Indicative factors of an educated population include literacy rates and school enrollment. Kenya fares well in comparison to other Case Study Countries. According to 2005 United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) data, 74 percent of Kenyan adults are literate, the highest rate in the region.92 Some 76 percent of eligible children were enrolled in primary school, and nearly all first graders were estimated to reach fifth grade, outcomes of the introduction of free primary education. Kenya’s 40 percent secondary school enrollment ratio is highest among the Initial Study Countries. This should increase with the removal of tuition fees from January 2008. Kenya ranks first overall among the Initial Study Countries in the UNDP Education index, which is a weighted average of literacy and overall school enrollment.
According to UNDP data, some 69 percent of Tanzanian adults are literate, the second highest rate in the region. Primary school enrollment is 86 percent of eligible children, a result of the
91 United Nations, World Population Prospects 1950-2050: The 2006 Revision (2007), available at
http://hdrstats.undp.org/indicators/44.html.
92 Updated 2006 data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics show that 79% of those aged over 15 years consider themselves literate. A survey based on a more challenging definition of literacy found that 61.5 percent of adults were literate in 2006. See, Kilele, A.K.M., Adult Literacy in Kenya (2007).
introduction of free primary education.93 However, secondary school enrollment is low. Tanzania ranks third overall among the Initial Study Countries in the UNDP Education index. Some 67 percent of Ugandan adults are literate and 84 percent of eligible children are enrolled in primary school, a figure that has steadily risen since the introduction of universal primary education in 1997. Uganda’s 15 percent secondary school enrollment ratio is below Kenya’s, but should improve with the phased introduction of universal secondary education. Uganda ranks second overall among the Initial Study Countries in the UNDP Education index.
Roughly half of Uganda’s population is under the age of 15 so steps to increase and improve educational opportunities could have a big impact. There are bottlenecks, however. Although primary school enrollment increased rapidly following the introduction of free tuition, it has stalled recently. Transition rates to higher grades are also a problem. The cost of secondary education has been cited as the biggest barrier to higher enrollment. This should be alleviated with the introduction of universal secondary education. However, free secondary education is being progressively phased in and will take some time to have an impact. In addition, there are serious constraints in terms of sufficient schools and teachers for handling a large influx of new students.
Table 2-15: Literacy and education
Adult literacy rate
(% ages 15+) (2005)
Combined gross enrollment ratio for primary, secondary and tertiary schools (%) (2005) UNDP Education index† Net primary enrollment ratio (2005) Net secondary enrollment ratio (2005) Ethiopia 36 42 0.38 46 25 Kenya 74 61 0.69 76 40 Rwanda 65 51 0.60 73 4 Sudan 61 37 0.53 43 NA Tanzania 69 50 0.63 86 5 Uganda 67 63 0.66 84 15 SSA 60 51 0.57 NA NA
Note: NA = Not Available. Rwanda: Net secondary school enrollment data from 2005 Demographic Health Survey. Secondary school enrollment refers to net attendance ratio. Sudan: UNDP literacy data for Sudan differ from national statistics which report 49.9% for 2000. Tanzania: Secondary school enrollment from the 2000/01 Household Budget Survey. Data refer to mainland Tanzania. Uganda: Primary school net enrollment ratio from the National Household Survey 2005/06. † Based on weighted average of literacy and combined gross school enrollment ratio.
Source: UNDP and those identified in Note above.
In addition to literacy and enrollment, there is a need to get students exposed to ICTs at an early age in order to instill digital literacy and serve as a platform for more advanced training later. Kenya’s National ICT Strategy for Education and Training was released in 2006 to guide incorporation of ICT in the curriculum, expand infrastructure in schools and train teachers.94 One of the goals of this initiative is to install computer networks in 80 percent of secondary schools and to raise computer availability from one for every 150 students to one for a maximum of 50 students. In addition, the Kenya ICT Trust Fund was established in 2004 as a public- private partnership with the goal of getting ICTs into schools. The Fund has negotiated
93 Doney, M., and Wroe, M., “Keeping Our Promises: Delivering Education for All,” Department for International Development (Apr. 2006), available at
http://www.unescobkk.org/fileadmin/user_upload/efa/EFA_News/EFA_News2006/DFID_EFA.pdf. 94 Ministry of Education, National ICT Strategy for Education and Training (2006).
favorable Internet connectivity rates with ISPs, arranged for the donation of educational software, trained some 800 teachers, and distributed over 350 computers in schools in 2006. Tanzania issued an ICT Policy for basic education in 2007 to guide incorporation of ICT in the primary and secondary curriculum, expand infrastructure in schools and train teachers.95 All 32 teachers’ colleges in Tanzania have computers and Internet access. The policy calls for leveraging on this to provide ICT training to future teachers at the colleges. The policy also calls for creating secondary “eSchools” with 400 targeted within two years, 2,000 within five years, and the remainder by 2015. Several ICT for education projects have been initiated. The Tanzania Computer Literacy for Secondary Schools Trust Fund has helped to acquire and install computers in about 20 schools.96 More than 1,000 refurbished computers have been installed in secondary schools.
In Uganda, an ICT Policy for Schools has been prepared and is waiting for Cabinet approval. Roughly one quarter of primary and secondary schools have a telephone and around 10 percent have the capability to access the Internet. The Ministry of Education is working with UTL to obtain subsidized communications prices for educational institutions. There are also several grass roots initiatives for installing ICTs in schools such as the NEPAD e-school97 as well as various initiatives for training, the procurement of discounted educational software and integration of ICT in the curriculum.98 However, most of these initiatives are on a small scale.