Promoting Child Friendly Practices in Sindh

Sindh is the second largest province of the country and is home to over 42 million people. 60% of primary school aged girls and 45% of boys in Sindh are not in school.  Many of those in school do not complete primary level the reason being unfriendly school environment, harsh attitude of the teachers and unattractive class rooms. Of those who complete primary level, studies show that their learning achievements are lower than the national average as they are made to learn through rote memorization with out conceptual clarity. The teachers have no exposure to best child frienly teaching practices. School Management Committees are there but they are not fully aware of their roles and responsiblities. Hence, parents and cummunities are not involved  and do not contibute to school improvement effectively. Therefore, challenge in education is not only simply to get children into schools but also to improve the overall quality of schooling and address threats to participation.

CGN-P with expertise in Early Childhood Education and realizing that quality education is a right and not a privilege of every child, joined hands with UNICEF to reach out to marginalized children in interior Sindh. The aim of this collaboration was to contribute towards the enhancement of Child Friendly Schools through establishing ECE classrooms. With quality education provide for the holistic development of child including physical, social, emotional, cognitive and moral development and provide model to make ECE a compulsory part of primary schooling.

Children’s Global Network Pakistan (Guarantee) Limited with funding support from UNICEF Pakistan has started implementation of the project “Transforming Schools into Child Friendly inclusive of ECE Spaces in Sindh in 200 girls’ primary Schools in five districts-Umerkot, Mirpurkhas, Sanghar, Khairpur and Thatta. The project is extension of the pilot phase, “Starting strong, promoting Early Childhood Education in Sindh” being implemented in 100 girls’ primary schools with UNICEF support.

Under this project CGN-P will work on the whole school development besides working on ECE in selected schools in all five districts to make them child friendly from KG to Grade V. Its objectives include providing opportunities for active learning, equipping the child with lifelong learning skills and serve as a resource center for a variety of topics and needs related to improving education opportunities for all young children. In accordance with these objectives, CGN-P has followed a strategy of working in close collaboration with its partners in the five districts. Our local partners include:

• Strengthening Participatory Organization(SPO)- Thatta
• Sindh Agriculture and Forestry Workers Coordinating Organization (SAWFCO)-Sanghar
• Indus Resource Center (IRC)- Khairpur
• SEWAPAK (Society for Environment and Welfare of Agrarians in Pakistan)- Mirpurkhas
• Sami Foundation- Umerkot

CGN-P is working in close coordination with the district education department giving them orientation about the project and importance of quality child friendly education and getting their support in implementation. The concept of conducting orientation sessions before introducing methodology was very successful in the pilot phase because it helped in bringing in partners & stake holders on the same wavelength regarding their understanding of child friendly philosophies.

The tasks assigned under pilot “Starting Strong, Promoting Early Childhood Education in Sindh” resulted in:

• Opening up of ECE centers in 100 Child Friendly Government Girls Primary Schools in five districts
• Training 200 ECE teachers (100 temporary and 100 permanent) and 100 heads in ECE
• Provided access with quality education to 4,000 girls aged 4-5 in Government Girls Primary Schools in five districts
• Established baselines of ECE in 100 Child Friendly Government Girls Primary schools
• Capacity building of district education department officials in best global teaching practices to get their support in implementation of the project.

Although the duration of the project was short November–March 2010- the target areas were difficult but the commitment, determination and hard work of team made it possible to complete all the activities on time. After successful completion of the pilot phase 100 more schools were brought into the fold. This time the tasks included:

• Transformation of 200 schools into Child Friendly Spaces through creating a safe healthy and holistic environment for all children studying in pre-primary and primary grades for the benefit of 36, 000 students

• Strengthening ECE through the provision of Early Childhood Education to young children based on holistic child development approach at 200 Child Friendly primary schools in five districts.

• Policy Advocacy for Child Friendly Schools (CFS) and ECE by providing technical support, producing documents and establishing resource centers within the government set-up.

Under the current project CGN-P is working on the Whole School Development besides working on ECE in 200 schools in all five districts to make them child friendly from KG to Grade V through training of teachers, building capacities of heads in school management and administrative skills, training government officials in monitoring and mentoring skills, activating SMCs in these schools and providing technical support in establishing six resource centers in the five districts and Hyderabad and Jamshoro.
Under the extended phase CGN-P:

• Signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with respective District Governments for the implementation of Program in five districts
• Trained government officials with follow-up support on CFS concept, its implementation and monitoring in five districts
• Built capacities of  teachers from Kindergarten to grade V inclusive of 200 head teachers with follow-up technical support on school managing skills and CF methodologies to ensure child-centred education in a safe and holistic environment at 200 CFS in 5 districts
• Empowered SMCs and communities district wise to actively involve them in 200 Child Friendly Schools in five districts.
• Trained designated government officials in mentoring and monitoring skills so that they take up the task of providing technical assistance to teachers when CGN-P moves out.

Following table shows the activities undertaken to date and the beneficiaries of these activities:

Our implementation of Child Friendly practices in the five districts has shown that the teachers are willing and determined to adopt new methodology and the students are ready for interactive method of teaching. The district education departments are also ready for a change and have been extending all kind of support in the implementation work.

Flood Emergency Education Response: Scaling up Temporary Learning Centers in Sind

In Sind province like other parts of the country flood played havoc during the summers of 2010. Not only homes and crops were destroyed but also many schools were damaged or destroyed and learning activities came to a halt. Many children were displaced, away from their regular learning spaces. It was important to address the educational needs of flood-affected children through temporary learning centres until they can return to their locations of origin and until damaged and destroyed schools are rehabilitated.

CGN-P in collaboration with UNICEF established ECE-Temporary Learning Centers (TLCs) at IDP shelters and conducted teacher training orientation for volunteers of local NGOs working at TLCs in child friendly and classroom management skills in worst flood affected districts of Sindh. The overall objective of this project was to provide access to safe spaces for learning and recreation to children based at IDP shelters through setting up Temporary Learning Centers.

Under this collaboration CGN-P set up 100 ECE TLCs and built capacities of 100 volunteers in Child Friendly Practices to manage these centres and to create a safe learning environment for the children. UNICEF provided learning material in these centres to cater to the learning and recreational needs of children.

Following table shows where ECE Centres were established:

Following table shows enrolment in ECE TLCs

The prime purpose of this intervention was to contribute to the educational needs of the Internally Displaced Placed (IDP) children affected from flood emergency in Sindh. More than, 4,000 young IDP children (age 3-5) benefited from our intervention in terms of learning, cognitive and emotional therapy at 100 ECE-TLCs. Additionally, over 680 teachers and NGO staff working at TLC benefited directly from the training which ultimately benefited  27,200 children based at IDP shelters.

Although the duration of the project was short but it was able to win the support of the community. They regularly sent their children to these centres. These centres were a blessing in disguise for the children who due to extreme poverty did not have the opportunity to go to school. Keeping in view the interest of the children in education most of the parents promised the volunteers that they will send their children to regular schools once they returned home.