Niger: Learning, Yes, but How?
Razina Boukari, an 11-years-old 5th grade student, welcomes us with a big smile.
"Things have changed a lot since last year," she says. "Before, I would sometimes fall asleep at school because it was so boring and teachers didn’t care anyway, but now we work in small groups, and we talk to each other more. We don't have to deal with things we don't understand by ourselves. We help each other.”
The teachers themselves are well aware of the changes that have taken place, and of their impact. "Before, we sort of treated children as if they were parrots. Truth be told, we didn't know what else to do. We dictated information to them, which they learnt by heart and would eventually repeat to us."
Promoting teamwork In Niger, fewer than 3 children out of 10 were in school in 2000. Eleven years later, it is the opposite: fewer than 3 children out of 10 are still out of school. The number of children registered in primary schools is three times higher than in 2000.
However, this progress, albeit impressive, has some shortfalls. For one, many teachers were hired despite their low level of education, and they were not properly trained to face the challenges encountered in the classroom.
The evaluation of the level of education that took place in 2007 revealed the magnitude of this problem. Most children finished the primary school cycle without being able to read. Consequently, the Ministry of Education implemented a number of measures aimed at improving the quality of teaching, implementing in particular a drastic reform of the teachers’ training curriculum.
The first generation of these newly-trained teachers joined the schools in October 2010, and attendance officers and educational counselors are continuing to work with these new teachers to show them how they can use educational practices to stimulate children's learning abilities, rather than just feeding them with facts and information.
Moussa Ibrah, director of the New Coed School, explains:
"With the support of UNICEF, teachers are attending trainings facilitated by Educational Counselors from the Ministry of Education. I can tell that things are changing little by little. Teachers are realizing the added value of these trainings. Children participate more, and teachers, who were using rigid educational methods, now seem to get used to this new methodology, even though they did have some doubts at the beginning. Pupils learn with their teachers, of course, but I have noticed that now they learn at least as much with their peers."
One teacher cites the example of her own class: "We are indeed changing the way we teach in a positive way. We even use the space differently to apply these new ideas. Children are now put in groups of six. We are the facilitators, and this new class disposition, which is more open, allows us to circulate better between groups to help the children.”
"We are very proud that our school received the label of a Child-Friendly/Girl-Friendly School,” says Director Ibrah, referring to the UNICEF-sponsored programme designed to improve both school facilities and instruction. “It is not that easy, you know, as you have to achieve gender parity in the school and to meet 70 per cent of the quality assurance criteria that teachers of Niger have themselves established. We have a school government composed of students, which undertakes small improvements that are within our reach with the help of the school management committee."
For the past two years UNICEF has been actively supporting these essential actions to improve the quality of education. In a country as poor as Niger, supporting partners in the long-term is key, because there are very few resources left once salaries have been paid. These resources are usually needed to support important initiatives, such as building classrooms, without which schools would have to wait for the end of the harvest period to be able to build additional space – generally huts made of millet stems. Resources are also used for buying essential furniture and textbooks, as well as other basic supplies.
Without the support from UNICEF and its partners, there could be no teachers’ trainings. And while it will probably take years for the impact of this training to show major results in terms of student performance, Director Ibrah is philosophical: "We all know that we need to pursue and intensify these trainings if we want to achieve a sustainable change, don't we?"
