Uganda
Background
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, Uganda was already experiencing a learning crisis. The majority of children in school are not learning, with only 6% of children in Primary 4 able to read and understand a simple story and only 2% able to solve an age-appropriate math problem (World Bank, 2019).
TaRL Africa is partnering with multiple local organisations to address the crisis of learning in Uganda.
Background
Bridging the Gap program” is an innovative and first of its kind project implemented in Kyaka II refugee settlement. The aim of this project is to address the issue of language, which has prevented many refugee children from enrolling in school or caused them to drop out of school. This is due to the fact that refugees from DRC are transitioning from a French to an English curriculum when they cross the border into Uganda.
Young African Refugees for Integral Development YARID in partnership with Street Child have therefore utilized the TaRL methodology in order to help these children develop the foundational literacy and numeracy skills so that they can integrate into formal education. The project also works closely with the community and other stakeholders like the government of Uganda through the office of the Prime Minister and local government, UNHCR and other education partners in the refugee settlement.
Implementation Model
The refugee children go through a learning cycle for 6 months (1.5 months mother tongue, 1.5 months mother tongue and English and 3 months of English only) and then integrate into the formal school which the bridging centers are attached to. The children are required to attend daily literacy and numeracy TaRL sessions. The sessions are delivered by one Ugandan national teacher and one refugee teacher, who work together and use a combination of mother tongue and English to teach the children, with lessons being delivered solely in English at the later stage. The teachers focus on supporting the children to develop foundational literacy and numeracy skills using interactive and play based teaching methods so that they can integrate into formal education. They do this through grouping the children based on learning levels, rather than age or grade. This allows them to appropriately pitch the learning activities according to the children’s learning needs. Regular assessments allow teachers to regroup the children throughout the programme thus ensuring that activities continue to be targeted at their present learning levels.
Reach and Results
Yarid has reached a total of 1,380 children between Jan to June 2022 from our current 8 bridging centers in Kyaka II refugee settlement.
Through the intervention, Yarid has learned that community engagement with the parents and other stakeholders is key for the success of the project and it has greatly improved the attendance levels of the children. Additionally, the introduction of the initial mother tongue component has quickened the learning of the children because they feel comfortable to develop these literacy skills in the language that they are most familiar with. This has also been enhanced by the combination of the national teachers and refugee assistant teachers who work together to translate the sessions and ensure all children understand better. The peer to peer learning approach has helped so many children to progress, particularly during the lockdown period when the children were unable to attend sessions daily.
Key observation is there is such a high demand and there are many more children that are unable to reach but who would benefit greatly from the support!
Background
Like in many other countries, majority of Ugandan primary school learners, are struggling with foundational literacy and numeracy skills. This has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and as such, remediation programmes that can be integrated within public education systems are needed.
Through VVOB in Uganda, primary school teachers are equipped to deliver remedial literacy and numeracy lessons to P3, P4 and P5 learners using the TaRL methodology in a classroom setting. Currently VVOB is implementing TaRL in five districts targeting government aided primary schools and contextualizing for specific needs such as refugee and host community learners and socio-emotional learning skills. VVOB Uganda is currently implementing TaRL in 232 schools and by January 2023, 288 primary schools will have been reached.
To deliver the programme, VVOB’s main partner is with the Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) at the national and district level, supported by TaRL Africa, Harvard EASEL Lab, and IPA as technical/knowledge partners. The individual projects are currently funded by Unicef, LEGO Foundation and the Hempel Foundation.
Implementation Model
VVOB, through a team of master trainers, equips school teachers to deliver TaRL lessons following a school-based modality, with a target of running 120 hours for literacy sessions and 120 hours numeracy sessions within two school terms. These TaRL lessons are provided before and after ordinary school hours. The teachers received mentoring support from school-based mentors (Deputy headteachers) as well as from external mentors (associate assessors and coordination center tutors). Significantly, the support to the teacher remains aligned to existing teacher inspection and professionalization framework of the Ugandan education system.
Reach and Results
Periodic assessment results indicate promising improvement in learners’ foundational skills after only a short period of TaRL lessons. Data from 12,885 over age for grade learners from a total of 172 schools in the districts of Isingiro, Terego and Madi-Okollo where the intervention has been implemented for more than a term shows significant improvements in both literacy and numeracy rates. For example, 31.6 percent of learners can read a local language story fluently after one school term of attending TaRL lessons up from 12.9 percent before the start of the intervention.
Change in local language reading levels between midline and baseline
Change in local language reading levels between midline and baseline
Change in local language reading levels between midline and baseline
The pilot confirmed that the majority of Grade 3 to 5 learners in Zambia are lacking basic reading and mathematics skills, with more than half of children in Grades 3 to 5 in Catch Up pilot schools at baseline unable to read words.
The process monitoring results found that the programme was well implemented. Monitoring largely occurred as planned, and teachers stuck to the key principles of TaRL. Furthermore, they continued to implement the programme over time.
Zambia’s baseline scores were roughly comparable to the baseline in Haryana, India, where a TaRL intervention was proven to be effective in a randomised evaluation.
Learning outcomes improved significantly during the pilot period. According to the government data, the share of children who could not even read a letter fell by 26 percentage points from 33% to 8% during the pilot period, and the share of children reading with basic proficiency (a simple paragraph or a story) grew by 18 percentage points from 34% to 52%. In arithmetic, the share of students in the beginner group (who could not even complete two- digit addition sums) fell by 16 percentage points from 44% to 28% and the share of students with basic proficiency (able to complete two digits subtraction) rose by 18 percentage points from 32% to 50%.
Baseline and endline learning outcomes
