CRECCOM enhances quality of secondary school education
Creative Centre for Community Mobilization (CRECCOM) project on Improving Education Quality in Community Day Secondary Schools (IEQ-CDSS) being implemented in Thyolo is said to be bearing positive fruits considering that students are performing well in their studies than was the case before.
Speaking on Tuesday at Chikolombe CDSS in the district, Shire Highlands Education Division (comprising Phalombe, Chiradzulu, Mulanje and Thyolo) Manager, Harris Kachale said there was a big improvement in students’ performance since the inception of the project in the participating schools.
“We’ve noted a great improvement in the performance of students especially in spoken English. The project is considerably enhancing quality of education in schools,” Kachale said.
Kachale said the project has also equipped teachers with skills that enable students to quickly comprehend concepts as they are able to understand English better than before.
Executive Director for CRECCOM, Madalo Samati said through the IEQ-CDSS project, students in community day secondary schools are groomed and empowered with the necessary skills that would make them productive citizens.
Samati said this is achieved by building capacities of teachers through continuous professional development especially on instructional English in classrooms.
“Teachers are also taught gender responsive strategies so that they can reach out to both girls and boys equally to ensure their active participation in class,” she said. “We believe that through these initiatives, the students should be able to acquire skills in all subjects.”
She added that the project also introduced youth forums where they acquire life, leadership and assertiveness skills, besides tackling issues of gender based violence and HIV and Aids.
Through IEQ-CDSS, communities have been mobilized to own their schools, by among others, establishing mother groups that encourage and look at the affairs of girls as a way of motivating the students.
CRECCOM is implementing the project with financial resources from MasterCard Foundation.
