The percentage of school-aged children, aged six to fifteen (15) years in Kenya who are out of school has increased from 7.5 per cent in 2021 to 8.5 per cent in 2023, a report has revealed.
Seven counties with the largest percentage of out-of-school children are all in the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASAL) region with Mandera County leading.
Worryingly, too, the majority of the children out of school are from households whose heads have no formal education.
The findings came during the launch of a report titled, “The Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Assessment (FLANA) Report 2023" on Thursday at KICD in Nairobi.
The findings are a result of an assessment of foundational literacy and numeracy skills for children aged six to 15 years in Kenya conducted between June and July 2023 by Usawa Agenda.
Top Ministry of Education officials, teachers’ unions, parents’ associations, civil society organisations, religious leaders and development partners attended the launch of the report.
The assessment also found that a school-aged child in a poor household is twice as likely out of school as his/her counterpart in a rich household.
In 2021, three out of 10 children were enrolled in private primary schools, but that changed significantly in 2023 when two out of 10 were enrolled in private schools.
However, the report assessment found that the children enrolled in private schools have better learning outcomes than those in public schools in both English literacy and numeracy.
“The odds for a learner in a private primary school to have better learning outcomes in English and numeracy are 45 per cent and 28 per cent respectively higher than those of a learner in a public primary school,” the FLANA Report 2023 found.
The assessment also found that nationally, only 4 out of 10 grade 4 learners at least meet expectations in both solving a grade 3 appropriate numeracy problem and reading a grade 3 appropriate English text.
Three in 10 Grade 4 learners in public schools and 5 in 10 Grade 4 learners in private schools at least meet expectations in both solving a Grade 3 appropriate numeracy problem and reading a Grade 3 appropriate English text.
The report notes that three in 10 grade 6 learners did not meet expectations in reading a Grade 3 appropriate English text.
Two in 10 Class 8 learners did not meet expectations in reading a grade 3 appropriate English text.
The FLANA Report 2023 also uncovered an overwhelming gender imbalance in public primary school leadership.
“Women teach in the primary schools, but men manage the schools,” the report noted.
In 2021 eight in 10 chairs of Boards of Management were men yet in 2023 it has risen to 9 out of 10.
Interestingly, only 77 per cent of teachers in public schools are employed on permanent and pensionable terms by the Teachers Service Commission. 14 per cent are employed by the BOM while 9 in 100 are interns employed by TSC.
“Regions like Wajir with few teachers on permanent and pensionable terms have the highest number of learners out of school,” USAWA Agenda Executive Director Emmanuel Manyasa said.
The report also showed eight in 10 BOM teachers earn less than Sh10,000 Kenya shillings monthly while two in 10 BOM teachers earn between Sh10,000 and Sh20,000 Kenya shillings monthly.
The report also notes that one in 100 BOM teachers earns between Sh20,000 and Sh30,000 monthly.
The FLANA Report 2023 also showed that while four in 10 headteachers hold a bachelors five in ten (10) male and four (4) in ten (10) female headteachers hold a bachelor’s degree], these qualifications do not affect the KCPE mean score.
Furthermore, the report showed academic qualifications of the school head have no association with the school’s performance in the national examinations.