Burundi's educational system is facing numerous challenges that prevent the development of quality education : insuficiency of infrstructures and qualified staff, insuficient and inadequate teaching aids and documentation sources for teachers and students, lack of digital tools in most of the schools, unfinished reforms and so on. While ICTs are part of the curriculum since elementary school, children are deprived of the adequate tools, and are therfore cut off from the World.
In this context, between february 2018 and february 2019, AMADE, FVS - Friend of children and Bibliothèques Sans Frontières (Libraries Without Borders) set up a pilot project of access to digital education called "Capacity building for Matana schools to improve the quality of teaching and strengthen social cohesion". During the project, 3 Koombooks kits, each one composed of digital tablets with content adapted to the Burundese curriculum, were deployed in four schools : secondary school ECOREF, Matana high school, Matana communal high school and ECOFO, and different Solidarity Groups around Matana. In one year, those 3 Koombooks registered over 5 000 uses.
On the teachers' side, a positive evolution was noticed regarding their pedagogic practices thanks to an access to diverse and adapted contents and the enhencement of their competences. As for the students, an increase in the class participation, wether in the preparation, animation or restition lessons was noticed at the end of the pilot phase. They seem more motivated and better understand and withhold the acquired knowledge.
The digital libraries also managed to build the Solidarity Groups' capacities, thanks to an improvement of the adequate knowledge to the professionalization of their activities. They were trained to the use of ICTs, something that was seen as inaccessible to this communities until then. Koombooks therefore allowed them to gain a reading culture and a need for learning they did not have before.
The second phase of this project will aim to consolidate the pilot phase by revaluating of what has been acquired and strengthening and perpetuating its activities, around three main axes : Users capacity building via technical and pedagogic trainings, deployment of additional tools and identification and addition of new contents that would be adapted to the expectations and needs of the schools and Solidarity Groups.
Manufacture and installation of three Ideas Cubes kits in partner (ECOREF, High school and Communal High school)
Deployment of the three Koombook kits inherited from the pilot phase (ECOREF, ECOFO and "NABACU" cooperative
Set up of the referent committee for the project
Monitoring of the equipment by BSF via the project manager and the referent committee
Elaboration of the trainings terms of reference
Technical and pedagogic training by BSF and FVS
Users training by referent committee
Equipment maintenance support by BSF
Verification and validation of new contents by the Validation committee
Creation of students clubs around digital technology
6 digital libraries are deployed within 4 schools and the premises of the NABACU cooperative
Members of the referent committee have acquired the technical competences and are able to transfer that knowledge to the teachers and the Solidarity Groups
Technicians/ Computer scientists of the partner schools are able to ensure the technical maintenance of the equipment all year long
The teachers are exploiting the content of the kits and improve the quality of education provided
Members of the Solidarity Groups targetted by the project strengthen their knowledge
Improvement of the quality of secondary education through digital technology
-
Burundi
Matana
-
Project status
Completed
-
Duration
2021
-
Funding
68.000 €
-
Beneficiaries
Around a 100 teachers in secondary school "Friend of children" (ECOREF), Matana high school, Matana communal high school and Basic School of Matana (ECOFO)
Around 130 persons of 4 Solidarity Groups part of the NABACU cooperative
Around 1 850 students within 4 schools, including 426 students of ECOREF
Technicians and computer scientists of ECOREF who benefit from technical trainings by Bibliothèques Sans Frontières, 9 persons.
-
Partners
AMADE Burundi
BSF
Ministry of Education
4 Schools
-
Objectives
Capacity building for Matana schools to improve the quality of teaching and strengthen social cohesion