Kano Literacy and Maths Accelerator (KaLMA) – Encouraging continued engagement with learning at home as schools reopen after the COVID-19 pandemic

Like many schools across the globe, those in Nigeria were closed for substantial periods of time during 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Before the pandemic outbreak, Kano State government was taking measures to address the challenge of equipping pupils with foundational literacy and numeracy skills. As part of their efforts to address this challenge, the Kano State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) and the Ministry of Education, together with the British Council and Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) Africa, and with support from the UK government’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, launched the Kano Literacy and Mathematics Accelerator (KaLMA) in October 2019 in two local government authorities (LGAs) – Wudil and Dawakin Tofa. Implementation of in-school KaLMA activities began in January 2020 with teacher-led assessment (in 180 schools) of primary 4 to primary 6 pupils’ foundational skills in Hausa, English and Maths, and their placement in learning-level appropriate groups based on the test results. Facilitated foundational skill learning sessions began the same month in these schools, but stopped a short time later, in March 2020, when schools across the country closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. KaLMA education partners were eager to support pupils’ ongoing learning despite the school closures and COVID-19 physical distancing restrictions. Together, partners developed a number of KaLMA-adapted learning activities that could be undertaken at home, delivered through low-tech means such as radio, text message, automated voice message (AVM) and interactive voice response (IVR). This combination of modalities for remote delivery of subject content to children no longer able to attend school became known as the KaLMA Home-Based Learning (HBL) programme. After schools in Kano reopened in October 2020, high levels of uncertainty persisted regarding further possible school closures, and to the likely learning loss that had taken place during lost learning time. KaLMA partners therefore opted to support a hybrid learning model which comprised in-school elements and HBL support components. This policy brief focuses on the lessons learned from delivering the HBL support components during 2021.