OVERVIEW

School councils (SCs) are the school bodies charged with monitoring quality of services, improved school management and accountability. SC members are elected and typically include representatives from the community. SCs are partially composed by parents and local leaders who are often adults who typically have limited access to information on how school councils should operate. SC members also lack the capacity to hold school staff accountable for providing quality education, starting with the effective use of available instruction time for improved learning outcomes. In addition, there is a great diversity amongst teachers and directors of schools, in terms of their levels of training and experience which contributes to significant differences in student performance.

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

This project empowers communities to more effectively hold their schools accountable for providing the required number of instruction hours in early grade reading and improving overall reading skills. While school councils (SC) are comprised of parents, students, teachers, school directors, and local community leaders, many members are not aware of what schools are required to provide or how the SC can hold schools accountable for outcomes. This project strengthens the capacities of 6,300 individual council members in Nampula and Zambézia through training programs, advocacy work and behavior change interventions. In turn, the 420 target SCs will be better equipped to demand better quality education in their schools and monitor teacher and school performance and develop greater community involvement in education. The project also works with administrative-level consultative councils so that they can support school managers in ensuring prescribed quantity of instruction is delivered to children in early grades. The activity targets grades 1, 2 and 3.

EXPECTED RESULTS/IMPACTS

By the end of this activity, it is expected that knowledge on policies and sector issues as they relate to SCs’ responsibilities and roles will improve for approximately 420 selected school councils. Furthermore, the quantity of early grade reading instruction to target school children, participation and inclusion in local decision-making organs will be improved. Other expected results include:           

• Increased quantity of early grade reading instruction;
• Improved community knowledge of the importance of early grade reading; and
• Improved community participation in local decision-making entities to reinforce consequences for poor performing teachers.