ITA hosts COVID-19 Webinar Series

Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi (ITA) is hosting a series of Webinars on the themes of Disability and Inclusion, Learning Crisis, Early Childhood Education, Teachers Training and Education, and Digital Learning to bring together experts and practitioners to discuss options and responses for learning in COVID-19 in the context of developing countries in general, and Pakistan in particular. The provocation for ITA hosted webinars comes from three major directions:
a) COVID-19 and its multiple challenges;
b) ITA partnerships at local, national and global levels in learning, evidence generation, and advocacy, and c) service delivery practices from the field. ITA webinar series is richly focused on thematic areas and voices from the field generated from our work.

Early Years Learning in COVID-19

On August 4, 2020, ITA hosted a webinar on "Early Years Learning in COVID-19: Global Response and Adaptations in Pakistan” to explore the potential response options available for governments, workforce, and parents in Pakistan and rest of the Global South to ensure that children in early years do not face the negative consequences of COVID-19. The panelists included Dr. Hirokazu Yoshikawa (Professor of Globalization and Education, New York University Education Steinhardt School), Dr. Amy Jo Dowd (Head of Evidence, LEGO Foundation), Shawn Powers, (Economist, Education Global Practice, World Bank), Evelyn D. Santiago (Executive Director, ARNEC), Dr. Nadia Siddiqui (Education Researcher), Dr. Amna Ansari (Early Years Fellow for Pakistan with the World Bank), Abdal Mufti (Head of Research and Policy Wing at PMIU, School Education Department, Punjab). The webinar was moderated by Dr. Monazza Aslam (Education Economist).

Watch here: https://www.facebook.com/itacec/videos/3190636450971776

COVID Kay Sitaray Part-II

On August 7, 2020, ITA hosted part-II of "COVID Kay Sitaray” webinar to hear from "NEW CADRE” about their COVID-19 journey for learning. ITA’s fundamental core is the people who kept working vigilantly during COVID-19 to deliver education and develop communities adapting to new paradigms.

Covid kay Sitaray Part-II included the panels where stars from all departments of ITA, including teachers, communities, and our wonderful students shared unique learning ideas, learning products/materials and how they adapted to the new normal.

Watch here: https://www.facebook.com/itacec/videos/663726594232835

COVID Kay Sitaray Part-III

On August 19, 2020, ITA hosted part-III of "COVID Kay Sitaray” webinar to discuss the initiatives taken to reduce Gender Based Violence during COVID-19.

Watch here: https://www.facebook.com/itacec/videos/752441808866659

Campaign to End Child Domestic Labour gains momentum

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, is gaining momentum across Pakistan. Following the capacity building sessions being held to enable the role of Child Champions in ending CDL in Pakistan, they are raising awareness about fundamental rights of children and related laws, and demanding the government, parliamentarians, society and families to end CDL. The campaign comprises four major interconnected sub-groups of Legislation, Posters, Advocacy Letters and Social Media that deal with different aspects to ensure change from bottom to top. Every group has dedicated mentors and assistants who conduct sessions with the child champions and motivate them to actively contribute to the cause. http://itacec.org/Campaign-to-End-Child-Domestic-Labor

Legislation group mentor Miqdad Syed and ITA CEO Baela Raza Jamil held an interactive session with children at Child Protection and Welfare Bureau Punjab to sensitize them about national and international child protection laws, followed by an art activity

Acclaimed filmmaker and #EndCDL mentor Samar Minallah held a video-making workshop to train Child Champions to make their own videos to advocate against CDL.

ITA and The Fundraisers Bargain Basement Sale is holding #EndCDL Art Competition for young artists, to be judged by Pakistan\'s leading artists Rashid Rana, RM Naeem and Komail Aijazuddin. All artworks received in the competition will be featured in an online art exhibition as part of #EndCDL campaign.

Digital posters highlighting the plight of children involved in domestic labour. Let’s raise our voice so fundamental rights of children, including Article9, Article11 and Article 25A are not violated!

ASER Pakistan - ASER South Asia hosts webinar on ICAN

On August 10, 2020, ASER South Asia, a hub of the People’s Action for Learning (PAL) Network, comprising ASER Bangladesh, ASER India, ASER Nepal and ASER Pakistan, hosted a webinar on "Understanding foundational numeracy: South Asian perspectives on International Common Assessment of Numeracy (ICAN) – a new global tool”. The panelists for the webinar included Asif Saleh, Executive Director, BRAC Bangladesh; Rukmini Banerji, CEO Pratham; Shehzad Jeeva, Chairman The Inter Board Committee of Chairmen (IBCC) Pakistan; and Marguerite Clarke, Senior Education Specialist, World Bank, New Delhi. The discussion was moderated by Ramya Vivekandan, Senior Education Specialist, Global Partnership for Education (GPE). Watch here:
https://www.facebook.com/ASERPakistan/videos/284110309551538

ICAN is an open-source, robust and easy-to-use tool that assesses foundational numeracy and is available in 11 languages. For South Asian contexts, the tool is available in Urdu, Hindi, Nepali and Bangla as well as in English. ICAN was developed through a collaborative effort between PAL Network member organizations in 13 low and middle-income countries across Africa, America, and Asia. ASER Pakistan, with support from the PAL Network, tested the common set of numeracy items under ICAN in Toba Tek Singh district of Punjab.
http://aserpakistan.org/International-Common-Assessment-of-Numeracy-ICAN

Digital Children’s Learning Festival

Children’s Literature Festival (CLF) went digital to hold Pakistan’s first ever online Children’s Learning Festival from August 18–20, 2020 to celebrate 73rd Anniversary of Pakistan. At least 30 sessions were held on the three-day digital Children’s Learning Festival with 25 partner organizations, CLF Advisors, Goodwill Ambassadors, Resource Persons and children participating in varied activities aimed at the learning of children.

Learning was at the heart of the online learning festival with storytelling sessions, puppet theatre, book launches, open mic session Bol Ke Lab Azaad Hain Teray, Cinema Ghar, Dastan Goi, bookmaking, math and science activities, STEM workshops, arts and crafts workshops, and a conversation with the winners of CLF Young Author Award. Moreover, there were insightful and thought provoking discussions on topics concerning child protection during COVID-19, safe internet and promoting the love for literature.

Renowned educationist Dr. Arfa Sayeda Zehra and poet Amjad Aslam Amjad appeared
as special guests and enjoyed interacting with the children.

CLF Advisor Mahtab Akbar Rashdi paid special tribute to Sindhi Sufi Saint Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai

Ali Hamza, Rakae Jamil and Kami Paul presented a jubilant rendition of
legendary poet Ismail Merathi’s poem ‘Barsaat’

Pakistan’s first Dhrupad singer Aliya Rasheed and Sanjan Nagar
School choir revived Sohail Rana’s songs

Hundreds of children from Pakistan and beyond participated in digital CLF while thousands watched it live on Facebook. Watch the event here in case you missed it.

Day 1: https://www.facebook.com/clfpk/videos/3468568586488833

Day 2: https://www.facebook.com/clfpk/videos/302214517547905

Day 3: https://www.facebook.com/clfpk/videos/3300753230016484

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. Several chains like Roots Millennium, Roots International, Beaconhouse School System, Headstart Schools, Westminster, Dar-e-Arkam, Allied Schools, Khadunia High School, OPF, Supernova School, The Science School, Trust Schools, SOS, Bazeecha Trust and many more have joined us on this program, enabling us to train over 67,000 students and 2000 teachers across all provinces of Pakistan within 3 months’ period. Since it was not possible to conduct physical trainings in classrooms due to COVID-19, SIOSP teams adopted a digital/online approach with the aim of conducting training sessions as part of online/virtual classrooms at schools. These include using online mediums like Zoom, MS Teams, Google Hangout, Elaborate Google Forms, Whatsapp Groups & other platform that support mass online delivery. However, the program will initiate physical trainings as soon as schools re-open i.e. 15th September onwards (tentatively).

The program is now moving towards its second phase i.e. Initiation of policy dialogues and panel discussion with Federal and Provincial Government departments, text book boards and digital activists etc. to seek recommendations for developing a progressive Digital Safety Curriculum.

Siyani Sahelian

ITA’s Siyani Sahelian programme is giving a second chance to out of school adolescent girls (and boys) to complete primary, middle and secondary education along with tech-enabled learning, life skills and vocational skills.


Siyani Sahelian learning Kitchen Gardening skills	Siyani Sahelian celebrate Independence Day

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.

Second phase of hygiene kits distribution among women leaders in Umerkot, Sindh

Tree Plantation Drive

Children from Life Skills for Kids (LSK) campus and PEF/PEIMA schools being managed by ITA in many districts of Punjab participated in the mega plantation drive launch launched by Prime Minister Imran Khan. Let\'s make Pakistan green and fight Climate Change!

Get Up Speak Out - Utho Bolo

ITA is implementing the Utho Bolo project that takes young people (aged 10-24) on a journey of self-discovery, transforming them into confident individuals. It uses the holistic approach of positive youth development, and contains activities to build young people’s social and emotional competences. The key component of the project is Journey4Life that consists of sessions designed to meet young people’s needs. The participants are called Agents4Change while the sessions are delivered by young people called Champions4Life who are trained in Life Skills Based Education (LSBE) content.

ITA held a meeting under Get Up Speak Out (GUSO) with Champions4Life for the implementation of Journey4Life in community.

Get Up Speak Out - Utho Bolo

On August 12, 2020, ITA celebrated Youth Day with the aim to empower the youth of Pakistan to bring about a positive change.

Independence Day

On August 14, 2020, ITA celebrated the 73rd Independence Day of Pakistan with traditional zeal and fervor. Together we can make Pakistan a safer, better and happier place for our Children and Citizens.

Independence Day activities at Sanjha Verha learning courtyard in Rahim Yar Khan

Independence Day celebrations by LSK students