Education

Education

A girl at school. A girl attending school at Save the Children Sweden operational area. (Copyright: Sophie Mosko, Save the Children Sweden)

Save the Children is working towards fulfilling the right of all children to education.

Advocacy. We carryout extensive advocacy work, both at federal and regional level, in order to help improve education related policies. At community level, we carryout awareness raising programs targeting parents, teachers as well as education officials.

Access. We help create access to education for children through supporting basic education programs in the country in various ways.

Quality. Side by side creating access, we build the capacity of the government and other stakeholders to improve the quality of education. To this end, we support teachers training and provide textbooks. We also carry out quality education research projects.

Inclusive education. Save the Children promotes inclusive education. We help create conducive environment for marginalized children such as children from ethnic minorities, children with disabilities, street children, working children, children in pastoralist areas, orphans and children affected by HIV/AIDS, to benefit from the education system. Accordingly, we train teachers on inclusive education and mobilize communities to identify out-of-school children and encourage their participation in school.

Early Childhood Care and Development (ECD). We support pilot projects on ECD that combine home-based and center-based approaches. The ECD program we support integrates health, nutrition and play. We deliver training to mothers and pre-school teachers on child development and parenting.

Girls' education. Save the Children promotes gender parity in schools. We help create favorable situations for girls to go to school. We recruit female teachers who can as well serve as role models for girls. In this connection, we also encourage the participation of women in school management committees.

Formal Basic Education. Save the Children supports the formal education system. It finances the building of schools, classrooms, etc. and equips schools with the necessary support such as textbooks, library, etc. We also support teachers training programs.

Alternative Basic Education (ABE). We promote ABE, so that children who, for various reasons, could not benefit from the formal education system. Adopted by the government, the ABE has become part and parcel of the education system of the country. This has eased the transition from the ABE to formal schools. Some of the success factors include the following:

  • The curriculum compresses the first four years of formal schooling into three years and is equivalent to the first cycle (grade 1 - 4) formal schooling.
  • The ABE is linked with the formal school system. When children complete ABE they join grade 5 in the formal system. 
  • As learning centers are located near their villages, they spend less time walking to and from school. Hence, they will have adequate time to help out at home. 
  • The community is involved in the process of accessing the learning centers. They match inputs. They also participate in the management of the centers. As a result of this, they have high sense of ownership to the program, which in turn contributes to the sustainability of the program. 
  •  ABE focuses on the learning needs of children. The textbooks take into account the daily lives of rural children. And, classes follow a flexible academic calendar.