World Bank endorses Sh8b project

The World Bank has endorsed the Kenya Primary Education Development Project under which Kenya will spend a grant of Sh8.8 billion ($88.4 million) to improve the teaching of mathematics in Standard One and Two from January 2016.

The endorsement is contained in a letter dated July 18 by World Bank Country Director for Kenya Diarietou Gaye to Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich and copied to his Education counterpart Jacob Kaimenyi.

World Bank Country Director for Kenya Diarietou Gaye. The grant, approved by the Global Partnership for Education, will benefit six million pupils, who will benefit from improved early grade mathematics textbooks. (FILE PHOTO)

The grant, approved by the Global Partnership for Education, will benefit six million pupils, who will benefit from improved early grade mathematics textbooks.

The funding will help Kenya to address key challenges in primary education and to provide catalytic funding to address areas not yet fully covered by other initiatives.

Some 40,000 teachers will benefit from new methodologies of early grade mathematics instruction through improved in-service training and regular pedagogical supervision and support with 1.3 million pupils in participating schools benefitting from more effective and present teachers and improved teaching-learning inputs.

Head teachers and management boards will receive guidance and support on how to improve planning. They will also be helped in implementing plans to improve performance.

Parents' and communities' aspirations will be met through greater information and enhanced responsibility in school management to improve the quality of education.

An additional feature of the project is that the education system will benefit from improved information and accountability through up to date education management information system data and school audit.

The project aims at ensuring that all children master basic literacy and numeracy early besides building national systems that have capacity to deliver, support and assess education quality.