e-Newsletter, October 2020

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..

Siyani Sahelian

Reimagining a world where girls have an equal voice and equal future. Siyani Sahelian celebrated #InternationalDayoftheGirlChild with the resolve to empower girls through education, vocation and life skills.

Siyani Sahelian kick started the second cohort of TVET strand with the introduction of new trades. The selection of trades came from the beneficiaries themselves and the trades that are most marketable in their individual locations were selected. Some new skill sets being offered in the SS community centers include Kitchen Gardening, Poultry Farming, Ralli Work, Khussa Making, Gota Kinari, Chunri Making, Applique work and others.

Meet Kiran, one of our TVET beneficiaries enrolled in Poultry Farming trade and well on her way to set up a small medium poultry based enterprise in her village. #GirlsLearnWomenEarn

Siyani Sahelian launched a TVET chapter in Lahore, powered by Life Skills for Kids (LSK). This first chapter will train girls on the skill set of Tailoring followed by Enterprise Development and Financial Literacy and will pave way for more similar centers in the city.

Siyani Sahelian also launched Wordpress digital training course in partnership with CIRCLE Women. With the increased focus on 21st century skills, SS starts a state-of-the-art Digital Training course in partnership with CIRCLE Women. Under the program, the beneficiaries will be trained on the skill set of Wordpress, followed by placement in relevant internships and/or jobs.

Uraan

ITA launched a new project named ‘Uraan’ in collaboration with Oxfam in Pakistan. The Women Leaders of Tomorrow (WLT) program has now entered its sunset phase titled URAAN – Empowerment through Education, Life Skills and Skill Development. Under the program, the beneficiary group will be placed in relevant institutions, both skills based as well as education bands, based on the preference of each individual beneficiary and a customized Life Skills program for all through private and public partnerships. Stay tuned for more exciting developments on this front.

Creating Spaces

ITA’s Creating Spaces project aims to reduce Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) and Child, Early and Forced Marriages (CEFM) by actively engaging and supporting community actors to promote positive gender norms and by supporting women and girls who have experienced violence.

Under the Creating Space programme, ITA, in collaboration with Oxfam in Pakistan, held awareness sessions with boys and men on Positive Norm Modelling in Punjab and Sindh, including Lahore, Kasur, Jehlum, Rawalpindi and Qambar Shahdadkot.

ITA and Oxfam in Pakistan also organized an interactive session with women leaders around Women Rights, Human Rights, UNCRC and CEDAW at Qambar Shahdadkot district of Sindh and a training session in Jehlum for girls and women on their rights and capacity building regarding advocacy plans on women issues.

ASER Pakistan

ASER Pakistan conducted the piloting of International Common Assessment of Numeracy (ICAN) tool in schools in Punjab. ICAN is an open-source, robust and easy-to-use tool that assesses foundational numeracy of children aged 5-16 years and is available in 11 languages, including Urdu. ASER Pakistan, with support from the PAL Network, earlier tested the common set of numeracy items under ICAN 2019 in Toba Tek Singh district of Punjab.
http://aserpakistan.org/International-Common-Assessment-of-Numeracy-ICAN

Making ICAN accessible for ALL – Pakistan becomes the first country to pilot the ICAN tools in Sign Language, courtesy ITA and FESF Pakistan. https://youtu.be/IWSIQQ7qCDA

Safe School Reopening Pilot

ITA, in collaboration with JICA Pakistan, is undertaking the Safe School Reopening Pilot in Islamabad. The prime objective is to ensure that not only students, teachers, non-teaching staff and school administration remain safe in schools but also know as to how infection spread can be prevented in homes and community while maintaining daily activities reflected in the School Mitigation Action Plan (S-MAP) relying mostly on Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions (NPIs) adopted and implemented widely over three progressive phases of full school reopening, supported by fit for purpose school vigilant committees (SVCs) and an efficient Information Education Communication (IEC) package using hybrid platforms (Printed messages, SMS, WhatsApp, animations, e-learning).
The Baseline Survey under Safe School Reopening Pilot was conducted in Islamabad after a two-day training workshop with the enumerators.

Children's Literature Festival


Young Author Award 2020-21	Kitab Gari	The Shared Bookshelf

CLF has announced the Young Author Award 2020-21. The award serves as a platform for young writers in Pakistan to showcase their creativity and critical thinking. Children aged 10-18 years can participate in the second round of CLF Young Author Award and can get a chance to win cash prizes and a 3-month mentorship with renowned authors. The award is being extended for submissions in Urdu and English for two age categories: 10-13 and 14-18 years. Stories are to be submitted before November 30, 2020.	CLF Kitab Gari continues visiting schools and communities with various interactive activities, including Storytelling, Arts & Crafts, Board Games and Cinema Ghar. Kitab Gari enhances reading and learning in children and communities living in urban slums of Lahore and Karachi by visiting each location regularly. The Kitab Gari mobile library is a great friend of children through its outreach program. Contribute to the learning of marginalized children by donating for Kitab Gari here: globalgiving.org/projects/mobile-library-kitab-gari	CLF has collaborated with Children Library Complex (CLC) for The Shared Bookshelf to have biweekly Book Club meetings at CLC and on Zoom. Last Date to register for this book club is November 15, 2020.

Pakistan Literacy Project

ITA is working to establish 20 “Modern School Libraries” in Lahore and Bahawalpur districts under the Pakistan Literacy Project in partnership with Room to Read and in collaboration with School Education Department, Punjab. The goal of the project is to promote and develop book reading habits among primary level students. Pakistan Literacy Project team held Teachers’ Day activities at schools in Lahore and Bahawalpur.

Celebrations of International Day of the Girl Child in Lahore and Bahawalpur under Pakistan Literacy Project.

Safe Internet and School Outreach Program (SIOSP)

ITA, in partnership with Telenor Pakistan, is organizing an internationally recognized 1-hour training/orientation sessions on “Safe Internet Program” for the middle and high school students (between 9-15 years of age) and teachers across Pakistan. These trainings aim to educate the children of Pakistan on the safe use of internet and is provided free of cost. So far, 135,559 students and 3,777 teachers have been trained under the project across all provinces of Pakistan.

Policy dialogues and panel discussion are now being conducted with federal and provincial government departments, text book boards and digital activists etc. to seek recommendations for developing a progressive Digital Safety Curriculum. After two policy dialogues in Azad Jammu & Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan, a policy dialogue was held in Lahore, attended by lawmakers, educationists, curriculum leaders and experts.

Facebook - We Think Digital

ITA, in partnership with Facebook has taken the initiative to promote Digital Literacy and develop Online Safety Resources/Tools to create a safe and efficient Digital Learning Environment for middle and high school students. With the aim of building from digital literacy to digital citizenship, the initiative, intended to spread across a total of 12 districts across three provinces (Punjab, Sindh and KP), is targeted at children, adolescents, and youth groups. Children and adolescents will be provided trainings/lessons in their schools and youth groups/ambassadors from universities will assist on advocacy campaigns to educate beneficiaries on Digital Safety. The direct beneficiaries of these trainings/lessons are then expected to take this further into their communities and families.

Utho Bolo

ITA celebrated 5 years of Utho Bolo, a program that proved to be a success in promoting Life Skills Based Education (LSBE) and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) in Pakistan. Utho Bolo team arranged the Annual Learning Forum to celebrate the achievements of the program along with #Champions4Life, key stakeholders and ITA teams.

ITA under Utho Bolo project held as sensitization and awareness session on LSBE.

Utho Bolo team conducted a three-day Youth Leadership Workshop on LSBE, SRHR and SDGs. A diverse group of young leaders from different organizations, cultural and religious backgrounds joined the workshop and participated very actively

Young Omang

ITA under Young Omang conducted a three days' Capacity Building Workshop on Meaningful Youth Participation in SRHR Dynamics" in Islamabad. An Inclusive and diverse group of young advocates from Punjab, KP and Islamabad joined us with great energy, enthusiasm and potential.

Life Skills for Kids (LSK)

LSK, under its vocational center, is currently preparing school uniforms (on order), stitching and designing of cloths, embroidery work, table covers, cushions, bed sheets (simple & rilli), face masks, safety kit, dolls, key chains and other domestics use items. We are seeking for more orders to provide these deserving females an opportunity to come forward and contribute to fulfill their financial needs.

#EndCDL Art Competition

ITA and The Fundraisers Bargain Basement Sale announced the winners of #EndCDL Art Competition for young artists, judged by Pakistan's leading artists Rashid Rana, RM Naeem and Komail Aijazuddin. All artworks received in the competition are also featured in an online art exhibition as part of #EndCDL campaign. The campaign to End Child Domestic Labour in Pakistan #EndCDL, a children-led nationwide campaign initiated by ITA in collaboration with many child rights organizations and individuals, was carried out across Pakistan. Many activities were held to advocate against CDL since the campaign was launched - webinars and sessions were arranged for capacity building of the Child Champions under the mentors. A number of posters, slogans, advocacy letters and videos were generated through the active participation of Child Champions and mentors


Teachers' Day	International Day of the Girl	Global Handwashing Day

On October 5, 2020, ITA celebrated World Teachers’ Day by honoring all the incredible teachers of Pakistan who fiercely engaged during #COVID19 so that #LearningNeverStops. Repurposing Workforce Development with the new cadre of Caring Teachers-Parent-Activists who are reimagining the future! #WorldTeachersDay	On October 11, 2020, ITA celebrated International Day of the Girl Child with the resolve to empower girls through education. We want an equal voice and an equal future for girls.	On October 15, 2020, ITA observed Global Handwashing Day and carried out hand washing activities at schools. Wash your hands and stay protected from #COVID19! #HandHygieneforALL