A new directive has been approved allowing primary school students who have been out of school for two or more years due to various reasons including internally displaced persons and children in refugee camps to complete two grade levels in a single academic year.
The directive permits children aged 12 to 14, who were unable to pursue their formal education due to natural and man-made disasters, to advance two grades per year through a remedial catch-up program.
Under the "Accelerated Non-Formal Education Implementation Directive No. 1160/2019," approved by the Ministry of Education in October, the provision to skip two grade levels in one academic year applies to students from Grades 1 to 3.
The policy, which targets IDPs and refugee children, will have its own academic calendar and notes that teaching and learning activities will take place at times suited to the children’s daily lives.
The condensed curriculum for Grades 1 through 3 consists of two levels. Level 1 compresses the standard Grade 1 and Grade 2 curricula into a one-year program, while Level 2 similarly condenses the standard Grade 3 and Grade 4 curricula into one academic year.
Accordingly, a student who completes Level 1 will transition into standard Grade 3, while a student completing Level 2 will transfer directly into standard Grade 5.
Similarly, the directive incorporates a provision for students who finished Grade 2 in the formal system before dropping out for two or more years; they can complete the Level 2 curriculum in one year and enter Grade 5 in the formal system the following year.
Stating that the accelerated education program will feature dedicated student textbooks, teacher guides, and satisfactory proficiency measures, the directive explained that children joining the program will undergo placement assessments prior to instruction to identify and assign them to their appropriate learning level.
Primary schools selected to implement the accelerated learning program must be identified through baseline studies confirming high populations of out-of-school children or dropouts lacking basic skills in their surrounding areas.
As deemed necessary, the accelerated education program will be delivered directly within primary schools, through satellite centers managed by host primary schools, or at community-selected learning sites.
