So, lets Serve!
Serve Ourselves
So, lets Serve!
THE MAIN ISSUES IN THE ZAMBIAN EDUCATION SECTOR
The Zambian Education and Skills Sector Plan (ESSP) 2017 – 2021 provides details of Key Issues relating to Early Childhood Education, Primary, Secondary and Tertiary levels.
The number of public centres for ECE in 2016 was only 1,849 with a total of 160,424 learners (77,993 males and 82,431 females), from a total eligible population of 2,118,289 (3–6-year- olds). However, the rate of enrolment is still below 10 per cent of the total population of the target age group.
WHAT DOES OUR RESEARCHERS AND TUTORS (called SO Servers)
BENEFIT FROM THIS INTERVENTION?
The Zambian SO Servers are admitted at our institution to undergo training in the following courses of the Serve Ourselves program:
1. Community Awareness
2. Research for Impact & Project Management
3. Teaching Children
4. Sampling & Data Collection
5. Excel
LOOK OUT FOR SERVE OURSELVES IT-BASED PRODUCTS COMING SOON!
Serve Ourselves is going to unveil an extremely low cost product for use on all kinds of phones. This platform is a low cost initiative which is used on any kind of phone. With more than 13 million phone users in Zambia and many users in rural areas, this revolutionary system is expected to uplift many school children’s confidence and it will motivate parents and guardians to participate in children’s education for better outcomes.
No internet connection needed for access to educational services and materials.
The package is an easy to use platform which can be used by children, guardians and teachers More Details Coming!! So, let’s get together and get it done together!
Mobile Phone Based Education Resources
The Serve Ourselves project coordinator Mr. Brian Mbulo has hailed the government for introducing free education. Mr. Mbulo has stated that free education has just come at the right time. He observed that the next step after access is quality education which the government should now ensure to achieve. In his reaction to the government’s policy on free eduction
Free Education Reform in Zambia
Serve Ourselves conducts workshops for early childhood teachers. These workshops are meant to empower early childhood teachers with the various skills needed when teaching early learners.
Our workshops are tailored to the needs of the teachers.
Educational Workshops by Serve Ourselves
Supporting children experiencing educational disadvantage…
We provide personal one-on-one tutoring for free. We train community workers in: Community Awareness, Research for Impact & Project Management Basics, Teaching Children, Sampling/Data Collection and Excel.
We will do it ourselves!
Zambian children from underprivileged homes do not have the same chance of high quality education services such as tuitions, availability of teachers and educational resources. Such children, especially those in rural areas may never have the chance to compete in this global world. Distance to school, poverty, gender disparities, inappropriate school infrastructure are among the issues causing a lack of confidence, sustained school dropouts and absenteeism.
Quality Education, Access & Equity for disadvantaged children
Shakespeare Advanced Level (working as Serve Ourselves) provides free tuition to underprivileged children from early childhood to primary school. We empower communities by training tutors, offering low cost IT based products and offering free face-to-face tuition. Serve Ourselves introduces a low cost IT product using SMSs to provide revision lessons to every child.
Every struggling child should have a one-on-one chance with a tutor
Pupil:Teacher ratio is still high in many primary schools. A personal one-on-one with a pupil is a luxury which many poor families cannot even imagine. Serve Ourselves is providing this facility for the most underprivileged. The gap in learning hours between the urban children and the rural and underprivileged children is wide. It needs to be closed.
This is also noted in the Zambian Education Sector and Skills Plan (ESSP) – 2017 to 2021 which states that only 52% of teachers were actually in classrooms teaching during school hours. The ESSP also states that the actual time spent in school is a source of substantial inefficiency (and inequity) and of great concern is the fact that only 3 to 4 hours a day are spent in classroom instruction in Grades 1–4 while Grades 5–12 spend on average 4.5 hours.
This is despite the standards guidelines stipulating 5 and 6 hours respectively. The contact time plus the after school tuition in urban areas widens that gap further. It is totally unfair for these underprivileged children.
Community Awareness should be conducted to ensure that every child is in school
Among the factors that National Assessment Surveys have identified over the years as being associated with learning achievement levels include:
- Home background and motivation
- Teachers’ motivation and background
Most recently Education Sector Performance and Quality Service Delivery Survey (QSDS) tested pupils and teachers and found that:
- Pupils’ own background
- Longer school hours
Use of low cost IT products is essential in ensuring access to quality education
Many technology products in various parts of the world including Africa prove that the use of technology can help whole communities to have access to learning materials. The challenge is mostly on electricity and internet access. This challenge has been overcome in some areas when products are availed to the underprivileged in packages that do not need any internet connection or prolonged electricity supply.
Serve Ourselves provides IT based products which are low cost and which take into account the absence of sustained electricity supply to equipment.
Join or Learn how you can help
- Volunteering your services in offering free tuition using our standard program
- Help by providing bursary support for a child or a child’s family
- Help by buying SMS bundles for a child
- Attending our free education, advocacy, data collection and monitoring and evaluation course so that you get empowered and participate in reaching every child.
Click on the Volunteer button below or GOTO the Join Us menu item above. You can also send an email to [email protected]
