“Earlier, I never used to like coming to school as I was not able to understand what the teachers were saying. Now, I love to come to my school. I don`t miss a single day,” says Nafiya, 9, from India.
Just a year ago, this fourth-grade student was finding it hard to understand simple maths and recognise the English alphabet. Today, she is not only able to solve maths problems in her class, but is also doing well in all of her other subjects.
Nafiya`s improved learning capabilities are thanks to the special care she has received as part of the Enhanced Education Quality Improvement Program (EQuIP) that ChildFund India runs in 100 schools in Tamil Nadu, with support from Caterpillar Foundation.
“Now, I find things are very easy to understand. I will study more and become an engineer,” she adds, while neatly arranging the text books she has received from ChildFund.
Since 2011, EQuIP has directly reached more than 4,800 children identified as ˜slow bloomer students`. These children have received individual care and their performances have been monitored so that no one is left behind.
Nafiya’s teacher Jayabharathi was recently awarded for her outstanding contribution to improving the learning ability of more than 60 children in two schools.
J Bhasker Raj, Nafiya`s principal, says: “I am very happy to see the progress of Nafiya and her classmates. Last year, when ChildFund began its EQuIP program, we identified 30 children as poor performers. Twenty-four of them have now improved and caught up with their peers due to the extra care given to them by Jayabharathi.
“It is due to her dedication and commitment to enhance their learning capabilities that most of those children have improved significantly. They are now on par with other children in their class in every sphere €“ comprehending, reading and writing.
“I am very proud of the students, as well as Jayabharathi,” he adds.
Over the past two years, ChildFund India has recruited 45 teachers to assist with the program and 15 different workbooks have been developed and distributed among children to enhance their learning practice.
“We use activity-based methods and our special curriculum to develop interest in studies among the slow learners like Nafiya,” says Jayabharathi. “Some children don`t pick up the pace during their regular classes, but if special attention is given they can be at the same level as others.
“My job is to give as much time as possible to those kids and help them become as capable and confident as their peers in school.”
Our visit to meet our sponsored children, Hoai, Binh and their families in Vietnam was part of a bigger trip, partly to escape the stifling summer heat of Western Australia, but also to show our two boys, Max, 7, and Leo, 4, that life in other parts of the world is very different, and that people in other countries face hardships that we don’t.
We spent a month in Vietnam in total, travelling from North to South, but meeting Hoai and Binh was definitely the highlight.
We’ve sponsored Hoai and Binh for about three years now (and we also sponsor Octaviana in Timor Leste). We actively chose to sponsor girls, and older girls too (Hoai and Binh are both 15) as we believe the older children have the opportunity to give back to their communes, and with support may be able to go on and do great things which will further help their communities.
One thing that struck me about north Vietnam seemed to be how resilient people were, how they just appeared to get on with it and work exceptionally hard to make a life. The fact that there are vegetable gardens everywhere is testimony to just how hard people work there. Life in the commune is heavily reliant on manual labour.
Our visit to meet Hoai and Binh involved a whole day of driving from Hanoi to get to the town nearest to their village. The following morning we left with our two ChildFund representatives and drove through beautiful windy mountains up to the girl’s village. The scenery was absolutely amazing.
We met the girls and their families in the local commune building, and spent about an hour chatting with them and hearing about their lives, and what things they wanted to do in the future when they leave school.
They are both doing well at school, and their parents were obviously very, very proud of their daughters. The girls seem confident and ambitious for the future, wanting to be a doctor and a teacher. I’m so pleased that they are making the most of the education offered.
Hoai and Binh were a bit shy to start with, but very polite young ladies. After us asking them lots of questions, they started asking us some in return. Once they found out I used to be a high school teacher they asked about how our classes worked, and if students are ever naughty, which got everyone laughing.
We got to visit the kindergarten (Leo liked that because he got to have a good run around in the playground) and the high school the girls attend, meeting the principal and English teacher.
The girls’ families gave us some wonderful gifts, including hand stitched traditional wedding shirts. We tried them on, much to everyone’s delight, as mine only just fit but Simon’s barely made it across his shoulders!
