Education projects cover a range of activities such as provision of learning materials, i.e., textbooks, library books, desks and chairs. Where funds are provided, it includes building or renovating of schools together with the community. A major effort is the formation of School-Based Management Committees. A Centre for Learning in Ikuzeh with computers allows children to learn English through the use of stories and animated pictures. E-Readers in Rimau primary school are for the purpose of promoting the love of reading. (See more about the Livingkindness Centre for Learning in Ikuzeh and the E-reader project in Rimau on special pages.)
School-Based Management Committees (SBMC)
Any educational programme needs ongoing monitoring, maintenance activities, oversight, etc. In rural communities, this is carried out by the School-Based Management Committee (SBMC), a committee composed of some parents, some teachers and some students. HVCF in conjunction with the Local Education Authority worked with the ESSPIN programme to establish, mentor and then monitor SMBC in more than 50 communities in Kajuru Local Government. It has extended such training to some schools, specifically those supported by ActionAid Nigeria in Chikun and Igabi Local Governments.
Quality education is one of the most basic needs of children. Many communities now have school structures but need assistance for supporting learning in the schools. While Hope for the Village Child has helped various communities in building or renovating school buildings or providing learning materials, it is important for the government to take its own responsibility for education. Government provides teachers but in rural areas they are often in short supply. This is the reason why HVCF supports SBMCs in the rural communities, assisting them to develop skills to advocate and lobby for their own needs.
E-Reders
One of the partners of HVCF, supporting education in the communities, is Britain-Nigeria Educational Trust. They have supported HVCF with textbooks and other educational aids for past years, but this year there was a just. This year B-Net, as it is called, struck out on a new path, funding e-readers for the primary school in Rimau. E-readers are basically Kindle units, giving children the chance to books which they would not have the chance to read in ordinary circumstances. The aim of having the e-readers is giving the students incentive to read in English which will give them a basis for further education which is done in English.
TEXTBOOKS
Learning depends on having proper materials. Through the assistance of the Britain-Nigeria Educational Trust (B-NET), many children have been delighted to be able to have textbooks to use in their classroom. B-NET has assisted HVCF with books for more than ten years.
LIBRARY BOOKS
It is good to have textbooks, but sometimes it is nice to have a chance to learn about other children or to read stories that assist the imagination. HVCF has set up school libraries, a modified version, that is, library books in a cupboard that the children can access.