In Sub-Saharan Africa, 40% of children are not in school. Of the children who enter into and remain in school through grade 12, less than 1/3 can demonstrate an understanding of their course material. This means that the majority of students enter the labour market with sub-standard literacy and numeracy skills, which hinders their ability to find well-paid jobs.
Our Response
The student sponsorship programme strives to eliminate barriers to schooling for students with high academic potential who would otherwise not be able to afford quality education. Once accepted to our sponsorship programme, we prioritise enrolment, retention and completion of secondary school at well-reputed boarding schools, where the educational resources are far greater than those found at government day schools. Thereafter, we aim to see 85% of our sponsored students retained through secondary school. The collective retention rate for our 2020, 2021 and 2022 cohorts is 75%.
In 2023, we are sponsoring 43 students in secondary school and 7 in university. As a result of the investment in their children’s education, 31 parents have volunteered to join Parents Committees to advocate for parental involvement in children’s educations. Over 2022, these Parents Committees collectively held 43 community outreach sessions over 149 hours reaching an estimated 1,300 residents. They too joined us in assessments of new secondary schools and toured 3 universities to gain points of reference for the higher learning institutions in their countries.