Project Update
With support from British Council and DFID, the School of Distance and Lifelong Learning is undertaking a GBP 60,000 project on enhancing parents’/community members’ capability to understand and act upon issues which prevent children from completing primary education and progressing into secondary. The three year project focuses on the importance of educating girls to achieve other MDGS relating to maternal and infant health and poverty alleviation through economic development. The Development Partnerships in Higher Education (DelPHE) initiative is between the School of Distance and Lifelong Learning, Ministry of Education and Sport, Department of Pre-primary and Primary education (PPE), and the Open University, UK, Centre for Educational Policy, Leadership and Lifelong Learning.
During the 2010/2011 academic year, the implementation team developed a training manual and other materials in preparation for the Change Agent training workshops in the two districts. In July 2010, the trainings were conducted for Change Agents at district and school levels. This involved a series of four trainings in each district; one involving the District Education Office staff, Head Teachers and Deputy Head Teachers of the pilot schools, the School Management Committee Chairpersons, Class teachers of P.1 and P.5 classes and senior woman/man teachers. The other three trainings were conducted in the three pilot schools in each district and they involved Head Teachers, their Deputies, class teachers of P.1 and P.5 classes, L.C 1 Chairpersons of the children’s villages and the Vice Chairpersons and the secretaries for Education on the Village councils.
In August 2011, the implementation team conducted follow-up monitoring meetings at each school to establish how far the Change Agents had gone in implementing the work plans they had drafted during the trainings. The three year project is funded by DelPHE through the British Council and will end in August 2012.
