By Fortunate Kagumaho, Communications and Partnership Advisor
In Uganda, a typical 17-year-old student would either be in the advanced level or completing secondary school. However, this is not the case for Ken due to both physical and mental disabilities. He had previously dropped out of school and had to live with his grandmother. Fortunately, he resumed his studies and was in Primary 4 in 2022. Meanwhile, Martha, who is 14 years old, has a mental impairment that has caused her to repeat the same class for four consecutive years.
Consequently, Ken's and Martha’s educational prospects are bleak. As they get older, but progress slowly in learning, most learners opt to drop out of school as is evidenced in the UNESCO report that sited over 400,000 children dropping out of school in 2018. The 2018 Uganda Economic Update published by the world bank showed that the proportion of over-age learners in Uganda's primary schools increased from 13 percent in 2006 to 19 percent in 2016. The Education Sector Annual Performance Report 2019/2020 noted that the primary school dropout rate in Uganda was 7.5 percent in 2019. Children with special needs are more likely to be over-age-for-grade and to drop out as indicated in the 2018 National Report on the State of the Disabled in Uganda. Therefore, the need for inclusive education in Uganda is dire, especially helping the over-age-for-grade learners to catch up on foundational numeracy and literacy.
The TaRL+@Play approach, VVOB’s remedial teaching intervention, being implemented in refugee and host primary schools of Adjumani district is one of the interventions aimed at addressing the challenge of over-age-for-grade learning to improve learning outcomes and increase retention. The 18-month pilot intervention targets overage-for-grade P4-5 learners and gives them a better chance of a sustained school retention thanks to improved literacy, numeracy, and social-emotional skills. TaRL+@Play combines socio-emotional learning (SEL) with the playful nature of Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) in order to improve acquisition of foundational numeracy and literacy skills for learners who need to catch up . The intervention is part of a consortium of LEGO Foundation funded projects of creative solutions in crisis settings aiming at ensuring inclusive and equitable access to quality education and promotion for lifelong learning opportunities for all.
The TaRL+@Play approach recognizes that academic success is not solely based on cognitive ability, but also on a learner’s ability to regulate their emotions, build relationships, and make responsible decisions. By incorporating SEL boosters into the TaRL methodology, teachers create a supportive and engaging learning environment that helps learners to develop these important skills. This is an important aspect of inclusive learning.
During the second National Inclusive Education Symposium hosted by the Ministry of Education and Sports in December 2022, VVOB supported the participation of Ken, Martha, their teachers, and district officials participating in the implementation of this project. They shared their experience of the TaRL+@Play methodology as an inclusive learning approach. At the symposium, Ken, Martha and their teacher demonstrated how a SEL booster boosts the learner’s ability to grasp basic skills in literacy and numeracy.
Ken, Martha, and their teacher demonstrate how a socio-emotional learning booster works at the National Inclusive Education Symposium at Silver springs Hotel in Kampala
With this creative solution, Ken and Martha are finally being supported to improve their foundational literacy and numeracy skills and have hopes of successfully completing their primary education. Dominic Anyama, Deputy headteacher at Adjumani Central primary school has been trained to offer mentoring to teachers delivering the TaRL+@Play methodology. He noted that SEL boosters were helping learners that struggle with basic literacy and numeracy learn in a fun and exciting manner.
To implement this intervention, VVOB has also been working with the Harvard Easel Lab to contextualize the socio-emotional learning for Uganda’s primary school learners. Social and emotional learning (SEL) includes a broad range of mental, behavioral, and self control skills that people use in social interactions to achieve social goals. SEL includes skills such as the ability to infer others’ thoughts and feelings (thinking skills), the ability to initiate a positive interaction (behavioral skills), and the ability to stay calm when upset (self-control skills). Labeled variously as “soft” or “noncognitive” skills, SEL skills are highly consequential. Decades’ worth of research has consistently found that the better developed their SEL skills, the better children do in school and life.
"After receiving training from VVOB on Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) with a focus on Social Emotional Learning (SEL), we began to identify students who needed additional support, such as Ken and Martha. All students in the class underwent assessments in literacy and numeracy, and those who scored low were enrolled in the TaRL programme. Ken and Martha were ideal candidates for this intervention.
Thanks to the TaRL programme, Ken, who is 17 years old, has finally been promoted to P5, and Martha, who is 14 years old, has only just entered P5 after repeating P4 four times," said Dominic Anyama, the deputy headteacher of Adjumani Central Primary School.
In TaRL+@Play, SEL boosters are activities designed to promote students’ social and emotional competencies, such as self-awareness, self-regulation, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making. These boosters can be integrated into regular classroom activities, as well as during structured play sessions. In this project, the SEL boosters complement the Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) approach, which focuses on improving basic literacy and numeracy skills. Some examples of SEL boosters include cooperative games, role-playing activities, mindfulness exercises, journaling prompts, and storytelling activities. These activities provide students with opportunities to practice and develop their SEL skills in a fun and engaging way.
The benefits of an inclusive education system are clear. It allows all children to learn and grow alongside their peers, to receive the support they need to succeed, and to develop the skills they need to thrive in future careers and lives. Inclusive education also benefits the entire community, as it promotes understanding and empathy, and helps to break down barriers that may have previously existed between learners of different abilities.
The TaRL+@Play intervention will complement the MoES strategy to achieve quality inclusive education. The Ministry, is working towards an inclusive education system instead of segregated special needs schools. As Bugoosi Kibooli, Commissioner of Special Needs Education, explained, “Government is working towards the realization of quality and inclusive education through targeted steps towards an inclusive education system instead of segregated special needs schools.”By incorporating SEL boosters into their teaching practice, educators can help students build a strong foundation of social and emotional competencies that can support their academic and personal success.
Uganda’s national inclusive education symposium showcased the importance of an inclusive learning approaches that caters to the diverse needs of learners. Ken and Martha are among the few beneficiaries from partner-supported programmes and will most likely achieve their full potential with such interventions. By providing targeted support and interventions that are tailored to each learner's unique needs, we can help every learner to reach their full potential. The TaRL+@Play approach is just one of the many tools that we can use to create a more inclusive and equitable education system in Uganda.
