Youth Crime Watch of Liberia’s Street Library program fosters Academic Excellence
Few years ago, the major problem we encountered with our Street Library program was inadequate logistics to help achieve our desired impact. The insufficiency of books, chairs, tables and toys restricted us from reaching our yearly goals by hindering our anticipated impact of promoting academic excellence and providing a space for underprivileged kids to read, write and learn new skills.
It is interesting to note that 80% of our beneficiaries are in school whilst 20% are out of school. This means 20% beneficiaries depend solely on the Street Library program to receive basic primary education.
With support from individuals and partners was a great stimulus to our goal because they helped us to reach more children we have ever reached through our Street Library program. Our weekly attendance of our Street Library program swelled from 50 kids to about 120 kids, our volunteers were motivated to teach because of availability of sufficient materials and our beneficiaries’ academic performances have improved tremendously.
According to our Street Library’s impact assessment for the 2017/2018 academic year, the reading and writing proficiency of about 90% of our beneficiaries have increased greatly. Parents on the other hand feel secured about their children attending the program, and have reported positively about their children’s attitudes and academic performances.
In additional to the general progress made through our Street Library program, three of our beneficiaries, Princess Folley, age 10, Princess Johnson, age 9 , and Prince Massaquoi, age 8 received double promotion for their brilliant academic performances in their respective institutions. This has served as a motivation for our beneficiaries and passionate volunteers to learn new skills and inspire other young to join the program. Below is a brief summary of each student’s academic progress:
Prior to Princess Folley, 10, attending the Street Library her reading proficiency was poor. She arrived with an eager attitude to learn more than the few words she was able to read and the short words she was able to pronounce. After three months of attending the Street Library her reading level has gone from a one to a three! Princess now takes great pride in pronouncing six and eight letter words. Princess’ reading level adds to her tremendous confidence and character and she now helps the other students at the Street Library with their pronunciation. Princess received double promotion from the grade third to grade fourth at St. Peter Lutheran School in Paynesville.