Only 12 out of 405 learners were able to solve all addition and subtraction tasks correctly in a recent numerical skills survey conducted by the Centre for Mathematics, Science and Technology Education in Africa (CEMASTEA), signaling challenges in the passing of knowledge of fundamental numerical skills in the country.
The assessment conducted in five schools in Bungoma West found that only 17% of the learners got all the addition tasks correct while only 7% got all the subtraction tasks correct signifying the ease in performing sums as opposed to subtraction.
From the 405 students who went through the 6 question task only 2% were boys while of boys got all the tasks correct while 5% of girls got all the tasks correct , marking a shift in the ‘male boys are better in mathematics than girls narrative.’
Speaking at workshop themed ‘Foundational Numeracy in Kenya: Status, Challenges and Opportunities’ Dr. John Mugo, the Executive Director at Zizi Afrique Foundation, emphasized the critical role of the acquisition of foundational numeracy skills in shaping the long-term academic success for learners.
“By working together with teachers, policymakers, civil society organizations, development partners, and other actors, we can identify the most common errors that learners make and come up with practical solutions to support them,” Dr.
Mugo stated.
Additionally, most girls made procedural and conceptual errors in both grades which suggests that girls are
more engaged in applying methods while majority of boys made factual errors, particularly in Grade 3. This points to gaps in basic knowledge retention rather than method application.
This event brought together many education actors including policymakers, educators, development partners, researchers, and civil society organisations to interrogate the numeracy low performance in
lower grades.
CEMASTEA and Zizi Afrique Foundation further recommended the retooling of teachers for pedagogical skills that enhance numeracy acquisition such as error analysis.
The lobby has trained 12 teachers in Grades 2 and 3, five (5) heads of institutions, and five (5) curriculum support officers on t the Error Analysis skills to improve classroom delivery of numeracy instruction in lower mathematics in Bungoma West Sub-County.