Specialised Advance Learning Program

According to UNICEF, Nigeria has about 10.5 million of the country’s children (aged 5-14) years that are out of school, even though primary education is officially free and compulsory. Additionally, there is an estimated 1 billion people of the world’s population living with disabilities; with an approximate of 93 million children living with disabilities. 

In developing countries, ninety percent of children with disabilities do not attend school, and usually face neglect and discrimination, this is despite the fact that in Nigeria, Section 17 (1) of the Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act states that a person with disability shall have an unfettered right to education without discrimination or segregation of any form. 

Additionally, gender, like geography and poverty, is an important factor in the pattern of educational marginalisation, UNICEF states. North-Eastern and North-Western States are especially behind in female primary net attendance rates of 47.7 and 47.3 percent, respectively. This, according to UNICEF, indicates that more that half of the girls are not in school.

The SAL Program therefore aims to contribute positively in this regard by building inclusive learning spaces for children of all abilities and from a diverse range of social standing. 

The SAL Program is designed to accommodate children of all abilities and is designed for the purpose of (i) Providing children from underserved communities with good quality education, and; (ii) Aid in developing best practices for designing and managing an effective and accessible classroom structure for students and teacher.

The program began with a 10-month pilot program (From September to July). Our focus during this period is to develop an effective teaching/learning structure and environment for children from low-literal, low-income households by improving 

Our solution seeks to improve the lives of students from underserved communities in the areas of academics, social skills, nutrition, as well as physical and mental health.  

These students come from low-income households are affected in three main ways; i) They have never attended a formal school, ii) They attend a cool with substandard learning tools and environments, and iii) Parents or legal guardians cannot afford to enrol all their wards in good schools. 

The SAL Classroom Program also provides additional support to students with disabilities. On a secondary level, the SAL Classroom Program also engages with parents/guardians of beneficiaries for the purpose of transparency and to actively involve and guide them on ways to support their wards on a social and academic level. 

The SAL Classroom Program addresses the issue of lack of access to education of good standards in low-income communities by crafting specialised solutions to the problems identified above. The Classroom has been specifically designed to encourage student/teacher and student/student engagement, the classroom has also employed an in-house cook to prepare two nutritious meals daily, as well as two supervisors that ensure all student and operational needs are met on a daily basis. The Program has one classroom teacher, who receives regular support from both supervisors. Additionally, the classroom has been designed to support students of all abilities through psychosocial support and physiotherapy for students with physical and other disabilities. 

All students went through a medical assessments and have been registered at a nearby private hospital, augmented by a medical fund, established to cater for the health needs and other medical emergencies. 

All team members of the SAL Classroom Program are qualified to fulfil their respective tasks. Our classroom teacher has years of experience teaching at an international Private School, is very emphatic towards all students, and pays special attention and makes sure individual academic and social needs are met. 

Both supervisors are also very well qualified for their respective roles as they have combined experience in welfare management, general operations, financial management, budget preparations, report writing, and student and staff support. They also are passionate about assisting students with their respective social or academic needs, and regularly assist other members of staff in carrying out their respective duties. 

The student cook has over 15 years of experience catering for local families and works with pre-planned meal timetables to prepare fresh nutritious meals on a daily basis. 

I serve as the Program Manager and have over 10 years cumulative experience in program design and implementation, budget preparation, financial management, internal and external communications, and people management. Since its inception in 2011, I have served in leadership roles for all programs we have completed and have built on my experience that serves to benefit the Specialised Advance Learning Program in the areas of expertise mentioned above. 

Additionally, like a standard school, we organise PTAs, engage parents to discuss their children/ward’s performance, and get feedback on how we can improve the classroom to meet their academic and social needs. We plan to conduct assessments on our beneficiaries’ family homes to assess how much their after school environment has an effect on them. Based on our assessments, we may recommend positive adjustments that can be made, or provide additional after school support as the need may arise. 

All team members live within close proximity of the classroom and, in various capacities, work with local low-income residents. Because of the geographical and anthropological layout of Kaduna, various social classes are in constant communication and this enables all team members to get an even better understanding of the needs of our various beneficiaries. 

Finally, all members are given the opportunity to provide feedback and constructive criticism on ways to improve our program delivery. Additionally, we occasionally invite members of the public to conduct independent audits of the program and provide feedback on observations and ways we can further improve the program. 

TECHNICAL

We believe with the vast network of people associated with SOLVE, we will be able to gain advice and experience in the requisite technical knowledge required to guarantee continuous growth and management of our program. Such technical experiences including improved program design, better SWOT analysis design and implementation of drafted solutions, as well as improved staff development and training. 

FINANCIAL

We also believe the network of people associated with SOLVE have the requisite know-how and capacity to assist us financially; this is not limited to financial assistance only, but other aspects such as budget planning and management, fact checking, better cost-benefit analysis, better financial management practices, training in the use of technical financial management tools and software, and access or links to local and international financial advisors and auditors, general financial transparency, and compliance to international best practices for effective financial management. Finally, we believe SOLVE will grant us access to some financial support that will enable us better implement our Program’s mandate. 

The SAL Classroom Program is innovative in the context of the location it is based in. A number of non-profits in this area tend to focus on short-term aid such as annual or quarterly feedback programs, or other school support programs such as scholarships or child academic support programs. Especially In the case of the latter, whilst noble, we believe is restrictive, in that it does not go the extra mile to understand the needs of the beneficiaries and as such cannot tailor specific solutions to the problems they face. Further more, we believe such aid helps short term, and does not necessarily equip beneficiaries with long-term capacities and skills that will promote their independence or contributions to societies at large. 

We strongly believe, that with the SAL Program, the special attention that is paid to all beneficiaries, as well as the structure we follow of 5 calendar years per cohort ensures that all beneficiaries are adequately supported academically and socially. Beyond direct student support, the SAL Classroom Program will also provide us with essential data on ways to improve student support for children from a diverse range of income levels, especially in developing nations. 

We believe the SAL Classroom Program will have a long-lasting impact on the beneficiaries, their parents/guardians by extension and the wider community because it not only provides academic, social, health and nutritious support to its beneficiaries, it also provides support for students with disabilities, and has been designed in a way that can be scaled and implemented with a bigger reach, encourage discourse around neglected issues such as disabilities and gender parity and create better communities through engagement with various stakeholders in respect to education and social development within our communities. 

IMPACT WITHIN THE NEXT YEAR

- Improve teaching methods via teacher support and training

- Increase student confidence through various social and other extra-curricular activity

- Improve student fluency in national language through daily student interaction

- Improve student fluency and numeracy levels from below basic to basic through daily academic activity

- Improve student physical and mental health standing through nutrition and health assessments and support)

- Improve the level of inclusivity in our classroom through observations of student behaviour and assessment of the impact physical and theoretical space has on student behaviour

IMPACT IN THE NEXT FIVE YEARS

- Further improve all areas listed above

- Raise student fluency and numeracy levels from basic to advance

- Provide addition support for students with disabilities

- Partner with registered schools to conduct independent academic assessments

- Supervise student transition to secondary schools

- Take in a new cohort of student beneficiaries. 

We conduct monthly, or bi-quarterly meetings were we discuss student progress, and other program progress, limitations or issues that need special attention. Through these discussions, we are able to measure how close or far off we are from the goals we have set for the program. We especially look at the following areas: 

- Student performance

- Student interest

- Other environmental factors (household, family interest etc)

- Physical or mental disabilities

All these factors are looked at from an individual level, and collectively as well. We do this so we can get a good sense of house each beneficiary is progressing on an individual and collective level. 

The SAL Classroom Program was informed by many years of field experience as well as from secondary research. Since its inception in 2011, IAED has completed 20 programs, a significant number of which are education-based, in low-income communities. We hosted several summer school programs over time and quickly realised three key issues; 1) There is a genuine interest in formal education, but various barriers to entry affect accessibility, 2) young students are quick learners that are able to comprehend learning materials very fast, and 3) continuous learning is required to ensure students do not fall behind or experience a gap in their knowledge. 

Understanding these key issues helped in informing the design for the SAL Classroom Program. The SAL thus caters for the needs of beneficiaries by removing any barriers to entry in accessing education of high standards, providing access to effective learning tools and environments, and ensuring that all beneficiaries have access to continuous learning. 

On the short term, all 8 beneficiaries will witness vast academic and social improvements, they will also experience better physical and mental development through our health and nutrition strategies, and their parents will be better informed of the importance of good education, as well as the social benefits it brings.

In the long term, all student beneficiaries would have experienced a primary school education of high standards, experience drastic social, physical and mental health improvements, and benefited for additional social care and support that would have otherwise been absent, if not for the SAL Classroom Program. 

In respect of the program as a whole, our long-term plans and outcomes include: an expanded reach to support more beneficiaries, additional partnerships to provide a more effective learning environment, and the opportunity to permit others to collaborate and understudy the merits of the program in the interest of implementing it across a wider geographical area. 

For the SAL Program, we have not created any technology from the ground up to support the program. Instead, we make use of pre-existing technology such as google cloud platforms for remote work, text-messages for interactions and information sharing with parents/guardians, and QR codes for fund-raising and sharing of information with various stakeholders. For the students, we have partnered with an NGO called Kode Kamp, to teach students A.I and robotics, and plan various extra curricular activities using tools such as Minecraft Education to promote creative and critical thinking skills. 

In the future, we intend to develop access to remote classrooms for children from low-income communities where all students can benefit from additional after-school support through channels that are low-cost, durable, easy to maintain, and efficient; making particular adjustments to the socio-economic context of the location said devices will be in operation.  

The SAL Program has a 50/50 split on gender inclusion and has been specifically designed to be inclusive of students of all abilities. 

Historically, IAED has welcomed a diverse range of people, with women especially taking up a significant amount of leadership roles. After a structural adjustment, IAED has still maintained that standard and continues to encourage all people to join its leadership ranks. IAED also has partnerships with other organisations that are lead by women doing great things. 

IAED currently has women in board membership and leadership roles, and continues to encourage people from all social classes, genders, and/or beliefs to join us in various capacities. 

Our key beneficiaries are students that should ideally be in primary school but are either out of school, or go to schools with substandard levels of teaching and resources due to their social standing. Every child that is of age school have access to good education, irrespective of their social standing, physical and or mental capacity, race, religion, tribe, or culture. Unfortunately, in Nigeria, a significant number of public schools a well below international standards, and have very little positive impact on students that are enrolled. Private schools that have good standards are often too expensive to be accessible to the vast majority of school age students. 

In that regard, the SAL Classroom Program is there to provide the following services to our beneficiaries and their respective parents/guardians at no cost to them: free access to a good physical and theoretical learning environment, free access to learning tools and resources, access to two free meals daily, free access to subsidise healthcare, free access to STEM tools and materials, free access to learning material, free access to school uniforms, bags and other stationary, free access to physical and mental support for all students, and free access to additional support from other stakeholder and partner support. 

In order to sustain the SAL Classroom, IAED employs multiple approaches to resource gathering, effective cost management, investments and revenue generation streams. 

IAED looks for resources and invests in operations that yield the most value for money through competitive pricing. IAED also, over time, looks into various revenue generating products and services. Lastly, IAED relies on grants and donations as its main source of revenue generation. 

Furthermore, IAED looks at a diverse range of ways to ensure that the SAL program and the organisation as a whole is sustained through the following:

NUTRITION: Stakeholder donation of food items, snacks, or drinks. 

PRODUCTS/SERVICES: Stakeholder provision of products or services for free or at a reasonably discounted price for the purpose of facilitating daily operations of the Classroom

STUDENT RESOURCES: Stakeholder donation of student resources such as reading and writing material, clothes, shoes etc, to be used by the student beneficiaries

OTHER RESOURCES: Stakeholder donation of products or services that are not listed by IAED. Stakeholders can suggest a product or service to donate, subject to approval by IAED 

Additionally, we aim to run various campaigns that aim to encourage sustained small donations from a large pool of people so as to guarantee consistent inflow of financial support. 

So far, IAED and the various programs we run have been sustained through small donations from individuals, monthly membership contributions, and quarterly donations by some of our partners; Haske Children's Foundation makes donations in support of students with disabilities under the care of IAED, and Patooty's makes general donations to support the program in its entirety. 

As at October of 2021, we received a total of 1,528,655 Naira cut across member contributions, general donations, partner donations, and direct donations.