Application of statistics in education and educational planning in kenya

1. NAME: KENNETH KITHINJI NYAGA.
TITLE
The Practical Application Of Statistics In Education In Kenya.

2. Table of Contents
1.0 CHAPTER 1......................................................................................................................................3
1.1 Introduction.....................................................................................................................................3
1.2 Importance Of Statistics To Education.........................................................................................5
1.3 Role Of Statistics To Education......................................................................................................7
1.4 Agencies Involved In Collecting Education Statistics In Kenya....................................................9
2.0 CHAPTER 2.......................................................................................................................................11
STATISTICS OF STUDENTS ................................................................................................................11
2.1 Application Of Statistics Of Students Enrollment.........................................................................11
2.2 Application Of Statistics Of School Attendance...........................................................................13
2.3 Application Of Statistics Of School Examination.........................................................................14
2.4 Application Of Statistics Birth Rate And Rate Of School Enrollment..........................................15
3.0 CHAPTER 3 .....................................................................................................................................16
STATISTICS OF TEACHERS AND ADMINISTRATION ..................................................................16
3.1 Teacher Statistics...........................................................................................................................16
3.2 Statistics Of Administration .........................................................................................................17
4.0 CHAPTER 4......................................................................................................................................18
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION.........................................................................................................18
4.1 Efficient Management...................................................................................................................18
4.2 Differentiated Assessment.............................................................................................................19
4.3 Personalized Teaching...................................................................................................................19
4.4 Reduction Of School Dropout Rate...............................................................................................20
4.5 Use Of Statistics In Construction And Standardization Of Tests And Examination. ...................21

3. 1.0 CHAPTER 1
1.1 Introduction
Statistics is the method of conducting a study about a particular topic by collecting
,organizing ,interpreting and presenting data. This data gives the concerning administrators the
chance to look on areas and help in decision making , may be a sector is performing poorly
and administrators need to remedy.
Statistics is however applied on many levels ,at times statistics at a simple level may mean
noting of simple patterns on a continuous basis and drawing conclusions that concur with those
patterns. An example being, noticing a busy highway therefore deciding to open a restaurant on
the highway, on a greater scale however it means spending ,months and probably years of

4. gathering data and analysis before making a conclusion example being the Monitoring of
Climate change .
There are many ways of carrying out statistics but the major stages followed by statisticians in
the statistical process are mainly the same and entail the following :-
a) Planning a study :Here one finds out the subject that requires investigation and comes up
with an hypothesis ,also one decides on what instruments to use in collecting data at this stage .
b)Organizing the data : One organizes the data collected in such a way that it effectively helps
present the underlying patterns of relationship between the data, today one can use statistical
softwares to achieve this .
c)Interpreting the data: After finding the relationships the data has or lack of it ,one has to
validate the relationships by making sure there are valid assumptions and if possible support
them with mathematical reasoning.
d)Presenting the data: There are various ways of presenting data most of them being using
tables and other graphical interpretations , here the presentation method chosen should show
the relationship between data at a glance and therefore enabling the consumers of the study
make decision fast.

5. Education statistics however is aimed to, and ,should present facts to help improve the sectors
performance this is only possible if the statistics are timely ,accurate and reliable, hence
flowing from this, all stakeholders in the sector have an increased chance of working on the
same goals and objectives.1
(Basic Education Statistical Booklet,2014)
1.2 Importance Of Statistics To Education
Since there is the recognition of the importance of a good working education system that will
sustain the developmental and social needs of the Kenyan society as described in the vision
2030.
There is the concern and understanding that there is a need to carefully and methodically plan
for and manage a good education system that will provide a human resource equipped with the
skill set that will be required.
Hence therefore there is need for educational planning ,which is a continuous,systematic
process involving the application and coordination of social and scientific research methods of
principles and techniques of education ,administration ,economics and finance 2
.
1 Basic Education statistical booklet , 2014 ,Ministry of educationkenya,,school census
2 BROLIN,K.G. “STATISTICS NEEDED FOR EDUCATIONAL PLANING “ .MEMORANDUM BY MR K.G
BROLIN OF THE UNESCO SECRETARIAT ,1972 .pg 2

6. The field of statistics thats deal with education is normally referred to as educational statistics
and majorly covers all types of quantitative and qualitative aspects of data that relates to
education and its processes.
There are three majorly know areas that can be distinguished
a. Census educational statistics -th normally concerns the educational characteristics of the
population , and take place at an interval of ten years done by the Kenya national Bureau
of statistics and tends to deal with statistics of literacy , mental ability and where there is
literacy the educational levels individuals have attained .
b. Administrative statistics – This statistics are normally related to educational institutions
and finance ,and are taken by statistical bureaus in official and non-official agencies
concerned with education. Here there is normally quantitative data on the teaching staff ,
students , administrative staff for many or all types and levels of education most of this
data is used for planning and financing .
c. Ad-hoc Statistics-In this area , all kinds of data collected in relation to education
problems which can be statistically analyzed. Most of this studies are done by Non
governmental organizations , churches, Students and the studies are mainly geared to
checking the welfare of the students , teachers and institutional facilities and their
efficacy eg Salaries of teachers ,Societal origins of students ,Mental health of Students
from bandit prone regions,Scholastic achievements of students.

7. 1.3 Role Of Statistics To Education
Statistics in general may have the following roles to education:-
a)Statistics maybe used to create trends ,on past and present conditions and hence showing the
direction of development to education ,and the rate of this developmental changes hence
administrators can predict future development of education thus enhancing decision making.
b)Once trends have been created they serve as the basis for making policies and educational
planning.
b)When plans and policies are made , statistics make it possible to measure the actualization of
this plans , and their impact.
c)They show the different relationships between different education situations e.g Boarding
schools and day schools ,Marginalized areas and Urban-sub urban areas.

8. d)They provide a basis for measuring between the levels of education and its impact to the
society and more so relevance of the education to developmental needs of the community .
e) They provide a picture of the educational conditions at a given time for conditions that can
be quantitatively determined . Eg the KCSE performance of Dadaab refugee camp students and
those at Kakuma refugee camp.
Statistics to education are important as they enable for the maintaining and improving of the
education system thus they are of most importance to the Educational administrator ,
parents,teachers and other entities that are concerned to the managing and developing of
education.

9. 1.4 Agencies Involved In Collecting Education Statistics In
Kenya.
The Kenya National bureau of Statistics is responsible for the national statistical system and its
contribution to the harnessing of credible statistics in the education sector is very critical3
.
Schools also take statistics concerning their students especially on attendance and other issues
related directly students .This is however reasonable because only the schools have direct
contact with the students on a daily basis.
Kenya institute of curriculum development through its department of curriculum and research4
it mostly conducts curriculum based research and mostly does it through its research
monitoring and evaluation department.
School management is the one that is basically tasked with taking statistics that are involved
with students due to the time they are exposed to students.
Kenya National Examination Council are mandated with setting and maintaining
examinations,conducting examinations and processing the results and undertaking research on
educational assessments5
and therefore are directly responsible to give statistics on national
examinations .
3 Ministry of Education Science and Technology, Kenya,”Basic Education Statistical Booklet”, 2014, pg21.
4 http://www.kicd.ac.ke/services/curriculum-and-research.html ,January 16,2018 0947HRS.
5 https://www.knec.ac.ke/home/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=44&Itemid=67 ,January
17,2018.1119HRS

10. Non governmental organizations are also actively involved in gathering information in kenya
there are groups such as Women Educational researchers of Kenya(WERK) which perform
continuous research on education .

11. 2.0 CHAPTER 2
STATISTICS OF STUDENTS .
Students are persons who are receiving the education , one mainly is considered a student after
enrolling in an institution of learning .
I will cover application of statistics of students through the following subtopics :-
2.1 Application Of Statistics Of Students Enrollment.
In most Kenyan schools one becomes a student or pupil after registering for learning and
fulfilling some conditions thereafter eg. Buying of Uniform paying of initial term fees even
after getting a registration number, thus one becomes a student after a specified process after
initial registration .
Once one is recognized as a student his /her name is primarily on a school register .it is
therefore presumed that a well kept school register will remove the names of the students who
have died, withdrawn from the school,expelled from the school, transfered from the school and
completed all the programs they were pursuing in the school. It will also add the names of the
students who have transfered to the school and registered late. The result of the count from a
class added to a single school then to an entire county then to the country will give the statistics
of how many students have enrolled , the ratio of girls to boys can then be checked , enrollment
of students from marginalized areas and the ministry of education can therefore take action

12. according to the statistics eg , due to the low secondary school student enrollment in the coast
region for form one placement in January 2018 the cabinet secretary extended the secondary
school registration process by 4 days(Gitonga ,2018).
Problems on application statistics of student enrollment in Kenya .
Case 1
Situations where double counting can be avoided
One of the major problems is that at times the pupils names appear more than one register it
can happen either through adding up of the enrollment register in different classes to get a total
in cases of a student who repeats a class or adding up the total of enrollment in different
schools to get a total for a school system where student has already transferred and hasn't yet
notified the former school. Thus it led to double counting and leads to errors being made when
using this statistics to budget and financing of the students by the government , budgeting for
and provision of books , provision of food and other necessary facilities.
Case 2
Situations where double counting cannot be avoided.
When students are enrolled in same institution.
In most tertially institutions students are registered at the same time in more than one faculty or
department eg most Bachelors of Commerce and accounting students will double up as
Certified public accountants of Kenya(CPA(K)) students since the examination body is
different they will have enrolled in different faculties or departments in the same institution

13. other cases are like most CPA(K) students are also enrolled to other courses offered by
KASNEB hence this students mostly have more than one students id card of the same
institution.
When students are enrolled in more than one institution
This occurs predominantly because students enrolled in university faculties are also enrolled in
specialized institutions of higher learning like most students in seminaries might be theology
students in universities.
2.2 Application Of Statistics Of School Attendance.
In most primary and secondary schools in Kenya and especially day schools students have a
daily roll call they take in tertially institutions attendance is checked in other ways like lecture
attendance. In Kenya most of the school attendance statistics is used by the school management
to deter truancy, improve attendance and as a result increased teacher student contact hours in
the aim of improving school performance.
Its used to identify group attendance patterns and hence group behavior thus the school
management and school administrators can design improvement efforts through cooperation of
students ,schools ,parents and community at large like if one is teaching in an institution with
predominantly Muslim population, the administration can end school week on Thursday and

14. resume on Sunday hence covering all time that would have been lost due to absenteeism on
Friday when having the make ups on Sunday like most Islamic religious students in
universities.
They are used as a means to keep attendance records on each of the students and hence the
school can always present them in correlation to students performances and hence notice if the
students are facing challenges in schools.
The statistics of school attendance are essential in tracking attendance , absence ,
tardiness,early departure to and from schools hence they are perfect to check on discipline
,health, and social welfare of students.
2.3 Application Of Statistics Of School Examination.
This types of statistics usually entail the number of students who sit in for an examination and
the proportion of them who pass and fail these examinations this statistics also include Grade
statistics mostly grade statistics are done in institutions of specialized learning where after a
grade curve is drawn the grade at half point represents the median grade of the score.
This statistics are always used to gauge the learning outcomes the curriculum and also to
gauge the performance of teachers and students .
This statistics are normally compiled after examination results and they can be used to track the
performance of students since enrollment to when they get out of the school.

15. In the national level this statistics in primary and secondary levels are provided by the Kenya
national examination council and are released together with the results ,they normally show the
performance of students in many dimensions eg by county , by schools ranks , by Gender , by
enrollment . And they usually help in taking affirmative actions where problems are realized.
This statistics are normally very detailed and can be used to check the quality of education in
the country in 2015 they show that one percent of the students were involved in irregularities
and this was a continuous increase from 2010 from 0.15% 6
and actions had to be taken to deter
examination irregularities.
2.4 Application Of Statistics Birth Rate And Rate Of School
Enrollment.
The statistics of birth rate are normally determined after taking a census and they show the
population growth rate , this statistics used together with the statistics of school enrollment can
be used to foretell the expected students to be expected to enroll in the future areas . This
statistics are very necessary especially in the development of schools . Universities normally
use this to make decisions on what to develop and at what extent , like do they need to build
small but many libraries or build a mega library . Do they need to develop student hostels or
6 http://www.mygov.go.ke/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/2015-KCSE-ESSENTIAL-STATISTICS.pdf . January 17.2018
1050HRS.pg17-20

16. would rather develop lecture halls and leave student boarding to the private sector
who can provide it at a higher and more sustainable rate.
3.0 CHAPTER 3
STATISTICS OF TEACHERS AND ADMINISTRATION .
This is the statistics concerned with persons who are responsible for dispensing education , this
includes teachers , educational administrators , and other auxiliary personnel who don't teach
but are necessarily for education to take place.
3.1 Teacher Statistics.
This statistics are normally used by administrators mostly while they need to employ ,
promote,transfer and retire teachers , They normally include the count of teachers ,the count of
teachers per learning unit ,count of teachers per region , those employed by school boards and
by teacher service commission , those working in private and public schools there age and
other ,important details.
The count of teachers may be obtained from a central register mainly from the teacher service
commission or from adding up reports on teachers from individual schools , although statistics
on teachers can be taken and analyzed in various ways like stated in the previous paragraph
they mainly refer to the number of teachers in service or number of teaching positions already

17. existing7
. These two numbers are likely to be different because of unfilled vacancies ,substitute
teachers or and part time teachers and teachers who fill more than one position at the same time
.This data is always used to determine the amount of teachers needed for training and the
number of teachers who are needed to be employed . One can use this data to check the ratio of
students to teachers and in essence the productivity of teachers in general.
Using this statistics in conjunction with those of the country's birth rate and teachers in training
one can manage to forecast the amount of teachers needed in future and thus enabling the
government to prepare for and train new teachers according to the skills it wants its populace to
attain eg more vocational (skill based )training rather than academia based training.
3.2 Statistics Of Administration
This statistics may include statistics like teacher retention rates,educational administrator retention rates
, statistics of administration staff like medical staff , accountants , policy makers and other key
personnel . This statistics are very easy to maintain at primary and secondary schools as there are very
few personnel involved but at tertially levels , most colleges have numerous campuses spread all over
the country and the eastern African region . This statistics are mainly used for administrative purposes
and to help learning institutions and there campuses run smoothly
.
7 UNESCO, “Manual of Educational Statistics .” 1961 .pg76

18. 4.0 CHAPTER 4
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
The educational statistics can be generalized into broad application of statistics which Eunylson
Lopes on his article Benefits of statics applied to education explains
4.1 Efficient Management
The data produced in school environments is not stored on a single platform. This dispersion of
information hampers the work of administrators. One of the greatest advantages of the
application of statistics to education is the optimization of school management.
The organization of students data and grades, for example, allows for administrators to better
evaluate any school-wide issues that emerge. Thus it becomes much easier to find solutions,
set goals and achieve the proposed objectives.(Lopes. E,2008)
Especially , the use of statistical applications and database management systems for school
performance greatly helps teachers and students in this task, but it is important for schools
administration to have a strong commitment to the implementation of these technologies.

19. 4.2 Differentiated Assessment
Statistical support for educational management can also help to better evaluate the data
produced by students. Triangulating data from both internal and external assessments is one of
the most effective ways for educators and administrators to identify areas for improvement and
areas of strength.
Data analysis can also help point to the effectiveness of the assessments themselves, allowing
teachers to identify which items may be flawed in their presentation, or may not align with the
instruction or school standards. Educators can then improve and refine their assessments
according to the student data presented.( Lopes. E,2000)
4.3 Personalized Teaching
Applying statistics in education also enables educators to construct a superior learning
experience within the classroom. With a large number of students in the classrooms, it is more
difficult to know each one individually. This makes the qualitative assessment of students a
great challenge, almost impossible. However, by analyzing collected data it is possible to direct
teaching to each student profile.

20. Educators can then utilize data analysis from assessments, such as formative assessments, to
inform their teaching strategies to better target each individual student. This data can help
point educators to possible benchmarks that need to be reviewed before being assessed, or
others in which the students are already demonstrating mastery. Student data from assessments
can also help educators differentiate their teaching strategies, targeting different learning
styles or level of readiness, so that each student is able to learn at the pace and in the manner
that best fits him/her.
With this, data analysis allows for the adaptation of content and materials according to
the students’ experience. Thus, we see the birth of adaptive learning, which relies heavily
on the use of statistics in education.(Lopes. E,2000)
4.4 Reduction Of School Dropout Rate
Student dropout rate is one of the biggest problems faced by educational institutions today
especially at the higher level. Every year large numbers of students drop out of school, and this
happens for a number of reasons.(Lopes. E,2000)

21. However, this problem can be understood by applying relevant statistical analyses. Cross-
referencing data for a given student can help identify if he or she is a potential dropout. From
there, one can create customized campaigns in order to improve students’ perception of their
courses and education in general.
Statistics is today one of the greatest tools for educators and administrators in the development
of educational practices. (Lopes. E,2000)
4.5 Use Of Statistics In Construction And Standardization Of
Tests And Examination.
Standardization assessment are defined as assessments constructed by experts and published for
use in many different schools and classrooms ,these assessments are used in various contexts
and serve multiple purposes , the standardized tests are practical , they are easy to administer
versus other assessments there construction involves a lot of data collection and analyzes about
different student profiles, the subject content the social and Geo-political factors affecting the
students for a collective standardized examination to be constructed.

22. CONCLUSION
REFERENCES
1. Lopes, E. (2018). 4 Benefits of Statistics Applied to Education - United Statisticians. [online] United
Statisticians. Available at: https://unitedstatisticians.com/blog/statistics-applied-to-education/?lang=en
[Accessed 20 Feb. 2018].
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BROLIN, K. (1965). Statistics needed for educational planning. [Memorandum]
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0015/001561/156141eb.pdf, UNESCO SS/6/72/WP 3.
Gitonga, W. (2018). Government extends form ones reporting date by four days - Citizentv.co.ke.
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23. Lopes, E. (2018). 4 Benefits of Statistics Applied to Education - United Statisticians. [online] United
Statisticians. Available at: https://unitedstatisticians.com/blog/statistics-applied-to-education/?lang=en
[Accessed 20 Feb. 2018].
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content/uploads/2016/03/2015-KCSE-ESSENTIAL-STATISTICS.pdf [Accessed 20 Feb. 2018].