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Background
In implementing Todos Pelas Crianças (TPC) meaning “all for the children” Mozambique project, Facilidade set the objective of bringing the quality of learning to the center of policy decisions in Mozambique. This was designed to systematically achieve two outcomes;
1. Bring evidence on the state of learning by periodically assessing children’s reading and arithmetic skills using the citizen-led assessment approach;
2. To propose methods and practices that can improve children’s learning.
At the moment, the results of the TPC assessment are worrying. Only 1 out of 10 children aged 7 to 16 can read a simple grade 2 story. After publishing the report on the state of learning in Mozambique in 2017, the TPC team invested in finding solutions. In partnership with PAL Network, TPC team designed a new program to be implemented in schools and communities to help in improving the current state of learning of children as is the current priority focus of TPC.
This learning of children facilitated by TPC Mozambique uses Wichutha Nithuelaca a method borrowed from “Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL)” methodology developed by Pratham in India. Wichutha Nithuelaca means “learning playing”. It is a combination of didactic methods and full of fun tools that ensure that children, grouped according to their competency levels, learn to read and do basic arithmetic within 50 days. The TPC Mozambique team participated in the TaRL workshop held in Nairobi, Kenya between April 14-24, 2018. In addition to a great deal of learning about structure, content and methods, they took up the challenge of implementing this method in Mozambique.
Wichutha Nithuelaca’s implementation steps
Step Zero: May 03, 2018
Matilde, Lino, Amélia and I came together to define the model and plan our first learning camp. We agreed to hold the camp within the Facilidade’s yard starting with the children within our neighborhood, those around us. We thought that it is important for the surrounding children to know what we are doing. And who knows, it may become a Tradition of Facilidade. We agreed to extend our first experience to potential trainers. We identified retired teachers, newly trained teachers, some volunteers who worked on the assessment of TPC and Facilidade staff. Amelia Ussene and I mobilized the children. We split the neighborhood into two. Amelia mobilized the children from the east side and I mobilized those from west side of our neighborhood. Our mission was to walk from door to door, talk to parents and children and mobilize 40 children. On May 4, 2018, at 2 p.m., we had 50 potential participants. We faced no difficulty as the children we spoke with called other children, the parents we spoke to told other parents, and some mothers volunteered to help where necessary. One grandmother asked for help, “please take my grandson and help him. I cannot manage the kid anymore.” Some young people also showed interest in volunteering.
Step 1. Selection and training of trainers
We invited eight potential future trainers of trainers. Rosalina, a retired teacher, declined our invitation, that Wichutha Nithuelaca was a lot of work for her. Apart from Facilidade team, five people attended the training in our office. Three of them were trained teachers and hold a grade 10 certificate plus two years of training. They are trained to teach children from grade 1 to 7. Also, the most important candidates because they had, in our view, the profile of the teachers we are going to meet in schools. We subjected all candidates to the test. The same test that will be used to assess and group children.
I assessed Mariângela, she is 24 years old. In simple story reading, she made four mistakes. She also made many punctuation and intonation errors. In addition, she got one of the operations wrong. When I showed her the sheet with the operations of subtraction, multiplication and division, she sighed deeply and said to me: “You got me here!”. She took 26 minutes to solve the 12 operations of the test. To solve the multiplication and division, she used the traces and balls in the sketchbook. She did the operations as a grade 2 child does. In the end, she got only 5 out of 12 basic operations right. I was heartbroken. Lino, Matilde, Amélia and I met to check the candidates’ test results. None of them had managed to hit half of the exercises. This saddened us. We argued for almost half an hour trying to figure out what was going on.
Some conclusions about this reflection:
a. We conceived our first model on the basis of a wrong assumption. The problem is not just with the pupils. Some teachers are at the same or worse level than a grade 3 child.
b. These teachers are also victims of the same system that we are trying to fight. We never talk about it but the problem we face is not just teacher absenteeism but also what they do when they are present.
The reflection continues. Unfortunately, we had to dispense with all the trained teachers. We worked with other young volunteers and we tested many activities. Tomorrow, at 10 a.m. we will welcome the first children in our backyard and we will go with them to play and learn.
Step 2. The learning camp started
After assessing potential trainers, we began a refreshment of training content with our potential trainers on May 7, 2018. In addition to the Facilidade team, we also had Guilhermina, Esperança and later, Lídia. All of them have worked with us before as trainers. We explained to them what Wichutha Nithuelaca involves, and we prepared them for the D-day.
On May 8, we received in the Facilidade yard the first children who participated in our learning camp. Six children arrived first, half an hour before the agreed time. As time passed-by, the group continued to grow. At 10 o’clock, we peeked into our waiting room and found 21 children.
Améia, Matilde and I looked at each other excitedly. I could see the enthusiasm in their eyes. At the same time, we got apprehensive, afraid that things would not go as expected. We also felt unprepared. But, had reached point of no return. We had only two options: to advance or to advance. We did the sorting of the children. Four of them are underage. We decided to let them stay to have fun with the others. We did only reading assessment. Eight children are at beginner level, another eight are of the word and paragraph level and only one in the story level. This was our first surprise. We thought that in a middle-class neighborhood of the city, we would not have children at the beginner level. We then created two groups: group 1: beginners and letters, group 2: words and paragraph. Matilde welcomed the children and explained what we wanted to do over the next ten days. Amelia facilitated a whole group activity with dancing. I facilitated the activity of storytelling. I told the story of the sweet potato girl that Agnes from Ilbisil primary school in Kajiado County in Kenya, told us. When I finished telling the story, four other children also told their stories. We went into small groups, the words and paragraph level group practiced the map of imagination. It was a joyful activity, which left us with tears of joy. But, the most revealing happened in the group of beginners. What kind of children are in this group? The more restless, the timid, the less skilled. In our view, in this group is the hardest work of Wichutha Nithuelaca. In more than 30 minutes, we did not get out of the syllabic reading activity. Besides, most of the children are struggling, Isa who is nine years old but in grade 2 is watching the activities and really enthusiastic. Even as an observer, she is actively participating.
We decided to include her in the group. We concluded that the strategy to deal with the group of beginners is to divide it into smaller groups.
Step 3: Facilidade – The House of Learning
On May 9, at 10 a.m., the Facilidade reception room was small. Apart from those who attended on day one, 15 more children came. Certainly those on the first day liked what they did and invited their friends to come. A father came into the offices to learn more about our work and asked to bring his daughter who is in grade 3. Meanwhile, Zizi, my 12-year-old daughter and Mussa, our communications assistant, can’t stop taking photos and making videos of the activities.
I spoke to Dayton, a boy who was not on the first day but today he came. I asked him.
Me: Why did you come?
Dayton: Because this is the house of learning. He replied.
Me: House of learning? Why do you think so? I asked again.
Dayton: My friends said they learned a lot here yesterday.
It was terrific. I felt that the seed we had sown was already having shoots. We began with the numeracy assessment. None of the children was in the 1-digit level, five were at the 2-digit level and the rest in the 3-digit group. However, in problem solving, only four out of 32 children solved all operations. We performed number chart reading and number recognition with sticks and bundles. Many children came with their sticks.
I left the office at 6 p.m. On the way, I found a group of four children playing along the side of the road.One of them shouted at me. “Uncle Armando. See you tomorrow.” “See you tomorrow, Mussa.” I answered. Let’s see what Mussa and his friends reserve for us tomorrow.
