Under the auspices of the Partnership for Learning for All in Nigerian Education (PLANE), the Accelerated Learning (AL) project has been making significant strides in enhancing educational outcomes across colleges in Kano.

Launched in April 2020 and slated to continue for nine years, the AL project, funded by Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), has received commendation from educators, mentors, and teachers for its effectiveness in transforming the learning experience.

The PLANE programme is being implemented by a consortium of organisation led by DAI, with the British Council focused on the Accelerated Learning (AL) part which it implements with Teaching at The Right Level (TaRL) organization.

This year’s edition of the AL project in Kano witnessed widespread participation and positive feedback from stakeholders. School principals and teachers lauded the initiative, highlighting its pivotal role in addressing the pressing needs of the education sector.

According to a school principal in Kano, “PLANE Accelerated Learning is one of the greatest things to happen to education as far as my experience and my involvement is concerned in the whole project is concerned. Because the accelerated activities is what is needed at this right time.”

Moreover, teachers emphasized the collaborative nature of the project, describing it as a partnership between the British Council and the colleges they work with. Beyond focusing solely on educating children, PLANE ensures that stakeholders, including teachers and guardians, receive immersive training to equip them with the necessary tools for seamless task execution.

“We attended a series of training. We started with nine days trainings. Then after the nine days training, we went for field trips and then for another refresher training for four days pertaining this programme,” shared a teacher, reflecting on the comprehensive training sessions conducted as part of the AL project.

Under PLANE AL, teachers undergo rigorous training and are subsequently tasked with training their peers before engaging with the students directly. This cascading approach ensures that the benefits of the programme reach a wider audience, ultimately enhancing its impact.

“When we get back to our different schools, we start with assessment of my children, divide them into groups; dual language and maths,” explained a participating teacher, highlighting the structured approach employed in implementing the AL project.

Assessments conducted during the programme revealed substantial improvements in literacy rates among participating students. A school administrator noted a significant reduction in the percentage of children struggling with basic reading skills following the intervention.

“Unlike the conventional schooling system, it came with assessing the children, knowing their position at a particular time. And then after the intervention, we see where they are and you find out that we have the baseline whereby you have more than 75% or 80% of children in literacy. They cannot recognise even letters, you know.

“But after the training, after the intervention, you find out that percentage has actually reduced drastically and the same thing for those children who were not able actually read maybe small sentences, we have found at the story level, which is an achievement which is vividly clear,” the administrator remarked.

Furthermore, teachers praised the inclusive nature of the AL project, particularly its use of the dual-language method, which allows them to leverage students’ mother tongue before transitioning to English.

“You see, there’s something special I love about the Accelerated Learning Project. It is inclusive. So this dual language method employed by the Accelerated Learning project helped me to teach my students using their mother’s tongue. And then I later transitioned into the target language, which is the English language,” expressed another teacher.

Beyond Kano, PLANE operates at the federal level and in five states, including Kaduna, Jigawa, Yobe, and Borno, with a focus on strengthening education systems and optimizing government expenditures.

The programme’s strategic interventions encompass foundational skills development, education in emergency situations, and community-centered initiatives, all aimed at fostering sustainable improvements in Nigeria’s education landscape.

Through collaborative efforts with government agencies, civil society organizations, and other stakeholders, PLANE continues to drive positive change and unlock the full potential of education in Nigeria.