PRINTING AND DISTRIBUTION OF STUDENT AND TEACHER MATERIALS TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND DAARAS (2017-2018)

The program, implemented by Chemonics International and its consortium of partners in support of the Senegalese national reading program led by the MEN, aims to greatly improve reading levels for students in Grades 1-3 through an effective, sustainable, and scalable national program. The program targets three outcomes to achieve this goal: 1) improved early grade reading instruction in public primary schools and daaras, 2) delivery systems for early grade reading instruction, and 3) parent and community engagement in early grade reading. As part of achieving Output 1, Lecture Pour Tous supports the distribution of evidence-based teaching and learning materials for early grade reading in the three national languages of Wolof, Pulaar, and Sereer. For the 2017-2018 school year, the first year of implementation in the schools, these materials were intended for Grade 1 (Cours d'Initiation, or CI) in 50% of the public primary schools in the first four regions of program intervention – Fatick, Kaffrine, Kaolack, and Matam. A complete set of materials for each language consists of a teacher's guide, an alphabet chart, a student classroom tool, a student booklet for home use, and a set of booklets to read aloud. The main distribution of teaching and learning materials for the 2017-2018 year was carried out by a distribution company from late November to early December 2017. Lecture Pour Tous facilitated a second wave of distribution in January 2018 in order to fill gaps at certain schools found through audit activities carried out immediately after the first deliveries. A post-distribution audit performed 90 days after the end of the materials distribution process is both a good practice and a contractual requirement. The resulting report must be submitted to USAID and shared with the MEN. This audit serves to confirm whether all materials were indeed received at the school level, check whether the quantity received per school meets the required ratios (per teacher and per student), and whether these schools are managing these materials well in the classroom. The 90-day post-distribution audit of Lecture Pour Tous-supported teaching and learning materials for the 2017-2018 school year found that at the end of the initial rounds of distribution, nearly all targeted schools had received the materials. However, slightly less than a quarter at that time had received a complete set of materials, defined as all required types in the correct language for the school and in the quantities needed to provide one copy of each tool as required for each teacher and student in targeted CI classes. By the end of the entire distribution process, schools targeted this year by Lecture Pour Tous received the following number of materials: Teacher's Guides (1,526), Alphabet Charts (926), Student Classroom Tool (37,345), Student Take-Home Tool (36,137), and Sets of 10 read-aloud booklets (842). The 90-days post-distribution audit found the specific elements presented in the table below. Element of the audit, 90 days after the end of the main material distribution phase: Results from the survey of nearly all schools, Results according to the field survey in 10% of schools. The results show that 98% of schools had received Lecture Pour Tous materials, 96% had received materials in the national language chosen for their school, and 17% had received a complete set of materials according to the required ratios for both students and teachers. The region with the smallest discrepancy between the quantity of complete sets of materials distributed and the remaining needs according to the required ratios was Kaolack, with 80.4% of schools having received the required materials. The region with the largest discrepancy was Fatick, with 83.2% of schools having received the required materials. The discrepancy in terms of student class tools received related to the required ratios was also significant, with 37.1% of schools having received at least the required quantity of tools for each student.