By Josephene Nyaboke
Over 25 million text books have been distributed to various schools in the country aimed at enhancing the learners’ literacy.
The instructions materials provide to schools under the TUSOME project, are meant to improve the learners’ abilities to read and comprehend Kiswahili and English.
The programme, which is being implemented countrywide, targets pupils in Grade 1-3.
The project is funded by USAID at cost $53.8 million.
Umoja I Primary School Head Teacher Florence Muli commended the programme saying it has significantly improved the learning outcomes.
Learners who had benefited from Tusome had acquired fluency in reading and writing more than their peers at comparable levels.
“The learners are able to pronounce words and comprehend what they read,” she said.
This, she observed, was possible as teachers were trained in new teaching methodologies for reading.
Besides, the programme has created curiosity amongst learners who are eager to look for more reading materials.
Muli said this when a team from World Bank visited schools in Nairobi and Kiambu counties to get first hand information on the impact of the projects.
The team led by Ezequiel Molina hailed the Tusome project for improving the foundation skills children need to learn and master the 21st Century skills.
Besides TUSOME, another project that seeks to improve the numeracy skills has been ongoing in the country.
The Early Grade Mathematics, popularly known as Kenya Primary Education Development (PRIEDE) is funded is funded by Global Partnership for Education (GPE).
It targets over 6 million learners in 23,000 public primary schools. The PRIEDE project covered the period 2014-2018 with the World Bank being the supervising entity.
However, focus now shifts to the teacher training colleges where they seek to improve the pedagogical skills of the teacher trainees.
