Tracking Reading Achievement Lag at Primary School Level in Manicaland Province, Zimbabwe

Abstract

The study sought to determine the magnitude reading achievement lag (if any) caused by world economic crisis and in particular in Zimbabwe when the country experienced its worst economic crisis between 2006 and 2008. During this period most teachers left the profession due to what were perceived to be meaningless salaries. Regressed and subdued teaching was experienced during this period. A random sample size of 10727 pupils (5291 boys and 5436 girls) from four districts in Manicaland Province participated in the study. Three hypotheses were generated and tested at 0.01 level of significance. The results show a significant relationship (0.99) between the grade of the pupil (years in school) and performance lag. The achievement gap widens with an increase in the number of years in school. Urban schools are better off than peri-urban and rural. Rural schools achieved the least. On average 96.3% grade 4 pupils, 94.6% grade 5 pupils and 93.3% grade 6 pupils were achieving below their grade levels. The difference between expected achievement and actual achievement was significant at each grade level.