Pre-Primary Schooling & Out Of School Education
Developing Pre-Primary Schools
Early childhood care and education is one of the most critical and cost-effective investments a country can make in its people and overall development.
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Children who get quality early childhood care and education before age 5 perform better throughout their schooling than those who don’t. Quality early childhood education also helps reduce repetition and drop-out rates in primary school. Early childhood education is one of the best investments a country can make to prepare children for learning and give them a chance to thrive later in life.
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While government insists on children aged 4 – 6 attending school, it provides no additional funding for schools to house or teach these children. As a result, young children often gather unsupervised waiting in the hope of some interaction.
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This is problematic as the early years are critical to laying the foundation of a child's development. As children enter primary school unprepared, they struggle starting formal education already disadvantaged, particularly in an environment with 100+ students in primary classrooms. This problem is even more acute in IDP communities such as in the Waru/Wassa axis of Abuja where we operate.
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We have established 3 pre-primary schools across the Waru/Wassa axis of Abuja with a staff team of 20 teachers, ALL but 1 of whom are women from IDP settlements and local communities. Our teachers are trained to deliver an effective, child-centred, approach resulting in giving children the skills, knowledge and confidence they need to begin their formal education.
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However, in order for our teachers to be effective they need a regular salary and adequate teaching resources / equipment. As such, a significant proportion of our budgetary resources are allocated to providing salary security for our teachers.
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The result is that our staff go above and beyond in working with the children in our schools and, very importantly, these women, who are themselves IDPs, are able to provide a stable source of income to support their own children.
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With additional resources, we intend to establish additional pre-primary, and eventually primary, schools in the IDP community areas in Abuja.
Creating Accelerated Learning Hubs
As a result of having to flee their homes and be relocated into IDP camps and settlements, a considerable number of youths, aged 8 – 16, have failed to complete their primary school education. With poor numeracy and literacy skills, these young people face extremely limited vocational and income opportunities, and career paths.
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In the IDP settlements where we work, we have identified over 100 such youths who have indicated that they would like to attain their First School Leavers Certificate, which is awarded to pupils who have completed primary school. After having gained the certificate, they will have the opportunity to enter secondary school or opt to learn a vocational skill.
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We have established 2 Accelerated Learning Hubs where enrolled students learn maths, English, social studies and elementary science on weekdays from 2pm to 5pm, and on Saturdays from 9am to 12pm.
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The objective of this accelerated program is to prepare, ideally, over the course of a single academic year, the students to sit and pass the First School Leavers Certificate exam, resulting in a qualification that will allow them to continue their educational journey, or acquire a higher-level vocational skill.
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Currently, due to financial constraints, the demand for this program far outstrips our available resources. Additional funding we receive will be invested in rolling this very high impact program out to more individuals and communities.
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As IDPs, many of these youth have experienced significant violence/terrorism induced trauma. As a result, we endeavour to provide psychosocial support and mentoring to support them and ensure a better educational experience all around.
