EDUCATION PROGRAM

With access to a quality education, children, young girl, people living with disability become knowledgeable, transform their communities, protect themselves from violence and experience life in all its fullness. We work with communities and local governments to address the barriers to a quality education for all people. We are empowering young girls, youth, people living with disabilities and parents by training them on their needs and their right to education, encourage the children go to school and get the opportunity to shine.

The Right to Education

Education is a human right.

The right to education has been an endorsed Convention on the Rights of the Child. Primary education should be free at the point of delivery and universal. Secondary education should be available and accessible to all. Tertiary education should be accessible to all on the basis of capacity by every appropriate means. Education should promote the full development of the child’s personality, mental and physical potential and develop respect for human rights, tolerance and international understanding for the natural environment. The child has the right to play, recreation and cultural activities.

VCDK Methods for the working plan on Education:

ELIMIKA SCHOLARSHIP INITIATIVE

It is an initiative we running under our Education program where we facilitate learning or acquisition of knowledge, skill, values and habits. We assist in;

• Making referrals to the special school.
• We provide specials tool, equipment and learning material.
• Offer sponsorship for fee to the needy cases.
• High school or college transcripts.

Primary award criteria

• Financial need.
• Academic achievement, including grades, rank in class, standardized test scores and achievement test scores.
• Community/extracurricular involvement.
• Participation in specific activities.
• Work history.
• Personal or family attributes.

Outlined below are the major components involved in the administrative process.

Application procedures.

The information requested on the application should be a reflection of the selection criteria designated for the scholarship program. You will want to address the following questions for first-time applications as well as for renewal applications if the scholarship is renewable:

• Where and when are applications available?
• Where applications should be sent? How many copies are needed?
• When are applications due?
• What additional information/documents must accompany the application?
• How and when will the winners be notified?
• How and when will the awards be disbursed?

Promoting Girls’ Education, Gender Equality and Sensitivity.

Action Research. Community groups must be consulted on community perceptions on gender equity and reasons why girls or boys do not enrol in school, enrol at a late age, or drop out prematurely. The focused groups should be asked to identify steps they can take to promote girls’ completion of the full cycle of schooling, as well as steps that could be taken by the education programme.

Gender sensitivity training for the community. Training and workshops must be conducted in the community to raise awareness of gender issues and to develop possible solutions to problems on inequalities. Gender issues should be included in progress reviews and feature on the agenda of parent teacher. This should be combined with gender sensitivity training associations like Sexual Gender Based Violence (SGBV), Human Rights and  income generation etc.

Helping girls combine school and household duties. In many families, girls are expected to undertake collection of food rations, water or firewood or watching over younger children outside the home. These matters can be addressed by suitable timings of food distribution and water supply, community child-care and pre-school arrangements.

Education promotes self-reliance, social and economic development.

Education builds personal self-reliance and provides for the ‘human capital’ needed for the future reconstruction and economic development in areas of origin or settlement. Appropriate education builds the foundations for social cohesion, peace and justice. Education that has been disrupted means that a generation of young people may miss out on education altogether and become a drain on the economy or social fabric of a country as well as become a force for future conflict.

Support for the Education of Vulnerable Groups

Persons with disabilities. It is important to discuss with the community the importance of education for children and adolescents with disabilities in line with Human Rights and Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). In many cases, they can attend normal school or youth activities, especially if teachers arrange for student helpers to meet their special needs. Where possible there should be special classes for children and adults with severe disabilities in settlement. If these cannot be established, there should be at least a ‘club’ for children with severe disabilities, to provide regular group activities. Persons with disabilities should have priority access to vocational training in suitable skills e.g. tailoring or secretarial skills for those who have lost the use of their legs. Sports programmes should include special events for the physically handicapped.

Promoting

Capacity-building for community education committees/Parent Youth  Associations.

Education programmes should have staff with specific responsibilities for motivating the establishment of training and guiding community education management committees. The responsibilities of the latter should include:

• Mobilising supplementary materials and volunteer resources for school and youth activities.
• Organising home visits by teachers and community volunteers to promote enrolment in school and prevent drop out.
• Promoting the education of girls and generally ensuring gender equity and sensitivity, including advocacy within the community and advising the education programme on measures to prevent drop out.
• Supporting community-based pre-schools with volunteer teachers (important for promoting girls’ education.)
• Promoting the enrolment and retention of children in primary school from the initial grades of school through to the end of the eighth year of schooling.
• Reporting any harassment by or of teachers or students.
• Organising voluntary systems of mentoring  young children and girls and tutoring for students in danger of dropping out.
• Liaising with community groups and with administrators regarding problems such as absenteeism due to timings of food distribution, water supply etc.
• Promoting trainings for young girls to promote their rights and to discuss reproductive health.
• Issues on reproductive health especially unplanned pregnancies for teenagers, VCDK encourage them to return to school so that  they can complete their studies.

Some points on the preamble

• Include child labour.
• Include parents’ groups.
• Note the link between water and sanitation at home and school – especially for girls.
• Note the use and importance of technology.
• Importance and role of mainstream and special education provision.

Elements and their contents

• Early childhood development
• Early identification.
• Parent and family support.
• Play and development.
• Child development.
• Transition and readiness for formal education.

Non-formal education

• Home-based learning.
• Adult literacy.
• Community-based alternatives for formal education.
• Community-based day care centres.
• Links with formal education.
• Individual educational planning.
• Creativity and sports.

Basic Education

• Home / community / school links.
• Access to resources and learning materials.

Higher Education

• Advice, guidance and enrolment.
• Access to materials, methods, communication and ICT.
• Individual and family support.
• Special provision for people with disabilities.

Special and Transitory Education

• Identification of working opportunities.
• Linkages to career life.
• Survival needs and training.
• Citizenship and political awareness.