Madam Naima Shows What’s Possible When Women Lead

When Madam Naima talks about her classroom, she doesn’t start with complaints, she starts with hope.

Over the weekend, she attended her first Create Change teacher training workshop. “The workshop was very effective,” she says. “Even while we were there, I began to see how these new methods could help me in my teaching. I learned how to use activities instead of just writing things on the board or saying them theoretically to the children.”

Before the training, her lessons followed the familiar rhythm of most rural classrooms: repetition, copying, rote memorization. Now, her room sounds different.

“When I came back, I started using activities and starters with the children,” she explains. “The starters energize them and make them comfortable. They fully participate in whatever we are going to do.”

Naima teaches in a rural school where conditions are tough. Her blackboard once collapsed, forcing her to squat and write on the floor. She improvises materials from whatever she can find: bottle caps, paper scraps, sticks... but some supplies, like cardboard or markers, are hard to afford.

Still, she carries the lessons from the workshop with her every day.

“A playful class energizes effective teaching and learning,” she says. “Children are supposed to be part of whatever you are doing. They need to learn by doing, so they won’t forget.”

Naima preparing Activity Based Learning Materials for class activities.

It’s a simple idea, but in classrooms like Naima’s, it’s revolutionary.

With the right tools, coaching, and encouragement, teachers like her are showing that joy, curiosity, and understanding can grow anywhere, even in the most difficult conditions.

Naima at Create Change's ABL Workshop for Rural Teachers.