East Africa in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, published on the website HuruMap, a platform that aggregates publicly-available data, shows that only 20 per cent of pupils in Tanzania can read and do basic mathematics in the third year of primary school.
According to HuruMap data that shows competence in all subjects age 6-16 for Tanzania indicating 82 percent of children are not competence in English, 50 percent in Swahili and 64 percent in mathematics
This comes at a time when 164 countries, including the East African states, are expected to implement the Education for All initiative they pledged to 15 years ago.
The United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco), in a recent report, said that the global focus on universal primary education has diverted attention from other crucial areas, such as education quality, adult literacy and early childhood care.
Despite not meeting the 2015 deadline, millions more children are in school than would have been had the trends of the 1990s persisted. However, the agenda is far from met.
“Without a stronger education foundation, students will lack the skills and know-how needed to become curious, questioning, and informed citizens,” said John Mugo, director of data and voice at Twaweza East Africa.
To avoid a tragic waste of limited financial and human resources, he said, East African countries must make sure that every child who attends school leaves with at the very least basic numeracy and literacy skills.
Sarah Ruto, director of PAL Network, said attending primary school is becoming the norm, but the quality of education remains a challenge.
“Governments should first come up with a mechanism for addressing the issues of teachers’ professionalism, which is lacking in most schools, absenteeism for both teachers and students and a change in school curricula,” she said.
The Uwezo report shows that there are large differences in test results among countries in East Africa and a large difference in pass rates between districts within individual countries.
“Children from poorer households consistently show lower competency learning levels,” says the report.
In the Uwezo survey, data was collected on learning outcomes, school conditions and households in 2013 in every district across the region through citizen-led household-based assessments.
Learning outcomes are assessed among children aged six to 16 through tests set at Standard (or Grade) Two level.
In Kenya, 64 per cent passed in both literacy and numeracy tests, while in Tanzania 48 per cent passed and in Uganda 36 per cent.
“This means that even in Kenya — the best performing country — less than seven out of 10 children (aged 10-16) have mastered Grade Two literacy and numeracy skills,” said DrMugo .
The best performing district in East Africa is Mbeya Urban in Tanzania. However, the rest of the top 10 is populated by Kenyan districts, which dominate the upper ranks. Tanzanian districts tend to fall in the middle ranks and Ugandan districts are consistently ranked near the bottom.
“The best performing Ugandan district is ranked 82 in the region. Seven out of the bottom 10 places are taken up by Ugandan districts,” says the report.
“The large disparities between and within countries, particularly along socio-economic lines, suggest that the region may be becoming more divided.
In addition, the lack of meaningful improvements in learning outcomes over the three rounds of Uwezo assessments points to a lack of strong action to tackle our education crisis,” she said.
Aidan Eyakuze, executive director of Twaweza, said the progress made to increase access and gender parity is to be commended.
Wealth also appears to influence learning outcomes. In all three countries, there are large gaps between different wealth groups.
In Kenya, seven out of 10 pupils aged 10 to 16 in non-poor households, and four out of 10 pupils in ultra-poor households passed literacy and numeracy tests.
In Tanzania, just under six out of 10 pupils aged 10 to 16 in non-poor households, and four out of 10 pupils in ultra poor households passed literacy and numeracy tests.
In Uganda, four out of 10 pupils aged 10 to 16 in non-poor households, and two out of 10 pupils in ultra-poor households passed literacy and numeracy tests.
Despite the larger disparities in Kenya, ultra-poor households in the country still, on average, perform better than non-poor households in Uganda.
The report shows that East African children continue to face a crisis in the education system with no significant changes in learning outcomes over the past four years (up to 2013). Enrolment trends are similarly unmoving but have been high since the introduction of universal primary education in the three countries.
Tanzania, following the poor high school performance registered last year, has changed its curriculum to focus on numeracy and literacy teaching.
