Elementary Education with Strong ECE Foundation
This program aims at teaching children in an interactive manner. Its philosophy is based on the belief that children expand their horizons the most when they are involved in their own learning, and can freely express their ideas, build critical thinking skills, work in a team, and think independently. It is implemented through, set curriculum guides, creative learning material and activity centers for their students and follow ups are monitored bi annually by MTT’s.
Family Literacy Program (FLP)
This is an intergenerational initiative which is intended to improve the literacy of educationally disadvantaged parents and older siblings of children. It is based on the premise that improving the literacy skills of parents results in better educational experiences for their children. Each lesson is taught through interactive literacy activities and requires practice at home with children. FLP also helps solve the underlying economic issue of self sufficiency and age appropriate education to help adults prepare children for their life experiences. Additionally, it also reduces the communication gap between parents, teachers, and children.
Parent and Community Involvement Program
This program seeks to focus on not just the child, but on the family as a unit. It trains parents on how to be the primary teacher for their children, and full partners in the education of their children. Along with the academic benefits of parent/family involvement, comes the necessity to guide families into having effective relationships with their children's teacher and school. The program is implemented by designating family coordinators to promote involvement, and by inviting parents to their child’s classes to involve them in the school activities.
ECE Centers
CGN-P is a principal advocate of ECE and is embarked to make it obligatory element of educational system of the country. We recognize that young children are active learners, children are not passive recipients of knowledge; they learn through play, active involvement, engagement, exploration, and use of their senses-sight, hearing, taste, etc. Early Childhood Education (ECE) Centers have been made to to cater to children of the age group 3-5.It acknowledges the important role played by families, communities, and the environment in the development of young children
Inclusive Education
CGN-P believes that the development of a child’s focus is through acknowledging that all children are individuals with different learning needs and speeds. Therefore, we also collaborate with the National Institute of Special Education (NISE) to train teachers from all over Pakistan. While the techniques used in the program are the same for normal children, the teachers have made changes they can accommodate the diversity of needs that pupils have, and that they are included in all aspects of school life.
Higher Education
CGN-P developed this interactive participatory program, on Elementary Education to educate faculty at public universities, and prominent teacher training institutions. The main objective of this program is to replace the rote memorization techniques and to strengthen the knowledge of the faculty members. Four of CGN-P’s faculty courses have been incorporated as reference material in the B.Ed and M.Ed curriculum by the HEC
Policy Reform
Education transformation is highly dependent on continuous curriculum reform. Reform should be based on comprehensive and well-designed plans as well as on persistent efforts of policy makers and stakeholders to implement it successfully. As Pakistanis top advocate for policy reform in education CGN-P has been involved key policy reviews and forums on education. One such initiative was in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Education on the National Policy Review (1998 – 2010) focusing on ECE, Teacher Training, and Accreditation.
As a catalyst in promoting Early Childhood Education, CGN-P worked in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Education, UNESCO, and ENICEF to be the lead researcher for policy review in Pakistan. This decision was made during the regional conference on guidelines for policy review held in Bangkok.
The organization was also invited by the Curriculum Wing to participate as an advisor in the National Advisory Meeting. Acknowledging the CGN-P’s contributions to ECE the Curriculum Wing requested that some of our experts be entrusted with the task of reviewing their material on ECE guides and manuals. Children’s Global Network has also joined hands with the United Nations agencies to conduct provincial ECE seminars in Punjab and NWFP.
Our expertise in teacher training has not gone unnoticed. The Directorate of Staff Development Punjab requested that we take part in a conference titled Teacher Development. The conference discussed identifying the necessary structure and mechanisms fir sustainable teacher development reforms. |
