e-Newsletter, May 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 (ASER)

ASER 2021 - Measuring the Impact of Covid-19 on Education in Pakistan

After conducting an extensive survey and assessment in 16 districts, 9300+ households, reaching over 25,000 children aged 3 to 16, the research team is now in the process of finalizing the writeup for reporting the impact of Covid-19 on Education in Pakistan. A summary of the findings has also been sent to the federal finance department for publication in the education chapter of Economic Survey of Pakistan. The preliminary findings show statistically significant learning losses for below primary level students.

ASER 2021 - Katchi Abadi Pilot Survey

The ASER Pakistan research team is working to map learning levels of Pakistani children to previously unexplored geographic zones - the Katchi Abadis (informal urban settlements) of Pakistan. In the first stage, a pilot is being conducted in Lahore, Karachi-West, Karachi-Korangi and Karachi-Malir. In each district, using the government's updated lists, 30 settlements have been sampled for survey. From each settlement, 20 households are to be surveyed. District training for the pilot has been conducted, and the data collection process is underway. A comprehensive report is expected in July.

Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report 2021

ITA with support from UNESCO's GEM Report is drafting a country study, for their regional report that will map the non-state activity at different levels of education, and analyze policies and regulations on paper, and how state-non-state relations and activities function. The study aims to address the age-old question – what can and should be the role of non-state providers in education. For this purpose, after a comprehensive literature review, qualitative interviews are being conducted with Government officials, stakeholders in the private sector as well as academics and policy influencers. Based on the initial interviews, a draft has also been submitted.

UK in Pakistan has pledged support to ASER Pakistan survey for the next three years, formalizing the UK and ITA's collaboration to advance education in Pakistan.

Safe School Reopening Pilot (SRP)

Playful Parenting – Engaging Mothers for Meaningful Play

To pilot the component of school health services, telehealth has been introduced in the target schools. ITA has partnered with Sehat Kahani for the execution of 24/7 teleheatlh servcies to the registered clients from target schools. ITA has nominated a coustodian, responsible for ensuring the registraion of the school staff, students and the related communities.

To meet the challenges of mental stress, a ToT on ‘Mindfullness and Yoga techniques’ of teaching staff, from six of the target schools was conducted virtually. The training was appreciated by the participants.

Aasman Se Batein

Leaving NO Girl Behind - Under Aasman Se Batein program supported by Malala Fund in collaboration with School Education Department, the program has mobilized over 2000 out of school beneficiaries both never enrolled and dropout to recover loss of learning and development through catchup education at post-primary levels, with life skills and psychosocial counseling. Recently, the team has also conducted community baithak in targeted locations of district Bahawalpur to sensitize parents, community head and other stakeholders in building awareness for girls’ education.

Siyani Sahelian

ITA is bringing 21st century skills to in partnership with CIRCLE Women. First cohort of 50 girls from Bahawalpur have been trained on the skillsets of WordPress and Freelancing and have already started earning through project acquisition. The second cohort is underway. The outcome of this segment is remarkable with impact not limited to the girls themselves but extending to their households and communities.

Uraan

Under the digital segment of the project Uraan, supported by Oxfam in Pakistan, 30 girls went through a 4-week learning program on WordPress and Freelancing in partnership with Circle Women. The program concluded with an evaluation of the skill set of the girls and the highest performers were handed out laptops to help them continue their journey of digital empowerment.

Children’s Literature Festival

A poster making competition was held for Pakistan Learning Festival which took place in Gilgit Baltistan in June. Ms. Rizwana Kango won the competition.

CLF has been working on Urdu adaptation of 'Storia di Iqbal' - Francesco De Adamo - which is a French story based on the life and struggle of Iqbal Masih.

Telenor Safe Internet and School Outreach Program

Millennials are navigating the online world at a lightning speed; therefore, it is essential to prepare them to be responsible digital citizens. ITA takes pride in bringing Telenor Safe Internet and School Outreach program for the youth. The program tends to holistically cater to the menace of internet dangers by suggesting solutions and also involving students in devising contingency plans. The program has entered Quarter II, successfully managing to train 59,113 students and 1,559 teachers to date. Under this phase, ITA conducted Pakistan Learning Festival. Sajid Sadpara, son of the mountaineer hero Ali Sadpara, discussed the significance of encouraging digital safety in the youth at the event.

Facebook - We Think Digital

The We Think Digital program aims to spread awareness among children/youth on digital literacy and safety. In this digital era accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, we continued to strive for our goal by switching to a virtual outreach strategy. Under the Phase 2 of this program, the program team successfully conducted inception workshops and virtually trained over 800 teachers through Zoom. Currently, these trained teachers are educating their students and spreading awareness on digital literacy and safety, achieving a number of 14,700+ students across all provinces of Pakistan.

Life Skills for Kids (LSK)

LSK students organized Eidul Fitr celebrations at their community learning spaces where they came up with new dressing, hair styles, played different games and enjoyed food. They also participated in essay writing on sharing their thoughts on Eid during lockdown.

LSK students continue in their huts with Covid protocols

With the support of project donors, LSK team has distributed sewing machines among eight families to improve their earning through domestic tailoring.