Can Your Child Read and Count? Measuring Learning Outcomes in East Africa

TY - JOUR

T1 - Can Your Child Read and Count? Measuring Learning Outcomes in East Africa

AU - Jones, Edward Samuel

AU - Schipper, Youdi

AU - Ruto, Sara

AU - Rajani, Rakesh

N1 - JEL Classification: I21, I25, I28

PY - 2014/11/1

Y1 - 2014/11/1

N2 - The last 15 years have seen major changes to education systems in East Africa. Superficially, there is much to commend. Net primary enrolment rates have risen to over 90% alongside significant improvements in gender equity. Nonetheless, there are growing concerns that better access is not adding up to more learning. This paper introduces unique test score data collected by Twaweza's Uwezo initiative for over 600,000 children across East Africa, including children enrolled and not enrolled in school. Using these data we show that many children in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda remain functionally illiterate or innumerate, despite having completed multiple years of school.

AB - The last 15 years have seen major changes to education systems in East Africa. Superficially, there is much to commend. Net primary enrolment rates have risen to over 90% alongside significant improvements in gender equity. Nonetheless, there are growing concerns that better access is not adding up to more learning. This paper introduces unique test score data collected by Twaweza's Uwezo initiative for over 600,000 children across East Africa, including children enrolled and not enrolled in school. Using these data we show that many children in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda remain functionally illiterate or innumerate, despite having completed multiple years of school.

KW - Faculty of Social Sciences

KW - Education

KW - East Africa

KW - Tanzania

KW - Uganda

KW - Kenya

U2 - 10.1093/jae/eju009

DO - 10.1093/jae/eju009

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0963-8024

VL - 23

SP - 643

EP - 672

JO - Journal of African Economies

JF - Journal of African Economies

IS - 5

ER -