Street to Class: NGO Provides Free Education, Transforms Lives

To help relieve the burden of ancillary education costs such as transportation, supplies, and meals, with the ultimate goal of preventing girls from dropping out early, the Korunuck Foundation operates two housing campuses for Turkish girls where they receive comprehensive support for their studies. The programs currently serve 125 students, and 36 girls have been accepted into universities.

The Wisdom Hub Nursery and Primary School enrolls students alongside those who are differently-abled, allowing them to learn in the classroom together. The combined classroom approach teaches students to embrace diversity, nurturing an inclusive educational environment where each child can thrive. The Wisdom Hub opened in 2013 and has since seen over 300 children with special needs cross into secondary school.

The Sow a Seed for a Girl Child Development Initiative raises funds to help girls in Jos Local Government Area enroll in school, many of whom have never attended or had to drop out due to financial constraints. In the fall of 2023, the organization was able to offer support to 27 girls, including through targeted lessons to help them prepare over the summer.

Schools in Adamawa State are increasing the number of female teachers, which is inherently increasing the number of female students attending school. Previously, over 50% of girls in the area had not been in school, or dropped out, but with the increase of female teachers, the number of girls in school has dramatically increased.

Local college students are volunteering their time to teach children for free in nearby villages who can’t afford tuition at traditional schools. The project started in 2014 with just 30 students but has now grown to about 100 students attending the free classes held every evening.

The Makoko Dream School is a tuition-free education program serving students who live in waterfront areas. The school is funded through a Parent/Teacher Association levy and has served roughly 1,000 children so far.

The Bunmi Adedayo Foundation trains public primary school teachers in new methods and boosts their morale to improve their skills and provide students with a higher quality of education.

The Destiny Trust performs outreach in slum settlements and encampments to connect homeless children with residential housing and get them enrolled in school, sometimes via placing them in boarding schools. Through fundraising and partnering with other groups such as religious organizations, the nonprofit has sponsored the education of nearly 3,000 children since launching in 2012.

When the pandemic forced schools to cancel in-person classes, the pivot to virtual lessons had to be fast and efficient. In Chicago, three charter school networks were able to make the switch quickly, while innovating ways to address some challenges like students with limited or no internet access, devices shared between multiple siblings, and one-on-one time with pupils.

For-profit companies are making good private schools available even to Africa’s poor. They can do it – and can do it on an enormous scale – by hiring neighborhood residents to teach, and scripting out every word of every lesson on an e-reader.