Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i has revealed that the government has realized the need to be internationally competitive and economically practical and that therefore the country requires an education system that will produce citizens who are innovative. He said this during the launch of an early literacy project dubbed ‘Tusome’ that is intended to improve reading skills for over 5 million Kenyan children who began primary school education during the 2015-2017 school years.
“The education systems should produce individuals capable of problem-solving, taking decisions, require minimum supervision, assume responsibility and have better reading, quantitative reasoning and expository skills,” Matiang’i stated.
He emphasized the need to provide quality basic schooling, adding that this will provide the essential foundation for successful future learning and contribution to Kenya’s social and economic aspirations as set out in Kenya Vision 2013.
“Therefore the ministry has embarked on key interventions towards improving the quality of education which has been reflected in programmes such as Tusome which has been designed to address quality issue especially in the area of literacy in lower primary,” he said.
He quipped that the Ministry shall continue providing guidelines to facilitate the implementation of Tusome and other tutelage programmes. “I, therefore, urge all the stakeholders, partners and civil society to continue supporting the education sector in the implementation of strategies to promote the quality of education,” he said.
Karen Freeman, the USAID Mission Director in Kenya said the Tusome external evaluation was conducted by Management Systems International in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and USAID.
“The evaluation included an early grade reading assessment, survey of pupils, teachers, headteachers, curriculum support officers and households and classroom observers,” said Karen.