e-Newsletter, August 2021

Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi (ITA) or the “Centre of Education and Consciousness” Public Trust, established in 2000, is a civil society organization focused on addressing the profound education crisis of Pakistan through action and policy research, service-delivery and advocacy. ITA has been a strong education champion across Pakistan with field programs covering complex aspects of: Access, Learning, Quality, Evaluating Low Cost Private Schools, Inclusion, Child Protection, Gender Justice and Education, Tolerance, Citizenship, Health and Hygiene Interventions, and Technical and Vocational Training Programs with government, communities and public and private school systems.

Annual Status of Education Report

Provincial trainings for Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2021 kicked off across Pakistan. Training sessions for the survey and on necessary tools were successfully completed in Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Azad Jammu & Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan. Led by master trainers from ITA, the 3-day training sessions included workshops of the survey with mock sessions and demonstrations.

ITA partners with NCHD for ASER 2021

ITA also signed an MoU with National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) to provide field support for ASER 2021.

Launch of Early Years Interim Research in Punjab

In line with the increased recognition that early childhood care and education (ECCE) has received in recent years, ITA shared its findings on an early years’ research study in the first quarter of 2021 at Program Monitoring and Implementation Unit (PMIU), School Education Department, Punjab. PMIU Program Director Shahid Rehman, Koen Geven and Amna Ansari from World Bank, Sehr Raza from UNICEF Pakistan and ITA CEO Baela Raza Jamil participated in the launch event.

As part of the Early Learning Partnership Systems Research Phase II program – funded by World Bank with support from Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) -the study explored key thematic questions pertaining to early years in COVID-19 with respect to the pandemic response, subsector prioritization, learning at home, ECE staff support, and the eventual return to school for young children.

Safe Schools Reopening Pilot

The Safe Schools Reopening Pilot (SRP) was granted an extension in August, the requisites for the extension were submitted to the donor & MoFE&PT. The SRP team continued its monitoring and mentorship visits to schools. Meetings were held with two of the six area education officers; they were updated on the SRP interventions and activities. The midline survey plan was finalized, and two-day training of surveyors was held followed by the data collection activity.

Distribution of caps and booklets was also done for Student Vigilance Committee members in SRP.

Midline survey begins in SRP schools

The Safe Internet and School Outreach program (SISOP) started its midline survey to gauge the impact till date of the SRP interventions in schools.

Pakistan Literacy Project

Pakistan Literacy Project welcomed children back to school with 24 modern libraries in district Lahore and Bahawalpur along with mini libraries. The goal of the project is to promote and develop book reading habit among primary level students. ITA, in partnership with Room to Read and in collaboration with School Education Department, Punjab, is reaching out to schools across Pakistan with 28 beautiful titles adapted from 10 different languages. So far, 1,737 schools have been reached with more than 400,000 beneficiaries and 145,908 Books.

Children’s Literature Festival

Kitab Gari, an initiative by Children’s Literature Festival (CLF) and a flagship program of ITA, launched the second Mobile Library in Karachi as a gift to communities and schools on the occasion of 75th Independence Day celebrations. The soft launch of Kitab Gari was held at Khokra Par, Malir; an urban slum of Karachi.

Street children gathered for interactive learning activities enjoying storytelling and joy of reading beautiful books including, word and board games In the spirit of 14th August celebration children came together to participate in nationwide campaign of #Plant4Pakistan and #Read4Pakistan making our country truly sustainable.

Siyani Sahelian

The Siyani Sahelian program got published a blog post in The Education and Development Forum - UKFIET titled "Creating Livelihoods for Girls Through Skills Development Interventions - Potential for Innovation". The blog explores some great stories of resilience and entrepreneurial Siyani Sahelian from South Punjab, who have inspired us through their work during and beyond the pandemic – from making face masks for remote communities to creating awareness sessions in their community on different mental health issues - while not forgetting the plight of the underprivileged.

Siyani Sahelian center established in Basti Bhong

Siyani Sahelian established a new center in Basti Bhong, Rahim Yar Khan for the Hindu community.

Book chapter on Siyani Sahelian published

A chapter featuring Siyani Sahelian case study "Improving Literacy Outcomes for Disadvantaged Girls Through Empowerment: The Case of Siyani Sahelian Programme in Pakistan" has been published in the IGI Global book Poverty Impacts on Literacy Education, written by Monazza Aslam, Laura Cashman, Moaaz Hamid, Shenila Rawal, Baela Raza Jamil, Ricardo Sabates and Saba Saeed. In this chapter, the authors develop evidence for the effectiveness of a remedial learning program - Siyani Sahelian - which aims to support the reintegration of disadvantaged girls into schooling by developing literacy skills in Urdu (among other academic and life skills).

Aasman Se Batein

12th August is observed as International Youth Day across the world to celebrate youth, the achievements of the young generation and to draw attention to a given set of cultural and legal issues surrounding youth. To this end, Malala Champions/Peer mentors celebrated this day at their respective schools. The celebrations included voices of young Malala Champions that were amplified through different social media platforms. The beneficiaries also shared amazing stories of youth empowerment and their active participation in building a sustainable and inclusive world for all.

Creating Spaces

Multiple sessions with women and girls on leadership skills and self-advocacy skills were organized under the Creating Spaces project, supported by Oxfam in Pakistan. These sessions were conducted in Kasur, Jhelum, Gujrat, Rawalpindi and Shahdadkot. Moreover, our woman leader from Kasur conducted a session on the effective participation of women in upcoming local government elections.

Telenor Safe Internet and School Outreach Program

The SISOP reached agreements with Roots International School system to conduct digital safety training in their Islamabad, Faisalabad, Bahawalpur and Islamabad schools starting from September. Additionally, a member of the deaf community was hired by Telenor Pakistan and trained by the SISOP team to deliver digital safety sessions in sign language to make our program more inclusive for deaf individuals.

We Think Digital by Facebook

The We Think Digital program by Facebook completed its third phase and achieved its objective of training 2000+ teachers and 60,000+ students at 700+ schools in 13 districts of Pakistan. Through the amazing performances of the team who conducted training sessions online and on ground during the pandemic, ITA has managed to secure an extension to phase 4. The program now moves towasrds sharing its findings with the government and educational experts in its planned Round Table Discussion.

Life Skills for Kids

Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi Life Skills for Kids (LSK) celebrated Independence Day with activities like speeches, quiz and painting competition, national songs, performances and storytelling. LSK students also participated in the plantation drive and planted 200 plants for clean green Pakistan.

The senior students at LSK shared their ambitions as they celebrated International Youth Day. They made short messages on how youth can be part of innovation for human and planetary health.

Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi CEO Bulleh Shah Packaging visited LSK campuses and interacted with students. He appreciated the efforts and passion of LSK staff for bringing a visible change in student\'s appearance and attitude towards education.

Teachers are getting online training on the Single National Curriculum organized by the Government. "Taray Zameen Par" foundation visited LSK campus and admired the hard work of staff and interest of students. They collected best practices for their own supported schools. Meanwhile, a team from Chughtai Lab, organized an awareness & painting session for their ongoing competition on health. Computer Labs were established in LSK campuses where computer instructors started teaching.

ITA CEO Baela Raza Jamil’s interview with The News

Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi Read the exclusive interview of ITA CEO Baela Raza Jamil with Ramsha Nadeem for The News. An educationist with a vision, Baela shares her journey and challenges facing Education.

Interview on Hum News - Subh Say Agay

ITA CEO Baela Raza Jamil was featured in the Amazing Pakistani segment on HUM News morning show Subh Say Agay where she shared her journey of becoming an educationist and the different initiatives she led at ITA.

International Youth Day

Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi International Youth Day is designated by the United Nations to raise awareness for the critical issues surrounding the youth of the world and to highlight how youngsters are changing the world for the better. ITA celebrated #InternationalYouthDay2021 on 12th August, 2021 by highlighting the achievements of remarkable students and youngsters who are putting in amazing efforts to improve themselves and the community.

To celebrate the day, ITA organized a panel discussion in Sanjan Nagar Public Education Trust with youngsters participating as panelists and sharing their achievements and role towards planetary health. Child protection guidelines were also shared with the students.

Pakistan Independence Day

Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi ITA celebrated Independence Day on 14th August, 2021 with the pledge to work towards making Pakistan a safer, better and happier place for our children and citizens.

Tree Plantation

ITA celebrated Independence Day by planting 200 tress as part of the countrywide plantation drive.

ITA extends support for Afghanistan

Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi ITA expressed solidarity with Afghanistan. Supporting Peace, Right to Education and Protection for ALL.