COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT IN CHILDREN’S NUMERACY SKILLS DEVELOPMENT IN MALAWI: A CASE OF NUMERACY BOOST INTERVENTION IN TRADITIONAL AUTHORITY CHIKOWI, ZOMBA RURAL

Abstract

This case study is about Numeracy Boost intervention which is being implemented in the 56 primary schools and 550 villages in T.A. Chikowi, Zomba rural. Numeracy Boost is an innovative numeracy intervention whose overall goal is to strengthen mathematics skills among teachers and learners in Standard 1 to 4 both in and out of school. The primary purpose of this study was to assess how communities get involved in the implementation of Numeracy Boost intervention in T.A. Chikowi. The overall approach of the study followed the qualitative research design and the following data collection methods were used: checklist, key informant interviews, focus group discussions, lesson observations and document reviews. The major findings of the study indicated that communities positively contribute to the success of this intervention in its impact area. In addition, the study revealed that there are a lot of challenges that inhibit the effective implementation of the initiative and these include high illiteracy levels among community members, inadequate teaching and learning resources and loss of the spirit of volunteerism by the community members. The study also noted that some communities have devised strategies of coping with the challenges like construction of permanent shelters for mathematics sessions and production of locally available resources for use in mathematics camps. This study recommends that the Ministry of Education and other relevant stakeholders should invest in community participation to realise quality education for all especially in numeracy education.