Three weeks have passed since Uwezo published THAT shocking report. The first assessment of 42,033 children in 22,800 households (spread over 38 districts) has following conclusions:
- One in five primary school leavers cannot read Standard 2 level Kiswahili.
- Half the children who complete primary school cannot read in English.
- Only 7 in 10 primary school leavers can do Standard 2 level Mathematics.
- Urban based children perform better than rural based children.
- Girls do slightly better than boys.
- Children with educated mothers perform better.
To better understand these findings, Shanta Devarajan, the World Bank Chief Economist for Africa, interviewed Rakesh Rajani; they discussed why and how Twaweza — coordinator of Uwezo in East Africa — did the study, the meaning of the results, and most importantly, what to do with them.
Safi! Learnt a lot…
I fear that simple patchwork will not fix problems highlighted by this study. As Rakesh mentions, “we count the wrong things”. What seems to be needed is a two part process:
First, an immediete response to supplement the education missed by current primary and secondary students. Somehow this will have to be done in time not spent in formal education; this is bound to be difficult since most of these students are likely to be short of time.
Second, a long-term effort to ensure that primary education is really imparting primary education. This will have to involve learning assessments every year administered by schools themselves.
Niether of these efforts are likely to be successful without government intervention and endorsement.
Really enjoyed listening to this discussion. Now we have ASER happening every year in India, UWEZO starting up in East Africa and hopefully soon in Mali and also in ASER in Pakistan, the evidence is piling up to say that learning needs special focus and needs urgent attention.
Congratulations to UWEZO and Rakesh in Tanzania and congratulations to Shanta for encouraging and supporting UWEZO. All the best to UWEZO from every one in ASER in India.
@Rakmini: Thanks for stopping by. Is there any way ASER tests can be implemented over media?