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The National Curriculum for Early Childhood Education (2007) has been printed by the Curriculum Wing, Ministry of Education, GoP. TRC has just received a couple of copies … it’s absolutely wonderful to finally see the revised curriculum in print. The Ministry will soon begin planning an ECE implementation strategy, throughout Pakistan … TRC is being kept in the loop.
We have been told that all the new curricula (from ECE – Grade 12) will be made available on the Ministry’s website. We are not sure when this will happen; we will inform our readers as soon as we know. TRC members in Karachi, can have a look at the new curriculum in our library, in August.
Next week we will introduce the new curriculum to our ECE-CP students, as part of the Play Experiences course.
Finally … a moment to update the news!! We are acutely aware that we have been “silent” for quite a few months … but we have been really busy and short staffed! What have we been up to? Here is a very, very, brief overview for now; as soon as we are settled in our new office, (mid July) we will begin writing up the details of these activities.
We are Moving: We have been busy planning, designing, working with architects for many, many months now. We are almost ready, but the carpenter, electrician and painter are still around! As a friend said, ” they become like tenants and are just not willing to move out! ”
So where will TRC be located? We are moving out of our present premises at 67-B, Garden Road, Karachi, to the 2nd Floor, C-121, Ehtesham Centre National Highway, Defence Housing Authority Phase I, Karachi. By the end of July, you will find a map of our new location and our new telephone numbers here on our website.
Our library is all packed up, books are in labelled cartons, the office is beginning to wear a deserted look … 20 years of baggage takes days to shift and weeks to sort!
ECE-Certificate Programme: Our new office space has a section dedicated to the newly established (January 2007) Institute of ECE (IECE), where we intended to start Year-2 of the ECE-CP. It was not to be. The City Kindergarten Resource Centre, which is The City School Network’s ECE Training Centre, kindly accommodated us for a couple of weeks and then we moved the classes to the Faiz Library, in the PECHS Girls’ School. We were determined to end this nomadic existence and begin Semester 2 at the IECE. With great difficulty, we managed to get one classroom and a bathroom ready and Semester 2 began on June 06. This semester we have three courses: Play Experiences, History & Philosophy of ECE and Child Development.
Publications: Despite daily calls/follow-up with the two different printers, our publications were delayed, owing to excessive power failures … Karachites will empathise! Ilm o Amal was inordinately delayed. We apologise to the schools that closed end May; the courier returned their copies to us and we will send them again in August. The PDF version will be put on this site shortly. The other much awaited publication, Innovation in the Kachi, with a bright red cover:-) has also arrived from the printer adding to the pile of cartons at TRC!! Innovation in the Kachi is a longitudinal study of the impact of innovative ECE practices in public sector primary schools.
Curriculum Development: This has been a period of intense, extensive curriculum development! Starting with the Federal Curriculum Wing, Ministry of Education’s request to revise the ECE Curriculum we had developed in 2002, to Shah Wilayat Public School to PECHS Girls’ School. We are still working on the last one, but have completed the National Curriculum for ECE and Shah Wilayat’s Curriculum for KG 2 and Class 1.
ECE Advocacy at District Level: In collaboration with Unesco and the Sindh Education Department, we conducted two workshops, to mobilise policy level support for the promotion of ECE in Sindh, and to build capacity of district level managers and community leaders. The first workshop was held in Nawabshah and the second in Karachi at TRC. As part of this collaboration, we have also developed an Advocacy Resource Book on ECE. It is currently being translated into Urdu and Sindhi. Detaisl on all these activities will be available on this site soon.
New “Partners”: Several extensive meetings were held with representatives of American Institutes for Research. Proposals were written and budgets prepared and more meetings held and e-mails exchanged in preparation for a USAID education project due to begin in September 2007.
We are currently discussing a partnership with Unilever Pakistan to conduct workshops on play for teachers of early years’ education and to develop resources for the advocacy of the importance of play and active learning.
Affiliation of IECE: We are exploring partnerships with UK based universities for the TRC-Institute of ECE. The British Council Karachi, has been extremely helpful in this regard (Thank you Samina Khan!!) and as a result we have been in e-mail contact with several folk across UK.
Sharne Proctor, Director, International & Postgraduate Service, University of Glasgow, visited TRC while she was in Karachi for some work. We had a great, preliminary meeting and plan to meet again in Glasgow in September, with the Dean of Education and ECE faculty to move the discussion further.
The TRC Team: We have been dreadfully short staffed during this period. Lila Ram is still away in Australia on study leave, but we look forward to having him back with us soon; Sadiya Azeem is away on maternity leave; Rubina Naqvi is away for six weeks, recovering from surgery; Amima Sayeed is back now, but was away for an extended period, attending a family wedding and then a conference in North America.
In the midst of all this, an associate member, also a student, requested the use of some books she knows we have, for her final thesis. A letter informing members that the library will be closed in June and July went out in mid May. Since our library team has categorised, packed and labelled all the books, we were able to locate the books she needed.
At the behest of their Principal, teachers of the Fatimiyah Education Network visited the TRC, on February 9, 2007, for enhancing their professional exposure. At the visit they learnt more about ECE with a view to bringing about changes and improvements within their own environment.
Teachers were particularly excited to see the recycled gosha material, learning aids, and the other material on display.
At the end of every working year TRC holds its AGM, in which all the stakeholders are apprised of that years achievements. This year was an exception though, as apart from the customary hum that accompanies the AGM there was a special significance to the whole event. This AGM ushered in the coming of age of TRC. Yes, we”ve been here for 21 years and we mean to celebrate this in a suitab;e manner. We”ll fill you all in on the celebratory plans soon. The eighty or so participants (TRC Stakeholders) showed their enthusiasm and interest by promising to provide assistance wherever they could, to help make TRC”s twenty-one year celebrations a success.
This AGM also marked the successful end of the First academic year of the TRC”s Institute of Early Childhood Education (IECE). To complete this academic cycle, TRC-IECE awarded the graduating Year One students with their Certificates. Graduating students, their family members, and spme employers commended TRC”s dedication and commitment.
The TRC-IECE Administration, Faculty and Students from the Second batch of the IECE assembled recently at the orientation ceremony for the Year II students of the IECE. TRC Director, Seema Malik, and Academic Coordinator IECE, Mahenaz Mahmud, welcomed the students.
Students were introduced to the faculty and to what they were expected to do in the academic year that starts on 6 February, 2007.
The hour long session ended with an informal chat over tea and biscuits.
On 19 January 2007, TRC conducted a 3-hour workshop, titled “Seekhnay kaa Amal”, at the Holy Shepherd Grammar School for their teachers.
Covering aspects such as How Learning Takes Place, Understanding the Needs of Children (and what adults can do to fulfill those needs), the workshop helped participants explore their own role in the classroom.
Participating teachers, excited by many of the the new ideas, expressed keenness to implement them in their classrooms.
On 6 January 2007, TRC conducted a 3-hour workshop for the primary Links Primary School at their premises.
The workshop was designed to raise teachers’ awareness of the importance of managing time effectively and understand the different styles of managing time.
Teachers assessed their own time management abilities and developed personal time plans. Discussions carried out were interactive with the group contributing enthuiastically.
The TRC team went to Thatta to conduct a 15- hour workshop for 26 pre-primary and primary teachers of the Model Tarbiat School from 26-28 December 2006.
Titled “Bachay Kaisay Seekhtay Hain”, the 3-day workshop covered numerous aspects of learning, child growth and development.
Issues faced by teachers while developing classroom activities related to the learning content were also the subject of discussions. The group, supportyed by TRC trainers, developed strategies for preparing an active learning environment where children could engage in active, hands on and exploratory activities.
The teachers consisted of Primary and Katchi teachers. Varied tips and suggestions were provided accordingly.
“Ohhh! It has direct relevance to the class,” said a teacher, as soon as the TV was switched off at the end of the screening of 12 Angry Men, on Nov 25, at the TRC premises. The film, a black and white, small-screen, 1957 production, shot in just 21 days, held everyone’s attention, despite 89 of it’s 92-minute length being shot in one room and around one table.
Attended by a lively group, 12 angry Men led to discussions covering prejudice, bias, generation gap and more. The tea-break also found people discussing the merits of acting, direction, and photography in this powerful film.
Schools that participated in this session are considering a special showing of ‘Cheaters‘ with teachers, some teenage students, and parents because of some of the issues raised in the film.
With everyone at schools busy with exams and preparations over the next few weeks, followed by holidays, it was decided to hold the next Film Club session in January.
Meanwhile, don’t forget that one of Karachi’s most awaited annual events, the KaraFilm Festival, is running from Dec 7th to Dec 17th. To those of you who attend, we request keeping our Film Club in mind and sending us suggestions for any films that suit our purpose.