January 10, 2025
SEED Care & Support Foundation and NABU partner to empower educators with storytelling and interactive reading techniques, paving the way for improved literacy outcomes in low-fee private schools serving children from low-income communities in Nigeria, starting in Lagos State.
160 Students, 1 SEED Partner School
To kick off the partnership and showcase the NABU opportunity, SEED nominated a partner school, Drunet Angels Private School who convened 160 pupils (ages 5-10) for an interactive Read Aloud in their school hall prior to the holiday break. The Read Aloud session was done with two NABU storybooks:
- Amadi Learns A New Lesson, read by one of the students, Munachi Amajuoyi
- Ifunanya The Clean Girl, read by a teacher, Mrs. Omogbemi Justina.
20 SEED Partner Schools Trained
The positive feedback of the first session led to the partnership expansion into an in-person Read-Aloud training program for leaders and teachers from 20 SEED Partner Schools.
“The Power of a Read Aloud” training, led by Judy Paredes, was very practical and had a range of comprehensive resources to support implementation such as a lesson plan template and NABU storybooks. The participants explored the NABU library of culturally-relevant, mother-tongue stories reflecting diverse backgrounds to ensure students from various communities could see themselves represented in the narratives. The training fostered a community of literacy champions committed to transforming reading experiences for their students.
Reading has been a major problem amongst Nigerian students. NABU Read Aloud has given us insight on how to teach learners using a different way to read.
~ Abdulkareem Opeyemi, Rubamons Private School
NABU has taught us the way of promoting reading culture in learners. Many children in Lagos State are out-of-school due to inadequate resources and NABU has opened a range of books so that every child has access to reading.
~ Alogba Tawakaltu, Bint Musodiq Alogba School
NABU Training was a trailblazing experience and very educative. I am happy to go back to my learners and impact them with this new way of reading.
~ Celina Ikechukwu, Glomat Blossom School
389 Students, 37 Classrooms in the 20 SEED Partner Schools
Using the NABU story “Danda and the Tortoise”, the 20 SEED Partner Schools implemented the Read Aloud program. At the end of the pilot phase, 389 students participated in the Read Aloud sessions in 37 classrooms. A secondary impact of 79 additional teachers (re)trained by the initial educators trained by NABU was also achieved.
The pilot program tested three key implementation strategies:
- Physical Books: Each of the 20 SEED Partner schools were provided with 1 physical copy of the “Danda and the Tortoise” book for implementation. Teachers from Great Prestige School and Arrow MEDACS International School went further to provide additional printed copies of the book during classroom sessions so the students could have their own copies. Gleam Star Schools also went further to print out activity diagrams of animals from the book for the early childhood students to colour, making the session more interactive and enjoyable.
- Laptops/Mobile Phones: Schools logged on to the NABU Application to access the story book for interactive reading experiences. Miqland Montessori School implemented the Read Aloud sessions with a laptop.
- Equipment Loan Program: NABU provided Rubamons Private School with an HP projector and screen on loan to enhance the Read Aloud sessions.
Driving Meaningful Change Together, One Story at a Time
The partnership between SEED Care & Support Foundation and NABU underscores a shared vision of enhancing literacy through innovative educational strategies. The success of “The Power of a Read Aloud” training program and pilot implementation is a testament to the power of collaboration and innovation in education.
The opportunity for deepening our partnership was discussed during the visit of the NABU COO, Camille Park to Nigeria.
We had reflective discussions on what we learnt from the pilot implementation and explored activities that could form the basis for further collaboration. The core consideration was measuring literacy outcomes and expanding the reach to more low-fee private schools serving children from low-income communities in Nigeria.
To read more about the Pilot initiative, download the Impact Report below:
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SEED-NABU Partnership Impact Report25.5MB DOWNLOAD