How ABEP intervention reduces out-of-school menace in Adamawa

Education especially at the basic level in Adamawa State is witnessing rising prospects as hundreds of out-of-school children who are removed from the streets are finding their ways into the embrace and comfort of education courtesy of the Accelerated Basic Education Program in Adamawa State.

The Accelerated Basic Education Program (ABEP) was conceived to provide alternative education paths and opportunities for over-age, out-of-school children and youth, enabling them to catch up with their peers and potentially return to mainstream education.

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The program also aims to provide these individuals with certified competencies equivalent to basic education and to offer alternative career paths through vocational training.

In Adamawa State, the program is recording tremendous milestones as parents, children and other critical stakeholders have embraced it based on its robustness, efficacy, reach and good outcomes.

During a fact finding visit to Gombi local government area of Adamawa State, one of the local government hosting a number of ABEP centers, pupils, were seen receiving knowledge and mentorship at both formal and informal structures established by the global partnership on education.

This paper learnt that the choice of Gombi local government for the establishment of the ABEP centers was deliberate and strategic for the fact that Gombi, is one of the local governments with unprecedented number of out-of-school children.

In a chat with newsmen at one of the informal centers, a critical stakeholder and a village head, Jauro Isa who doubles as SBMC member expressed tremendous happiness over the establishment of the program in the local government adding that it has given a new lease of life to many children who have been roaming and wandering the streets.

“We’re happy that like other children, our children are also back to school. Before the coming of this noble program, our community was seriously backward because our children who should be the torchbearers of tomorrow have been reduced to scavengers and vagabonds who roam the streets aimlessly.

“But now our ecstasy knows no bounds with the establishment of these learning centers, making us to have confidence that the future of our children is safe now,” he said.

When asked whether they encounter challenges with parents who refuse to enroll their children, Jauro Isa said all parents are complying and positively responding adding that the support of parents was almost total and general.

Also speaking with newsmen, the education secretary of Gombi local government, Yahaya Balarabe noted that the program is fully on course.

“We have two activities as regards to this program. We have the formal one  at Gombi I, primary school and the non formal ones which we just finished inspecting. The non formal one enrolls out-of-school children while the formal one is for children at government schools.

“The non formal one has taken many children off the streets. We have 62 learning centers for non formal and each center enrolls about 50 pupils. This means that we have reduced reasonable number of out-of-school children.

“The community and the parents are happy with the program because the program has given parents who do not want to enroll their wards into formal system the opportunity to engage them in non formal one which is more flexible to the needs of the pupils and parents, since the program was brought to their locality.

He noted that for continuity and resilience, the GPE is mainstreaming the Adamawa State universal basic education board and giving local education authorities the support needed to enroll and to support retention.

Also speaking, Abdurrahman Ibrahim Ado UNICEF education specialist Bauchi field office said the ABEP is trying to bridge the gap for out-of-school children and targets out-of-school children especially those that have not started schooling and those that have started and dropped out at some point.

“When you look, you will see some of the pupils are overage and they did not start primary one that is why we came with the idea of accelerated basic education program so that when we target these children, we will enroll them into the centers as you can see we have level one, level two and level three.

“Level one is equivalent to primary one to three level. If a child finishes level one, he can proceed to primary four. If a child completes level two, he is equivalent to primary 6. So Adamawa State agency for mass education will give him certificate to proceed to JSS1. He can also proceed to a vocational center. So if a child completes level three that is equivalent to JSS 3, so he can proceed to secondary school. The curriculum for ABEP is a condensed curriculum and can be completed within 9 months. Three years can be completed within nine months.

“Then coming to the formal center, we realized there is learning gap such tha you will see a child in primary four primary five and primary six but cannot answer questions or cannot solve a simple arithmetic problem or to read sentences.

“That is why we said let us come with the strategy teaching at the right level. It is a strategy will impact knowledge to the learners. It is not like the previous method where a teacher will come and teach without taking note of whether learning has taken place or not but this is a strategy where the teacher will access the level of the students,” he said.

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