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A new report has shown that less than half of adolescents can read simple Grade Four books. According to the Assessment of Life Skills and Values in East Africa (ALiVE) report, about 43 per cent of adolescents — 42 per cent male and 44 per cent female — cannot read basic Grade 4 text.

“About 15 per cent of adolescents, comprising 17 per cent male and 14 per cent female, were completely unable to read an English text,” the report shows.

Only 37 per cent of the adolescents responded correctly to all the three comprehension questions provided.

Similarly, it showed that adolescents with higher reading levels have higher proficiency levels in problem solving, self awareness, respect and collaboration.

During the survey, a total of 17,276 adolescents from 14,197 households aged 13-17 years from 798 enumeration areas were assessed. The study also revealed that one in ten (10 per cent) of the adolescents were proficient in collaboration.

Most adolescents, 47 per cent, collaborate through speaking, being attentive in discussions, and engaging actively in performance tasks but are unable to take a position, contribute ideas, and prompt others to action.

Releasing the findings, Zizi Afrique Foundation executive director — who is also the ALiVE Principal Investigator — Dr John Mugo said the report is a product of collaborative work among over 2,000 people across Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.

Worthy competencies

 “The journey has just begun. It will not stop until teachers and parents understand the worth of these competencies, and homes and classrooms yield into breeding grounds for life skills and values,” he said.

The report has revealed that only 6 per cent of adolescents express high respect for others. At least 52 per cent of adolescents are able to interpret bad behaviour as a lack of respect for others and may take conciliatory steps to resolve situations.

They are, however, unable to act respectfully in defence of others and self.

The report also shows that only 5 per cent of the adolescents are proficient in problem solving.

However, more that half (55 per cent) of them are able to recognise the existence of a problem from one perspective and act on that to identify a possible solution. But they are unable to identify multiple approaches to solving a problem, the study shows.

Higher proficiency

“Adolescents with higher levels of  education have a high proficiency level (8 per cent) of the adolescents with a secondary level of education compared with 4 per cent of the adolescents with just a primary level of education,” it states.

The report found a significant association between problem solving and reading.

It showed that 7 per cent of adolescents who are fluent readers, and only 3 per cent of those who are non-fluent readers, are proficient in problem solving.

“There is no significant difference in  problem-solving levels of adolescents from different social economic backgrounds, standing at 4 per cent, 6 per cent, and 5 per cent of the adolescents from low, middle, and high-wealth groups, respectively, the report shows. Overall, only 9 per cent of the adolescents are proficient in self-awareness. It shows that most adolescents can regulate their emotions (70 per cent) but remain unaware of the multiple ways in which others might perceive and react to such situations.

The survey was conducted by Regional Education Learning Initiative (RELI) and Zizi Afrique Foundation.