In a context of strong and structural inequalities, providing education for all in Chad remains an immense challenge. Nearly one million children aged 9 to 14, including over 600,000 girls, are not part of the education system. One in three boys and one in two girls are not enrolled in school. Barely four out of ten children complete primary school.

With an adult literacy rate of 32% (22% for women and 43% for men), the inability or difficulty to read and write remains a predominant phenomenon in Chad and continues to affect the most disadvantaged populations. The team at Enfants du Monde has launched the "Basic Education Quality Program" (Programme pour la Qualité de l'Éducation de Base ou ProQEB, in french) under the mandate of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation from its offices in N'Djamena.

Training teachers and trainers

Enfants du Monde's program in Chad trains teachers and offers continuons training to their trainers with the aim of implementing a cascading training system that has already benefited 10,000 teachers and trainers.

Trained teachers give meaning to what is taught and learned by promoting the acquisition of basic knowledge by students, developing their critical thinking, their sense of ethics, and their responsibilities within a framework of sustainable development.

Usually, the teacher writes A and the student copies A, then the teacher writes O and the student copies O. The child does not try to discover certain things on their own," a teacher explains. "Now, thanks to the training, we have learned to put students in situations and let them think for themselves to find solutions.

Grounding in the daily reality of students

One of the major contributions of Enfants du Monde is to support national trainers in designing educational materials that are adapted to the needs and realities of the populations, using themes from daily life such as malaria, female genital mutilation, access to clean water, agricultural production, livestock, etc. Multilingualism is emphasized to promote learning in the language that children speak at home. Instruction is initially offered in French and Sar languages at the beginning of primary school, followed by the introduction of Arabic.

With Enfants du Monde's quality approach, students feels familiar with their textbook because the objects and images depicted come from their environment and country.

Lucie Belengar, Director of Literacy and Promotion of National Languages at the Ministry of National Education and Civic Promotion of Chad.

In 2021, around 210,000 innovative school textbooks were distributed to 2,400 schools. Approximately 660,000 students benefited from the program and 16,000 teachers and their trainers were trained in the four provinces of Batha, Moyen Chari, Mandoul, and Wadi Fira.

The 2022 evaluation of the program shows that both at the beginning and at the end of schooling, schools engaged and supported by Enfants du Monde achieve higher performance in language and mathematics, compared to control schools.

The Ministry of National Education and Civic Promotion of Chad has approved this innovative teaching material so that eventually the entire country can benefit from the program. Enfants du Monde continues to work with Chadian state institutions at both the strategic and operational levels to further strengthen the quality of education nationwide, ensuring the integration of pedagogical innovations from the program.

You can follow the program on Facebook : Les Nouvelles du ProQEB