MILLION KIDS TO SCHOOL MONTHLY BULLETIN Have a peak into the nation's largest intervention for out of school children The monthly bulletin provides updates and useful information on the Educate A Child (EAC) program implemented by ALIGHT Pakistan in collaboration with the Government of Pakistan and Education Above All (EAA) Qatar. It includes updates on national seminars, enrollment campaigns, meetings, events, and new partnerships that occurred during July. Dear All Greetings from ARC Pakistan! I want to begin with some good news: We finally have the first graduate of our on-line teacher training programme, which ARC started in collaboration with Oxademy Business School, United Kingdom. Let's congratulate Sahira Shaheen for this wonderful achievement. Sahira is a teacher from one of ARC's Star schools in Islamabad. She completed her training in a remarkably short time - five weeks! She will get a UK certification from Oxademy Education for this achievement. This state-of-the-art teacher training programme currently has more than 500 teachers from SED KpK, SE & LD Jhelum districts, with FDE and ARC Star schools benefitting too from the trainings. On the implementation front, ARC is focusing on the development and implementation of School Development Plans (SDPs) in more than 500 government schools where it provides matching grants to address needs identified by School Management Committees. ARC is currently in negotiation with Commissioner Afghan Refugees KPK to take over 21 community schools registered under the Commissionerate. More than 8,000 Afghan refugee children will be provided with quality education through our provision of school supplies and teacher training. ARC will also provide support to SED Punjab in piloting a survey to identify out of school children in ?ve districts of south Punjab. In other news, ARC's regular activities are on-going in 55 schools throughout the country, where ARC is targeting more than 38,000 formal and non-formal schools to bring positive change in the lives of more than one million out of school children and their families. Happy reading! PAGE | 1 Message from the Deputy Chief of Party Zabardast Khan Bangash Deputy Chief of Party In this Issue News 2 Punjab Updates 4 Coordination meeting between 4 WFP and ARC KP HR Updates 5 Snapshot of Targets Achieved 5 Success Story 6 Case Study of Azra BiBi 6 Educating One Million Out of School Children , , formerly American Refugee Committee Volume I, Issue IV July 2019
Transcript
MILLION KIDS TO SCHOOL MONTHLY BULLETIN
Have a peak into the nation's largest intervention for out of school childrenThe monthly bulletin provides updates and useful information on the Educate A Child (EAC) program implemented by ALIGHT Pakistan in collaboration with the Government of Pakistan and Education Above All (EAA) Qatar. It includes updates on national seminars, enrollment campaigns, meetings, events, and new partnerships that occurred during July.
Dear All
Greetings from ARC Pakistan! I want to begin with some good news: We finally have the first graduate of our on-line teacher training programme, which ARC started in collaboration with Oxademy Business School, United Kingdom. Let's congratulate Sahira Shaheen for this wonderful achievement. Sahira is a teacher from one of ARC's Star schools in Islamabad. She completed her training in a remarkably short time - five weeks! She will get a UK certification from Oxademy Education for this achievement. This state-of-the-art teacher training programme currently has more than 500 teachers from SED KpK, SE & LD Jhelum districts, with FDE and ARC Star schools benefitting too from the trainings.
On the implementation front, ARC is focusing on the development and implementation of School Development Plans (SDPs) in more than 500 government schools where it provides matching grants to address needs identified by School Management Committees. ARC is currently in negotiation with Commissioner Afghan Refugees KPK to take over 21 community schools registered under the Commissionerate. More than 8,000 Afghan refugee children will be provided with quality education through our provision of school supplies and teacher training. ARC will also provide support to SED Punjab in piloting a survey to identify out of school children in ?ve districts of south Punjab. In other news, ARC's regular activities are on-going in 55 schools throughout the country, where ARC is targeting more than 38,000 formal and non-formal schools to bring positive change in the lives of more than one million out of school children and their families.
Happy reading! PAGE | 1
Message from the Deputy Chief of Party
Zabardast Khan BangashDeputy Chief of Party
In this Issue
News 2
Punjab Updates 4
Coordination meeting between 4WFP and ARC KP
HR Updates 5
Snapshot of Targets Achieved 5
Success Story 6
Case Study of Azra BiBi 6
Educating One Million Out of School Children
, ,formerly American Refugee Committee
Volume I, Issue IV July 2019
News
Provincial launch of enrolment drive at Umerkot and Karachi in Sindh
The Education Department, Reform Support Unit, and UNICEF organized a provincial launch of the Sindh enrolment drive at Indus Lawn, Umerkot. Minister Education Department Sindh, Mr. Sardar Ali Shah, Secretary Education Department Sind,h Mr. Qazi Shahid Pervez, Deputy Commissioner Umerkot, Mr. Nadeem-ur-Rehman, Directors & Deputy Directors of Primary, and Higher Secondary Education participated in the meeting. District o?cers of the Education Department, UNICEF Representative, Ms. Cristina Brugiolo, civi l society representatives, media persons, NGOs, INGOs, and political leaders also participated in the event.
The Education Department, Reform Support Unit and UNICEF also organized a second event for the Sindh provincial launch of enrolment drive in Lyari Town, Karachi.
The drive at Government Girls High School, Mir Ayyub No.1 Lyari Town, Karachi.
Syed Sardar Shah, Minister Education Sindh, Mr. Hamid Karim Director School Education (ESHS) Karachi Region, Mr. Asif Ikram, Chief Programme Manager-RSU, Mr. Qazi Shahid Pervaiz, Secretary SE&LD, Mr. Muhammad Saleem Awan, DSE (Primary) Karachi Region, District Education officers of Education Department, civil society representatives from NGOs and INGOs including NCHD, BECS, ARC, IRC, media persons, political leaders of Lyari town, and students and teachers from different schools of Lyari participated in the event. Similar to the event in Umerkot, the focus was on increasing enrolment drives at the provincial level and reviewing the progress and achievements of last year's drive. The event was also held to sensitize stakeholders and encourage more active contribution.
A coordination meeting between Secretary Education SE &LD and ARCI Country Representative was held at the Sindh Secretariat on July 22, 2019.
The meeting centered around ARCI's work as a registered organization with the MOI, and the Educate a Child Programme in 11 districts of Sindh.
American Refugee Committee organized enrollment walks from July 1st to July 30th in nine districts of Sindh, raising public awareness for the enrolment of out of school children. Representatives from ARC, BISP, NCHD, Reform Support Unit, media, students and teachers participated in the enrollment walk. ARC and NCHD teams arranged banners and slogans for the campaign. Slogans such as "Everyone has a right to a quality education" and "If you want to rise, then you must be educated" were seen. Representatives from NCHD, BISP and ARC shared their views about enrollment statistics in Sindh.
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Yearly enrolment drives conducted to increase student enrolment in formal schools
Coordination Meeting with Secretary Education SE & LD and ARCI Country Head at Sindh Secretariat
Conduct community meetings for the establishment of NFSThe ARC team conducted 10 community meetings to identify areas where new non formal schools could be established.
Develop SDPs in target schools
In July, 27 new SDPs were developed, in accordance with the new strategy and revised by the country office. Province team submitted 48 SDP's to Islamabad office to process the funds.
In July, UNICEF conducted a meeting chaired by Additional Secretary SED, Dawood Khan and Secretary HEC, Mr. Abdul Saboor Kakar, for planning for non-formal and formal schools and progress sharing with stakeholders. ARC participated in the meeting.
Local Education Group Meeting (LEG)
District education plans (DEPs) developed by district education departments each yearThe provincial Education Sector Plan development is under process. There are different thematic groups covering education.
Increased community awareness on the importance of basic education The ARC team conducted 40 community meetings on the importance of education awareness. The following agenda was discussed in the meeting:
Ÿ Limiting dropouts.
Ÿ Enrolled OOSC in schools.
Ÿ Limiting absenteeism
Orientation session of LMs on new SDP format An orientation was arranged for available LM's at the Quetta office which the Project officer facilitated. The orientation discussed the School Development Plan (SDP) and guidelined LMs regarding time taking from PTSMC.
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Punjab UpdatesŸ EAC team led by ARC Country Representative held a
meeting with the Secretary of Secondary Education Department (SED) Punjab in which progress was shared. ARC reiterated it will provide full support to SED Punjab in the four districts of Punjab where SED is piloting a project on enrolment and retention. The Secretary also said ARC will be given full support in return.
Ÿ ARC held a meeting with the Quaid-e-Azam Academy for Educational Development (QAED), and briefed them on ARC's online teachers training program, offering to train SED teachers as well. ARC shared modules and other details with the Director General of QAED.
Ÿ ARC had an orientation meeting with PMIU-Education Punjab and briefed them on CTS and EMIS.
Ÿ ARC conducted a meeting with Director PMIU in which the Director shared enrolment data with the ARC team.
Ÿ ARC held a meeting with CEO Education Bhakkar and
updated him on the process of issuance of matching grants. CEO Education Bhakkar asked ARC for support in data collection of out of school children. ARC has offered full support.
Ÿ An ARC Non-Formal School (NFS) was established in union council Ahmed Pur Lama, Sadiqabad, Rahimyar Khan.
Ÿ ARC orientated the FFC team on the UC level Education plan and developed a work plan on collecting household data and develop the UC education plan. Data collection is currently under process.
Ÿ 110 NFS are currently fully functional in four districts of Punjab.
Ÿ In partnership with FFC Pakistan, one new NFS was established in Ahmedpur Lama UC of District Rahimyar Khan.
Ÿ Implementation of 226 SDPs in formal schools of target districts has begun and is currently underway.
Coordination meeting between WFP and ARC KPA coordination meeting was held between WFP and ARC KP at WFP Provincial office on July 25, 2019. WFP is implementing programs in three main area: food security, livelihood, and education.
WFP has been implementing cash support program in girls' schools since December 2017.
WFP is supporting livelihood DRR program with the collaboration of UNDP and FAO. In this regard, multiple training programs have been arranged.
WFP is implementing meal program in seven districts of the Newly Merged Tribal Districts. WFP is supporting 14,000 girl students in GGMHS across NMTDs. As per WFP criteria, the support amount is transferred online to the beneficiaries for transparency purposes. Solar kits were also provided to schools. Communities in Sadda and Parachinar voluntarily installed the systems in their schools for internet connectivity.
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Coordination meeting between BISP and ARC KPA coordination meeting was held between BISP and ARC KP at BISP's provincial office on July 26.
ARC KP newly hired staff for BISP offices in Charsadda, Haripur and Nowshera. Deputy Director BISP expressed his appreciation for ARC's work and related that he had contacted concerned DDs for compliance, as well as assigned duties to new staff members.
ARC conducted two-day orientation sessions for the newly recruited staff and issued them contracts.
BISP district focal persons were directed to receive their
arrivals and to provide a plan of action. In this regard, an ARC office will be intimated.
Coordination meeting between NCHD and ARC KP A coordination meeting was held between NCHD and ARC KP at the NCHD provincial office on July 26. Matters regarding school level challenges for ARC staff, registration of NFS, online training, BECS merger, supplies distribution, BISP WeT Scholarship, EAC support, plantation, enrolment of children and enrolment data reporting was discussed.
NCHD said they had initiated distribution of supplies in all target districts by involving teachers, communities and NCHD sta?. They said there are some areas where access to the communities and NCHD is not possible. In those areas, ARC support will be required. NCHD informed that they will conduct
an assessment and share a distribution plan with ARC. ARC, meanwhile, will share a monitoring plan for the confirmation of supplies. HOPE 87 is also offering support.
HR Updates
A recent addition to ARC Pakistan team is Mr. Asad Altaf Awan. He joined the organization on 15th July 2019 as Executive Associate.
The second addition to ARC Pakistan Team comes as Jamshaid Ahmed. He joined the organization on 09th July 2019 as Program Intern.
Legal Status: ARC Pakistan, the local chapter of ARC International, is registered with the Government of Pakistan, Ministry of Interior vide letter No 4/17/2016-PE-III dated 24th March 2016 that allows it to undertake work for the socioeconomic development of Pakistan.
"I will become a teacher and help other children, especially girls,
get access to education." These are the words of young Sadaf,
from Tumba in Mansehra. Sadaf has ?ve siblings. Her father
passed away when she was just nine years old, and her mother
works as a maid to make ends meet.
Sadaf had to drop out of school after her feather's death, so she
could help out at home and eventually get married. This
devastated her but she was helpless and without an alternative.
One day, an Alight's Literacy Mobilizer identi?ed Sadaf during a
community visit. During this visit, Alight's Literacy Mobilizer
advised Sadaf's mother and other community elders on the
importance of child education and the ills of child marriage.
Alight's Literacy Mobilizer visited the community several times,
and managed to convince Sadaf's mother to send her daughter to
school instead marrying her off. Today, Sadaf is happily enrolled in
one of Alight's non-formal schools (NFS), where she is receiving
the education she always wanted.
Azra Bibi is a resident of Basti Perhar Daak Khana Khas in Kot Ad d u Te h s i l . S h e c o m e s f ro m a n e c o n o m i c a l l y disadvantaged background. Her husband is a laborer and their four children have never attended school.
She is, however, a beneficiary under BISP. The Waseela-e-Taleem team dropped for a visit one day, telling her about ARC and BISP's education initiatives. Azra Bibi was also told
of the incentives her children would receive once in school and helped with their birth registrations too.
Today, all four of her children are enrolled in a school. Every three months, they receive a stipend for attending classes. Thanks to the hard working teams at ARC BISP's Waseela-e-Teleem Programme.
