Think Creative - Issue 4

CreativeAssociatesInternational.com | 11 Photo by Mounya El Asri time and hers. But their sup- port, and the hours she started spending at the local youth center, changed her mind and her per- spective on life. “I learned to trust myself. I learned to speak up and not be afraid of talking to people. Now I meet new people, I learned how to live in this world with confi- dence in myself,” she says. “And I learned to give myself second chances when I make mistakes. I am brave.” Maroua says that her challenges haven’t disappeared — she is still without a job, and only has a sev- enth-grade education. But she has learned how to better handle those challenges and lean on her family for support. “I teach my brothers and sisters what I’ve learned here. I have benefitted so much, and I tell my siblings not to follow the way I was living before,” she says. “They should thank God that they are Tunisian, trust themselves and look ahead to tomorrow.” n While 11-year-old Ayoub is now reading and playing games with his classmates, this seemed out of reach just a few years ago. Ayoub has a condition called dyspraxia, a neurological disorder that makes it difficult to plan and process motor tasks. Around the world, children with disabilities are often denied the right to quality, inclusive and equitable education. Of the 150 million children with disabilities globally, an estimated 90 percent are out of school. In Morocco, 66.1 percent of children and adolescents with disabilities are out of school, according to the 2014 National Survey on Disability. But Ayoub and his family were determined that his story would be different. They enrolled Ayoub in school, but he could not make it to the next grade because of his condition. In private school, he was bullied by classmates and ignored by his teacher. In a special needs class, Ayoub was not getting the proper instruction to learn to read. “We really suffered a lot from Ayoub’s condition, but we kept believ- ing in him and we won’t give up. We all dream of a bright future for our boy,” says his grandfather. Finally, a principal saw the spark in Ayoub and knew he could excel in the right environment. He recommended Ayoub for a USAID Reading for Success-National Program for Reading intervention class. When Ayoub, then 10, enrolled in first grade at Al Mokhtar Soussi school, he was quickly embraced by his teacher Hanane and given the attention he needed to learn. Hanane noticed that Ayoub, who was often quiet in class, lit up during story time, a pedagogical approach she learned as part of Morocco’s new Arabic reading curriculum, supported by the National Program for Reading. Implemented by Creative, the five-year program supports the gov- ernment in developing a national literacy program to improve Arabic literacy skills in grades 1 through 4. It seeks to improve instruction; expand remedial and extracurricular reading opportunities; and strengthen national learning and assessment systems for reading and writing. Within two weeks of participating in the interactive reading program, Ayoub gained confidence and started reading words. By the sixth month, he was reading sentences and participating in school activities like theater and reading initiatives. “Now I can read, count from one to 20, and I have friends,” says Ayoub. He finished the school year with good grades and a renewed sense of confidence and spent the summer practicing reading. He also has big dreams for his future. “I want to be a teacher, just like my teacher Hanane!” he says. n Morocco // Reading for Success A Right to Learn Ayoub with his teacher Hanane, who has created a supportive environment to help him thrive. significant Reduction in risk Factors