 |
Coptic
Orphans created the "60 Days to Literacy" initiative
for children in the Not Alone program because literacy is the
most important key to curiosity, and to opportunity, for boys
like these. |
Even
though Egypt is ranked as a middle-income country, it has one of the
lowest literacy rates in the world. Because schools teach by rote
memorization more than by real learning, it’s common for children
to pass from grade to grade without ever learning to read, or drop
out discouraged.
That’s
why one of the most important parts of the Not Alone program
is our covenant with all children in Not Alone to reach
age-appropriate literacy within their first year as a condition for
continuing in the program. Volunteers and staff here call it the “Rosetta
year” because, like the stone that unlocked the mysteries of hieroglyphics
for modern scientists, this year unlocks the mysteries of knowledge
and opportunity for children and youth when they learn to read.
Some
children need a little extra attention during their first year above
and beyond the normal educational support offered in the program.
They might have been left so far behind it’s difficult to catch up,
or they might need more individual help to keep them from dropping
out of school. So this spring, the 60 days to Literacy initiative
was born. In the initiative, volunteers meet 2-3 days a week with
first-year children in the Not Alone program who need extra
help for intensive reading help.
"True to the initiative’s
name, children already reached literacy just 60 days after it
started." |
True
to the initiative’s name, children already reached literacy just 60
days after it started. Here are the results so far.
• Many of the volunteer tutors were graduates
of or university students in the Not Alone program who have been
seeking a way to give back to others in the program.
• Children learned through a program based
on phonics, a system that connects letters to sounds.
• Almost with one voice, the children
asked for volunteers to meet with them even more days in the week,
and many asked that they meet as many as 5 days a week. One girl
said, “I love spending this time learning. These are my favorite
days in the week.”
• Children with behavioral troubles in
addition to trouble reading are now completely changing in attitude
towards learning and participating in their families and in school.
Teachers
and others had constantly shamed Yacoub* for being “an illiterate.”
He came to believe that he simply didn’t have the ability to learn.
Then, after only a few sessions with his tutor the strange markings
on paper started to make sense! Yacoub became the first child in the
initiative to become literate. He says, “I’m not ashamed anymore.”
And that’s true not only for reading. Yacoub continues, “Once I figured
out that I could learn, despite what everyone had told me,
I knew I could do other things, too.”
This
Fall, thousands of children will go back to school thanks to the Not
Alone program while many of their peers—as many as 1 out of
every 8—will drop out. Your support helps us reach even more children
with these results this coming school year.
Donate
Now
*name changed
to protect privacy
