There are questions that have to be answered first, and until they are answered, the child remains at home. What grade should she return to? What happens if she is now older than the other children in that grade? Who pays for the uniform, the books, and the fees? What if the family has moved, or the child has been married, or the school has no space? These are not hypothetical obstacles. They are the practical reasons that children who leave school do not return. Back-to-school support answers these questions one child at a time.

The work begins with identifying the child. Many children who are out of school are not on any register. They are not in the data that schools keep, because they are not enrolled. They are known to their neighbours, to their teachers, and to their families, but they are not known to the system. We work with schools, community members, and local leaders to identify children who have dropped out or who have never enrolled, and to understand why. The reasons vary. Some are financial. Some are related to distance or safety. Some are related to early marriage, pregnancy, or child labour. Some are related to disability, where the school has not been prepared to receive the child. The reason matters because the response depends on it.

Our Approach

Back-to-school support is where the work of keeping a child in school begins again. A child who has been out of school has not lost the capacity to learn. She has lost time, and she has lost the routine that makes learning possible. When the obstacles are removed and the support is provided, she returns. She catches up. She stays. This is what the work is for, and it is what makes the difference between a child who is lost to the system and a child who is back in it.