Transform Girls' Education With Technical School

On August 26^th, the last day of training for Aumazo’s peer to peer tutoring program, Anna the Academic Director asked the class to write in their journals a feedback on the just concluded tutoring training program “Ça Fait Du Bien/It Makes Good.” She called on each of us (teachers, students, program administrator and program supervisor), to describe what we liked and disliked about the program.

It is at that exact moment that I paused and realized that big change is really happening at Aumazo. In the last report, I told you that the undeniable support you have given Aumazo over the years has spurred changes. I wasn’t explicit then because I had not thought that this key moment in a program so dear to my heart would arrive this fast.

My journal entry began, “This week topped off 11 years of our collective effort to spark this historic moment in the life of Aumazo. This is a new day for the organization. The tutoring program titled “Ça Fait Du Bien/It Makes Good” is here: www.facebook.com/aumazo. I see students, teachers, program coordinator and supervisor and the Academic Director in the room. I see myself in the classroom with all these people. I am speechless but not thoughtless….”

I thought of you who believed in Aumazo and stood tall behind the organization. I thought of all the times you could have chosen to look away but you decided to partner with us to make this important moment happen. It was worth it.

Yes! It was worth the effort. We moved together and shook things up. We built and made things happen. And that is not all. Melissa, Bernole, Josiane and Maerva are some of the 7^th and 8^th grade girls in Bankondji, Cameroon who can now dream of a better educational future because of the gifts that you have given. Thank you for being among the people who came together in unity and raised Aumazo up.

The “All Kinds of Minds” methodology that our Academic Director used during the training implies that “Changing the conversation from ‘how can we improve education?’ to ‘how can we ensure learning for all students?’ means applying some revolutionary thinking on how we do education now. “All Kinds of Minds” joins with others to support teachers and provide opportunities for them to build their expertise in how students learn.”

The first week of the tutoring program, August 15^th to 19^th, started with training the teachers. We witnessed some transformation in them right before our eyes. During the fourth day, one of the teachers picked up a broom and started to sweep the floor. He then confessed that this was the first time in his teaching career that he had ever done so in the classroom setting. The transformation continued. During the second week, teachers and students came together to learn and most student journal entries testimonies changed from “at the beginning of the training we were shy because we were scared of the teachers,” to “we are optimistic and happy that the teachers were students themselves and acted nicely and gently with us.” Learn more on the program on Anna’s blog: https://annagilcherphd.wordpress.com

The tutoring program titled “Ça Fait Du Bien/It Makes Good” already improved the girls' ability to understand texts in reading comprehension, math and other subjects. The 17 girls taking the training stayed very engaged. Based on their commitment to the program and by building on the lesson learned, we are confident that the 35 girls now enrolled in the program will make rapid progress during the 2016-2017 school year. Given the success of the peer to peer tutoring program training, we believe that at least 80 percent of the tutoring program girls taking the high school entrance exam will succeed compared with the current 23 percent pass rate.

Last year, the “road” was an investment that we could afford. Working together again, we made the Tutoring Program happen. Aumazo is climbing up the achiever ladder because of its partnership with you and will still rely on your gift to sustain the tutoring program throughout the 2016-2017 school years.

We thank you for all that you do to lead us to success.

 Sincerely,

~Jacqueline Audige and the Board