Unlocking Potential - AEF& Apapa Literacy Program: The Impact of the Apapa Literacy Program on Community Development

The Apapa Literacy program is a literacy program organised in partnership with Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Apapa. Our audience for this program are children and adults in the Apapa axis who have little or no background in literacy. This program is run bi-annually and each session runs for about 6 months.

The literacy classes began in October 2023 with approximately 10 students then it grew to 30 students as of sept 2024 and even more tried to join that we had to turn away.

The profile of the group consists primarily of females (5:1), and notably, those not attending school are from the Northern Nigeria.  The age range cuts across 7-60 years old.  This highlights also the systemic neglect of education/literacy skills development over the decades.

Our aim was to equip our literacy class students with skills which they would be able to use in everyday life, such as the alphabet, being able to form letters, punctuation reading and writing enhancing general vocabulary, conversation techniques in the English language, such as useful connectors, an introduction, body and a conclusion, informal and formal letters and how to speak and describe their good points at a job interview in order to succeed.

So, in answer to the question as to whether we are achieving our objectives, an extract of progress from the lower class are presented (Table 1).

A day in the life of the Apapa Literacy Initiative

'Come let us have a discussion'

Analysis of Results and Attendance

Table 1.  Lower group extracted results assignments (November 2024)

NAME		Conversational skills	Reading  level 1a	Reading  level 1b	Reading  level 1c	Homework       (write 10 simple sentences based on classwork)
Hapsat Idris		5/10	10/10	08/10	09/10	03/20
kaka Umaru		5/10	10/10	09/10	09/10	08/20
Khadija Saleh		4/10	10/10	08/10	09/10	13/20
Aisha Ramat						03/20
Fatima Tom		6/10	08/10	08/10	08/10
Ummi Suleman		7/10	09/10	08/10	08/10	10/20
Hadiza Tom		3/10	07/10	9/10	9/10	11/20
Ramota Saheed		2/10				04/20
Jemila Suleman						09/20
Aisha Sadiq		0/10	08/10	7/10	8/10	09/20
Khadija Sadiq		5/10	09/10	08/10	08/10	07/20
Bilibi Koko		0	0	0	0	04/20
Maridiyat Usman		2/10				05/20
sofiya Suleman		2/10	7/10			08/20
Opeyemi Shanu		4/10				07/20
Imole Amosu		8/10	7/10	5/10	5/10

As you can see, some will have to come back due to their low scores. However, we do have a policy of not permitting students to stay with us for more than 2 years.

Some of the challenges as we perceive them are as follows:

1.     The children go to school but are not being taught well because the teachers are not being paid enough to sustain them, thereby creating a vicious cycle of a poor work ethic, in relation to both students and teachers.

2.     The children go to school but are exhausted due to household chores, as well as work related to helping their parents to earn enough money to feed (see Table 2 below for extract of attendance record). Therefore, even if the teacher is good, there is no time for homework.

Table 2.  Upper class attendance record showing gaps

Enter P for Present, L for Late, E for Excused absence, and U for Unexcused absence. Use the 'Attendance key' tab to customize.

Upper CLASS

10/7

10/8

09/23

09/24

09/30

10/14

10/15

10/21

10/22

10/28

10/29

11/4

11/5

11/11

11/12

11/18

11/19

12/2

12/3

12/9

12/10

Mon

Tue

Mon

Tue

Mon

Mon

Tue

Mon

Tue

Mon

Tue

Mon

Tue

Mon

Tue

Mon

Tue

Mon

Tue

Mon

Tue

Zainab Ali

A

P

P

P

A

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

Muhammed Tom

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

A

P

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

Mrs. Maryam Tom

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

A

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

Amirat Farouq

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

Greater Usman

P

P

P

A

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

Mrs. Duoye Koko

P

A

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

A

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

Abdulaziz Farouq

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

Mrs. Oluwaseyi

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

A

P

P

P

A

P

P

P

P

P

Mrs. Olabisi Phillips

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

A

A

P

P

Deborah Phillips

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

EA

A

A

P

P

Mr. Ayodele Fredrick

P

P

P

P

A

P

P

P

P

P

P

A

P

P

P

A

P

P

P

P

P

Ibrahim Tom

P

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

P

A

A

A

P

P

A

P

A

A

A

A

A

Ibrahim Badmus

P

P

A

A

A

P

P

P

P

P

P

A

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

Ali Muhammed

P

P

A

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

Khalid Badmus

A

P

A

A

A

P

P

A

A

P

P

P

A

A

P

A

EA

P

P

P

P

Khadija Mohammed

A

A

A

A

A

A

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

A

P

A

A

P

P

P

Aisha Saheed

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

P

A

P

P

P

P

P

A List of things that would support the Apapa Literacy Classes:

1.     2 assistants

2.     A projector

3.     Exercise books

4.     Guided writing books or sheets

5.     Story books any old hand me downs as well (at all levels)

6.     White boards

7.     Pencils

8.     Pens

9.     White board markers

10.  Flash Cards