Catch Up Pilot Program

Despite gains in enrollment, learning levels in Zambia remain low. Large, heterogeneous classrooms mean that students who miss basic skills never have the chance to catch up. Randomized evaluations from researchers in the J-PAL network show that programs which tailor learning to the level of the child help solve this problem. In conjunction with J-PAL Africa and other cooperating partners, the Ministry of General Education began planning to launch a Catch Up Program modelled after interventions proven to be effective through randomized evaluations. The program began with a pilot in May 2016 and, after refining the model that was best for their school system, the Ministry committed to scaling the approach to approximately 1,800 schools across Zambia over three years in August 2017 with funding from USAID’s Development Innovation Ventures and USAID Zambia. For more on Teaching at the Right Level in India, see this scale-up story and this December 2017 op-ed in Livemint by J-PAL South Asia Executive Director Shobhini Mukerji and Pratham CEO Rukmini Banerji. For more on the Catch Up program in Zambia, see this blog post from January 2018 and this set of videos produced by Pratham, J-PAL Africa, the Zambian Ministry of General Education.