<p>This which exists to give basic literacy skills to both teachers and learners in rural community schools for meaningful learning to occur through its free English Lessons and Book Club started in August 2016 with 96 school children in rural southern Kaduna of Kaduna State. In 2019 we set up a Literacy Centre. Painted, rugged and equipped with a plasma and cable tv, to enhance the teaching of basic literacy skills where 16 students are currently the first cohort of beneficiaries currently going through a Learning-to-Read curriculum package in ECWA Oakland Schools, Pisabu, Kebbi State. Thus we are currently running 1 Literacy Centre, 1 After School Literacy Program and have reached 8 rural community schools, 50 teachers and 342 school children.</p>

In our campaign for healthy and conducive learning environments in rural schools, we started this program in November 2016 and have been able to provide

•     Pipe Borne Water to one public school in rural southern Kaduna
•     3 Painted Classrooms in two rural schools
•     2 white boards in one rural classroom
•     1 tiled classroom in one rural school
•     A 3-in-1 machine for printing, photocopying and scanning in one rural school
•     A repaired Well for clean drinking water in one rural school
•     A WC Toilet in one rural school
•     Total rehabilitation of a classroom into a Literacy Centre equipped with painted and decorated walls, Cable TV, a plasma, a mini Library, bulletin boards, a curriculum package, classroom furniture

 

In our desire to see more qualified teachers in the classrooms spread across rural and disadvantaged areas, our TVN program started in 2016 with a team of 7 volunteers teaching various subjects in LGEA Primary School Samaru Kataf. One went on to volunteer as a Principal/Head Teacher in 3 rural schools till date. TVN helped us to directly influence learning outcomes and improve enrollment to school. TVN helped us provide Learning Materials ranging from worksheets, pencils, crayons, glue, scissors, exercise books, school uniforms, sandals, etc. Through this program, 41 pupils got to see and use wax crayons for the first time and we have reached 847 pupils (and still counting) through this project.

Through our TVN volunteers, we have been able to implement the Teacher Development Forum in Kaduna, Kebbi and Plateau states which has had teachers meet for an hour once a week throughout the academic session to discuss on topics relating to their classroom practices. Through this we have reached 4 rural community schools, 111 teachers and 1091 school children.

On the 9th day of OCTOBER 2017, Community Outreach for Educational Change- COEC got registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission of Nigeria as an NGO. It operates with CAC registration CAC/IT/NO 101497 and Special Control Unit against Money Laundering (SCUML) registration number 191400735.

In our desire to see that rural schools use age-appropriate curricula, we were able to kick start this project in September 2017 and so far, we have

-sourced for 3 age-appropriate curriculum packages for preschool for 2 rural schools

- Registered one rural school with the ministry to allow the use of the curriculum

- trained three classroom teachers on the implementation of the packages and currently implementing them in two classrooms in Kebbi State.

We launched our scholarship scheme in September 2018. This is aimed at placing deserving rural kids in better schools. Through this, we have reached 15 families and 21 school children. We have also been able to facilitate the payment of WAEC fees for 18 Females spread across rural communities of Southern Kaduna in National Examinations

Our annual 3 day conference for school owners, school administrators, teachers, and other Child Care Providers in rural communities tagged the Teachers’ Meet launched in August 2018 has impacted over 100 schools and communities, over 300 teachers, school owners and school administrators and over 10,000 school children.

Our campaigns namely #GetASchoolChildOffTheFloor; #FedToLearn; and #PayARuralTeacher were launched in 2019 and have so far provided classroom furniture, mattresses and salary support in 1 rural school community for 184 school children, 7 teachers and 4 vulunteers. Through the Fed to Learn school feeding program, we have been giving free meals (both Breakfast and Lunch with Eggs) to 136 school children in ECWA Oakland Schools, Pisabu, Kebbi State and lunch to 56 children in COEC Model Schools Tagama, Kaduna State.

We launched our Community Innovation Lab in 2020 during the pandemic to cater to the educational needs of children in Takau, Jema’a LGA of Kaduna State. We held literacy, ICT and Entrepreneurship lessons infused with play through our Game Hub and reading through our public library.

In response to the closure of schools in 2020 necessitated by the global pandemic, which left children from rural and disadvantaged communities completely shut out from learning unlike their counterparts in the city and those from privileged homes, we launched The School Project and set up COEC Model Schools, an Outreach School in Tagama, a rural community in Zango Kataf LGA that is currently a crises zone plagued by silent killings from Fulani Herdsmen. The school currently has 56 learners from 43 rural families spread across 12 rural communities with 14 children (made up of orphan girls and children whose parents were killed by Fulani Herdsmen) on full scholarships through her Scholarship Hub. The school also provides a daily meal for the students through her FedToLearn School feeding program aimed at fighting malnutrition, stunted growth and hunger amongst school children. It operates as a Preschool to Junior Secondary School.

In December 2021, COEC became a member of the Education in Emergencies Working Group Nigeria with our Founder and Executive Director as a Master Trainer on Safe Schools Initiative, Safe Schools Declaration and championing the implementation of the Minimum Standards for Safe Schools and the National Policy on Safety, Security and Violence-Free Schools in communities and schools.

In August 2022, COEC entered a partnership with EMS of ECWA the mission department of the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) which is presently the biggest indigenous and denominational mission agency in 19 Countries in Africa, the Middle East, Europe and the USA with 3, 500 Missionaries. This partnership has expanded our work to a network of 40 schools, 188 staff and 2,890 school children spread across typical hard-to-reach rural communities in Northwest Nigeria and other African countries all in our commitment to take quality education to children in rural and disadvantaged communities.