Dolen Cymru Wales Lesotho Link, in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) and Jolly Futures, have been working towards a National Rollout of Jolly Phonics. Jolly Phonics, a fast track English literacy programme for early reading and writing, has been successfully piloted in several districts across Lesotho.
Over the past few years Jolly Phonics has been becoming a widely used term across the country. Grade 1 pupils in the pilot schools have been consistently achieveing highly and able to read and write in English. In additon to this, the skills from Jolly Phonics are very transferable and there has been noticeable improvement in Sesotho literacy skills too. Behind these great results were passionate and dedicated teachers who found joy teaching reading and writing with Jolly Phonics.
Dolen Cymru recognised these talented teachers and invested in their professional development journey to become official Jolly Phonics trainers. Lesotho has 12 local Jolly Phonics trainers who have been busy building up to the long awaited National Jolly Phonics Rollout.
Dolen Cymru Lesotho Wales link believe in nurturing individuals who want to make a lasting positive change in their communities. The national rollout is being managed by a team of dedicated managers and trainers. Jolly Futures CIC have worked closely with Dolen Cymru to nurture this team. It is the first national rollout for Jolly Futures that is being managed and delivered by an entirely local team. This is something that all parties, including MoET, are proud of. The team are experts in their own context and are best able to navigate the challenges teachers face in the classrooms of their mountain kingdom.
1700+ Grade 1 teachers from every government primary school in the country are now being trained how to implement Jolly Phonics in their classrooms as well as how to use the donated materials. Classroom materials and Pupil Books for 80,000 pupils have been donated by Jolly Learning Ltd, the publisher of Jolly Phonics.
The Jolly Phonics National Rollout was officially launched on Thursday 17th February at Lesotho High School, Maseru. Key influential figures from the MoET attended the opening ceremony. Words of encouragement, gratitude and hope were delivered in moving speeches from Honourable Professor Ntoi Rapapa (Minister for Education), Harry MacDonald (British High Commissioner for Lesotho), Dr.Dira Khama( Principal Secretary of Basic Education) and Ms Thuto Ntsekhe-Mokhehle (CEO of Primary Education).
In addition the presence of Mr Teboho Monesi (CEO of Secondary Education), Ms Seriti Morofele (Regional Inspector North and Jolly Phonics Focal Person) ,Kefuoehape Lenepa (Inspector Maseru), Ms Matsolo Mohasi (DEM (ai) Maseru) and, Ms Mamohlabani Ramoseka (SRT) was appreciated and recognised by teachers as well as the Lesotho National Broadcasting Service.
Following the exciting launch of the National Jolly Phonics rollout the training team trained all the grade 1 teachers in Maseru district. They continue to move out across the country training teachers in all 10 districts. 30 Senior Education Officials, representatives from districts and members from the National Curriculum Development Centre were also sensitised in the programme and shown how to monitor and mentor teachers using the revolutionary smartphone application, the Jolly Monitor.
To ensure lasting impact and sustainability of Jolly Phonics in Lesotho the MoET will be given the licence to reprint the black and white pupil and teacher books for future years. The access to these matierials, the strong team of local trainers, the acknowledgement of synthetic phonics (namely Jolly Phonics) in the literacy window of the national curriculum and the passion teachers are showing for Jolly Phonics will contribute greatly to the increase in literacy levels of Basotho children.
We are deeply grateful for the support from a diverse and wide team over the years on this Jolly Phonics journey in Lesotho.