United Action for Children

Most of our children’s parents are subsistent farmers. Almost all our children are first generation learners or from families where education gets very low priority and struggle for daily living takes away all physical and financial resources the family can afford. Majority of the men and almost all the women are illiterate. 80%. Adults in the Project Areas are illiterate. Children from these families are in great need of remedial programmes to help them improve on their performance at school. Most children fail in their examinations as a result of lack of individual attention by teachers in public schools due to over crowded classrooms. There is much emphasis on examinations than the integral formation and holistic development of the child.

Children are given little attention in public schools. The absence of remedial structures such as reading or corner rooms in village schools is a serious contribution to the poor performance of children living in rural areas or villages.

Some schools in villages even exist without structures. Children go to school without text books, pens, school bags etc. as a result of the inability of parents to acquire them due to poverty. The number of orphaned children by AIDS is on the rise. This category of children is a serious target group for the UAC Micro Schools Project.

The road network into villages is poor. Getting essential educational materials into villages is difficult. The government has created schools in villages and left them to be managed by parents with little or no means. This has made the teaching-learning process in village schools very difficult. Schools exist with very poor or no structures with some operating in people’s homes.

Most teachers particularly female ones prefer teaching in urban or town schools leaving village schools with untrained teachers with little or no knowledge in pedagogy and child psychology. All these factors have contributed to the poor performance of children living in villages or rural areas. All these call for intervention by the School on Wheels and Micro schools project to rectify and reduce this problem.

UAC plans to build Micro Schools (MSs) as innovative/ model schools throughout the rural areas of Fako and Manyu Divisions, especially where the need for education is greatest. UAC's founding mission extends beyond simply building conventional schools. MSs will also include agricultural farms, boreholes with clean drinking water, libraries, and micro financing projects to support socially-responsible entrepreneurial efforts within the village (especially for women and men rearing school age children). Moreover, we hope to promote within our MSs local scholarship opportunities for the most disadvantaged children particularly 100% AIDS and other orphans in villages . This educational agenda intends to develop the future leaders of Cameroon and community actors of development through UAC programs.

Micro Schools are more than schools. They are not regular schools but special structures set up to assist children improve on their performance at school and also acquire skills that can facilitate their integration into the society upon maturity.

They serve as an important part of the community and leverage community talents and knowledge toward the education of children.

UAC will work directly with the Village Traditional Councils in the participating villages to build its MSs and also improve on performance in already existing schools within rural areas or villages.

Agricultural Awareness Programme, this programme will with the help of Agric experts focus primarily on teaching , modern agricultural practices or techniques to children (and informally to their parents) at our Micro Schools locations. Each school will host an Agricultural farm with individual local farmers who will collaborate with extension experts. To enhance this programme, both children and adults will receive training within the Micro Schools with special emphasis on agricultural processes and management practices and the use of modern farming techniques. This collaboration will also enable farmers to boost agriculture as their mainstay to help afford the means to educate their children. Community-based agriculture connects local farmers to Micro Schools directly by training of children in land use and nutritional sustainability.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES

• Meet up with accommodation problems of School on Wheels project.

• Ensure effective participation of children in the school on wheels project

• Encourage the training of women in trades such as sewing and hairdressing.

• Ensure a secured learning place for children in the participating villages.

• Promote and favour social inclusion of children coming from less favoured socio-economic segment of Mamfe and Upper Bayang areas, developing their social, intellectual, physical capabilities and abilities.

• Achieve the integral formation and holistic development of 1425 children between ages 03-12 years old, under healthy and safe conditions in order to strengthen their education as well as their physical and emotional abilities and their values.

• Solve some of the problems children are facing as a result of over crowded classrooms and highly teacher centred system.

• Strengthen and develop health and nutrition practices as well as emotional abilities of 378 fathers, mothers or guardians directly related to beneficiaries thus giving rise to participation and communication opportunities for 1,425 children.

• Help rural children and Urban poor improve on their grades and stay in school.

• Facilitate the enrolment of rural based children and urban poor in schools

• Guide parents through mothers clubs in villages in educational matters

• Stimulate an interest in lifelong learning and applied technology that will help them grow into a confident, self-reliant, responsible and responsive adults.

• Forge cross- cultural connections through stories, story telling and story in education.

• Create opportunities to gain access into existing mainstream schools.

EXPECTED RESULTS

With the construction of 04 classrooms for the Micro School in 04 villages, over 1,425 children will benefit within the next three years. It is expected that more and more children will benefit since its going to be an on going project.

QUANTITATIVE INDICATORS

• number of children attending Micro Schools
• percentage of rural children enrolled
• number of children getting into secondary schools after primary education as a result of the introduction of Micro Schools and School on Wheels.
• attendance percentage
• Number of rural children appearing for national exams.

QUALITATIVE INDICATORS

• The student portfolio which keeps records of their performance through the year.
• Quarterly evaluation of scholastic and academic achievements of students through group discussions, presentations and debates with education officials.
• Participation and performance in inter-school activities.
• Presentations and performances by the students which demonstrates how well they have internalized the concepts being taught in school.
• Feedback from the community through regular meetings with the Parents Teachers Associations
  This includes individual meetings as well as group meetings for overall feedback.

Detailed Budget for the project