Technology as a catalyst to a 100% primary to secondary school transition policy in Kenya

• In Event: Teacher accountability, mentorship, and curriculum case studies

Proposal

In 2017, the Kenyan government made concerted efforts to achieve 100% transition by implementing the 100% transition policy. The implementation of this policy is deemed to have been effective as it realized an increase in primary to secondary school transition rates from 76.1% in 2014 to 83.3% in 2018. However, while the overall transition rates painted a rosy picture (over 100% transition rates) nationally, narrowing down to specific counties using the NEMIS data and citizen generated data at the community level across four counties unearth massive inequalities and inconsistencies in the within some pockets of the country. Whereas counties had transition rates of about 108%, some counties especially in the northern frontier recorded very low transition rates, as low as 54%.

It is against this background that in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, the Policy Learning for Universal Secondary School (PLUS) Education initiative aimed to test the effectiveness of the implementation of this policy, reaching out to selected sub-counties; Chepatis, Kahuro, Dagoretti, and Sololo, to track the transition rates.

The exercise involved four main activities: leveraging existing data to from the NEMIS to track transition rates, Tracking and Retention of 2022 and 2023 KCPE candidates, using technology to transmit data and validating (NEMIS) data to compute transition rates. Additionally, the initiative laid the groundwork for tracking student retention, particularly focusing on those who faced challenges during their transition.

At the core of this implementation was testing how an effective accountability intervention can be implemented to increase transition. In the first phase of the project implementation, we conducted a study in the four sub-counties to evaluate the levers of the 100% transition. To achieve this, we randomly selected 96 public primary schools in the participating sub-counties and administered household, school and village surveys to document levers of secondary school transition. Between January and April 2023, we actively followed a cohort of 6409 students who sat for KCPE in 2022 to track their transition and to actively observe and document the levers of transition. This evidence was cross validated by the National Education Information Management System (NEMIS) data for variance and similarities.

In 2024 a total of 13,707 learners were uploaded onto the Open Data Kit for Network Analysis (ONA) system. This initiative aimed to streamline the process and facilitate real-time monitoring of learners who were reported not to have transitioned. The responsibility for this task was designated to zonal coordinators, who collaborated closely with the chiefs and village elders to execute the tracking process effectively.

The objective of this paper is to share the policy opportunities and challenges on the implementation of the 100% transition policy under the PLUS initiative while putting technology access and use in play. The theory of change underpinning this study underscores the importance of multistakeholder engagement in realizing 100% transition. It requires the learner and his/her parents to make school choices, and those choices are influenced by education administrators involved in the selection process. Closely linked to the macro-systems of education are the micro-systems such as school heads, and administrative leaders who are very crucial to ensure parental-engagement and participation in selection and placement process, and consequently influence the level of transition from primary to secondary level. Environments such as household, school microsystem’s, community, and governing institutions also have an influence on individual experiences, their internal and external interactions as well as learning and development.

Key outcomes stand out from our inquiry; the importance of timely and accurate data collection for effective tracking; the emphasis of a reliable information system; parental engagement as a key component that influences transition, community engagement and involvement as a catalyst for change and realizing high transition rates cannot be overemphasized, and teachers play a critical role in transition.

Our computation reveals that in 2024, transition rates showed a positive trend with an increase from the previous year. NEMIS transition rates in 2024 were 80% in Cheptais, 73% in Dagoretti, 93% in Kahuro, and 82% in Sololo. In contrast, Community Surveillance demonstrated higher rates with 99% in Cheptais, 99% in Dagoretti, 100% in Kahuro, and 98% in Sololo while in 2023, NEMIS had transition rates of 83% in Cheptais, 75% in Dagoretti, 95% in Kahuro, and 80% in Sololo, while Community Surveillance showed rates of 95% in Cheptais, 98% in Dagoretti, 98% in Kahuro, and 91% in Sololo. There are glaring disparities in these rates, hence justifying the need to complement official data with unofficial citizen generated data to influence policy making. We need accurate data to produce evidence that informs policy and practice in the education space especially in the critical two weeks period of form one reporting.

Evidence use and embracing technology proved to be critical for monitoring transition. It is through technology that we were able to track at the community level, the places to which learners had transitioned and on those that had challenges. The transition status was keyed in by volunteers with the support of local administrators, while banking on the Primary school institutional heads who provided the initial information.

The transmission of data to the NEMIS system by the institutional heads was all tech enabled, which means that schools that had poor internet access and generally low data coverage, especially those in the north, were not able to transmit data in real time. The implication is that the transition rates as computed in the NEMIS system potentially leaves out some regions due to data inaccessibility. But even within the regions with good network coverage, there were conspicuous disparities, as not all schools were equally connected.

This necessitated the need for community accountability approach, where transition data was provided by the multi-stakeholders including individuals, households, community members and subcounty administrations. Hence, the differences in transition rates reported in the NEMIS and that sourced from the community. These challenges particularly highlight the importance of technological penetration in facilitating transition rates surveillance to inform decision making. Hence, provision of technological resources would be a catalyst in realising 100% transition policy in the Kenyan context.

Authors

• Dephine Anyango Otieno, Zizi Afrique Foundation

• Maurice Mutisya, Zizi Afrique Foundation

• Joshua Magero, Zizi Afrique