Pakistan : Education

The BRAC Education Programme first opened the doors of its schools in Pakistan in the spring of 2009. Before establishing the schools, BRAC engaged in extensive field work with local communities to get their approval for BRAC’s education programme. The first task was to establish a partnership with the government of North West Frontier Province (NWFP). This enabled BRAC to survey areas in the province to establish where schools were needed.

With the support of the local government, BRAC conducted door-to-door field surveys and held a number of town hall meetings with communities to understand their needs. This was a confidence building exercise – BRAC heard from the parents first-hand of how lacking schools were in their locality. The parents were told about the successes of BRAC schools in neighbouring Afghanistan.
 
Programme Description
In Pakistan, about 33% of the population lives below the national poverty line, and 39% of the population is under 14 years of age. The literacy rate is less than 45%.

Given this backdrop, BRAC’s education intervention in Pakistan aims to:
 

1. Increase girls’ enrolment in education as a means for Pakistan to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of Universal Primary Education and Gender Parity by 2015; and
2. Contribute towards reducing poverty and improving the quality of life of marginalised citizens.

In adjacent Afghanistan, BRAC currently operates more than 870 schools with almost 25,000 students, of whom 92% are girls. BRAC is keen to achieve similar success in Pakistan.

Our education programme in Pakistan is still in its early stages. So far, BRAC has successfully launched a pilot pre-primary programme, operating 20 schools in the Haripur district of NWFP, run by local female staff who works with a programme manager. Pre-primary education can help teachers motivate children to stay in school and parents to send their children to school.

Furthermore, pre-primary schools that particularly target girls can help ensure their continued participation in primary school, promoting greater gender equality in education. This type of intervention is consistent with the recent emphasis of the Government of Pakistan on Early Childhood Care and Education.

BRAC has extensive experience in pre-primary schooling as it operates nearly 24,750 pre-schools in Bangladesh which enrol over 700,000 children, 60.2% of whom are girls. BRAC’s experience in Bangladesh illustrates that children completing pre-school education do better in primary school, both academically and otherwise. They are more regular in school attendance and tests, proactive in classroom work including co-curricular activities, and demonstrate better hygiene.

The BRAC Education Programme in Pakistan is a synthesis of its international experience with local needs. The programme seeks to achieve success in Pakistan by providing pre-school education to the most vulnerable children, building their skills and confidence levels and motivating them to continue their education through the formal school system.

One of the distinctive features of BRAC’s approach is its involvement of a wide range of stakeholders including community members, local government officials, and provincial and central education officials. Children who graduate from BRAC’s pre-primary programme are expected to enrol in government-run primary schools. We expect these children to have a head start over their peers when they start primary level education. It is also expected that the children involved in the programme will carry the knowledge and skills they learn for the rest of their lives.

As part of our research and evaluation efforts, we will monitor the progress of these students through the course of their primary education. The specific long-term objectives of our education programme are to:
 

• Provide good quality, cost effective education to non-enrolled girls
• Create employment opportunities for local women as teachers and programme staff
• Help change mind sets by emphasising the need for female education and ensuring effective participation of parents and community members in the programme

With our initial pilot showing success and great promise, in five years time we plan to expand our education programme to encompass 1,000 pre-primary schools and 1,000 primary schools. The programme will be run primarily in the provinces of NWFP and Baluchistan, catering particularly to girls who come from poor families, are excluded by the mainstream system and suffer from discrimination at multiple levels.

BRAC hopes to provide access to cost effective, quality pre-primary education to children between the ages of four and six, and primary education particularly to girls between the ages of seven and 12 years. The main challenges of such an initiative will be to create access with a high retention rate; employing and developing the capacity of locally recruited female teachers; overcoming traditional barriers; gaining community trust and ownership and maintaining tight quality-control.

Main features of our schools

• Flexible school timings
• Proximity to students’ homes
• Small class sizes managed by local female teachers
• Child-friendly teaching and learning environments
• Innovative Curricula
• No costs to parents
• Close involvement of parents and communities in school management
• Close monitoring and supervision of programme