Keep Pakistan Learning

Dear Partners, 

We hope you are preparing for the start of the new year with your loved ones close by. Thanks to your support, Teach For Pakistan’s Fellows can ensure that our students continue learning, come rain or shine. Fellows are on a path of enabling their students to achieve transformational outcomes and create learning opportunities for them whenever possible, and are encouraged by your generosity and faith. We at Teach For Pakistan are all ready to enter into the new year alongside you, invigorated more than ever, to do our part in ending education inequity across the country. 

Below is a look into what we achieved this year. 

Fostering relations with key stakeholders

COVID-19 tested the strength of our systems and foundations, especially within education and schools, the after-shocks of which we are still learning about and from. Much of our last year was spent in understanding and adapting to the challenges of a poorly-supported education system shaken by the pandemic. It was through your support during this time that Fellows could provide students with resources and materials to continue learning, as our students from low-income communities were one of the most disproportionately impacted by school closures.  

The post-COVID recovery phase in schools was characterized not only by reducing the learning gap, but also strengthening the connection between and among parents and teachers. While schools were closed, teachers were a crucial touchpoint for parents and vice versa. Through Fellows’ efforts, we saw that engagement between a parent and teacher meant uninterrupted and consistent learning for a student, ultimately leading to improved outcomes. Since schools have opened and till now, Fellows have redoubled efforts to foster relations with parents. Our Fellows not only strengthen education delivery for their students, but bridge the gap between parent and teacher – all teachers, including other school staff. 

What did this look like? 

A Principal Survey conducted in May 2022 with 17 Principals working with Fellows from the 2020 cohort – now part of our Alumni network – showed us the extent of Fellows’ impact. Through this survey, we found that more than 90% of Principals agreed to Fellows developing a strong relationship with students’ parents, and more than 70% stated that Fellows also helped the school develop better relations with the parents. This evidence is crucial in understanding that a Fellow’s job goes beyond helping a student in the classroom. Fellows understood that involving parents in their child’s education is critical in ensuring the child’s success, and subsequently took certain steps and measures to ensure this relationship-building. They were able to do this through one-on-one meetings with parents, community visits, and staying in touch in order to keep them updated on their child’s progress. 

More than 80% of Principals believe that parents displayed an increased interest in students’ learning on account of Fellows’ engagement and interventions, reflected in an increased attendance for Parent-Teacher meetings recorded by more than two-thirds of the Principals who responded to the survey.

“TFP is doing the best it can for Pakistani students. The contribution is remarkable not only for students but also for other teachers. They have introduced us to alternate and newer modes of teaching”

Principal of Islamabad Model School for Boys, Malpur. 

Building towards systemic change!

Within a month of schools shutting down in 2020, Pakistan’s Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training (MoFEPT) launched TeleSchool – a national education channel broadcasting educational content to homes across the country, especially children from low-income communities. Teach For Pakistan played a pivotal role in supporting this project by creating curriculum used by ed-tech firms to develop content for TeleSchool. Our work during school closures empowered us with the requisite skills and knowledge of pedagogy and ed-tech, as well as a focused understanding of the learning needs and levels of students from various socio-economic backgrounds. 

Building upon this knowledge, in November of 2022, Teach For Pakistan once again partnered with the Ministry under the World Bank’s Response, Recovery, and Resilience in Education Project (RRREP) and Actions to Strengthen Performance for Inclusive and Responsive Education Program (ASPIRE) to review and evaluate digital educational content from various suppliers. The project’s aim was to ensure the continuity of learning, including remote learning options, at all levels through videos broadcasted via Tele School. Teach For Pakistan staff and Fellows reviewed and evaluated over 6400 videos from various ed-tech providers for several subjects across Early Childhood Education till the 12^th grade. This review was meant to facilitate the Ministry in deciding the primary supplier for the project. 

Teach For Pakistan’s involvement in this project is crucial as it reflects the voice of teachers and instructional leaders who have first-hand knowledge and experience of working with students in challenging contexts. On an organizational level, this is significant on two accounts; it recognizes Teach For Pakistan’s contributions and success in assessing and addressing the needs of an impacted group in unprecedented circumstance, and lays the groundwork for our involvement in strengthening our emergency response in an effort to create a resilient educational landscape. 

Finding a way - creating new learning opportunities for students!

Second-year Fellow Ayesha teaches the 7^th and 8^th grade Science at Islamabad Model School for Girls in Sihala. Her students are curious and enthusiastic learners, but some were unable to share openly in the classroom, and many of them had little to no access to resources that would augment STEM learning. To increase their engagement with the subject and allow them a chance to learn through creation, Ayesha encouraged them to make their own resources and Science models with everyday household items. She understood that she must create new avenues of learning for her students despite lack of materials, and so found novel ways to cater to their needs. She dedicated a few classes in training the students on how to present, and once done, students presented their models in class. Ayesha saw her students change in multiple ways; ones that were shy before started to speak up more, others were collaborating with peers and working in groups, and most of all she saw that her students had found a newfound way to appreciate Science despite the obstacles they faced. Ayesha's work with her students showed us that any and all obstacles to learning can be mitigated as long as one has the support and will to do so. She understands that there is much more to be done but is hopeful and excited about all her girls will accomplish! 

Your support and contributions enable our Fellows to create new learning opportunities for students as well as Teach For Pakistan's growth towards ending education inequity regardless of circumstance. 

We hope to see you again in the New Year! 

Links:

• Find out more about us from our website

Dear Partners,

We hope you’re all having a wonderful summer so far. Thank you for your support in enabling Teach For Pakistan to grow its movement and expand its impact so that for our children, learning never stops, through COVID-19 and beyond. Through your generosity and support, our Fellows have continued to raise the bar of quality education for their children each year and have inspired and enabled their students to dream bigger and bigger.

Growing the movement of Alumni leaders and champions of educational reform!

After completing their incredible work in schools, our 2020 and third-year Fellows were inducted into our ever-growing Alumni network. This community now comprises 183 individuals that are committed to ending educational inequity in Pakistan, and working towards building a future where all of our children become fully loving, thinking, and engaged citizens of the country. 

To celebrate the culmination of Fellows’ transformational work in and outside classrooms and mark the beginning of a lifelong journey of educational reform, Teach For Pakistan conducted the Alumni Induction Ceremony. The event was attended by Alumni from previous cohorts, government stakeholders, and the loved ones of all those graduating. During the ceremony, we heard from 2020 Fellow, Iman who spoke of her memories in school and with her students, of Fellows who worked tirelessly during multiple COVID-related school closures during the first year of their Fellowship, and most of all she spoke of the hope and possibility that Teach For Pakistan ignites in every single person that comes into contact with this program.

One of Iman’s studentsalso reflected on the two exciting years she spent with her teacher. She spoke of gaining confidence in herself, trust that she could achieve what she set her mind to, and finding agency in her own voice through the help of the Fellows she was taught by. Nadia reminded everyone in the room what Teach For Pakistan stands for: nurturing the idea of hope, rallying for change, and cultivating dreams and visions to one day become possible and achievable for all.

“They (Fellows) taught us that once you make a decision, nothing is impossible, and that the impossible can be turned possible with the will to do so. Today I can proudly say that I know what my rights are, and how to speak up and stand up for those rights.”

Fellow Iman's student

Bringing hope to 110+ more classrooms: Training and Placement of the 2022 cohort!

This year, Teach For Pakistan has recruited and selected its largest-ever cohort of inspired young men and women who are passionate to transform learning outcomes for students across Islamabad’s public schools. This cohort of 110+ Fellows is also the most diverse one as of yet, hailing from over fifty cities across Pakistan and 39 universities globally. We are confident that through this diversity, our movement of leaders will partake in educational reform across the board.

Since June 2022, the newly inducted Fellows have been engaged in a six-week intensive training meant that will prepare them for school placements starting September. The flagship Summer Training Institute involves growing Fellows’ understanding of systemic leadership and building the pedagogical skills that will enable them to affect transformational impact in their classrooms, schools, and communities.

Back-to-school: 2021 Fellows return to kickstart the second Fellowship year

This August, 34 Fellows from the 2021 cohort kickstarted the second year of their Fellowship with exciting energy and determination. They were welcomed by their equally excited students after a couple months of summer break. The Fellows excitedly prepared their ambitious plans to build on the current academic achievements of their students. 

This year, the second year Fellows will work even closely with their students and particularly their communities. Fellows work closely with parents and community members to deepen their understanding of the barriers to education inequity in their community, and create sustainable solutions that will help students become independant learners. This will be used to enable Fellows to design, plan, and implement said solutions in a sustainable and strucured "Community Partnership Project". The Teach For Pakistan team will train Fellows on how to create effective project design strategies, measure and learn from data, and fundraise for their projects. 

Finding confidence and self-belief!

Fellows Mahnur Kanwar and Ayesha Sheikh teach ~200 bright and inspired sixth grade students at a school in Islamabad's rural subsector, Sihala. They planned an interactive and engaging session with their students with the aim of encouraging independent thought and collaborative project planning and presentation. The Fellows organized a poster-making competition for their students to build their analytical,, presentation and public-speaking skills. Their students worked in groups to think through ideas important to them, create posters, and present them in front of their classmates. Mahnur and Ayesha were awe-inspired to witness their students thoughtfully create and present their ideas and find the confidence in themselves to do so in a structured way. 

A new cohort of young female scientists in the making!

Fellow Nishat Maryam teaches brilliant seventh and eighth graders at a public school in Islamabad. Her students are bright and passionate to study STEM subjects and pursue STEM careers later in life. Nishat vowed to work towards this during her Fellowship. In order to make the world of science real for her young students, Nishat invited two female mechatronics engineers to her classroom to inspire them. Following this session, Nishat noticed an incredible and renewed zeal in her students during science lessons. Her students now come to her sharing that they want to become doctors, researchers, biologists, and physicists in the future! 

Links:

• Student speaker at the Alumni Induction Ceremony