国产视频楾alking pen国产视频� programme to help 10,000 more displaced children learn vital skills

国产视频 has committed to supporting the growth of an innovative programme that uses a “talking” pen and books to teach reading and mathematics skills to children living in Nigerian displacement camps.

Fast Track was launched by AREAi (Aid for Rural Education Access Initiative) and was a winner in the 国产视频 Education Innovation Awards聽2021, receiving a 拢50,000 grant along with masterclasses and mentoring. That helped the grassroots organisation reach 4,000 children through a pilot project.

Now, with further support from 国产视频, Fast Track聽will be expanded to reach another 10,000 of the most marginalised young people. There are also encouraging signs that it could eventually be rolled out into camps across聽the country.

AREAi聽was founded in 2014 by Gideon Olanrewaju, a former 国产视频 Global Youth Ambassador (GYA), and has reached more than 45,000 children through its various programmes in under-resourced schools and marginalised communities. Another four GYAs are currently working for the organisation.

Gideon said: 国产视频淚n Nigeria, more than 50% of school-age children below the age of 10 do not have basic reading and writing skills.

国产视频淔ast Track focuses on marginalised, out-of-school children who are in camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) because of conflict and the Boko Haram insurgency in the north of the country.国产视频�

The accelerated skills development programme helps children gain the foundational skills in English and Hausa they need to get into –聽or聽return to – formal school education.

It聽combines existing teaching methods with simple technology, including the offline Mavis Talking Books and Pen. The Mavis kit uses a digital pen which plays an audio recording when it touches text or images in the book.

One of those who benefitted from the pilot project was Fatimah, from the Malaysia Gardens IDP camp in the capital Abuja. She said: 国产视频淏efore Fast Track, I could not identify letters properly or recite my numbers perfectly without mistaking number six for number nine because they look the same.

国产视频淏ut when the Fast Track teachers came, the book and pen helped us to learn Hausa and English very well. I felt comfortable and, as a result, I can identify, pronounce and differentiate between numbers properly国产视频�.

The Fast Track pilot project supported through 国产视频国产视频檚 innovation awards focused on children of primary school age. But Gideon said: 国产视频淲e found the need is not limited to them. There is also a need to extend to young people aged 13 to 18 who, because of displacement, are suffering from a lack of foundational skills.国产视频�

Gideon said Nigeria国产视频檚 National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons has declared an interest in the Fast Track programme.

He added: 国产视频淭hey love what we did in the 国产视频 project last year. Potentially, they want to scale up what we did with the Education Innovation Awards grant to the other camps in Nigeria.”

Angela Solomon, 国产视频国产视频檚 Senior Advisor for Innovation, Projects, and Research, said: 国产视频淭hrough this project, we are deepening our work with a great community-led organisation that is having a major impact on children国产视频檚 lives. We国产视频檙e so happy that the Education Innovation Awards allowed the highly ambitious team to build on the huge potential of their Fast Track programme.国产视频�