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Abstract:
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The purpose of Complementary Basic Education (CBE) is for out-of-school children and youth to acquire the essential knowledge, skills and values to promote self-reliance, encourage lifelong learning and enable them to participate fully in society and its development. CBE will target those children and youth who have dropped out before completing standard 5 and successful completion of the three-year course can lead to re-entry if desired into standard 6. Following a district selection process and initial needs assessment, piloting of Complementary Basic Education (CBE) is underway. This has involved the establishment of 15 learning centres across three target districts - Ntchisi, Chikwawa and Lilongwe – through various supportive strategies: the development of a relevant, needs-based curriculum, selection and training of community facilitators and supervisors and the mobilization of support from local government and communities. CBE is designed to be a relatively cost-effective, inclusive alternative to the provision of basic education, characterized by smaller class sizes, location of centres close to the homes of learners, local recruitment of para-professionals as teachers, flexible timing of classes to suit learners’ needs, child-friendly, participatory teaching methods, the use of locally available resources and community management of learning centres. |