Children in class. Kiambu tops the country's performance levels. [Photo: WMongare]Despite topping the country in learning levels, Kiambu County ranks poorly in supporting Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE).The county has been rated ‘below average’ with two out of 10 ECDE centres in the county benefitting from the county government. This is half the national average. And as if on cue, 34 out of 100 children of preschool going age are not attending preschool.On the brighter side though, a study by Uwezo shows that three out of 10 Class 3 pupils in Thika East district can read a Class 2 story compared to 65 out of 100 in Kikuyu district. 28 out of 100 Class 3 pupils in Thika East district can do Class 2 Maths compared to 64 out of 100 in Kikuyu district.But, there are 13 teachers per school with 11 streams in urban areas and 11 teachers for similar schools in rural areas. Githunguri district has six times as many teachers per stream as Ruiru. Children aged 6-16 years who can do Class 2 work showed the highest level of literacy in class 2 syllabus.Nine out of 100 pupils missed school on the day Uwezo of the visit compared to 7 out of 100 teachers who miss school daily. 14 out of 100 pupils were absent from school in Gatundu district compared to 5 out of 100 pupils in Thika East district.Out of the nine districts in the county, Githunguri emerged top with an average of 62.34 followed by Gatundu 61.618, Kiambu56.81, Lari 56.62, Ruiru 55.72, Kikuyu 55.73, Thika West 52.85, Limuru 49.77 and Thika East 47.1.On average, girls are outperforming boys in reading both English and Kiswahili stories in the county. Kikuyu district has the highest literacy levels in English while Gatundu stands out in Kiswahili. Literacy levels in the county are higher than the national average.Nationally, Kiambu is ranked 47.4% and 55.8% in the county rank.

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