getting more people through education

#ViTarAnsvar (We take responsibility) for getting more people through education

BAHR’s CSR project #ViTarAnsvar aims to reduce social exclusion among young people, as well as to improve social inclusion and integration in Norway. This is done by providing mathematics homework tuition and extra resources where needed the most.

Give people a chance

Many young people drop out because they are struggling in school. Mathematics is often the Achilles heel, which may trigger a downward spiral. The #ViTarAnsvar initiative provides mathematics homework tuition and teaching resources for schools with inadequate STEM resources. The objective is to improve pupil performance, to enable pupils to gain admittance to upper secondary education and thereafter go on to complete apprenticeships or higher education.

#ViTarAnsvar was initiated by Vibeke Fængsrud, or the «Maths Lady» as she gets called, through her company; House of Math. BAHR became involved after Vibeke approached Managing Partner Thomas K. Svensen directly.

–Thomas K. Svensen and Knut T. Traaseth took an immediate liking to the idea of helping to boost the prospects of young people who would otherwise not have stood a chance, says Vibeke.

– Since maths is one of the key reasons why young people drop out of school and university, that subject is an appropriate focus, observes Thomas K. Svensen, and adds that Fængsrud and BAHR will take the project further. – At BAHR, we take responsibility and will be helping more young people, emphasises Svensen.

The numbers speak for themselves Thus far, close to 3,000 pupils have participated in #ViTarAnsvar. This has made quite a difference to their

school performance. #ViTarAnsvar has covered eight schools, and a significant increase in average grades has been registered in six of these, with the strongest performing school clocking up a 1.6 average grade improvement.

– This demonstrates that making resources available in this way does make a difference. I am delighted that this is acknowledged by businesses that are keen to lend a hand, especially now that covid-19 has left many pupils stranded at home without access to the assistance they need. So many talents are being lost. #ViTarAnsvar is providing relief by making resources available, to give as many pupils as possible a real chance. I like the concept of everyone beginning at the same starting line, but that does not

happen by itself, says Vibeke.

With the heart in the right place

It is clear to see that Vibeke has a soft spot for those who do not fit into the Norwegian school system, but it was by no means obvious that she would be in a position to help them. Vibeke was born with two holes in her heart. That was far from being an ideal solution, as she puts it herself.

– I was supposed to live to the age of 12. It feels wonderful to have made it past 40.

She had a heart operation when she was two years and nine months old. And although her tiny rib cage had been opened up and stitched back together again, she was out picking blueberries with her parents only ten days later.

– I was chucked out of hospital because I was a danger to the other kids. I snuck out on a tricycle and crashed into a piano at the hospital. Mum and dad were then told to take me home and resume normal life to the best of their ability.

So we went looking for blueberries. And when the stiches hurt, I just said «Ow, my stiches» and kept picking berries. I have been going at full throttle ever since, says Vibeke. This attitude is an important part of who she is, and she reckons that she was simply born full of energy and zest for life.

Challenging school days

School did not work out well for the young girl with the big thoughts. There was a lot of disgruntlement and many unpleasant situations when teachers did not know how to deal with her energy, ingenuity and tendency to question absolutely everything. She was accused of vandalism when she was holidaying with her parents, and was pulled through the school premises by her hair by one of the teachers.

– I really wanted to get an A in Norwegian, but never got anything more than a C. No matter what I did. So when we were going to write our main essay in the last year of lower secondary, I asked the star pupil in my big sister’s class if I could borrow his essay. He had got an A*. I copied it to the letter, as this was in the time of handwritten essays, and submitted it under a new title. And was fobbed off with the same old C. So I showed the two identical essays to my dad and said: «Look here; it makes no difference what I do. I can’t be bothered anymore», remembers Vibeke.

In the end she decided that she needed to get away from there, and she joined Oslo Private Gymnasium (OPG) for upper secondary. The problem was that she did not know how to excel at school.

– I had to retake one year of upper secondary school. I needed to get a grip, but had no work habits. Getting my head around maths was a major stumbling block. You cannot just sit down and read, since everything builds on other things you were supposed to have learnt before. Math grades are the main reason why young people drop out and fail to complete upper secondary education. That saddens me.

Vibeke embarked on an undergraduate programme at BI Norwegian Business School straight from upper secondary, but she had set herself up to fail by having inadequate maths skills. This caused her to drop out. But she then decided to go back to university at the age of 23. And her chosen subject: Just maths. It was no cakewalk. Fractional arithmetic had eluded Vibeke. She therefore bought all upper secondary books and did exams in the missing subjects. Nine years of school had to be recapped in order to plug the

I had to retake one year of upper secondary school. I needed to get a grip, but had no work habits.

holes – a catchup exercise that ended with her gaining a master’s degree.

Tax jitters

In 2004, when she was an undergraduate student, one of her fellow students asked if she would be interested in providing homework tuition to a pupil. She was paid NOK 500 in cash, and ended up tutoring 20 pupils within a couple of months. This gave the inspiration for House of Math. That idea was tucked into a bedside table drawer along with NOK 20,000 – all dirty money in small denomination bills. Vibeke developed «tax jitters».

– I remember getting really nervous when I opened the drawer and it was overflowing with cash, and I realised that I could not see myself as a tax cheat. I had to set up a company to pay my taxes. So that is what I did.

She eventually got more tuition work than she was able to handle on her own. Instead of turning pupils away, she hired other tutors and House of Math grew. She also started authoring books. This was a way of making her accumulated knowledge available also to those who could not afford private homework tuition. And she has ended up authoring books for the entire Norwegian school curriculum from Class 1 to Class 13; a total of 27 titles, 11 of which are books and the remainder of which are booklets and compendia.

– I was on a roll, and I started to think about how to get businesses to sponsor homework tuition in deprived schools and areas, and to thereby reach even more people. That is how I came up with #ViTarAnsvar. We now have a great many fabulous high-calibre people and businesses that are sponsoring and enabling us to provide revision booklets, books and teachers, as well as homework tuition to pupils in all areas.

#ViTarAnsvar is providing relief by making resources available, to give as many pupils as possible a real chance