TRC News

Approximately 200, 3-5 year old children come to the ECE Centre six days a week to get a head start to learning. The teachers, trained by TRC implement the National ECE Curriculum, designed by TRC and adopted by the Ministry of Education in 2002.

On 14 November 2006, Osama Qadri visited the ECE Centre, which had been chosen as a venue for raising awareness about polio. He was totally amazed … “How is all this happening?” he asked. The children were engaged in various learning areas: the Home Corner, the Math Corner, the Science Corner and the Art Corner. He was so impressed as children responded to his questions about what they were doing, but for them it was “all in a day’s work.”

Mr. Qadri inaugurated the polio eradiction scheme by giving polio drops to the children. Before he left, he offered to have the building white washed and to send two reams of paper every month for the children to paint on. We hope he keeps his promise!

The TRC Film Club session on Saturday, November 4, was held at the PECHS Girls’ High School. The school had specifically requested a showing of Cheaters, the film that had launched these activities. Around 40 teachers were present.

The direct relevance of the film’s subject matter – something that all teachers have encountered (and some confess to having engaged in) – and the presence of a group of teachers who were familiar with each other made the post-viewing session highly interactive. Among the issues that came up during diiscussions were the question of examinations and grading, alternative forms of assessment, competition and its place in schools & society, and the role of the parents in molding the character of the child.

It is certain that many of the issues will continue to be discussed for days in the common room and beyond.

Please contact us for details if you wish to have a special showing at your school.

Hope to see many of you on November 25th, for 12 Angry Men.

The Chairperson of The Education Committee (Primary) C.D.G.K, Ms. Shameem Akhtar, has been an enthusiastic supporter of TRC’s ECE programme.

To widen understanding she arranged a session of  “An overview of ECE” for ADO’s and DOE in her office. ECE resource material prepared by TRC was placed on display during the sessions.

Participants acknowledged the efforts and importance made in the field of early childhood education and were keen to promote it in their schools and towns.

As a result of this session, conducted by the TRC, further requests were made for conducting the ECE-NC 50 hour trainings in their towns. The committee chairperson requested TRC for further training of at least 200 ECE teachers in implementing the Early Childhood Education National Curriculum (ECE-NC).

TRC is currently organizing funds to carry out this training by August 2007.

Funded by the AKF-USAID RCC project, TRC introduced ECE to 60 more government and local body schools (43 girlsâ?? schools and 17 boy’s schools) in Karachi. These are located in the low-income areas of the following Towns: Korangi, Shah Faisal, Saddar, Liaquatabad, North Karachi and Malir.

ECE Workshops for Public Sector Heads: To begin with two concurrent 10-hour ECE orientation workshops for heads and supervisors were held on the 15th and 16th of September 2006. For most of the 60 participants this was their very first workshop. The workshop aimed to help them understand the need, philosophy and significance of ECE, to enhance their leadership skills and enable them to support the ECE teachers in their schools. Our practice has always been to get the heads and supervisors “on board” before training the teachers. Based on teachers’ feedback this is a useful strategy; they find that their heads are more supportive when they have received training first.

The heads appreciated the understanding they went away with about an active learning classroom; now they won’t be disconcerted when children are moving about and talking during class time! They learnt about leadership, how to support ECE teachers, became aware of their own skills, where their strengths are and the areas they need to work on and develop.  They enjoyed some of the poems we sang with them especially “channa kis ney boya.”

ECE Workshops for Public Sector Teachers: Following the workshop for heads, two concurrent workshops were held for teachers from September 18th – 28th. Over the ten days (50 hours) the teachers learnt all about active learning, setting up the learning environment, observation and assessment, and more … all that a beginning teacher needs to know. Using a hands-on approach, TRC walked them through the National ECE Curriculum, to enable them to begin implementation when they returned to their classrooms. The teachers were excited by their new learning and keen to go back and take the ECE class.

TRC conducted an eight hour workshop for the ECE teachers of Links Pre-School as requested by them. This workshop on Child Development was conducted on the 9th and 10th of August 2006, at the Links pre-primary school building with 15 pre-primary teachers in attendance.

The workshop was designed to help teachers understand the complexities of child development, through stimulating activities and informal discussions. They also explored how the knowledge of child development is helpful in designing teaching strategies that promote holistic development. The interactive method of conducting the workshop, coupled with the participants’ enthusiasm, resulted in two days of very enjoyable learning.

TRC and SPELT, with corresponding aims, were closely associated
in the early years of their establishment: 1986-1990. Over time, we lost touch, as both organisations grew and diversified their activities and programmes. We renewed this ‘collaboration’ last year in 2005, and agreed to promote each otherâ??s work whenever possible and to share resource persons too.

It was in the spirit of this collaboration, that TRC staff attended the SPELT Conference planning meetings, and a TRC staff member conducted a session on Urdu ki Tadrees mayà Ashiaey Imdaadi ka Iste’maal at their September 2006 Education Conference.

A request was received from Chiniot Islamia School for a language workshop. TRC conducted a workshop titled ‘Fluency Activities in the Language Classroom’ at the school premises. Mr. Mohsin Tejani, a language resource person, conducted this workshop for 25 teachers on 12th and 15th August 2006.

The workshop helped participants understand the interactive approach to language teaching and identified the difference between spoken and written language. The issues faced in managing a language classroom were also addressed. Strategies for developing fluency for learners of various levels were designed and shared through group work.

As part of the ongoing training programme agreed to between TRC and Bahria Education Services, a 24 hour workshop, titled ‘Role of a School Coordinator’ was conducted from 7th -9th August by TRC staff, for coordinators of the Bahria Foundation schools in Naushero Firoz, Sindh.

Throughout the workshop, the participants were actively engaged in discussions and activities that provided them with hands-on experience of putting theory into practice. The workshop content enabled the participants to explore the different roles and responsibilities of a co-ordinator, and to develop awareness of their own strengths and areas that needed further development. The candid discussions created an atmosphere of sharing and appreciation of each others’ point of view.

The commitment of the school co-ordinators and management made the 16 hour car journey (there and back) worth it!

M.Ed. at the University of Sydney

Lila Ram, Manager Communication and Information is away for a year, pursuing a Master of Education degree in Research Methodology at the University of Sydney. His scholarship is funded by the Australian Government’s aid agency, AusAID. For his first semester, he has opted for the following four courses: Developing a Research Proposal; School-based Management and Effective Schools; Quantitative Analysis and Qualitative Analysis. We look forward to having Lila back with us in August 2007 … until then we keep in touch by e-mail.

Study Tour to Egypt

Sadiya Azeem, Member of our Training & Development Team went on a study tour to Egypt (July 22 – 29 2006) as part of the RCC group, supported by AKF-USIAD. The purpose of the tour was to ‘study’ Early Childhood Education and Development models and practices being followed by the Government of Egypt, and to share the RCC model with the Egyptian counterparts. Early childhood services in Egypt are delivered mainly through three ministries. The ministry of education is responsible for early education activities and preschools. The ministry of insurance and social affairs, takes care of daycare centres and nurseries, and primary health care activities are provided mainly through the ministry of health. Sadiya tells us that only 12% of preschool age children are enrolled in any type of ECE programme and that enrolment rates for males, are higher than those for female children. Sounds familiar?

European ECE Researchers Association (EECERA)

Mahenaz Mahmud, Director Programme Development went to Reykjavik, Iceland to attend the 16th EECERA Annual Conference: Democracy and Culture in Early Childhood Education (August 30-September 02). In collaboration with our linkage partner Ryerson University, we had sent an abstract of our ECE research project conducted in Karachi’s government schools, to the conference committee. We were delighted that it was accepted!

Mahenaz and Donald made a presentation during one of the many breakout sessions. Their audience was in awe of TRC’s success, in establishing ‘democratic’ ECE classes in over-populated classrooms in some of Karachi’s most underprivileged areas. They were also impressed with our successful policy level breakthrough in getting an ECE Curriculum formalized by the Ministry of Education.

The conference had two themes: Democracy and Culture. The first theme looked at the role of ECE in creating a democratic society, based on the premise that if children have the opportunity to practice democracy through decision-making, communication, negotiation and participation in projects of relevance, they will be likely to encourage the formation and growth of democracy in their societies. Culture, the second theme of the conference, aimed to ask critical questions such as: How can children contribute to and create the wider culture?

How is a society’s culture reflected in its early childhood education? What is the influence of globalization on early childhood education? Check out EECERA conference details at http://www.congress.is/eecera2006/

Our library has a new set of Classroom Management DVDs! Nancy Morton wanted to use these videos for her workshop in July. The set however, was pretty bulky and she wanted to copy them on a CD, so she asked the company for permission to copy them. When Jo Lynne Jones, one of the co-owners of Fredric H. Jones & Associates, Inc. in Santa Cruz, heard that it was for a non-profit in Karachi (she visited our website), she donated the entire set of DVD’s on Classroom Management from their ‘Tools for Teaching‘ series. So Nancy got a slimmer package to carry … DVDs instead of the videos she had, and TRC got a new set of resources for classroom management. Nancy brought a small DVD player along and she donated that to TRC. Do call us and come along in a group to watch these DVDs. We have been in touch with Jo Lynne Jones, and if you are reading this Jo, Thanks again!