Transform Pakistan's under-resourced Girls Schools

Zindagi Trust has been making continuous efforts to transform public schools of Pakistan despite the worsening COVID-19 situation and other setbacks along the way. The mission to bring reform through policy enactments and program interventions has been successful in most aspects yet work is underway for a greater and more impactful holistic change. 

In terms of policy legislation, Zindagi Trust had been working on establishing a new annual teacher performance evaluation report designed specifically for government teachers. The new report gives particular consideration to performance evaluation metrics and factors directly linked to teaching and content mastery, as opposed to the previous generic Annual Confidential Report that was applicable to grade 9-16 civil servants across all occupations in Pakistan. This evaluation measure gained appreciation by many including Saaed Ghani - the former education minister of Sindh and marked a proud moment for Zindagi Trust when it was approved by the Sindh Government’s School Education and Literacy department on June 2nd 2021. 

Furthermore, to ensure academic excellence, the School Management team alongside the Professional Development team at Zindagi Trust conducted an Induction training session before the beginning of the new academic year in September 2021. It sharpened teachers’ pedagogical skills, learned more about classroom management, and helped develop effective teaching plans for multiple subjects, including Life Skills Based Education (LSBE). Alongside these training sessions, follow-ups have been made through internal classroom observations both formal and informal during both academic terms of the year, after which the teachers are provided with constructive feedback. The diligence and hard work of the teachers and the students is reflected in the annual results each year. Not only did all of the students from both schools clear the board exams held in 2021 with shining colours, Marium, a 9th grader from Khatoon-e-Pakistan (KPS) secured a 95%, making her the highest achiever in her entire batch.   

Soon after the academic year kicked off, Zindagi Trust’s flagship school SMB Fatima Jinnah was declared as the winner of the International School Award (ISA) 2021-2024 by the British Council for its relentless effort in instilling civic responsibility amongst the students and assuring the school curriculum is at par with international standards. SMB Fatima Jinnah’s science teacher, Ms. Erum was recognized for her efforts in integrating international learning in classrooms. 

As part of our holistic learning, we encourage volunteers and organisations to host informative and interactive sessions for our students at both our schools. A few enthusiastic students from different educational institutes in Karachi, including Bahria University, Iqra University, and Nixor College organized multiple learning sessions, ranging from topics such as sexual harassment, general hygiene, gender equality, to even financial literacy. These workshops greatly helped our young students to thoroughly understand sensitive and often taboo topics and empowered them in the process. Similarly, Santex Products, a well-established health and wellness company, hosted an awareness session on menstrual hygiene in November 2021 where students learned about the onset of menstruation and debunked some of the problematic myths associated with it. 

Vaccination drives are being conducted on both campuses to protect the students against the virulent COVID-19 and its uprising variants. Students aged 12 and above are being administered the Pfizer vaccine to minimise any further losses in learning due to the uncertain circumstances brought on by the pandemic. Our teachers, admin, and the rest of the team at Zindagi Trust are working persistently to bridge the gap and bring school life to its full potential once again. 

Links:

• The annual teacher performance evaluation report
• Informative article on the teacher performance evaluation report