The Government will spend Sh8.85 billion to improve teaching and learning of mathematics in public primary and informal schools.
In an attempt to demystify complex numbers and figures that confuse most pupils in lower primary classes, the Education ministry, through financing from Washington’s Global Partnership Education (GPE), will roll out the programme in March to break the perception that mathematics is a difficult subject.
The project is set to benefit six million learners in 22,000 schools with the target beneficiaries being those in Standard One and Two.
The partners held their first Joint Implementation Support Mission at Jogoo House in Nairobi yesterday.
During the meeting, the Education ministry officials and GPE said they would introduce it in the lower classes because numeracy and mathematical basics are the biggest challenge pupils face. “Numeracy is one of the basic foundations of learning and that is why we have chosen to focus on mathematics,” said Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang.
However, Grace Obonyo, a primary school teacher, felt that more focus should be put on languages, especially English. While agreeing that mathematics is still a challenge especially in rural schools, she said the fact that most students do not understand English, which is the main language of examination, makes it complex for them to solve mathematical problems. The recently released Kenya Certificate of Primary Education examination results showed a general decline of performance in English.
While releasing the results, Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i noted that English composition had the lowest percentage mean score of 41.38 per cent.
“The poor performance of candidates in English composition is worrying because it means that learners lack the ability to creatively and coherently express themselves in prose,” Mr Matiang’i had said.
Kipsang said 40,000 teachers will benefit from new methodologies of early grade mathematics instruction.
The Standard Group Plc is a
multi-media organization with investments in media platforms spanning newspaper
print operations, television, radio broadcasting, digital and online services. The
Standard Group is recognized as a leading multi-media house in Kenya with a key
influence in matters of national and international interest.
join