Getting Ready for School Programme: A Child-to-Child Approach
Child-to-Child in Practice: Getting Ready for School Project, Yemen. April 2009
The three year school readiness pilot project initiated by UNICEF and the Child-to-Child Trust in 2007 came to an end in May 2010. The project took place in a small number of countries worldwide to increase enrolment to class one in primary schools and to decrease drop-outs particularly among disadvantaged communities where children have no opportunities to attend pre-schools. Six countries representing different geographical regions were identified to participate in the pilot. They are Bangladesh, China, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Tajikistan and Yemen.
The overall goal of the initiative was to increase both the child’s readiness for school as well as the school’s readiness to receive and foster optimal learning environments for its youngest pupils. More specifically, the initiative aimed to:
Increase both girls’ and boys’ on-time enrolment in primary school;
Ensure that children arrive at school with a strong foundation in language, literacy and numeracy and the social and emotional skills needed for learning;
Decrease early drop-out rates and enhance overall primary school performance.
The Child-to-Child Concept
The Child-to-Child concept was used as the basis of the Getting Ready for School project because it is one of the most promising alternative channels in the quest to provide cost effective and efficient interventions in ECD in developing countries. It is a viable intervention channel that is based on two simple and self-evident assumptions.
Apart from (or in addition to) their primary care givers (usually parents), young children below school age are influenced most by other children; typically older siblings, playmates or “minders”, with whom they interact on a daily basis.
By working with these older siblings, playmates and minders, who are already in school, the education system can build on this natural phenomenon to influence child development and school readiness in a more systematic manner.
The proposed intervention enabled older children (Young Facilitators) already in school to provide much needed support to younger children (Young Learners) before they started school. This enabled the young learners to develop early learning competencies and to get ready to start school at the right age.
Project Outcomes
Findings from the end of project evaluation and country support visits carried out by the Child-to-Child Trust to the pilot countries during the course of the project have shown that, the initiative promoted significant and positive outcomes for older children, parents, families, teachers and schools as indicated below.
Primary school children - have improved their educational engagement and performance. The project had also increased their self esteem, positive attitudes toward learning, and their increased understanding of the importance of school readiness. The children also showed significant improvements in their academic engagement (attendance and self-reported grades in academic subjects), an increase in their positive attitudes toward learning, and an increase in their appreciation for the importance of young children’s school readiness.
Parents and families – have increased awareness and knowledge of the importance of child development. There was however, a small programme effect on the number of activities that caregivers engaged in during the project duration to support their young children’s learning and this is an area that the project will be required to strengthen in the next phase of implementation.
Teachers – have increased their awareness of the importance of early childhood for later learning. They believe in the importance of school readiness in the areas of mathematics, motor skills and social and emotional learning. In the area of child-centred pedagogy, a large programme effect on teachers’ belief in the importance of providing feedback to students to help them improve their work was found.
School systems - fostered linkages and partnerships between the school and home. The schools became more aware of the needs of their youngest learners and have plans in place to create child-friendly learning environments for their children to contribute to raising educational standards.
Conclusion
In spite of the challenges that countries encountered at the start of the project, it was evident at the end of the project that, great progress has been made by each of the pilot countries towards achieving the project aim and objectives.
The project was very successful partly because it involved the direct and active participation of children as agents of change and not just communicators of health and education messages. A lot was achieved with regards to the increase in enthusiasm and confidence of the trainers and teachers in delivering their role.
The Trust played an important role in the preparatory and implementation phases of the project with regards to training, developing of intervention materials and providing support to countries as required. The countries see a role for the Trust in the next phase of implementation especially in the areas of supervision and mentoring the trainers to improve their training of teachers and Young Facilitators, support with reviewing the intervention materials and expansion into other geographic areas in the countries as well as scaling up into other countries.
Case Studies
March 2010
Getting Ready for School Update: Child-to-Child initiative in Ethiopia
The CtC session has enabled children to achieve their true potential. One father whose children, son Babina, enrolled in grade one at Dima Primary School for the academic year of Sept 2009, and younger daughter Mitu, who attends pre-primary class at Dima Primary School have both attended a CtC session. He said “My children are enthusiastic about the session, they are enjoying it and the speed at which they are progressing has impressed me much. I have full trust and confidence in my son’s future”.
The schools and teachers have been following the progress of the Child-to-Child young learners and facilitators are glad and ready to receive as many children as possible and continue the Child-to-Child implementation.
August 2009
Getting Ready for School Update: Child-to-Child initiative in Bangladesh
Shafiq Alam, 10, is in Grade 5 at Pallanpara Government Primary School in Teknaf. He meets his Young Learners, his cousin and neighbour, Amina and Mohosena three of four times a week. Amina says she likes it when Shafiq and Mohosena come to her home, and she would like it even more if they came every day. “We learn songs and rhymes together” she says, citing the “Alphabet Song” and “Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” as her favourites.
The project is also expected to have positive impacts on the Young Facilitator, adding to their confidence and developing their life skills. Shafiq agrees that he is more confident as a result of being a Young Facilitator. “I was very proud to be chosen to be a Young Facilitator” he says, “it shows that my teachers think I am a good student, and capable of leading others.”
The Head Teacher at Pallanpara GPS, Mrs Sulema Akhter says that the project has received support from parents of the Young Facilitators and the Young Learners. “Parents of Young Learners are happy that their children are being prepared for school, and parents of Young Facilitators are proud that their children have been chosen for the project”.
July 2009
Getting Ready for School Update: Child-to-Child initiative in Bangladesh
The Child-to-Child programme was launched in March 2009 and was piloted in 30 schools in six upazilas, or local sub districts, which were chosen for their high drop-out and low school completion rates. The approach is designed to educate young children the year before they enrol in primary school.
“Pre-school learning is an important component of early childhood development, which prepares children for primary school, decreases drop-out rates and increases learning achievements in the long term,” said UNICEF Education Officer Sari Korkalainen. Facilitator Momotaj, 10 years old, said “The children are good students, they learn quickly and practice all the time”. On reflection of his role Momotaj said “I love to teach, so it also benefits me. I’d like to go to University and become a doctor”.
Momotaj meets with her teacher once each week to review the previous class and plan for the next one. Her “students” are Bipul and Nahid, both five years of age. The trio get together every day to discuss what they have learned.
“I expect Bipul will be well educated now,” said his mother, Bedana Begum. “Every day, he is taking time to learn something and he can express his opinions and interests. His concentration is better now and he takes very good care of his school books.”
April 2009
Getting Ready for School Update: Child-to-Child initiative in Yemen
Saeeda Salam, 17, is a Young Facilitator at Al Yarmouk School in the Taiz Governorate of Yemen. She should be finishing high school, but she is still in grade seven. Saeeda started school late because of poverty and is now working hard to break the cycle of exclusion and late enrolment in school, which particularly affects girls in Yemen.
As a Young Facilitator, Saeeda volunteered to be part of ‘Getting Ready for School: A Child-to-Child Approach’, a pilot initiative that aims to bring early learning opportunities to children who do not have access to, or cannot afford, pre-primary education. “I joined the programme to help young children prepare for school,” said Saeeda. “I enjoy being part of this programme, because I learn how to deal with younger children.”
In a country where few preschool-age children have access to preschools or early learning, this initiative offers a cost-effective alternative to delivering early learning opportunities to a population who would otherwise be excluded. It also offers countries the chance to break the vicious cycle of late enrolment, dropping out and poor performance in school.
Gender equality in education is a major issue in Yemen, with only 41 per cent of school-age girls attending primary school, compared to 68 per cent of boys. Opportunities worsen as they progress through the system, with only 13 per cent of girls and 35 per cent of boys attending secondary school.
Although it’s in its early stages, parents and teachers report that the programme is already gaining momentum in remote communities where children have yet to be reached with early learning opportunities: “I can already see the difference in Labib,” said Halah Nagi, about her four-year-old son, who is benefiting from the programme. “He is now singing and is able to identify animals,” which, according to Nagi, was not the case for his siblings when they were his age. A mother of five children, Nagi never went to school herself.
January 2009
Getting Ready for School Update: Child-to-Child initiative in Tajikistan
According to local early childhood education expert Ms. Mehrinisso Valikhojaeva, Child-to-Child provides an alternative approach to strengthening primary school preparation that could be used to meet existing needs in rural areas. As “Parents are often priced-out of the few pre-schools that do exist and the Government cannot afford to build the traditional, large Soviet-style preschools in every rural village”.
Teachers have observed that the programme is helping develop leadership skills among the Young Facilitators. It also consolidates and strengthens their knowledge of and ability to apply the academic material they have already learned. “At first I wasn’t sure that the programme would work since it is only children teaching other children, but after the first few weeks, I can already see how much progress the younger ones have made,” said a teacher supervising a Child-to-Child classroom at School No. 33. “Normally when children first come to school, they cannot even hold a pencil. These children already know how to count, and how to read some letters and numbers. I hope to have children who have gone through this programme in my class next year.”
