By Adama Kone, Teacher Project Manager
Mariam, Djenebou, and Sata just finished the 8th grade at the Tim Gibson Middle School in the village of Sebela. They told me they like school very much because they enjoy studying and playing with their fellow students in school. The girls say that are about 13 or 14 years old.
All three girls live in Sebela and love studying in their own school, thanks to the very generous donors of Mali Rising Foundation. Before their new school was built, Mariam, Sata and Djenebou said they were worried about walking from their own village to another one about 4-5 km away to attend middle school after they finished 6th grade. But thanks to Mali Rising Foundation, they have been able to continue their studies in their own village .
Like all students in Mali — and around the world — the girls missed a lot of classroom time last school year due to the pandemic. Mali Rising was concerned we might lose students like Mariam, Sata, and Djenebou if they fell to far behind in their studies. However, Tim Gibson Middle School was one of five partner schools where we tested a new idea — take-home workbooks to keep students learning and connected to school. Mariam, Sata and Djenebou were all very happy with this idea of helping them study at home.
In Mali students have many responsibilities in addition to their work in school. They do chores for their parents like cooking, working in the fields, or selling items in markets or near by the main roads. These tasks can be barriers to students who want to study on their own at home.
To help students and parents understand and create time for studies, Mali Rising Foundation distributed workbooks to students in 7th and 8th graders during the break and the school pandemic closure so they were not as disconnected from studies.
When we implemented this idea at Tim Gibson Middle School, these three girls each did a great job. They were all among the most outstanding scorers for their school! Djenebou, Sata and Mariam think the workbooks have been a great help for them because they allowed them review their grammar rules, work on their reading skills, hone their English abilities, and more.
Mariam says, “Some students did use to study at home, but with workbooks I noticed that many more of my classmates were reading and doing exercises at home because they tried to compete with each other and make their parents proud of them by having amazing scores.” These three girls hope Mali Rising will keep their school in the Workbook Project in future to help them and their younger sisters and brothers study hard.
Mariam,Sata, and Djenebou are also in their school girls soccer team with the Girls Project. They love to play soccer for fun when they are off school. They enjoy playing soccer with their classmates, which makes them like school as well.
