School kids teach it forward in Tigray
By Elshadai Negash
Like any other 14-year old girl in rural Ethiopia, Senait Berhane is inspired to work hard in school and curve a different future to her parents who toil the semi-fertile lands each day in Atsebi district of the Tigray region about 840kms from the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. She dreams of becoming a doctor when she grows up and enjoys physics and chemistry lessons in school.
This Child to Child (CtC) programme is part of an equity-focused, gender responsive and cost effective strategy introduced and piloted by UNICEF in 2008. Cluster Resource Centre Schools (SCRCS) were the entry points to introduce the programme and play a vital role in coordination & coaching. School teachers mentor young boys and girls in grades 5-7 and above to become facilitators for their young siblings and neighbours. The Ctc not only runs during summer breaks, but also throughout the school year where student facilitators use weekends and non-class shifts.
Senait and her 'students' sing a song about mothers in their native Tigrigna
In the school year 2010-2011, the child to child approach was implemented in six regions, where 32,937 students in grades 5 and 6 were trained as young facilitators, and 4,208 teachers from 1,421 schools were involved. As a result, 161,375 children participated in the CtC programme in all six regions. In Tigray Region in the 2011/12 academic year, over 133,746 children has registered for the CtC programme. In Atsebi Womberta woreda (district) over 4,474 (2,180 female) are enrolled in CtC education, while 894 young facilitators and 48 teachers were trained.
A total of 894 student facilitators, of whom 492 are girls like Berhane, teach around 4474 kids aged 4-6 with no previously access to education. They are provided bags and books using locally-available teaching materials.
“This scheme has really helped increase in primary schools by 50% in the woreda,” Tsegaye Nega, planning expert with the Atsebi Woreda Education office. “We also see an increase of the quality of students who enter formal school through the CtC approach. Unlike students, who were not part of the scheme, students who come through CtC are not afraid of the school environment and are less of a burden to teachers when they introduce them basic reading and writing.”
The simple, but cost-effective approach (costs about USD 5 per child) to introduce the children to letters and numbers using music and plays a big part too. Berhane, for examples, gather her ‘students’ around a circle and shows them how to count with games using small stones. She sings songs to them about the love of parents and country and teaches how to count in their native language, Tigrigna. They enjoy themselves getting to play like regular kids, but also pick up the numbers and letters.
“It helps the confidence of the children to introduce them to school using play,” says Nega. “Many of the parents acknowledge the difference between children who have gone through CtC and those who have not. Parents are accepting of it as well.”