By Roy Hezron
A steady growth in the number of pre-primary learning centres in the country has been attributed to the funding availed by county governments.
The number of pre-primary centres increased from 41,779 centres in 2017 to 46,530 centres in 2019 representing a growth of 11.4 percent.
The information is contained in the The Basic Education Statistical Booklet 2019 released on 14th November 2020 by the Education Cabinet Secretary Prof. George Magoha.
It shows that by the end of last year, the country had 46,530 pre-primary centres, 32,344 primary schools and 10,487 secondary schools.
The public sector witnessed a higher increase in the number of centres by about 11.8 percent from 25,381centres in 2017 to 28,383 centres in 2019.
That was partly due to accelerated investment in new pre-primary centres by county governments following the devolution of the pre-primary education function.
Similarly; the private sector witnessed a 10.7 percent increase in the number of pre-primary centres from 16,398 centres in 2017 to 18,147 centres in 2019. The share of private pre-primary centres remained at about 40 percent.
Primary schools increased from 31,449schools in 2017 to 32,344schools in 2019, representing an increase of 2.8 per cent.
Public primary schools grew by 0.6 per cent from 23,139 schools in 2017 to 23,286 schools in 2019 while private primary schools increased by 9 per cent from 8,310 schools in 2017 to 9,058 schools in 2019.
The statistical report booklet was compiled by the Curriculum Review Taskforce formed by Prof. Magoha to gather data on education ahead of the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) roll out.
“The establishment and operationalization of the National Education Management Information System (NEMIS) has enabled the collection of real time data on various key indicators crucial to MoE, education stakeholders and development partners in management and financing of education in Kenya,” said Magoha.
The statistical report said unlike the pre-primary sub-sector, there was a high increase in the number of private primary schools compared to public schools though public schools account for the largest share at 72percent.
“Data on the pre-primary area was provided by the county governments through County Directors of Education (CDEs),” stated Dr. Belio Kipsang, the Principal Secretary State Department of Early Learning and Basic education.
The report also revealed that the number of secondary schools increased by 16.8 percent, from 8,958 schools in 2017 to 10,487schools in 2019.
The number of public secondary schools increased by 18.4 percent from 7,543 schools in 2017 to 8,933 schools in 2019 while private secondary schools increased by 9.7 percent, from 1,415 schools in 2017 to 1,554 schools in 2019.
Unlike the case in primary schools, there was a higher percentage increase in public secondary schools relative to private schools.
“Over the three-year period, public secondary schools have accounted for about 85 percent of all secondary schools in Kenya, partly due to the Free Day Secondary Education and the 100 percent transition policy,” the report says.
The reduction in the average school size is expected to contribute to improved performance as well as promotion, completion and transition rates.
About 18,700 public primary schools have valid Global Positioning System (GPS) codes, generated from the technology-enabled teacher support under the Tusome literacy programme and Early Grade Mathematics programme under the Primary Education Development (PRIEDE) project.
“The distribution of schools is correlated to the average school-size and mirrors human settlement patterns and population distribution,” adds the report.
The GPS data is also critical in mapping the learning institutions major infrastructure like roads, amenities and key installations like electricity, internet and other communication infrastructure.
On enrolment in both public and private schools, the report says that as at 2019, there were 2,738,587 children enrolled in pre-primary centres, 10,072,040 enrolled in primary schools and 3,262,951 in secondary schools.
The Fatuma Chege led taskforce found out that the country has achieved gender parity in both primary and secondary school levels at 0.97 and 1.00 respectively according to UNESCO Gender Parity Index (GPI).
That is between 0.97 and 1.03, with more girls enrolled in secondary schools compared to boys and gender disparity being noted in pre-primary levels in favour of boys.
The report further adds that there are slightly more boys than girls enrolled from Grade 1 to Class 6 while from Class 7 to Form 2, the converse is true but overall, there are slightly more girls than boys enrolled.
In Form 3, the taskforce found out that the number of boys is almost equal to the number of girls whereas in Form 4, the number of boys exceeds the number of girls.
In general, government programmes such as Free Primary Education, Free Day Secondary Education and the 100 percent transition from primary to secondary school, aimed at having all children attain basic education are bearing fruits.
At pre-primary level, in PP1, there was gender disparity in favour of boys, while in PP2 gender parity was achieved.
At primary school level, from Grade 1 to Class 4, there was gender disparity in favour of boys.
The report said three categories of counties emerge across all levels of basic education.
The first category comprises counties that have achieved gender parity while the second category is made up of counties with gender disparity in favour of boys.
The third category has counties with gender disparity in favour of girls,” reveals the report.
At pre-primary level, the report says that 17 counties have achieved gender parity, while 23 counties have gender disparity in favour of boys.
Seven counties have gender disparity in favour of girls, while at primary level, 27 counties have achieved gender parity.
A total of 19 counties have gender disparity in favour of boys with only one county having gender disparity in favour of girls.
At secondary level, 13 counties have achieved gender parity, while 13 counties have gender disparity in favour of boys.
On the other hand, 21 counties have gender disparity in favour of girls.
The report revealed that the overall average school size in pre-primary education was 59 learners in 2019.
School size is an important factor in determining resource requirements and allocation from the government.
At primary education level, the average school size decreased from 384 learners in 2017 to 363 learners in 2019 while at secondary education level, there was a reduction from 342 in 2017 to 313 in 2019.
At pre-primary level, the county with the highest average school size was Kakamega, followed by Turkana, Trans Nzoia and Migori.
The report shows that Special Needs Education (SNE) public primary institutions increased by two per cent, from 2,865 in 2017 to 2,927 in 2018 and further by six per cent, to 3,043 in 2019.
Similarly, SNE public secondary institutions increased by 2.8 per cent, from 106 in 2017 to 109 in 2018 and further by 4.6per cent to 114 in 2019.
Learners in public SNE primary institutions, increased from 26 per cent to108,221 in 2017 to 136,081 in 2019.
Enrolment in public secondary institutions increased by 19 per cent from 4,019 leaners in 2017 to 4,794 learners in 2019 which is attributed to an increase in the number of special needs learners.
“Whereas learners with various disabilities are enrolled at primary school level, those who transition to secondary education are mainly those with hearing, physical and visual impairments. Learners with mental and multiple disabilities rarely transition to secondary schools,” reads the report.
The report shows further that the retention rate at primary school level was considered at two levels, from Standard 1 to Standard 6 which was 96.10 per cent and from Standard 1 to Standard 8 which stood at 81.90 per cent.
The retention rate for Standard 1 to Standard 6 indicates that about 4 per cent of that cohort dropped out of school or repeated classes preceding Standard 6.
In relation to Standard 1 to Standard 8, the retention rate, 18.1 per cent of the learners who joined Standard 1 in 2012 did not reach Standard 8 as they either dropped out of school or repeated classes.
From the analysis, after six years of primary schooling, the retention rate is higher compared to when the schooling goes for 8 years.
At secondary school level, the retention rate from Form 1 to Form 4 was 103.3 percent.
The beyond 100 percent rate could be due to the government’s school re-entry policy, deferred admissions and registration of private candidates for secondary education examinations.
