Education for All in Kaolack, Senegal

Mor is an IT support technician who also volunteers at the Diapalante Community Support Centre. He knows the importance of a computer literate workforce to employees, employers and to Senegal. “We live in an increasingly digital world. Computer skills can increase a persons’ employability and accelerate promotion. These skills also help people earn a living wage and often bring the opportunity to work regular and shorter working hours.”

During August and September Mor and two other specialist volunteers trained 80 people in basic computer skills. The team delivered in total 6 hours teaching a day, 6 days a week. This “Digital Vacation” program covered basic word processing, spreadsheet usage and digital presentations with a little about leadership and entrepreneurship. The course aimed to enable participants to become computer proficient within their current role or give them additional skills to help in their search for work.

Teachers and school principals and students were attracted because the course ran during the vacation but health workers, traders, other workers and unemployed people also signed up. A small fee was charged rather than Diapalante’s normal free courses so that people who started the course would feel invested in completing it. Course attendance remained consistently high and the charge was used to provide refreshments during the coffee breaks. The participants were trained in five groups to give each individual access to a computer. Three groups met at the Diapalante Community Education Centre in Kaolack and two groups in a village school 16 miles away.

Your support has enabled this course to go ahead. Though volunteers taught the course there are still expenses to cover – transport costs to the village, meals for the volunteers, premises costs, electricity and internet etc. The course was a great success, particularly in its ambition to help working adults who need computer skills to do their daily work better and they will be able to share their learning with others.

“I am really satisfied with the content of this program. It has been 2 years since I bought a computer but I admit that I only ever used it to watch films. Now I am able to start to use it for educational purposes. What’s more, after each activity, I share the content with my two daughters at home.” Mr. Niang, primary school teacher.

“Hello dear trainers, I really have no words, My daughter always explains to me what is happening and I am very grateful for all your support may the Almighty assist you and bless you” The mother of a participant with physical disabilities.

Report on the Young Leaders activities

We are at the end of the 2022/2023 school year, a busy year full of different activities, but we would like to focus for this report on Diapalante’s Young Leaders.

This activity consists of training young people (aged between 12 and 18) to each lead a small group of primary school children in activities designed to help them improve their levels of French, whether reading, writing or doing maths. The Young Leaders also benefit by becoming more confident in their own ability to organise activities and to motivate and direct younger children. At first they are nervous and shy when doing their assigned tasks but over time they become confident, totally immersed their tasks and committed to helping the children learn.

School has many challenges for young children. Classes in the school are large and two classes share the same classroom, one class attending in the morning and another in the afternoon. French is Senegal’s national language, the language of school and officialdom, but not the children’s mother tongue. These and other challenges mean it is often difficult for children to achieve the levels of French needed to succeed in school.

The Young Leaders activities take place every Monday, Wednesday and Friday evening from 4 to 6 p.m. in the grounds of the SENGANE BADIANE elementary school. Sometimes a group of the children come to the Centre instead so they can do computer-related activities.

Around 100 to 130 children attend the Young Leaders activities. Each session has four phases: singing, the main small group activities, then a large group game or physical exercise before the children leave and there is a short evaluation session for the Young Leaders. There is no pressure on the children to attend, they come because they enjoy the activities, they enjoy being taught by the Young Leaders and because they want to do well in school.

This year 25 teenagers participated in the Young Leader programme and nearly all of them succeeded in completing a remarkable year. But still we have sometimes struggled to have enough young leaders available - especially on Monday evenings when many of the Young Leaders are themselves in school during this activity.

The Young Leaders programme has a double impact:

First among Young Leaders: The Young Leaders learn both in theory and in practice about the development and needs of young children. Then they learn to present the activities - we do them together before sharing them with the children. During the activity the Young Leaders, for the first time in their lives, take on the role of teacher, group coordinator or facilitator. Over time and with supervision they develop the skills and expertise to fulfil this role.

Then among primary school students: All the activities, apart from singing activities, take place in the schoolyard rather than the classrooms. In the playground environment the children feel more relaxed and less constrained. Because their leaders are also children, only a little older than themselves, the children learn more freely and with much more confidence, they are not nervous to ask questions.

the Feedback on this project:

The young leaders: They enjoy the experience of feeling that they are supporting and helping the children, while at the same time developing their own skills. During the different activities that they share with the children, the Young Leaders describe a team spirit of help, solidarity and especially mutual respect which develops within the group.

Parents: The children stay after school for the sessions and then walk home so parents have no natural contact with the project. Even so, some find their way to the Diapalante Community Education Centre to thank us for helping their children, sometimes bringing small gifts or donations. This thanks is clearly heartfelt and we wish we could share it better with you.

The school: The headmaster, Mr. Sall, greatly welcomes this collaboration between Diapalante and his school. He congratulates us for our energy and dedication to helping the schoolchildren. The teaching staff have also thanked us and commented that by learning from older children and through different types of activities the children learn, grow in confidence and achieve more in school.

Next year: We can see and know the success and the importance of this project helping all children to master French and so understand their lessons better. We have the staff and the volunteer Young Leaders to continue this project but we need to raise the funds. It costs £1 per child per week (for staff, books, printed resources, crayons, sellotape etc) and we hope you will feel able to contribute towards this. Thank you, we will continue to use your donations wisely.

Mamadou Kane

Footnote: During the first year of this project the primary school children were divided into two matched groups, matched for their school performance before the start of the project. One group were then invited to attend the project. The school performance of the two groups was compared at the end of the year and the group who attended the project showed a significant improvement in their overall school performance compared with the control group (+14% in their end of year tests). This is a great demonstration of how a committed group of teenagers are helping young children to succeed in school and improve their current and future prospects.

Liz Chandler