DIL News 2008 - Summer

Schering Plough Funding Helps DIL Train Science Teachers

The Janwari Goth School is located in a remote village of Khairpur. It is a poor area where very few of the people are educated. Last year, the school was facing several major issues: student enrollment was low, students were late to class and their cleanliness did not meet school standards. Many of the teachers were worried that if the conditions did not improve, the school would be shut down for failing to meet the standards set by DIL. That’s when the teachers decided to take matters into their own hands.

Farzana Sial, the school’s head teacher, along with the other three teachers gathered mothers for a meeting to discuss the problems plaguing the school. They wanted to get the mothers’ buy-in on making the necessary changes to keep the school open. What they discovered, however, led them in a different direction.

When they asked the mothers to sign in for the meeting, they realized that none of the mothers could write. The mothers shared how embarrassing it was to use thumbprints because they weren’t able to sign their own names. Seizing the opportunity, Sial offered to teach the mothers how to sign their names— with the condition that they made sure that their daughters came to school on time. “Nothing comes for free,” she told them, “and, I am delighted to report that punctuality is no longer an issue at our school.” However, Sial did not stop there, “we then offered adult literacy classes twice a week for one hour after school to the mothers on the condition that they send their girls to school neat and clean and properly fed.”
The mothers attend class regularly and complete all their work assignments. Not only are they learning rapidly but are now making sure that their daughters get enough time to finish their homework. “I think we have achieved a lot through this endeavor and we will persevere.” Sial’s goal is to educate every member of the village. Sial and the teachers of Janwary Goth are indeed following DIL’s motto of educating children and empowering communities.

Teachers Embrace DIL’s New Curriculum

In nearly a year since the introduction of the English curriculum to DIL schools, the results have been overwhelmingly positive. From the beginning, the teachers have worked diligently to learn the strategies outlined in the new teacher’s guides and to incorporate a variety of new resources into their classroom routines. We have been fortunate to see the improvements not only in the children, but also in the teacher’s own level of competency in the span of less than a year.
For many teachers, even in the US, introduction of new curricula is often not well received because it requires a change in the way they have taught a specific subject. Not only has this not been the case with our teachers, but we have been given detailed feedback and suggestions from the teachers throughout the year for how to make the program better—an indication of how closely they are following the program and how committed they are to its success. The monthly assessments submitted by each project have shown steady improvements for all schools and has allowed us to monitor and support the teachers throughout this transition.
The teachers are incredibly eager to improve their own skills and understand that in order to be effective they, too, must master every topic, even if that means relearning lessons they had previously learned incorrectly. We look forward with confidence to continue developing new educational programs for our schools knowing that DIL’s teachers have the motivation and desire to be the best teachers possible.

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