Hano Academy is implementing Bar ama Baro (BAB) project which is aimed to support out-of-school children and youth through the provision of Accelerated Education Programmes Mogadishu, Somalia – On the 1st of April 2021, USAID launched the ‘Bar ama Baro’ (BAB) project to Somalia’s people in Hirshabelle, specifically, Balcad and Jowhar regions. This project is implemented by a consortium organization led by Creative Associates International and will work hand in hand with Hano Academy as the implementing partner. Somalia hosts one of the world’s most significant out-of-school student populations, with roughly three million out of five million children and youth of school age not in schools, age brackets between (8-15) years.
This results from more than two decades of conflict that have nearly destroyed Somalia’s education system, characterized by disparate quality, an insufficient number of qualified teachers, and inadequate resources. Problems in Balcad and Jowhar in the Hirshabelle State are among the most affected communities with large populations of prominent children and youth out of schools.
The USAID and Ministry of Education, Culture, and Higher Education (MoECHE) is proud to bring back a “teach or learn” (Bar ama Baro) program to Somalia for the first time since the civil war broke in the country. The main goal of the Bar ama Baro (‘teach or learn’) project is to increase access to quality education for a targeted number of Out-of-School Children and Youth (OOSCY) aged 8-15 in close consultation with the MoECHE authorities and other partners to implement activities.
WHAT IS ACCELERATED EDUCATION?
Accelerated Education (AE) is a flexible, age-appropriate programme, run in an accelerated time frame, aiming to provide access to education for disadvantaged, over-age, out-of-school children and youth. This may include those who missed or had their education interrupted by poverty, marginalisation, conflict and crisis. Accelerated Education Programmes (AEPs) aims to provide learners with equivalent, certified competencies for primary education using effective teaching and learning approaches that match their level of cognitive maturity. The purpose of Accelerated Education Programmes is to provide learners with equivalent, certified competencies for primary education using effective teaching and learning approaches that match their level of cognitive maturity. Somalia is a country that has been affected by the conflict and crisis, so they have many out-of-school children and youth that requires be given an accelerated program, the nations were down with conflict crisis, and it is the right time for the Project of BAB to implement the accelerated education in Somalia. For specific, Hano Academy will be responsible for implementing the Hirshabelle District (Balcad and Jowhar) regions, so Hano Academy will provide OOSCY in Jowhar and Balcad Certified Accelerated Education Programmes to allow older children and adolescents to access an age-appropriate education.
The Purpose and Aims of the AEPs reduce the number of years in a learning cycle and allow students to complete a certified, equivalent level of education in a shortened time frame. Once the AEP levels have been completed, it is hoped that learners will reintegrate into the regular formal schooling system, enter into skills-based technical and vocational education, or directly into the workforce with certified literacy and numeracy skills in place. The structure of AEPs varies: in their pace of acceleration, the age ranges they target, and the approach to teaching and learning that they employ. Most AEPs are multiple exits and multiple entries meaning that once a student has completed the appropriate levels of an AEP and are the right age for the suitable grade, they can transition into formal education; or that a student who has dropped out in Grade 3 does not have to begin an AEP in level one. Thus Hano will have four levels to enroll into these children Level 1(Grade 1and 2), Level 2(Grade 3 and 4), Level 3(Grade 5 and 6), and last Level 4(Grade 7 and 8). Therefore, in case, children are seen to pass the test, they will be able to be enrolled at any level capable of performing. Hano Academy is implementing the ‘teach or learn’ (Bar ama Baro) project to support out-of-school children and youth, through providing them with a fresh start to education and promoting literacy and numeracy in Somalia. The project will be implemented in liaison with the Creative Associates International team. The Accelerated Education Program will be implemented with support from the USAID/Somalia. Moreover, it will involve providing quality education to out-of-school children and youth (OOSCY).
