By Yunus S Saliu
The Family and Intergenerational Literacy and Learning (FILL) Monday kicked start its second phase facilitators training workshop. The ongoing four-day facilitators training workshop is a follow up to the earlier three-day consultative workshop held in July 2019.
The training is a continuous collaborative effort of the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education (MoBSE), the Gambia National Commission for UNESCO (NatCOM) and partner – UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) meant to make education more accessible among children and adults living in socio economically disadvantaged communities.
Among other aims of the facilitators training workshop is to enable participants to acquire and share knowledge, skills and educational practices gained from the training with literacy participants in a bid to improve their reading, writing and livelihood skills. Also to enhance the learning environment through appropriate models of family literacy and learning approaches and as well support the development of functional literacy skills of learners in the project intervention sites.
The four days facilitators training workshop taking place at Regional Education I Kanifing is funded by German Federal Foreign Office with the technical support of UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL).
Family and Intergenerational Literacy and Learning Programme (FILL) is an initiative that aims at promoting and developing literacy, numeracy and functional skills of both children and adults. Also, it brings together adults and their children to learn reading and writing together.
The programme objective is to make education more accessible by promoting basic literacy – reading, writing and numeracy skills development among children and adults living in socio-economically disadvantaged communities and to enable family members to share the knowledge skills and practices gained from the programme. This is with expressed aim of contributing to the improvement of their lives as a long-term goal – UIL, 2015.
Addressing participants at the opening of the four-day training, Tida Jatta Jarjou, director of Basic and Secondary Education Directorate (BSED) recalled attention of the participants to the May 2018, MoBSE, UIL and NatCOM co-organized technical workshop which was used as a key to familiarize key stakeholders in The Gambia with intergenerational learning approaches to literacy.
Since September 2018, she said, the project has been piloted in close collaboration with the NatCOM and MoBSE with technical support from UIL, Hamburg office.
The BSED director disclosed that the pilot project selected the Njama Sinyan, Kaleng Jawbeh communities in Regional Education Directorate 3 (RED 3) and 5 (RED) respectively as implementation sites, while the literacy classes were organized in Wolof and Pulaar. They are the respective languages of the two communities.
Madam Jarjou explained that 2016-2030 education policy emphasized the increase access for adults and out-of-school children to functional literacy and numeracy programmes in order to significantly reduce illiteracy by 2030.
She however reminded them that the four days facilitators training workshop is a follow up to the earlier three-day consultative workshop held in July 2019.
Sofia Chatzigianni, Assistant Programme Specialist, Godfrey Sentumbwe, co-trainer from Uganda and Lamin Jarjou, Senior Program Officer NatCOM all made remarks and highlighted on the ultimate aim of the training.