Lessons for teachers from a remedial education programme in Chad

By Jean Louis Ripoche, consultant

This blog is based upon a background paper produced for the second Spotlight continental report. 

To reduce grade repetition and dropout, many African countries are providing some type of remedial education, either in-school or through community-based activities. In Chad, three out of every five children starting primary school are expected to drop out before the end. Out of the 40% of students who reached the last grade of primary education, one in two had repeated at least one school year. A 2014 decree banned student retention in early primary grades. Instead, students at the end of grade 2 and grade 4 with  scores regularly below average would be provided remedial lessons. These lessons would be provided for 40 hours per year and subject (mathematics and language) to help students progress to the next cycle.

But implementing additional hours of remedial education is challenged by low levels of teacher capacity, high teacher absenteeism rates and a lack of incentives for teachers to take on additional responsibilities. Already, teachers face heavy workloads, with an average of 55 children per class. Many teachers have weak subject knowledge as well. According to the 2019 PASEC assessment, Chadian teachers scored the lowest among the 14 participating countries in mathematics. About 70% achieved no more than level 1, when the average among participating countries was 32%. Moreover, one in three teachers was absent in 2021 and actual time spent teaching was almost half the expected instruction time. 

A positive initiative was the introduction by the Ministry of National Education and Civic Promotion in 2017/18 of the Projet d’amélioration de la qualité de l’éducation de base et de promotion d’une gestion de proximité (Basic Education Quality Improvement and Local Management Promotion project). Supported by civil society implementing partners, the project aimed to reduce repetition by training teachers to provide tailored remedial support during school hours.

In 2018, the project was rolled out in 50 public schools, evenly split between the N’Djamena and Moundou regions, reaching more than 55,000 students. The project has several key features worth mentioning for other countries facing similar challenges in retention as Chad. 

One notable feature of the programme was improving teachers’ pedagogical practices during regular school hours. Teachers were trained to adapt their teaching practices to students performing poorly by observing their learning patterns, being supportive when they made mistakes and understanding what is holding back learners’ efforts.

Secondly, the training aimed at stimulating student engagement by changing the traditional frontal classroom set-up, which results in students passively listening to teachers, aiming to rebuild children’s confidence.  The 2024 Spotlight Report, Learning Counts, emphasizes the importance of social and emotional skills for learning. A positive learning climate leads to stronger academic achievement through encouraging children to be more active in class and more confident. It can improve school attachment and relationships with other students, which in turn increases the motivation to learn. It can also shape norms that influence children’s self-beliefs, helping to battle stereotypes. 

Providing concrete feedback, instead of a simple grade.

To support teacher professional development, teacher guides and a teacher training kit with techniques and multimedia support were developed. All pedagogical supervisors from 50 schools were also trained on using the guide and the training kit.

An impact evaluation in 2022/23 with the participation of about 130 teachers highlighted that almost all had adopted strategies to improve pedagogy appropriate for different learners’ speeds. This included rearranging the classroom layout, while more than three quarters had changed their attitudes towards students’ mistakes and almost all tried not to punish students facing difficulties. However, only one third of teachers had implemented differentiated teaching methods to cater to varying student needs, even though the majority expressed the intent to do so. Teachers reported requiring more time and support to implement such practices consistently. 

Using different sized boards to break down concepts for learnersÂ

Preliminary data on the impact of the intervention indicate a reduction in grade repetition decisions made by teachers. In N’Djamena, the average class repetition rate fell from 24% in 2021/22 to 21% in 2022/23. The teacher guide and training programme are currently being considered for country-wide implementation. Â