Despite the strides being made in education worldwide, Nigeria is still facing an education crisis. There are more than 10 million children out of school in the country, according to the Education Ministry. A quick stroll in the urban center of most states in Nigeria gives the glaring picture of this unfortunate reality. Children as young as five are on the streets, trying to fend for themselves. Those in the rural areas of the country are even worse off. These high figures can be traced majorly to the NorthEastern part of the country, where a number of factors – primarily armed conflict – are responsible.

Identification

To combat the menace of out of school kids, FlexiSAF Foundation launched the Back to School program, which focuses on identifying vulnerable out of school children and sending them to school. Abeit a rigorous task that requires patience and experience, the Back to School Programme starts with identification of school children that are eager to learn. We succeed at this by deploying our unique competence in door-to-door community engagement and other proven strategies.

Enrollment

As part of the organization’s enrollment strategy, we identify good schools within the same geographical location as a child, and enroll them. We have agreements with the schools to give particular attention to the children, helping them fit in their new surroundings and thrive alongside their more-opportuned peers. In cases of challenges with learning, a mentor is assigned to correspond with the school authorities and act as a link between FlexiSAF Foundation and the school. 

Mentorship

After enrolment, we provide children with well-trained mentors charged with ensuring the overall well being of the kids. These mentors are furnished with tools to track the academic progress of the children and give timely report. The mentors are also charged with helping their mentees through everyday challenges and guiding them to make better decisions through effective guidance and counseling.

– THE MENTORSHIP PROGRAM

Different factors like peer pressure, lack of parental guidance, poor academic performance, and early parenthood are the main causes of high dropout rate of school children in Nigeria. The FlexiSAF Foundation’s mentorship program, which provides academic and psycho-social support to pupils, was developed to combat the drop-out rate of out-of-school children already enrolled into a school by the Foundation. The program promotes children engagement in school, thereby improving the academic performance of out of school kids that are enrolled in school by the Foundation, and ultimately improving the transition rates into higher levels of education hence contributing to human capital and national development in Nigeria.

“A mentor is someone who allows you to see the hope inside yourself. A mentor is someone who allows you to know that no matter how dark the night, in the morning joy will come. A mentor is someone who allows you to see the higher part of yourself when sometimes it becomes hidden to your own view.”

– Oprah Winfrey

The Mentorship program has a two-pronged approach when it comes to monitoring and evaluating a child’s progress. The first aspect involves the mentors monitoring the progress of children in school through scheduled visits. The mentor is responsible for supervising all aspects of the child’s academic environment, which includes attendance, disciplinary issues, academic progress, and social and behavioral issues. In the second aspect, mentors seek to establish the root of any issue through home visits plus guidance and counseling. The mentor also alerts the Foundation on any red flags concerning the children in their care.

Interested in becoming a mentor? Apply here TODO

SPONSOR A CHILD

Our work is made possible through the generosity of the donors that keep supporting us, year after year. We welcome your partnership to enable us grow to provide the solution to out-of-school kids in more cities. Every donation you make to FlexiSAF Foundation is an investment in the future. More children are given access to quality education through donations made by our sponsors.

A child out of school is more vulnerable and more likely to make bad decisions. Education is the key to ending poverty, hunger, armed conflict, and gender inequality.

The average fee for a child per year is N60,000 which covers:

• Tuition
• Uniforms including shoes and necessary items
• Books
• Administrative fees

Send a Child back to school by donating 

– THE SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM

 With the belief that education is a basic and compulsory right for every child, the FlexiSAF Foundation scholarship program identifies and selects children eager to learn, and fully funds their education at a top tier school. Financial, social and academic supports are also provided to the children through strategic partnerships with private schools also seeking to reduce the high number of out of school children in Nigeria.

Through our generous partner schools, we have been able to secure scholarships for dozens of out of school children from communities in Nigeria.