SAI 'Education in Action' Submissions
SAI received several exhibits from education organizations across South Asia, and we are pleased to display them here.
**Please click on each image to view individual exhibits in their entirety.**
These submissions were shown at the symposium on January 23, 2012.
Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE)
From their submission to SAI:
Humanity’s quest for sustainability will be the key theme for the 21st century. India, with an annual economic growth rate of 7-9%, faces an enormous challenge in sustainable development. While economic growth is necessary to alleviate poverty, growth without concern for the environment can impose a heavy cost on the society. Furthermore, gross inequities in distribution of benefits from economic growth can worsen poverty and increase social tensions in a society that is already socially as well as economically highly differentiated. Is India’s higher education system ready to meet the challenge of sustainable and just growth?
Read more about the Ashoka Trust's mission to answer this question here.
Beaconhouse School System
From their website:
One of the largest private school networks in the world, the Beaconhouse group has over 200,000 fulltime students in nine countries. Established in November 1975 as the Les Anges Montessori Academy with 19 toddlers, Beaconhouse has since grown into an international network of private schools, imparting distinctive and meaningful learning to students all the way from birth – through its partnership in Pakistan with Gymboree Play & Music – to post-graduation, through the Beaconhouse National University in Lahore.
The Beaconhouse of today is thus much more than just a stand-alone school. Through distinct and independent divisions in the UK, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Oman, UAE, Pakistan and Bangladesh, it caters to the education and training needs of a large and diverse group of individuals of varying ages, socio-economic backgrounds, and nationalities, with its activities also extending beyond education in some countries.
BRAC's Second Chance Education Program
From their submission to SAI:
Second Chance Non-Formal Schooling
Currently, BRAC runs the largest second chance non-formal school system in the world, operating, besides Bangladesh, in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Uganda and Southern Sudan. Nearly five million children have been provided the equivalent of primary education and almost ten million students have been helped and their life chances improved in the twenty-five year history of BRAC’s education programs.
The one-room, one-teacher primary school enrol 30 to 33 children between the age of 9 to 11 and are taken though a four-year cycle enabling them to complete the equivalent of primary education. Thus a successful model has been developed for the primary school dropouts, especially girls, reaching children who are from extremely poor families or ethnic minorities, living in remote areas or have special needs.
Read their full abstract here.
BRAC Students' Mentoring and Computer Aided Learning (CAL) Program
From their website:
Computer Aided Learning (CAL) Programme is an endeavour to make the text content easier, interactive and stimulating adding visualization.
How is BRAC using it in High Schools in rural areas?
BRAC piloted this program in 7 schools of Mirzapur, Tangail equipping these schools with computers and multimedia or monitors connected with splitter. Recently, the programme has been expanded to fifteen schools in five districts (Comilla, Gazipur, Bogra, Hobiganj and Gopalganj) with the assistance of Teaching Quality Improvement in Secondary Education Project (TQI-SEP).
Read more about this initiative on the BRAC website.
Centre for Research and Experiments for Action and Policy (REAP)
From their submission to SAI:
The state of Haryana has population of over 25 million with nearly 2.7 million students enrolled in over 15,000 government-run schools. Haryana has demonstrated significant progress in terms of school infrastructure and enrolment statistics, with a gross enrolment ratio (GER) of over 90%, an average pupil-teacher ratio (PTR) of 30 and establishment of schools at convenient distances. However, much needs to be realized in terms of learning achievements and overall quality of education.
Chandragupt Institute of Management Patna (CIMP) - Elementary Education System in Bihar Project
Bihar is emerging as one of the fastest growing states in India. At the same time, human development indicators paint a contrasting picture. Studies carried out by World Bank confirm that Bihar is one of the lagging regions in India when it comes to Education, Health, Gender Disparities and other Human Development parameters. The percentage of poor people in the population of Bihar is astonishingly high.
Studies show that Governments have failed to deliver services equitably and efficiently. High teacher absenteeism in government run schools, unqualified doctors running primary health centers and low levels of accountability in public systems have been the norms in these regions.
Through sustained efforts and by increasing expenditure on education [following elections in 2005], a lot of positive changes have been brought about in the state.
Read their full abstract here.
Elements Akademia
From their submission to SAI:
Bitter truth: Various surveys point to only 10-25% of Indian graduates being really employable or industry-ready. Our own past research – with 42 hiring companies - had identified 9 Missing Elements which limits the candidate’s employability:
While the obvious solution to unlock India’s demographic dividend is to empower our students with these requisite skills, the BIG question is: Can these employability skills really be coached?
Evidence for Policy Design (EPoD), a research program at the Center for International Development
EPoD is a research program at the Center for International Development (CID) at Harvard University. This program promotes the use of rigorous evidence to inform the design of public policies in low-income countries.
Recent research conducted by faculty of Evidence for Policy Design (EPoD) presents rigorous empirical evidence on the impact of innovative solutions to improve the quality of or access to education in India and Pakistan. These interventions are designed and evaluated in collaboration with local government and NGO partners, in order to produce evidence and knowledge that can be directly used by policymakers in future programs. Through this research, EPoD is contributing valuable evidence on how to improve the quality of education and the design of education programs in South Asia.
Further details on this program and the Harvard faculty working in South Asia can be found here.
Institute of Rural Research and Development (IRRAD)
From their submission to SAI:
Building Capacities of School Management Committees (SMCs) is an initiative of Institute of Rural Research and Development (IRRAD) to reform the current state of primary and elementary education in rural India. The project aims to improve access to and retention of children in primary and elementary schools by activating SMCs and creating awareness about Right to Education (RTE) among communities. IRRAD is implementing this project in 35 villages of Mewat district of Haryana.
Building Capacities of SMCs is a two-year long program. The program uses applied learning methodologies to build practical skills of SMC members through learning by doing. These methods empower, motivate and support SMC members to acquire skills and knowledge. In addition, the program raises villagers’ awareness about RTE and emphasizes the importance of girls’ education.
JSPM's Group of Institutes
From an open letter to students on their website:
Jayawant Shikshan Prasarak Mandal (JSPM) was established in 1998 with the objective of creating centres of excellence for education in the field of Engineergin, Medicine, Pharmacy, Management, and Computers. Our objective behind starting JSPM was to make higher education available to all who are desirous of achieving it. I also visualized that a social transformation can be brought through the medium of dynamic education, JSPM is thus an institution of higher education with social commitment.
We have created a learning culture, a friendly environment that facilitates complete development of our students. Our three pronged focus on knowledge, skill, and attitude is aimed at meeting the needs of the industr[ies served].
Pratigya
From their submission to SAI:
Pratigya is an effort to shape the dreams which every kid nurtures in his eyes, heart and thoughts.To describe PRATIGYA from its root, it is a team which basically teaches the underprivileged kids from classes I to XII including Diploma students. These kids include those of the children of fourth class employees of Thapar University, Patiala as well as others residing outside Thapar University campus.
The Pratigya society started its services in 2005. Since then it has evolved with time. Today Pratigya is one of the biggest and most active societies in Thapar University, Patiala. Many functional societies in T.U. aim at developing the creative and imaginative skills of the students of the University. Pratigya tries to do the same with the children who can only dream to be a part of such a university one day. Pratigya team nourishes the children of the 4th class staff of the university, the construction site labourers and few other students of the city who read in Govt. schools where the level of education is not adequate. There are around 70 student volunteers who teach and around 100 kids which get enrolled in Pratigya every year.
Teach for India
From their website:
In 2006, a group of young leaders working to reform education in India came together to seek an innovative solution to end educational inequity in the country. The group firmly believed that any change in the education sector needed to be systemic and that India needed to be infused with a large number of leaders who would work towards achieving educational equity for all children.
Teach To Lead was formally established in 2008 as a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to create a movement of leaders who will work to eliminate educational inequity in the country. Teach For India, a project of Teach To Lead, is a nationwide movement of outstanding college graduates and young professionals who will commit two-years to teach full-time in under resourced schools and who will become lifelong leaders working from within various sectors toward the pursuit of equity in education.
More can be found on their website: www.teachforindia.org.
The Citizens Foundation (TCF)
TCF is a professionally managed, non-profit organization set up in 1995 by a group of citizens concerned with the dismal state of education in Pakistan. It is now one of Pakistan's leading organizations in the field of formal education. As of 2011, TCF has established 730 purpose-built school units nationwide with an enrollment of 102,000 students. TCF encourages female enrollment and strives to maintain a 50% female ratio in most of its campuses. TCF has a full female faculty of 5,400 members. TCF also has a dedicated Teacher Training Center in Karachi and Mansehra for the ongoing training of its faculty and provides logistical support to all its teachers. About 8,000 jobs have been created in communities in which TCF operates.
The vision of TCF is to remove barriers of class and privilege and to make the citizens of Pakistan Agents of Positive Change. We believe that access to basic education is the right of each individual and not a privilege. Apart from following the regular curriculum, we focus on the character building of students to equip them with high moral values and confidence.
VidyaGyan
From the the VidyaGyan Vision Statement:
Yes, we believe that knowledge is the highest wealth possible and by offering it we hope to create world leaders for tomorrow. Leaders who are able to make apt decisions for the world and inspire others to lead.
VidyaGyan is no ordinary school. It is a social initiative conceived by Shiv Nadar, Founder - HCL, to hand pick the brightest students from hundreds of villages in Uttah Pradesh and provide a world-class education, absolutely free.
More can be found on their website: www.vidyagyan.in.
Details for the submission guidlines can be found here.