Barriers to primary completion and transition in Northern Nigeria: evidence from a non-formal schooling intervention

Abstract

It is often claimed that the one-teacher, one-room, non-formal school model is more effective than the formal school in enrolling hard-to-reach children. This model is, however, not immune to the twofold challenges of primary completion and transition. This article draws on data from three rounds of surveys with children from Tsangaya (traditional Quranic schools) in northern Nigeria who took part in a non-formal school programme. The article records project success in attracting children from Tsangaya schools and enabling them to complete the primary cycle. It shows that students' innate abilities and mother's education and income-generation ability seem to have a bearing on retention in primary school, while quality of teaching has an association with primary completion. However, it records major challenges to the transition to secondary school and argues for recognising the distinct challenges to primary completion and to transition from primary to secondary education.

Children’s literacy skills development through non-formal education: a scoping review

“…The studies that were included in this review were published between the years 2018 and 2023. In 2018, three articles [21]- [22], [26] were found in research on non-formal education. In addition, two articles were found in 2019 [20], [27] from the four databases.…”

“…As to the distribution by country, the highest number of studies were conducted in Portugal [20], [29], [30] and Brazil [24], [26], [33] with n=3 studies respectively. Meanwhile, nine countries, namely Finland [19], Costa Rica [21], Nigeria [22], Greece [23], Romania [32], Luxembourg [25], Ireland [27], Spain [31], and a combination of respondents from both Bangladesh and Pakistan [28] were recorded with one study each.…”

“…From the accumulated 15 studies in Table 4, n=10 [20], [23]- [24], [26], [27], [29], [30]- [33] were qualitative studies, followed by n=3 [21], [22], [25] were quantitative studies. Meanwhile, n=2 studies [19], [28] used a mixed-method research design.…”

“…Meanwhile, n=2 studies [19], [28] used a mixed-method research design. There were n=3 studies conducted using action research [20], [23], [33] and survey [21], [22], [25] respectively. In addition, n=2 studies applied case studies [24], [31] and literature searches [26], [32] respectively.…”

“…Two studies [26], [32] aimed to encourage environmental learning. Other studies involved entrepreneurship [22], character building [23] and artistic ability [30] with one study each.…”