10 year-old Genet is a third grade student who lives with her poor peasant parents in Gubeta Arjo Kebele of Ethiopia and attends the Gubeta Arjo Primary School. She has a strong interest in learning and wishes to become a teacher in the future. However, due to a lack of awareness from her parents, the surrounding community and the school community, she did not feel supported or empowered to realize her dreams of becoming a teaching.

ADRA Ethiopia’s Strengthening Equity and Access to Quality Education (SEAQE) project trains teachers and school management committees on the significance of empowering girls through education. In addition to this, an advocacy campaign was carried out in this region to increase the awareness of the local community about this issue.

For Genet the school supplies her with educational materials and her teacher provides tutorial classes for both Genet and her peers with particular attention given to reading. This has motivated Genet to be a more active student during group activities. These special aids have enabled Genet to become alert and diligent in her learning.

As a result of this her academic performance has shown a remarkable improvement with her coming first in the whole class with a score of 99.5% in the first semester of this year.
Genet says thank you to ADRA Ethiopia and the NORAD SEAQE project which played a big role in increasing her academic performance. It is her wish that this support continues to extend to all girls in her community.