Period of Performance: |
October 2004 through September 2009 |
Themes:
IRI, Primary Education, Mentoring, Technical Capacity Building
Project Goal:
To support the continuation and completion of Interactive Radio Instruction programs up to and including Grade 9, and to assist the Zambian Ministry of Education’s Educational Broadcast Services (EBS) division in monitoring, evaluating and improving the reach, quality and human resources capacity of the IRI project.
Overview:
The MOE reports that 700,000 children are out of school, many of them orphaned by HIV/AIDS. QUESTT (Quality Education Services Through Technology), a new award granted in 2004, is a dot-EDU Leader with Associates Award that aims to improve the quality of basic education delivery systems and mitigate the impact of HIV/AIDS on Education for children in and out of government schools. To accomplish these objectives, EDC is leading several initiatives to support in- and pre-service teacher training through the integration of IRI in government schools and technology based interventions in zonal teacher resource centers. EDC is also continuing its work providing quality education to the most vulnerable children in Zambia through IRI programs incorporating life skills for orphans and others affected by HIV/AIDS and sensitizing communities on issues of HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention.
The IRI for Out-of-School Children and Orphans project began as a 20-week pilot project in 2000 that tested the demand for an alternative, interactive basic education program for orphans and out-of-school children, and also developed communications infrastructure and technical capacity to implement such a program. This initiative is a partnership between the Ministry of Education’s Education Broadcast Services (EBS), communities, churches, NGOs, the Peace Corps and EDC. With the pilot successfully completed, an expansion was granted in 2001 to amplify and clarify the strategy for IRI. The current Award builds on these experiences and facilitates further improvements in quality, capacity and increased participation of the Ministry of Education.
Project Quick Facts:
- In 2003, 518 centers with 22,000 learners were registered with the MOE, and in 2004 the approximately 700 centers are reaching about 30,000 children.
- Achievement tests at Grade 4 indicate that children in IRI centers perform about the same as those in schools, and a little better in mathematics, but cover four grades in two years.
- The annual recurrent cost for delivering two grades of basic education in 2003 was about $3.00 per child.
List of Partners:
- Education Development Center
- Zambia Ministry of Education
- Peace Corps
- Educational Broadcasting Services (EBS)
For more information, please contact:
- EDC Vice President, Mike Laflin, mlaflin@edc.org
- EDC Associate Project Director, Atiya Hobbs, mhobbs@edc.org
- EDC Program Assistant, Jennifer Kennedy, jkennedy@edc.org
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