Teacher Training in Zambia – We meet Sajida
January 5, 2015
In Zambia we work in the Kalomo District of the Southern Province, where we have developed a strong and dynamic relationship with the Kalomo District Education Board and over 25 schools. We are now the only organisation supporting the Kalomo District Education Board to strengthen the quality of primary education in the region, since a number of large international NGOs have ended programmes. Despite the reduction in NGO support Kalomo remains one of the most impoverished in the Southern Province with some of the lowest examination results in the country according to Government statistics. In 2011 the district was placed ranked last in the National examination league, and literacy rates stand at around 30%.
With the District Education Board we identified lack of trained teachers as a main contributing factor to this poor performance. Many community teachers are working without training, and often without pay. To address this problem, for the last year we have been working with Charles Lwenga Teaching College to support 20 community school teachers from Kalomo to study towards a Diploma in Education. Learning out of term time over the course of three years, these teachers will eventually become government-accredited teachers, and much better equipped to teach the curriculum. By investing in teacher training we aim to boost quality standards and improve educational outcomes for children in the district.
Sajida is one of the twenty young teachers enrolled on the teacher training programme.
It’s very quiet in Sajida’s classroom when we visit as the children take their end of term Maths test. Sajida says of her training, “I’m enjoying. What we’ve learnt is how to manage a class. To understand the behaviour of the children. I have to understand the behaviours of each different child. And it helps me see that, this one learns this way, she can understand.”
“My ambition for the future is to go up a grade, getting more knowledge of education and becoming a better teacher.”
With your help, teachers like Sajida are receiving the training they need to provide the quality education that will give children a brighter future.
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