BACKGROUND

Education is a fundamental human right. In 2016, 94% of school-age children were enrolled in primary school, compared to 72% in 2003. Despite the increase in enrollment, education quality in Mozambique still remains a challenge, with low levels of competency in reading and writing at the end of the 1st and 2nd grades of primary education. As a result, less than five percent of students demonstrate grade-level reading proficiency by 3rd grade.  Poor reading outcomes are due to a number of factors including limited resources for education and reading material, insufficient teacher capacity, teacher and student absenteeism, and limited community engagement in the daily life of the school. To address the challenges of poor education quality, the Eu Leio activity focuses on increasing community engagement and provision of supplemental reading materials.

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

The Eu Leio activity is focused on improving reading competencies of 1st and 2nd grade students through the distribution and use of learning and reading materials to target primary schools. Furthermore, the activity seeks to improve capacity building of school councils to increase social auditing and monitoring of education services, empower communities and parents to monitor early grade reading outcomes, and to hold education personnel accountable to local communities for learning outcomes.

EXPECTED RESULTS/IMPACTS

The activity aims to reach close to 110,000 1st and 2nd grade students to grade level reading competence, allowing them to easily understand what they are reading and master future knowledge. By the end of the activity, it is expected that over 27,000 of these students will be reading with fluency. Recent accomplishments include:

• 116 School Councils actively participating in and monitoring annual school plans and teacher/student tardiness and absenteeism;
• 116 school libraries established within existing school structures with 70 titles of books provided, and 144 teachers trained in library management and reading information;
• Increased number of community users of the Olavula SMS platform that enables parents and communities to ask questions and demand solutions from schools and school directors; 
• 116 District Education Plans elaborated based on critical gaps identified by School Councils and local Civil Society Organizations.