KwaraLEARN (Leading Education Achievement and Reform Now) is a core new education programme by the Government of Kwara State to deliver dramatic improvements in learning outcomes in public schools for all children across Kwara State.
KwaraLEARN will transform all government primary schools across the state into powerful public schools using an innovative technology and data-driven platform, coupled with high-quality learning materials, effective training and ongoing coaching for teachers and school leaders, and technology-enabled support teams to create 360-degree support for learning outcomes.
THE VISION
- KwaraLEARN represents the vision for a stronger Kwara. It is set to deliver dramatic improvements in learning outcomes for public school children across the state. It will accelerate the numeracy and literacy skills of Kwara’s pupils, enabling them to compete with their peers anywhere in the world.
- KwaraLEARN is designed to change the development path of education and bring prosperity and economic development to all communities.
- This is our flagship education programme. It will transform all government public primary schools using innovative technology, data-driven platforms, high-quality learning materials, effective training and ongoing coaching and support for teachers and school leaders.
- KwaraLEARN will deploy 21st century technology to support teachers, schools and classrooms. It will enable our children to fulfil their potential and offer them and the state a brighter future.
- KwaraLEARN will empower our teachers to become highly skilled digital teachers motivated and empowered to succeed in the classroom.
- KwaraLEARN will impact all public primary schools in Kwara State; re-training thousands of government teachers and improving learning for thousands of public school pupils.
FAQ
What is the KwaraLEARN Programme?
The KwaraLEARN Programme is a core new education programme by the Government of Kwara State to deliver dramatic improvements in learning outcomes in public schools for all primary pupils across Kwara State.
How many schools will be involved in the KwaraLEARN programme?
All 1,578 public primary schools will be in the KwaraLEARN programme.
November 2021
In year one, 365 public primary schools in Kwara will be part of KwaraLEARN.
How many children are being impacted by KwaraLEARN?
Overall, 400,000 pupils will benefit from KwaraLEARN
In year one of the programme 54294 state public primary school pupils will benefit.
What will government primary schools gain from this programme?
KwaraLEARN will transform all government primary schools across the state into powerful public schools using an innovative technology and data-driven platform, coupled with high-quality learning materials, effective training and ongoing coaching for teachers and school leaders, and technology-enabled support teams to create 360-degree support for learning outcomes.
Is the KwaraLEARN programme suitable for every primary school child?
KwaraLEARN is a government public school programme. It will ensure that regardless of a child’s location of birth, income or education levels of their parents, pupils of Kwara have the opportunity to reach their full potential.
How long is the programme anticipated to be?
The KwaraLEARN programme will run between 2022 and 2025
Is KwaraLEARN taking a phased approach?
Yes. In April 2022, KwaraLEARN will be in 365 schools.
By the end of the programme, KwaraLEARN will be in all 1,578 public primary schools in Kwara.
What are some benefits of the programme?
The KwaraLEARN Programme will;
- Ensure all teachers are trained in modern, scientifically-based pedagogy and supported through continuous professional development and coaching
- Ensure pupils have access to high-quality basic education that lead to accelerated and continuous improvement of learning gains that will close the learning gap through remedial interventions and ensure pupils are at age and grade-appropriate learning levels
- Elevate the levels of professionalism within the schools, including attendance and “real time” attendance as measured by the delivery of instruction to students throughout the entire scheduled teaching schedule.
What challenges will the program address in the education sector in Kwara?
It will address the following:
- Poor learning outcomes in pupils
- Low enrollment of Pupils and bring more pupils back to the public system
- Lack of capacity by teachers and non-child-centred teaching methods
How many schools in the Kwara public education system?
There are 1,578 public primary schools in Kwara.
How many local government areas are there in Kwara?
There are 16 local government areas (LGAs) in Kwara.
The pilot will commence in 4 LGAs; Ilorin East, Ilorin West, Offa and Baruten.
How many schools will be involved in the KwaraLEARN programme?
All 1,578 public primary schools will be eventually enrolled unto the KwaraLEARN programme.
In the first year, 365 public primary schools will be on boarded into the KwaraLEARN.
Why did the Kwara government invest in education?
The Governor has said that the KwaraLEARN initiative is a lifetime investment to empower teachers and give public school pupils the best shot at 21st century education with reverberating effects on the future of the state.
Have there been proven records of how the program has helped improve children learning outcomes in Nigeria and in Africa?
Yes. Similar programmes are being implemented in Nigeria’s Edo (EdoBEST) and Lagos (EKOEXCEL) States, with proven impact in learning outcomes.
EKOEXCEL
The result of the impact of EKOEXCEL has been remarkable. 300 EKOEXCEL schools were used as a baseline, results showed that in the first eight weeks of its implementation, in literacy, learning was three times faster and in numeracy two times faster than schools that were not part of EKOEXCEL.
EdoBEST
Three years after the programme began in Edo state, there has been accelerated student fluency to near global standards in less than 3 years, a feat that took countries recognised for global excellence in learning, such as South Korea and Singapore, decades to achieve. The new learning data analysis on EdoBEST shows that Edo state has accelerated reading fluency to 70% of that of High Income Countries, compared to less than 30% for Nigeria nationally and other low income countries globally.
There is a significant amount of evidence that shows the efficacy of Bridge community schools in Lagos (a NewGlobe programme), which uses the same approach as EdoBEST and EkoEXCEL schools. Bridge pupils’ performance in the national common entrance examination shows year-on-year exceptional performance amongst pupils, who are scoring top marks above the national average, an indication of the academic excellence at Bridge community schools and further evidence that Bridge provides a strong educational foundation to the Nigerian children.
The UK Department for International Development released the ‘Learning in Lagos‘ report in October 2018. The report findings show all types of children reach high attainment in a Bridge school. This contradicts decades of global education research trends that demonstrate family background matters more than the school a child attends, in relation to levels of learning. The finding of equity in learning at Bridge is groundbreaking.
Is the program training teachers from every year in primary school, or is it targeted at specific years?
All teachers and headteachers in primary schools will be trained and supported by KwaraLEARN.
Have there been proven records of how the program has helped improve children learning outcomes in Nigeria and in Africa?
Yes. Similar programmes are being implemented in Nigeria’s Edo (EdoBEST) and Lagos (EKOEXCEL) States, with proven impact in learning outcomes.
Is it a private sector take-over of public schools?
No. All schools in the KwaraLEARN programme remain government owned and led public primary schools.
Management structures at the State, LGA and ward levels are responsible for all public schools in Kwara State. NewGlobe only serves as a technical partner to the Kwara government on the implementation of KwaraLEARN.
What are KwaraLEARN’s Core Pillars of transformation?
- Innovative Technology Platform for Learning Delivery, Accountability and Support
- Data-Driven Ongoing Coaching and Professional Development
- Scientifically-based Learning Materials aligned to Nigerian Curriculum
- 360-Degree Support Teams
- Technology-driven Monitoring and Reporting
Will learning be physical or digital?
A core component of KwaraLEARN is combining thousands of hours of practical classroom-centered learning and technology- assisted support to deliver data-driven in-field ongoing coaching and professional development based on real-time feedback of instructional delivery and learning success. In addition to the in-person support, teachers are provided with digital feedback of their success through the tablet application and messaging platform.
Can people in marginalized communities access digital tools that will be deployed by KwaraLEARN?
Yes. The KwaraLEARN platform includes digital tools for enabling data-driven, rubric based classroom observations that guide head teachers and support teams in supporting high-quality, child-centred, scientifically-based lessons, with such data aggregated and disaggregated for feedback in professional development. It is specially optimized and purpose-built for low-infrastructure environments.
How will the programme bridge the learning gap caused by the Covid-19 disruption?
By introducing innovative and additional learning contents to help all pupils to catch up and fill measured learning gaps caused by delay in return to in-person class.
What is the estimated roll out plan for KwaraLEARN?
The programme will transform 1,578 public primary schools across the state into KwaraLEARN schools serving 400,000 children. However, the first phase of the rollout plan will involve 365 schools in the first year.
Will government employees benefit directly from KwaraLEARN?
Yes. The capacity building will impact government staff across three levels – Classroom level, School administration level and SUBEB/Ministry Level
What are the economic impacts of KwaraLEARN?
- Improvements in the quality (as opposed to the quantity) of schooling increases the cognitive ability of the labour force, which directly translates to greater productivity and higher economic output for a state or country
- A return on investment of the programme whereby the state’s economic growth rate (measured in GDP) will increase by 0.5% annually
- A larger proportion of the workforce will come from the pupils who graduate with significantly improved education
Who is NewGlobe?
Visionary Nigerian leaders invest in the transformation of public education. They know that doing so unlocks enormous potential, empowering populations to create economic growth, deliver security and drive development.
NewGlobe supports national and state governments by creating powerful technology-enabled education systems. An education expert and leader in learning, NewGlobe has unequalled experience in dramatically transforming educational outcomes at speed and at scale. NewGlobe’s footprint in Nigeria covers Edo, Lagos, Borno and Kwara.
What are some of NewGlobe’s track records in learning?
- Nearly 15 year- track record of delivering statistically significant learning outcomes (measured by multiple studies showing greater than a 0.25 standard deviations gain over status quo public schools) within similar socioeconomic communities as in Kwara State, both within Nigeria and across other emerging economies
- Supported full management of schools in urban, peri-urban and rural areas
- Demonstrated experience leading teacher selection and training at scale.
Why is KwaraLEARN using NewGlobe as technical partners?
According to Governor AbdulRazaq, “Our technical partners — NewGlobe — are trusted to drive this programme to success. They have done it in Edo and Lagos, and we trust them to do a lot more to partner with other stakeholders towards returning basic education to the dream of our founding fathers.
What are some of NewGlobe’s track records in learning?
- Nearly 15 year- track record of delivering statistically significant learning outcomes (measured by multiple studies showing greater than a 0.25 standard deviations gain over status quo public schools) within similar socioeconomic communities as in Kwara State, both within Nigeria and across other emerging economies
- Supported full management of schools in urban, peri-urban and rural areas
- Demonstrated experience leading teacher selection and training at scale.