Published Wed, Dec 21, 22.
Written by Scott Chleborad.
One of the greatest challenges in Ethiopian public education is children who have dropped out or have never enrolled in school. Children who live with these circumstances quickly lose hope that they'll ever be able to catch up with their peers. Every year that child remains "unschooled" incrementally decreases the chances that they'll ever obtain an education.
The Accelerated Learning for Africa (ALFA) program, or "Speed School" as it is otherwise known, is designed to help unschooled children in a particular community to engage or re-engage in school by accelerating their curriculum and their progress over the course of a single academic school year. In addition, the mothers of enrolled students are enrolled in "self-help" or adult literacy classes to help them with job training and basic business skills.
During the 2021-22 school year, Adams Thermal Foundation Ethiopia established an ALFA school in Jajura, Ethiopia, 20 kilometers southwest of Hosanna. At the end of the 11-month academic calendar, 450 students who had previously dropped-out or had never started school were advanced three full grade levels. The community of Jajura worked together with our staff to locate classroom space in various places to maximize the number of students who could participate. In addition, 450 mothers were organized into 15 self-help groups during the school year.
Since Adams Thermal Foundation began administering the ALFA program in 2013, nearly 8,000 unschooled children and their mothers have been positively impacted. Studies show that students that have participated in the ALFA program are more likely to stay in school, more likely to accel academically and, are more likely to seek post-secondary education.
This year (2022-23), 500 students have enrolled in the ALFA school in Jajura. Please join us in praying that these students will continue in the program along with their mothers.