Programmes
EDUCATION
Click
here fora picture gallery of the education programme
The
following are the key features of our education and training project
[with details of each programme provided below]:
 Provide
education to every child in the community.- Physical
repairs and renovation of the depleted school buildings.
- Introduction
of pre school environment for children between the ages 3!/2 to
6 years.
- Gradual
introduction of systematic and improved teaching methodology from
class 1to 5 in the local govt primary school after adopting the
schools.
- Extending
the present lower secondary school to matriculation in the village
school.
- Activating
and Training of School Management Committees formerly the Parent
Teacher Association. Ensuring the participation of mothers as
members of the committee.
- Introduction
of sports and recreational programmes.
- Renewal
of Education for secondary dropout girls and exploring the reasons
for dropouts.
- Attending
to problems of girls in schools as lack of toilet facilities,
physical abuse atc.
- An
extensive women's literacy programme called "Literacy for
Life" for the unlearnt women.
- Computer
literacy for the educated women of the village.
- Teacher's
Training.
- Vocational
education to youth for better employment prospects.
- Assisting
the Community schools in the area.
-
Provide education to every child in the community.
Every
year children are identified who do not go to school because
of extreme poverty or difficult circumstances (Children of drug
addicts and orphans) and negligence of parents. The lady health
visitor (LHV) and members of the Women's Committee* make thorough
check of their circumstances. These children are given books
and uniforms and admitted to schools. Their parents are involved
in the entire process and are encouraged to take responsibility
for their children's punctuality etc. The women's committee
along with the parents of the child, monitor the child's academic
progress and attendance. Remedial Classes are being held for
those children who start school at a later stage.
Sports
Day Parade
- Physical
repairs and renovation of the depleted school buildings.
Extensive
repairs and renovation of the three government schools, which
were in deplorable condition, was undertaken. Fans, lights,
and furniture were provided. Toilets and drinking water facilities
were made available which were non-existent in these schools
thus improving the quality of life at the school.
- Introduction
of pre school environment for children between the ages 3 1/2
to 6 years.
Physical
repairs do not ensure delivery of quality education. Hence steps
were taken to improve the quality of education being imparted.
Observing the rote method of learning in class I at the govt.
schools, SPWB came to the conclusion that because of the deficit
in the teaching methodology of these Government Schools especially
at the foundation level of education the student is academically
very weak. When assessing these students at the end of the primary
stage of education it was established that the child had gained
very little or practically no knowledge of any aspect of his
environment or culture. The knowledge of reading and writing
too was very superficial and the concepts of arithmetic were
not clear.
There
was an urgent need to rectify this conventional method of rote
and establish a new and innovative method of teaching. As a
first step towards this change the Society of Participatory
Wellbeing has established a pre school environment "Kachi
Peheli" ( nursery class) in the Bachal Bhoro Government
School at Saleh Mohd Goth. It was visualised that this would
give a head start to the children in this impoverished area.
A combination of Nursery and Montessori method of teaching has
been adopted and girls from the community have been trained
as teachers. The girls of the community attend regular workshops
and are given hands on training at a renowned school of the
city. The production of low cost curriculum materials and parents
participation is a prominent feature of this attempt.
- Gradual
introduction of systematic and improvised teaching methodology
from class 1to 5.
There
was an urgent need to carry on of the systematic and improvised
teaching methodology for those children who passed through the
pre-school environment and graduated to class I so that there
remains a continuation of this successful teaching system. Hence
an educated women of the community was trained in this teaching
methodology at a workshop especially conducted for this purpose
and then was placed in the class I environment along with the
existing government school teacher to impart hands-on training
of this methodology to the government school teacher.
We
are continuing with the new methodology of teaching in class
1 and have plans to gradually extend it up to class 5 and hence
we do away with the rote system. The parents too were very anxious
that since we have taken up improving the quality of education
we should see that the work continues in order that full benefits
accrue from the efforts carried out earlier. Another in direct
benefit to the community is that we select only girls from the
community and pay them a modest honorarium, thus helping the
impoverished families.
- Extending
the present lower secondary school to matriculation in the village
school
The
government school in the village had classes up to class 8th.
. The children of the village were deprived of a matriculation
school certificate for the lack of facilities for class 9th
and 10th. The parent teacher body requested the Society to help
them establish these two classes so that the children of the
village complete their schooling in the village. The PTA pooled
in their resources and completed one room in an incomplete structure,
which they are now using as a science laboratory. The Society
for Participatory Well Being helped the PTA by providing equipment
for the Science laboratory. A qualified science teacher is also
giving her voluntary services for teaching Science and English.
This has been of great benefit to all students because most
of these children are interested to acquire vocational skills
and the fact that if they did not posses a matriculation school
certificate they are not eligible for getting admission in any
vocational training institute as the minimum qualification acceptable
is a matriculation certificate.
- Activating
and Training of School Management Committees formerly the Parent
Teacher Association and ensuring the participation of mothers
as members of the committee.
Institutional
development in the form of community councils, youth committees,
women councils or committees, participatory economic endeavours
and school management committee has been encouraged. This assists
in learning decision-making, action orientated programmes based
on the needs of people, and learning democracy as a way of life
rather then as an empty political slogan. Community participation
as a civic responsibility has been inculcated. Participation
of mothers and members of the Women's Committee were ensured
membership in the existing school management committees of three
government schools which only had men and was in actuality non
existent. Regular meetings of the mothers in the school are
scheduled. The mothers are made aware of the role of parents
in their child's education in an effort to form an active parent
body to over look the academic and other important issues and
be an accountability body for the non committed government teachers
and administration.
Mothers
mobilized for PTA
- Introduction
of sports and recreational programmes.
Sports
and extra curriculum activity has been undertaken by providing
a sports instructor on a regular basis for all the three school.
Games like cricket, football net ball, badminton, and athletics
as well as physical training has been introduced to these children.
This activity inculcates team spirit, discipline, and organisational
skills in them and also diverts them from bad influences like
smoking gambling and drug addiction that is rampant in this
Village.
-
Renewal of education for secondary dropout girls.
A number of adolescent girls who had dropped out of school after
class 8 for economic reasons and family pressures have been
encouraged to continue their studies. Their dues are paid to
facilitate their continuing education. The lady doctor in our
primary health centre identifies these girls. Most of these
girls are suffering from hysteria and depression due the pressures
exerted by the family to discontinue their education in preference
to their male counterpart. In addition the Society for Participatory
Well Being finances their cost of education of the last two
years for their schooling viz. IX and X
- An
extensive women's literacy programme called "Literacy for
Life" for the unlearnt women
The
illiterate women of this community are taught to read, write
and deal with everyday arithmetic. This programme is run under
the slogan of Khwandgi Bara-e-Zindagi which means Literacy for
Life. The purpose is to impart functional literacy in the shortest
possible time. Adult literacy has been approached in two ways.
First by training girls from the community who have completed
their schooling as literacy teachers. Secondly these trainers
take adult literacy classes for the illiterate women and young
girls. The entire teaching methodology is based on Paulo Freire's
book "Pedagogy of the Oppressed." These literacy classes
are being held in the homes of the teacher or any one student.
All the necessary equipment i.e. the blackboard chalks flash
cards, teacher's manual and the rest of the stationary are provided
for this programme by SPWB.
The
teaching philosophy not only includes basic learning but also
makes the learners aware of the various issues and problems
of their community and how to tackle these issues. The objective
of this project is to
1.
Develop the thinking process of women: A teaching system that
would help individuals to develop problem solving skills,
so they are able to resolve and deal with various problems
they come across in their lives.
2.
The quality and quantum of literacy imparted should be enough
to facilitate the learners in their day to day affairs.
3.
An overall exposure (informative and critical) of various
facts and realities of life as well as of traditions and its
affects, be given that would help the individual in changing
set attitudes.
A
number of existing adult literacy programmes in Pakistan have
failed to transfer literacy concepts which would lead to the
fulfilling of the above mentioned objectives. Hence there is
a dire need for introducing a more realistic, progressive functional
and result oriented programme for adult literacy. Such a comprehensive
literacy programme designed, to fulfil the needs of_____ daily
affairs like letter writing, religious readings, newspaper an
general reading, marketing, banking, managing basic accounts
helping the sibling with his / her lessons as well as make them
aware of social issues like human rights, gender awareness healthcare
sanitation income generation environment issues agriculture
development and labour welfare ____ would assist women to understand
and function in the society in which they live. This leads to
women's empowerment in general and individual development of
women in particular.
This programme had been introduced as a pilot innovative project
in 1998 , it had a very successful outcome in the development
and awareness of the illiterate women of the Village. Hence
last year with the financial assistance of the Rotary Club of
Karachi (Sunset Milleneum ) the Society launched this programme
on a wider scale.
-
Computer literacy for the educated women of the village.
The
girls of the community who have passed their matriculation examination
and want to become teachers are trained in this skill. We have
an on going teacher's training programme, which consists of
hands on teacher training in the Pre school class and class
I in the government schools of the community by trainers specialising
in early childhood education. The girls are regularly sent to
a renowned private school of the city for further training and
personally experiencing a better classroom environment.
Looking
at the positive results obtained in this pilot project, the
Society for Participatory Well Being organises teacher's training
workshops on "Teaching Skills for Early Childhood Education
of Under Privileged Area Schools" for the teachers of Saleh
Mohammed village and women teachers employed with other NGOs
involved with early childhood education in poor communities.
Our experiences to improvise the teaching techniques and material
designing to the needs of poor communities, are shared with
the other NGOs working in the under privileged areas of the
city. Workshops during school term breaks are also conducted
to train the teachers in various teaching skills. Training of
educated girls of the village as trainers with skills to train
adult illiterate women / girls is being done as a part of our
literacy for life programme. These girls are trained to teach
women from age 14 onwards (average being between 16 to 40) .
They learn to teach with phonetics and our well versed with
the issues related to these women and the community.
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