Eljojo Divine Heritage Academy

Vision

To raise a generation of leaders who know and understand their God-given purpose, and are well equipped to exercise dominion over the earth and its vast resources to the glory of God.

Mission

To provide sound and quality education for the total development of the child; spirit, soul, and body.

Core values

L-E-A-D- Leadership, Excellence, Advancement, and Discipline.

Leadership: We believe there is a leader in every child; training, coaching, and mentoring will bring it all out.

Excellence: We believe every child is unique and distinct, every child should stand out and excel in their assigned destiny path.

Advancement: We believe there is a great future for every child; we invest in them the knowledge, skill sets, and attitudes that fuel their journey into that great future. We nurture every child for the future.

Discipline: We train every child to improve their inner strength and self-control.

 Motto: Education for Dominion

Constance Omaye is the Chief Operating Officer. She is a senior executive of the organization tasked with overseeing the day-to-day administrative and operational functions of the business. She reports directly to the president and is the second in the chain of command.

The LEAP Project is directly positioned under the COO in the Edupreneur department. It has an implementation team and instructors. Under the direct supervision of the COO, the implementation team assists with program design and management, material development, and measurement for effective implementation.

Instructors assess children to be enrolled, group them according to the results of the assessment, and facilitate engaging reading and mathematics activities to help them progress.

Improving learning outcomes among primary school pupils through Teaching at the Right Level Methodology in Kogi State.

Nigeria has 18.5 million out-of-school children; 60% of whom are girls. 5 million young women cannot read a simple sentence, 6 million children aged 3-5 years are not currently attending Early Childhood Development (ECD) and 8.5 million children of aged 6-11years are out of school. One in five of the world out of school children is in Nigeria, only 61% of 6-11years old regularly attend primary school and only 35.6% of children aged 36-59 months receive early childhood education. These figures are the highest anywhere in the world. 

In northern Nigeria, the picture is even bleaker, with a net attendance rate of 53 percent. Providing sustainable learning access for children of school age especially girls poses a massive challenge. Education deprivation in northern Nigeria is driven by various factors, including economic barriers and socio-cultural norms and practices that discourage attendance in formal education, especially for girls

The majority of rural children in Kogi State north-central Nigeria do not have access to early childhood development education that prepares them for basic/primary school education, as a result, they lack the foundation for basic literacy and numeracy, they are unable to read simple sentences and perform basic arithmetic even in primary 2-5 classes.

Our project uses the Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) methodology to increase the literacy and numeracy skills of primary school pupils in rural Kogi State. 

Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) was first developed by Pratham to improve the quality of education in rural India.  It is a learning method that enables children to acquire foundational skills, like reading and arithmetic quickly. Regardless of age or grade, teaching starts at the level of the child. This is what is meant by “Teaching at the Right level”. The TaRL method developed by Pratham was originally designed keeping in mind children who have already reached Standard. III, IV, or V but still have not acquired basic skills. The focus is on helping children with basic reading, understanding, and expressing themselves as well as arithmetic skills. Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) in Africa began in 2016. The methodology has been used in some states in Nigeria but is yet to be piloted in Kogi State. Our project is seeking to pilot this model in Kogi State.

The TaRL methodology embraces children learning variability. Unlike the traditional classroom grade teaching and learning, children are grouped by level rather than by grade for instruction. Children move quickly from one group to the next as they progress. 

The assessment pattern of the TaRL methodology is also an additional indicator of its learning variability; unlike the Pen-paper grade-level test done at the beginning of a phase and at the end in the traditional learning methods, TaRL uses Simple quick one-on-one oral assessment at the start for grouping. Similar assessments are used periodically to track progress, data discussion, and review is done at all levels. Aggregate school or class-level data is used to propel the program, not child-wise data.

Review of related literature on TaRL implementation in Nigeria

In September 2018, the Borno State Universal Basic Education Board and Ministry of Education, with support from UNICEF, Plan International, TaRL Africa, and the Foreign Commonwealth Development Office, launched a six-month TaRL pilot in 12 schools reaching about 9000 children in Borno State.  During the pilot period, the number of children able to read a simple paragraph increased from 14 percent to 45 percent. The ratio of children able to do a simple subtraction rose from 11 percent to 59 percent. TaRL Africa’s team in Nigeria at present supports Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) programming across five states in North East Nigeria.

In 2021, TaRL Africa began working closely with UNICEF as they planned for TaRL to expand within Borno and to the bordering states Adamawa and Yobe. Due to the priorities of state governments, the expansion incorporated an approach designed to develop English skills, From Familiar to Formal (L2F2) developed by Pratham and piloted in Uganda. This approach uses the mother tongue – Hausa and Kanuri, to help learners learn a second language.

In Kano State, the Kano Literacy and Maths Accelerator (KaLMA) pilot was launched in October 2019 by the Kano State Universal Basic Education Board, Ministry of Education, and Sa’adatu Rimi College of Education in collaboration with the British Council and Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) Africa with funding from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). Due to COVID-19-related school closures, the pilot was put on hold from April to December 2020 and resumed in schools in January 2021. During school closures, a package of remote support including radio broadcasts, text messages, automated voice messages (AVMs), and a toll-free line was developed to provide Home Based Learning (HBL) assistance to families in Wudil and Dawakin Tofa. Educators were also supported during school closures with continuing professional development (CPD) delivered via WhatsApp, text messages, and AVM in Maths and English. Given the uncertainty surrounding the spread of the coronavirus and lessons learned about the importance of home engagement during the school closure period, some home-focused support, alongside the in-school KaLMA program,  continued to be provided in 2021. This included foundational reading and mathematics worksheets, activity text messages, and ongoing radio broadcasts.

In response to the learning losses borne out of COVID-19 school closures, the Kebbi State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) applied for funding from the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) to support a TaRL pilot in 2021. Kebbi state government has indicated their desire to grow TaRL intervention to 5 more local government areas in the 2022/23 academic year.

Through this project, we are seeking to carry out a pilot of the methodology in Kogi State, North Central Nigeria. The outcome of this pilot will be useful in determining the effectiveness of the methodology in Kogi State and providing shreds of evidence for its adoption and expansion.

The shreds of evidence from the pilots of the Teaching at the Right Level methodology from other states in Nigeria suggest the likelihood of its success in Kogi State.

The need to pilot the Teaching at the Right Level methodology is urgent and is needed now because;

1. The rate of educational backwardness in the state is alarming, a rescue is needed now to rescue the next generation.

2. It is a significant positioning and contribution towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

1. How can the Teaching at the Right Level methodology increase literacy skills among primary school pupils in Kogi State?

2. How can the Teaching at the Right Level methodology increase numeracy skills among primary school pupils in Kogi State?

3. What are the local/contextual factors to be considered in the implementation of the Teaching at the Right Level methodology in Kogi State?

3 primary schools identified as TaRL pilot schools

6 TaRL instructors recruited and trained

150 primary school pupils identified and assessed

150 primary school pupils enrolled in the TaRL community learning group

Using quasi-experimental research, we will use both preintervention and postintervention measurements to establish the effectiveness of the TaRL methodology in helping primary school pupils increase in literacy and numeracy skills within 3months.

In the pilot, the project will form community learning groups for children; an initial preintervention assessment will be carried out to help in assigning pupils to the community learning groups based on their appropriate learning levels. The preintervention assessment assesses each child using an oral, one-on-one assessment. This one-on-one interaction between instructor and child is a critical step in connecting the instructor to the learning level of the child. The assessment is an opportunity to discover each child’s highest learning level. As soon as the assessment is finished, instructors group children according to their levels and focus on building the relevant foundations.

At the end of the 3 months, the postintervention assessment is conducted to measure the improvement in the child.

The results of this study will provide pieces of evidence for us to advocate for the use of the Teaching at the Right Level methodology across all primary schools in Kogi State.

It will also provide the basis for us to mobilize additional resources both from public and private partners to improve the literacy and numeracy skills of primary school pupils in Kogi State.

Additionally, it will provide opportunities to share back with the communities shreds of evidence of what works and to leverage community partnerships to expand the Teaching at the Right Levelmethodology.

1. Increased literacy skills among 150 primary school pupils in 3 pilot primary schools in Kogi State.

2. Increased numeracy skills among 150 primary school pupils in 3 pilot primary schools in Kogi State.

3. Developed partnerships with the Kogi State; Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Universal Basic Education Board, and Community Education Committees for the expansion of the TaRL project in Kogi State.