This report was prepared by Chemonics International Inc. by Dr. Brenda Sinclair in collaboration with the Injaz project team
Executive Summary
Over the past five years, millions of children in Syria lacked access to education. In the Raqqa governorate, recently liberated from ISIS rule, formal secular education is beginning to see a revival. Still, many children — affected by internal displacement, insecurity, trauma, and low learning competencies — remain ill equipped to enter primary schools. Funded by the U.S Department of State’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs (NEA), the Injaz project provides structured remedial education and psychosocial programming to address the learning and socioemotional needs of internally displaced children in the Raqqa governorate. Injaz exists to support internally displaced and local children with their reintegration into formal schools supported by local councils.
The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) numeracy study provides Injaz-supported child centers with diagnostic assessments of children’s current math skills to determine the appropriate level for the Injaz remedial numeracy program. To inform future programming, the ASER study also seeks to provide implementing stakeholders, donors, and the broader education community with a snapshot of math learning levels among internally displaced persons (IDPs) and host community children.
Between August 1 and August 14, 2018, teachers administered the ASER test in 10 Injaz-supported child centers, reaching a total of 3,647 students between ages 5 and 17. Child center staff assessed students against the following four levels to determine whether they could meet the Grade 2 curriculum standard or needed remedial numeracy education:
- Level 1: Number Identification
- Level 2: Addition
- Level 3: Subtraction
- Level 4: Multiplication (Grade 2)
Child centers then grouped students into three program intervention levels based on their ASER scores. Staff placed students who scored at Level 0 or 1 in the emerging level and those at Level 2 or 3 in the developing numeracy level, and considered students who scored at Level 4 outperformers, given their math performance at the Grade 2 standard. The child centers targeted only those students in the developing and emerging levels for remedial numeracy education. Local councils give students who score at Level 4 the option to attend formal school, if one is open in the area; they may also join the Self Learning Materials program at the child center.