Churches called to help young black boys achieve success

A Christian educationalist is calling on churches to do more to increase the educational achievement of young people from disadvantaged communities.

Dr Cheron Byfield is head of educational charity Excell3, which seeks to raise the academic aspirations and achievements of less advantaged children.

She is encouraging the church to get behind Excell3’s educational programme with young boys, the National Black Boys Can Association (NBBCA), which she claims has led sixty per cent of its participants to attain five GSCEs or more at C-grade and higher.

“It is apparent that the Christian community can make a positive impact on the learning experiences of young people,” she said.

"Through my work with the NBBCA I have seen ‘educational miracles’ occur when the church works in partnership with young boys who aren’t doing well at school.

"Through mentoring and tutoring, young boys who seemed uninterested in learning discover a desire to do so, and begin to achieve and develop confidence, and as a result, step onto the ladder leading to success.”

Dr Byfield appealed to the church to help more disadvantaged youths reach their full potential.

“We would like to see churches of all denominations play a bigger role in helping to fuel the desire to learn amongst disengaged young people by working alongside voluntary organisations like ours that desire to raise educational achievement,” she said.

Dr Byfield has just published a new book, ‘Black Boys Can Make It’, looking at the educational success of young black boys in the US and UK. She will be among the guest speakers at the forthcoming Black Boys Can Make It In Education national conference in London later in the month. The conference will be joined by young black men who attribute their growing educational success to the support they have received from churches through the NBBCA.

She said, “Black boys that are interested in and enjoy their academic studies are less likely to get sucked into the culture of crime and gangs that has become widespread in many inner cities.

“This is because education instils hope, confidence and a sense of purpose, which in turn encourages young men to set themselves positive and achievable goals.”