The MGCubed Project impacted over 36,000 pupils in the past 3 years and aims at increasing its reach to over 18,000 primary, Junior High school and out of school girls in the next four years.
The MGCubed Project uses solar-powered and satellite-enabled distance learning infrastructure to deliver interactive learning sessions to students, teachers, communities and government officials. The Project’s main objectives are to improve the literacy and numeracy learning outcomes of beneficiaries; support them to transition from primary to secondary schools; and ensure the sustainability of the impact made.
MGCubed also aims to address the challenges of teacher quality, teacher absenteeism, and poor student learning.
The project has been funded by the Department for International Development (DFID)’s Girls' Education Challenge (GEC).
The programme has impacted:
MGCubed lessons have been shown to lead to major learning gains in both Maths and English.
• MGCubed girls' fluency in English progresses at a rate of between 30-35% faster than other pupils; while improvements in Maths scores are 2.5 times the effect seen in similar interventions.
This confirms that exposure to quality teaching through the interactive satellite enabled distance learning Maths and English lessons has a significant effect on pupils’ performance.
• 22% of Out of School Girls who participated in afterschool clubs have now returned to school.
• MGCubed girls are more likely to take on leadership positions
In School Classes
Over a three year period, 1 hour of basic Maths and 1 hour of basic English Language curriculum is taught during the day, broadcast live to multiple classrooms by master teachers from two teaching studios in Accra. A total of over 10,000 girls and boys have been taught basic numeracy and literacy over the project.
After School Wonder Women and Boys Boys Sessions
In addition to the in-school classes, the project delivers an after-school girls' club called Wonder Women for up to 50 marginalised girls, per school including some out-of-school girls. The Project introduced boys after school sessions known as Boys Boys as an offshoot of the Wonder Women sessions. The after school sessions cover topics including: early pregnancy, early marriage, reproductive health, personal hygiene, child rights, and financial literacy, leadership and problem solving, community projects as well as introducing them to different adult female and male role models. The goal has been to empower them, raise their self-esteem, increase their aspirations to enable them stay in school.
Community and stakeholder engagement is a critical part of MGCubed’s delivery strategy. In order to achieve self-governing local committees, MGCubed works with volunteers in deprived communities and Parents and Teachers Associations (PTAs). The Project works in collaboration with the Girls Education Unit and the District Directorates of Ghana Education Service.
The Project’s independent external evaluation at Midline and Endline through a Randomized Control Trail (RCT) using the Early-Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) and Early-Grade Maths Assessment (EGMA) test showed the following results:
- Large and significant positive impact on numeracy skills with a treatment effect equivalent to 0.39 standard deviations in test scores at Midline. Positive effects found across all components of the mathematics test and for all students, but effect even stronger for girls and students in earlier grades
- The treatment effect on an index created from the various English test tasks between Midline and Endline was 0.275 standard deviations, with a treatment effect on words-per-minute of 0.11 standard deviations
- MGCubed influenced girls’ beliefs regarding gender norms, with girls in Project schools more likely to disagree with a standardized index of statements reflecting patriarchal norms
- 80% of facilitators (school based teachers) teach other non-MGCubed standard classes, a valuable positive unintended consequence is the spillover impact of improvements in teaching quality on students outside MGCubed classes
- 55 out of the 246 (22%) out of school girls have successfully returned to mainstream schooling
- Improvement in the confidence of the girls observed in their readiness to take up leadership positions in school, public speaking, and boldness to report abuse cases, operating classroom technology equipment and managing classrooms on behalf of teachers