TURNING AROUND CHILDREN
Making a Difference through Quality
Intervention at an Early Age
PRESENTED BY: Mehnaz Aziz (Chief Executive)
Funding support from
ISLAMABAD: # 66, St. 89, G-6/3, Islamabad
Tel: +9251 2877941-2, Fax: +9251 2274140
info@cripk.org, http://www.cripk.org
KARACHI: # 192-P, Block 2, P.E.C.H.S, Karachi
Tel: +9221 4386967
Fax: +9221 4386967
Presentation’s Contents
 Need for Quality Intervention?
 What do we do at CRI?
 CRI mandate
 Providing best to marginalized community
 Results
 Future
Need for Quality Intervention?
I. The average public primary school teacher is not equipped with teaching
methodology.
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“After I did my PTC and came to the classroom I had no idea how to plan a day and teach
children. I just replicated how my teacher taught me.”
Shahzadi Bushra
GGP School Intelligence No. 1, Keamari Town, Karachi
II. In public schools Classrooms are devoid of colors and children work.
III. Most public universities do not offer specialized courses for educators on
interactive methodologies in ECE.
IV. Parent participation in public schools is discouraged:
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99% of schools have notices on the wall disallowing parents from entering.
There is no concept of teachers’ interaction with parents.
What do we do at CRI?
 CRI equipped with the child centered comprehensive
methodology initiated work in 2002 with USAID support
to fill the gap on the quality side through its following
components:
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ECE
Basic Education
Family Literacy
Family Involvement
Higher Education
 CRI helps bridge the gap between the Kindergarten and
Higher Education
CRI Mandate
 Public Private partner-ships:
For the purpose of program implementation Memorandum of Understandings
were signed with the following entities:
 Federal Ministry of Education (Federal Directorate of Education)
 City District Government Rawalpindi, Provincial Education Department Punjab
 City District Government Karachi, Provincial Education Department Sindh
 Support Education Sector Reforms initiated by the Government of
Pakistan in 1999
Best Provided to Marginalized
Community
Quality is assured through:
1. Extensive five days training of teachers and principals twice a year
in interactive methodologies.
2. Improvement in classroom environment through:
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Displaying children’s work
Sharing class room responsibilities,
Portfolios (for on-going assessment of students)
Providing learning and art material (pattern blocks, Cuisenaire rods, geoboard, dominoes, base ten blocks, drawing sheets, colors and other stationary
items)
Setting up activity centers (literacy, math, dramatic, science and art centers) to
provide clarity of concepts based on syllabus.
Providing story books for classrooms
3. On-going Technical Assistance through Master Teacher Trainers
Literacy classes for non-literate parents to make them a
part of their child’s learning through:
 100 lessons in basic literacy and math skills developed by
CRI adult literacy experts
 Two 1 ½ hour lessons per week divided over two sessions
of six months duration
 Reading writing speaking, listening and computation
activities for parents
 Parents receive books to read to their children
 Adult learners’ home work linked to their children’s learning
in class room
Inviting parents to classrooms through planned activities to
assist teacher by:
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Sharing their knowledge
Telling stories
Demonstrating and sharing their professional skills
Enhancing capacities of institutions churning out educators
Learning is Made Fun for Children Through:
 Morning Meeting (children sit in a circle, greet each
other, eye contact, sense of responsibility and respect for
each other is encouraged, children share small things)
 Choice Time (different choices are given to the
children in schedule to take initiative and make learning
interesting and pleasurable).
 Book Making and Author’s Chair (Children make
their own story books and share it with their class fellows
on Author’s Chair).
 Hundred Days in school (to track their attendance
children count number of days in school, when hundred;
they celebrate it in different ways).
 Celebrating Science Day (little scientists are
encouraged to undertake interactive activities for
hands on experiences)
 Celebrating Math Day (to integrate math with day
to day life different interactive math activities are
designed to celebrate math day with little
mathematicians).
 Adopt a Plant (children plant a tree, take
ownership of its care and monthly record changes)
 Dramatic Play (Children assume different roles and
make props and talk to each other. This reflects and
promotes their cognitive and social development).
 Learning is interactive freely initiated by the
child, open ended and creative through out the
day
Results (2002 – 2005)
 Improved classroom environment
 Children’s Performances are better (reading and writing skills developed,
problem solving ability enhanced)
 Children are confident, like to come to school daily
 Individualization
 There is increased student teacher interaction and parental involvement.
 Improvement in the attitude of the teacher. More than 1200 teachers &
heads trained
 There is a decline in corporal punishments in partner schools.
 Reaching out to over 25,000 children
 More than 2000 parents made literate in basic literacy and math skills under
family Literacy Program
 FDE has requested implementation of CRI methodology in all schools under
their jurisdiction.
 Ready to teach specialized courses for educators endorsed in all
universities
Future (2006 – 2009)
 Entire school district (316 public schools)
 Would reach out to 200,000 children
 Approximately 3, 033 teachers will be trained in interactive methodologies
and their class rooms will be equipped with learning material
 More than 5,000 parents would learn basic literacy and math skills
We hope to collaborate with the
government to take the methodology
to national scales as we would also
like to work on “No Child Left
Behind”