BECA Non-Desertion Day

One of the biggest challenges BECA faces is minimizing student desertion. We've heard that desertion in other post-secondary programs in Nicaragua ranges from 40 to 60 percent in Nicaragua.

This made me really nervous because I didn't think BECA would fly if we encountered those kinds of drop-out rates. I mean, who would want to sponsor a student if there was such a good chance that they would quit?

Here is a breakdown of the last 50 BECA Course One students -- some of whom you can see smiling below. (More pictures here.)

Monday to Friday course: 25 started and 22 finished. 88% completion rate. Not too shabby.

Sunday course: 20 started and 17 finished. 85% completion rate. Still pretty good.

Now here's the ugly one.

Saturday course: 20 started and 11 finished. Yuck. 55% completion rate.

BECA response: We are doing away with the Course One weekend courses -- at least for now. In 2010, all BECA Course Ones will be 120 hours over three months.

Standardized and simpler to administer.

It is still way too early to get excited about the good results we experienced. I think we might be on the right track, though.