Has the expansion in access to schooling led to increased learning?

Has the expansion in access to schooling led to increased learning?  

Over the last two decades, primary and secondary school enrollment have increased dramatically in many African countries. We are now in a position to ask: has the striking expansion in access to schooling led to an increase in learning? Many fear this is not be the case.  Such concerns have inspired a wave of citizen-led basic learning assessments, which intend not just to diagnose the problem of schooling without learning but also to remedy it by providing the public and policymakers with information that will spur action for change.

Despite the enthusiasm for such assessments, we know relatively little about the impact they have on citizen action and learning outcomes. In order to fill this gap, KALI is part of  Uwezo at Twaweza which commissioned  a series of rigorous evaluations of the Uwezo initiative, which we summarize and presented annually in a synthesis report.

Uwezo (meaning capability in Kiswahili), an initiative of Twaweza, is such a citizen-led assessment that aims to improve competencies in literacy and numeracy among children in  Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania and To date, Uwezo assessments have been carried out on a national scale in Kenya every year since 2009, and in Uganda and Tanzania every year since 2010. KALI’s Theory of Change (ToC) envisaged action by citizens at multiple levels – from parents to national leaders. The instant feedback given to parents – i.e. the immediate results on how a child scored on the Uwezo literacy and numeracy test – is central to the ToC, as is the hypothesis that as a result of it, parents will be motivated to take action to improve their children’s learning. In order to test this core hypothesis KALI in partnership with Twaweza commissioned a team of researchers to conduct a rigorous assessment of it.

This overview information situates KALI within other recent and ongoing research trends and findings on the importance of information in promoting citizen action, and the link between citizens, authorities, and patterns of accountability.

Unrealistic Assumptions?
KALI’s Theory of Change holds that as parents and communities become aware of the “crisis” of poor learning outcomes, they  “will take concrete steps to improve learning, either through private actions (e.g. pay more attention to homework, follow up with a teacher, pay for a tutor, change schools) or mount collective action.”  One possible reason for the lack of impact may well be that this core assumption was unrealistic: that is, knowledge about learning outcomes was not, by itself, sufficient to motivate parents to take “concrete steps to improve learning.”

Barriers to action

• Widespread norms against unofficial collective action
• Actors at local level say they have little influence over many of the key inputs into education
• Lack of information about government officials’ responsibilities
• People tend to look to elites for ideas and action

It is thus important to strengthen the link between information and citizen action (the information to action chain) and considers the impact of KALI in a comparative perspective.

By

Kule Obed 

Project officer KALI

Are our children learning

Uganda: are our children learning?

A new study reveals that very few children in Primary 3 and higher are able to do basic reading and mathematics. In Primary 3, nine out of ten children (or 88%) are unable to both read and solve division at Primary 2 level, while in Primary 7, almost three out of ten pupils (or 26%) are unable to complete the same tasks. On average, among all children tested in Primary 3 to Primary 7, two out of three pupils (67%) are unable to read and solve division at Primary 2 level.

These findings were released by Karambi Action for Life Improvement (KALI) in partnership with Uwezo at Twaweza, an East African initiative, in its fourth Annual Learning Assessment report. The findings are based on East Africa’s largest scale household assessment to test children’s basic literacy and numeracy skills. The assessment was carried out nationally in August 2014; involving 87,339 children aged 6-16 years in 34,013 households in 2,372 enumeration areas in 80 districts of Uganda Kasese inclusive.

The differences between government and private schools at the lower levels of education are stark at the start of the primary school, but this gap appears to close substantially by the end of primary school.

English literacy

• Primary 3: one out of ten pupils in government schools against three out of ten pupils in private schools can read a Primary 2 level story
• Primary 7: nine out of ten pupils in government schools and nine out of ten pupils in private schools can read a Primary 2 level story

Numeracy

• Primary 3: two out of ten pupils in government schools against four out of ten pupils in private schools can solve Primary 2 division.
• Primary 7: nine out of ten pupils in government schools and nine out of ten pupils in private schools can solve Primary 2 division.

However these are basic tests set at Primary 2 level and so do not capture any additional skills children may acquire as they go through school. In addition, one would expect that many more children in private schools, whether at Primary 3 or 7 level, should have these skills. The data still show that three out of ten pupils nationally, whether in government or private schools, complete primary school without having mastered basic literacy and numeracy.

 Above  is  KALI training agents of change(volunteers) and the CAO Kasese district giving a send off massage  in Kasese District

 Participants actively listening to KALI staff during the training at Rwenzori International Hotel -Kasese

Education is meant to be a ticket to a better life. The rude realization is that sending your child to school is not enough; that indeed schooling is not the same as learning; and that the majority of children in school do not have the competencies they require.

Contrary to popular perception, this is not because the government or society does not value education.

Ample government pronouncements and public opinion polls show that education is a key priority for both the state and parents. They also put money where their mouths are. Both invest heavily;

Government education budgets have tripled in the last decade and parents incur significant costs to send children to, and keep them in school.

So why is this goodwill and money not bringing positive results? Why do learning outcomes not improve?

All the time keeping our eyes focused on the prize: can our children count, read and write?

The truth remains that if we want our children to learn, we need to look in the mirror. For change will not just come, unless we make it happen.

Change is me. It’s you. It’s all of us.

Kule Obed

Project Officer @ KALI