Using Radio to Keep Young People in School

According to this brief from YouthNet, with 750,000 children not attending school in 2000, the Zambia Ministry of Education conducted a needs assessment to determine why. Some of the reasons included having to walk long distances between home and school, being unable to pay for school fees and books, and being an AIDS orphan. Research also showed that school attendance is often associated with protective factors against sexual risk taking.

Radio was identified as an inexpensive method for reaching youth, and so an Interactive Radio Instruction (IRI) programme was created to target youth living in squatter compounds and rural areas throughout Zambia. Through the IRI programme, out-of-school children ages seven to 17 receive information on reproductive health (RH) and HIV/AIDS as well as traditional school subjects for grades 1 through 5.



Volunteer teachers called community mentors are a key part of the programme. They guide the lessons, which are delivered by radio to groups of 40 to 50 youth in homes, backyards, churches, or simple cement-block classrooms. According to the programme organisers, the mentors and mentor training are especially important because some of the life skills topics are sensitive. Mentors are also taught how to be resourceful and are encouraged to make their own materials and a "mentor's kit"” Communities identify their own mentors and support them through small payments of money or in-kind contributions (food, assistance with tending gardens, etc.). Some mentors are retired teachers, but most are young men and women. One challenge is that because mentor participation is voluntary, turnover is great, so a constant need to train new mentors exists. The sessions are taught in English, and the mentor translates the information into a local language.To participate, a community must identify a community mentor and a meeting place. The Ministry usually supplies the radios, but, where possible, communities purchase their own.



According to the brief, the best features of the IRI programme includes the capacity to reach out-of-school children through radio and using drama and other interactive approaches. The program reaches both adults and children, through the mentors, with an emphasis on assertiveness and other life skills.