According to UNICEF, TaRL employs Words Formation (WoF) and Oral Additional Charts (OAC) for the children to write sentences, addition, and multiplication of numbers in various classes.
Despite efforts by the government and other development partners, like the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), many more children in Bauchi State are dropping out of school.
According to the 2021 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), Bauchi was ranked as the state with the highest number of out-of-school children (OSC) in the North-east with 61 per cent.
In a presentation during a recent media dialogue organised by UNICEF in Misau Local Government in Bauchi, an education specialist with UNICEF, Abdurrahman Ado, disclosed that based on MICS 2021 survey, over 10 million children were reported to be out of school in Nigeria, an indication that Nigeria may miss the SDG targets if action is not taken.
According to Mr Ado, 69 per cent of Nigeria's out-of-school children are in the northern part of the country, with the North-east having the largest number, followed by North-west.
He said out of the over 1.3 million out-of-school children in Bauchi, children between the ages of 6-11 make up 49.5 per cent.
Mr Ado identified poverty, proximity to school, and inadequate Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) facilities, insecurity among others, as factors that are increasing the number of out-of-school children.
UNICEF said efforts are being made to reduce the figure and get as many OSCs as possible back to school.
Therefore, in collaboration with the Bauchi State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), last year UNICEF introduced the Teaching At The Right Level (TaRL) approach and also set up the School Based Management Committee (SBMC), a community-based voluntary committee in charge of enrollment, security and monitoring of learning and facilities in schools.
Raphael Oyedipe, an education expert with UNICEF says "TaRL is a special learning approach adopted by UNICEF in collaboration with Bauchi SUBEB to accommodate out-of-school children who return to school."
According to UNICEF, TaRL employs Words Formation (WoF) and Oral Additional Charts (OAC) for the children to write sentences, addition and multiplication of numbers in various classes.
"The crux of the approach is grouping children according to their learning levels, focusing on foundational reading and mathematics skills, and targeting instruction to a child's current level.
"TaRL classes break free of the blackboard and talk practices commonly found in primary school classrooms across the world by encouraging the use of engaging, fun, and creative activities focused on building foundational reading and mathematics skills.
"TaRL is an evidence-based educational approach that helps children to develop basic reading and numerical skills within a short period of time. It works by dividing children into groups based on their learning needs rather than age or grade," Mr Oyedipe said.
"The approach also dedicates time to teach pupils the needed basic skills rather than focusing solely on completion of curriculum.
"The programme is being worked out in collaboration with the School Based Management Committee (SBMC) whose members are saddled with the responsibility of day-to-day running of affairs of the school," he said.
Mr Oyedipe noted that most of the pupils could not write and speak in English before adopting TaRL by UNICEF in the target schools across the state.
"The adoption of teaching at the right level has attracted a lot of children back to school because they find the method exciting."
Mr Oyedipe said the system was introduced in Nigeria in 2018 in Borno state to augment what was done in schools by the insurgency that kept children out of schools.
While it was introduced in Bauchi in 2022, 290 selected schools,190 in Misau and Alkaleri, 50 in Zaki and 50 in Ningi Local government.
Impact of TaRL
Abubakar Bala, the head teacher of Misau Central Primary School, disclosed that with the introduction of TaRL, the enrolment drive in schools has significantly improved. He said the number of children enrolled in the school rose to 1,126.
"We also had an increase of 285 children that enrolled in primary 6 level while 37 children comprising 17 females and 20 males return back to school..This is a big achievement for the school, which clearly indicates that the TARL system of education is working," said the head teacher.
The education secretary of Misau Local Education Authority (LEA), Abdu Usman, hailed UNICEF and SUBEB for introducing the new approach.
"The introduction of the TaRL system of education has improved the quality of education in the area, as children can easily comprehend what they were being taught in schools",
Mr Usman also said with the introduction of the new method the number of out-of-school children in Misau Local Government has reduced, particularly at primary 5 and 6 levels.
The director of School Services in Bauchi, Korijo Umar, said that with the introduction of the TaRL approach to teaching and learning, pupils have generated more interest in learning, attributable to the simplicity of the method.
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He said the success recorded so far is a result of the political will of Governor Bala Mohammed, who gave 100 per cent support to the UNICEF initiative.
Mr Umar assured that SUBEB would intensify supervision, monitoring and evaluation to ensure that the approach achieves its desired objectives, saying that since the introduction of the new method, teachers are being recruited based on merit.
SBMC chairman says TaRL is the best learning method.
Saleh Jarmanjo the SBMC chairman says from the committee observation: "TaRL is the best learning method because many children are now developing an interest in going to school."
He said the committee is worried over the high number of children hawking on streets during school hours but they are constrained since they cannot provide the basic needs of those children.
"We are doing our best to enlighten parents but the excuse they always give us is that the children must hawk to cater for their daily needs.
"With the introduction of TaRL, some of them have returned to school to learn and go hawking after closing hours," he said.
