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PREVENTING DROPOUT Interactive After-School Tutoring Motivates 9th Grade Completion | August 2015 1 | School Dropout Prevention Pilot Program | Tajikistan Raising Awareness and Support for Completing Basic Education Tajikistan was at a crossroads. cation partnered with the U.S. Agency for International Development to imple- Youth, who comprise more than half ment the Student Motivation Learning of the country’s population, were leaving Program (SMLP) in 83 target schools in school during and after the 9th grade, the Khulob region of Tajikistan, hoping to marking the end of their compulsory convince students to stay motivated and education with little regard that if they engaged in school. It is one of four pilots remained in school they would be gaining implemented by Creative Associates skills and knowledge that could lead to International under the USAID-funded higher education and better opportuni- School Dropout Prevention Pilot (SDPP) ties. Program, an applied research program Those students who leave school aimed at designing and testing the return home to help their families with effectiveness of interventions to reduce housework and to toil alongside their dropout. Other countries include Cambo- parents in the fields. Some who are dia,India and Timor-Leste. unable to find work become discouraged In Tajikistan, the Student Motivation and question whether they should have Learning Program uses an Early Warning attended school at all. Others leave Tajik- System to identify and support Grade 9 istan, desperate to find a job abroad. students at risk of dropping out and an Tajik youth need more out of their edu- After-School Tutoring program to give cation – and the government of Tajikistan those at-risk students academic support recognized that. In its Poverty Reduction and recreational opportunities. Strategy, the government cited educa- tion as one of the strategy’s “imperative A shared responsibility components” and made education reform Helping schools identify, track and a priority. provide support to at-risk 9th grade In 2012, Tajikistan’s Ministry of Edu- students is a shared responsibility that >> USAID 2015 | 2 involves not only the school but also the parents and community leaders. That is the message of the Student Motivation Learning Program – but, at first, for many Tajik parents, it didn’t sit well. Parents and teachers disagreed over who was responsible for their children’s education. Parents felt the school was responsible for ensuring their children’s attendance while teachers felt the par- ents were responsible for making sure their children came to school. To address this difference of opin- ion, the program staff held a series of workshops in the target districts, bringing together parents, teachers and communi- ty leaders. “We just explained that it’s not only the school’s responsibility. It’s not only the parents’ responsibility, or the com- munity’s. It’s all of your responsibility,” says Litva Lavozirva, one of the program managers. That message of shared responsibility is resonating. Muhammad Davlatyorov, the educa- tion director for Vose District, where the program is active in 28 schools, says that “parents and community leaders and religious leaders - they’re now feeling responsibility toward the education of their children.” Identifying those at risk the teacher will reach out to the family to them that education is important.” The Early Warning System uses to ask why their child wasn’t in class to three predictors, known as the “ABC’s” The program also provides parents better understand the circumstances and of dropout - attendance, behavior and with tips on how to support their child’s remind the parents that attendance is coursework - to identify students likely to schooling and encourages them to get essential to success in school. leave school. Teachers monitor student involved in their children’s education attendance, behavior and course perfor- Many parents, poorly educated them- by attending meetings with their chil- mance, making note of any problems the selves, don’t appreciate the importance dren’s teachers and regularly visiting the student is experiencing. Through letters, of education. That was the case in the school. phone calls and home visits, parents of mountainous Baljuvon District, where One mother tells us the program has at-risk students are alerted of the situa- parents had a limited understanding of been life-changing. Her daughter used tion. school and its purpose, notes Khamiljon to stay home from school to help with For example, if a student has been Hassanov, a program team leader. To housework. But the school’s outreach absent from school for several days, counter that misconception, “we explain efforts convinced the mother to change 3 | School Dropout Prevention Pilot Program | Tajikistan The Early Warning System focuses on establishing and strengthening the school’s relationships with the parents and broader community. Such a holistic method reinforces the importance of edu- cation - and appears to be working. “As a result of the program… we see there are changes in these students,” reports Muborak Safarova, a team leader in Vose District. “They are now eager to continue their education.” For Loiq Soibov, the program has put him on a different path. He and his friends would often cut class, idle away hours in the bazaar and performed poorly in school. He was considering leaving school before the Student Motivation Learning Project was implemented at his school. “When the program…was established here, we became interested in studying.” The after-school tutoring, he said, was more interesting. The student-centered approach was more engaging and in- spired Loiq and his friends to participate in classroom activities. her behavior, and she encouraged her Toward a promising future daughter to go back to class. Without the program, he suspects “The School Dropout Prevention he would still be wandering the streets. Like other parents who experience Pilot Program will contribute practical Instead, Loiq is studying accounting and home visits, this mother has become guidance and models for host country computers at a vocational college with actively invested in her daughter’s edu- governments to actually design programs the goal of becoming an accountant. n cation. She now reviews her daughter’s that will help them reduce school dropout Produced for USAID by Creative Associates homework and attends meetings at the in their countries,” explains USAID’s International. Written by JC Finley with reporting by school where she checks in with her Rebecca Adams, who oversaw the SDPP Jennifer Brookland in Tajikistan. Photos by daughter’s teachers. program from 2010 to 2014. David Snyder. USAID 2015 | 4 After-school programming makes learning fun for Tajik youth aughter rings out from the classroom. permit—abandon their grade 9 studies and generates awareness among stakeholders Inside this school in remote Tajikistan, a leave in search of work. and use activities to engage children and L motivate them to complete their education. group of 9th graders are gathered around Aware that a workforce with limited as two of their classmates perform a skit education can have repercussions for the Two interventions were developed in col- comparing modern schools in Tajikistan to economy, Tajikistan’s Ministry of Education laboration with educators, parents and ex- school systems of the past. partnered with the U.S. Agency for Interna- perts: an Early Warning System to identify The palpable joy in this classroom tional Development to introduce a Student and support 9th graders at risk of dropping is itself a turning point for an education Motivation Learning Program (SMLP) into out and an after-school program that com- system more accustomed to a “chalk and 83 target schools in the Khulob region of bines tutoring and recreational activities. talk” approach to teaching. It is now seeking Tajikistan, hoping to convince students to These interventions give at-risk students to create a learning environment where stay motivated and engaged in school. the academic support they need to succeed in school and have fun while learning. students want to complete the compulsory “The program changed the relationship 9th grade and transition to upper secondary between teachers and students,” says school. Shoev Niyozmuhammad, a District Ed- Students in Tajikistan typically stop short ucation Director in Danghara, and “has Training Effective Teachers of completing secondary school so that they also improved the quality of education and The tutoring program reinforces regular can work to help support their families. But teaching in these schools. class lessons in an engaging learning envi- doing so curtails their education and limits The Student Motivation Learning ronment that motivates students to stay in future economic opportunity. Some—when Program identifies the causes of dropout, school and interested in their classes. they reach the age of 16 and can get a work 5 | School Dropout Prevention Pilot Program | Tajikistan Discovering the joy of learning student.” Attending the tutoring classes changed her. “I improved.” She now holds The tutoring program is so popular that it a leadership position at her school and draws students from other grades as well. attends intellectual competitions known as “We have extra chairs for them,” notes Olympiads. teacher Rahimov Khuja Navaivich. Students aren’t the only ones enjoying At one school in Tajikistan’s remote the new interactive approach to learning. Khovaling District, there are 20 students Teachers too say the new method is easy enrolled in the tutoring program but five to implement and welcome the shift in stu- extra students routinely show up because dent-teacher dynamics. lessons like these are so much more inter- “The student-centric class means stu- esting than their usual classes. dents do more of the work,” explains history The renewed interest and enthusiasm tutor Khalifaev Safarali, who jokes that “it’s for learning doesn’t only take place in a made our life easy!” school setting.

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