By Our Reporter
Basic Education Principal Secretary Dr. Belio Kipsang has lauded the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) for the Reading Remediation programme it is piloting in select schools in 27 counties.
The project dubbed ‘USAID Tusome Early Grade Reading’ is an after-school programme being held in partnership with the national government to provide extra lessons to struggling readers in Grades 1 to 3.
Dr. Kipsang said the programme is intended to assist struggling readers make up for the gaps in reading fluency they should have in their respective grades and is targeting 7.8 million learners.
The PS made the remarks when he received a state-of-the-art photocopier from USAID-Kenya Officer in charge of Education and Youth Affairs Ms Amy Pekol in his office yesterday.
The programme grew out of the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic which worsened reading disparities among learners across Kenya, following the longest schools closure globally from March 2020 to July 2021.
Dr. Kipsang said that the USAID-Kenya partnership in Teacher Professional Development and in School Monitoring Progress is helping to improve the quality of teaching and learning in basic education institutions across the country.
He further noted that the Dashboard the USAID-Kenya has developed in conjunction with the Ministry of Education (MoE) will improve classroom observation by Quality Assurance and Standards Officers in schools throughout the country.
Dr. Kipsang said the real time data capture and retrieval will not only increase the presence of the Ministry in schools, but also help it track the quality of teaching and learning taking place in schools.
Ms Pekol said the areas of Partnership with the MoE were critical to improving the quality of teaching and learning in schools in the country.
The Class Observation aims to improve a teacher’s ability to teach and, as a result, improve student outcomes as well, providing researchers with current information on both educational practices and instructional problems among other objectives.
