Professional Documents
Culture Documents
JUL - SEP
2011
in focus
Teach For Pakistan is a nationwide movement of graduates and young professionals who will commit two years to teach in under-resourced schools and go on to become lifelong leaders working from across all fields to expand educational opportunity.
participants in the Teach First, Teaching Leaders and Teach On programs. Experts and leaders in the fields of education, academia, business, politics and the arts were also invited to interact with Fellows and share their valuable experiences.
Teach For Pakistan|An initiative of the Aman Foundation| www.teachforpakistan.edu.pk
Teach For Pakistan is a Partner in the Global Education Network Teach ForAll
We value this diversity greatly, as each Fellow brings a wealth of different experiences with them, only adding to the strength of our program, as the Fellows collaborate to share best practices and further improve on their teaching methods. Fellows are currently placed in 9 under-resourced schools, directly impacting approximately 1200 students, teaching Mathematics, Science, Social Studies and English to classes 4 through 8.
I wasnt sure what to expect when I arrived in Karachi on June 30th after just having finished my two year commitment with Teach For America. What I found was something wonderful: exuberant Fellows determined to change the state of education in their country and a staff dedicated to ensuring this would happen.
After having taught for two years in a low-income community where students faced their own challenges, coming to Pakistan and experiencing the disparity first hand that exists in education was life changing. However, meeting the Fellows and the Teach For Pakistan team I know that there are catalysts for change working each and every day to bridging this gap. I was moved by the level of commitment Fellows put into their lessons each day and found hope in each classroom that I visited. Students naturally took to the Fellows and found a love of learning through their teachers.
My experience over the course of six weeks with I understood the gravity of the achievement gap in Los Teach For Angeles where I taught, but wasnt quite aware of the Pakistan and enormity of this gap that existed in Pakistan. As I set out its Fellows has to conduct curriculum sessions, teaching Fellows about re-invested my own commitment to closing the lesson planning, classroom management, and the TAL achievement gap both in the United States and the rubric I was impressed by how quickly they saw the country of my birth, Pakistan. relevance and need for a framework within the education system. I am honored to have had the opportunity to come to Pakistan and to have been a part of this movement.
Fellows at Work
Teach For Pakistan has placed its first cohort of Fellow in 9 schools across Keamari, Korangi, and Saddar towns in Karachi, including schools operated by The Citizens Foundation and Behbud. Even though the need for quality education is dire across the nation, Teach For Pakistan developed a specific selection criteria for placement schools. Our placement schools demonstrate a financial or human constraint for quality teachers and also face challenges such as high teacherstudent ratio, low student learning outcomes and lack of subject specialists. Our Fellows are teaching classes 4-8 focusing on English, Mathematics, Science and Social Studies. They are focused on working closely with parents, school administration and the community to raise the level of household investment in a childs education. Our Fellows are impacting approximately 1200 students with an average class size of 55 students.
The three weeks that we spent teaching at SMB Fatima Jinnah Girls School will always remain outstanding for each of us. We entered our classrooms full of energy and excitement, ready to teach and practice all that we had learnt. We couldn't wait to experience a glimpse of the journey that lay ahead, to witness and feel the change we aimed to bring.
The three weeks, however, were incredible not because we all emerged as outstanding teachers or because each of our students excelled academically but because we entered our classrooms as teachers and in turn gained infinite wisdom from thirteen year old girls. Our lives have changed for the better as a result of the time we spent in the classrooms. These children managed to do for us what no book or training could have done - they validated and reaffirmed the magnitude of the task we have undertaken and gave us the motivation we required to dedicate all our efforts to this cause. Most significantly they made us realize the extent of the impact we could create in the classroom and in our students lives. We anticipated hardships; teaching English, Mathematics, If we could Social Studies and Science to seventh grade girls without achieve all this in Students at Teach For Pakistans Summer School significant teaching experience was never going to be a three weeks, then straightforward task. More importantly, we knew our no goal is too mandate as teachers was not only limited to academic idealistic or impossible for the upcoming two years. content but extended to all facets of the students lives an opportunity we relished.