Teacher Truancy Shortchanges Pupils

Benjamin Muindi

19 July 2011

Nairobi — Absenteeism by teachers is contributing to poor performance in public primary schools, a new report says.

At least 13 per cent of teachers are never in class on any given day, forcing colleagues to manage an average of 52 pupils in a class, a deviation from accepted 40 pupils.

But a teacher in Western Kenya has 64 pupils in a class, findings by education think-tank Uwezo show.

This shortage, added to the absenteeism portends low education quality, officials say.

There are about 20,000 public primary schools in Kenya, meaning that shortage is higher than often quoted by education officials.

The Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) quickly commented on the matter, saying members should abide by the code of conduct.

Knut deputy secretary general Xavier Nyamu said the government needed to pay teachers well to curb the temptation of doing other business during school hours.

“Vision 2030 also states that the government needs to employ 28,000 new teachers by next year,” he said. Uwezo launched the annual report on Tuesday at the Kenya Institute of Education.

Dr Sara Ruto, head of Uwezo, said it was not enough to send pupils to schools but equally critical to ensure they received meaningful education.

Dr Ruto assessed learning in 3,600 schools and interviewed 306,000 primary school children in 72,000 homes in all the 47 counties.

Similar to a report her organisation launched last year, Kenyan children continue to exhibit low basic skills in computing numbers and words.

“Like last year, evidence confirms that only 28 per cent (or three out of 10 ) children in Class Three can read a Class Two level story,” she said.

At the same time, four out 100 children in Class Eight cannot read a Class Two level story although there are slight improvements this year.

The findings state that learning levels are poorest in the arid and semi-arid areas and Western province.

“Learning levels in Western are 28 per cent lower than in Central and 12 per cent lower than the national average,” the report says.

Children in arid areas have lower skills, are absent from school often, have fewer teachers and poor facilities, according to the findings.

Kenya is a signatory to the United Nations Dakar Framework for Action to achieve education for all by 2015.

“As the clock ticks down in a countdown to 2015, it becomes especially vital to monitor our progress,” Dr Ruto said.

The report also brought to the fore the issue of children who cannot learn because they are visually impaired. Three out of 100 children in a class today may have the problem.

The learning levels of these children were found to be 27 per cent lower than their able-bodied colleagues, with most cases in North Eastern largely hit.

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