Jolly Futures News

The dedicated Director of Education for Oshana region, Madam Hileni Amukana, found a way to ensure progression from the strong foundation of Jolly Phonics, by arranging for 300 grade 2 and 3 teachers to be trained in Jolly Grammar level 1 and 2. The four day training event was a great success. Experienced trainers Liz de Gouveia and Valma Adams from South Africa joined Sian Summers Issa, from Kenya, to train these junior primary teachers in the multi sensory Jolly Grammar programme. The teachers were actively engaged in all the games and activities which make the grammar programme informative and fun! The team were delighted to have key stakeholders from the Ministry of Education, the National Institute for Educational Development (NIED) and Professional and Quality Assurance (PQA) who also participated actively and recommend the use of both Jolly Phonics and Jolly Grammar across all primary schools in Namibia. The last cohorts of Jolly Grammar training also included Senior Education Officials from the majority of the 14 regions. These committed members were keen to gain a greater understanding of the Jolly Programmes in advance of the national advocacy event.

Our amazing country manager, Kemi Oladapo-Tonde, and her team of inspiring Jolly Phonics trainers, have today successfully completed Jolly Phonics training for 1,143 Primary 1 teachers in the Kambia and Moyamba districts of Sierra Leone. The training, initially proposed to take place in August 2020, was postponed to February 2021 as a result of COVID-19. Taking advantage of the Jolly Futures offer, extensive donations of Jolly Phonics materials and training costs were made by Jolly Learning.

The quality of education has always been a key concern and driver to the government’s policies in Sikkim. All the government schools are affiliated to Central Board of Secondary Examinations (CBSE) board with English as the medium of instruction. The District Collector, Mr Karma Bonpo of West Sikkim, was impressed with the presentation given by Ms Neeti Nagarkar and decided to implement Jolly Phonics in all the schools in Geyzing & Soreng districts. The training was conducted in November 2021 by Neeti Nagarkar, Preeti Lodaya, Jasmeet Arora, Anagha Bahulikar and Nikita Kashyap. 412 teachers from 228 schools together with 10 Block Officials received Jolly Phonics training. The Additional District Collector, Mr Rohan Agawane, graced the inaugural event with a motivational speech for the teachers. The Joint Director and the Assistant Direstor (Department of Primary Education) were also present throughout the training sessions. In a short span of 4 months the children have shown a remarkable progress in their reading abilities.

The Jolly Phonics programme, for teaching reading and writing in English, has been adopted by all schools in Akola district in Mharashtra State in India.

July 2022 was a busy month for Neeti Nagarkar and her team of Jolly Phonics trainers. They delivered 28 training sessions for 1249 teachers from 916 schools in Akola District. The teachers each were trained for two days covering the foundation of the Jolly Phonics programme. In addition, Neeti delivered training for Government Officials (6 Education Extension Officers, 7 Block Officers and 88 Cluster Heads) to sensitise them to them Jolly Phonics programme and offer advice for monitoring and mentoring teachers during the implementation.

Mr. Randhir Sawarkar- MLA, showed appreciation to Jolly Learning Ltd for the programme and the generous donations of materials and training. The programme will impact 12,418 students and significantly improve literacy levels in Akola. Mr. Saurabh Katiyar-CEO Zilla Parishad has extended his full support and is helping to monitor the progress of the project.

A teacher commented “We are blessed to receive such training for the benefit of our children from rural areas. Half the children in my school are the first-generation learners’ and similar is the situation in more schools.”

The implementation of Jolly Phonics began in the schools immediately and after 6 short weeks it is amazing to see that the children from vernacular medium schools are reading words. The teachers have understood the power of teaching English using Jolly Phonics and the accompanying resources.