Zero Grades
Education goes beyond mere schooling. In Uganda, a stark reality confronts us: When asked to read a sentence like "The name of the dog is puppy", three quarters of primary three and primary four struggle to fluently read it or grasp its meaning. This phenomenon is termed as learning poverty, predominantly affecting learners in rural areas. Annually, an average of 1.9 million children enrolled in primary one (P1) but a disheartening statistic reveals that only 800,000 children make it through to sit for their Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE). This signifies that at least 1.1 million children dropout along the way failing to complete their primary education, primarily due to the prevalent learning poverty rate of 83% in the country.
Our Zero Grades program acknowledges that literacy forms the bedrock of education, enabling children to develop crucial communication, critical thinking and leadership skills. We are empowering the upcoming generation to close the literacy gap and support them to unlock their full potential irrespective of their grades or age. Collaborating with local primary schools, we identify children in lower primary school classes struggling to read, enrol them into a tailored program designed to help them master the fundamentals of reading, writing and mathematics while concurrently building their social emotional and leadership skills.
Our sessions utilise a play-based approach empowering children to take charge of their learning, tailor their learning experiences and facilitating practical skills of reading and writing.
Our overarching goal is simple yet profound: to ensure that every rural child becomes literate and empowered to not just advance but excel and complete their primary level education.
Outcomes
Increased attendance and retention
Increased attendance and retention
Increased attendance and retention
Zero Grades program acts as a powerful catalyst for learning with instant impact on learners' daily educational experiences. By cultivating tangible progress, it motivates learners to eagerly attend school driven by the desire to continually improve and excel.
Improved learning
Increased attendance and retention
Increased attendance and retention
Learners benefit from personalised teacher support, group collaboration and peer-to-peer assistance ensuring continuous learning and improvement. This collaborative approach enables learners to identify and address each other's learning needs and together creating a supportive learning environment where collective improvement and success are celebrated.
Guaranteed Completion
Increased attendance and retention
Guaranteed Completion
Despite the conceding dropout rate of 42.8% before reaching Primary Seven (P7), our program intervenes at a crucial stage - Lower Primary. Here learners receive vital support in foundational literacy, alongside essential SEL skills. This robust foundation empowers them to confidently navigate their primary school journey to successful completion.