Transcript Project Overview

Rethinking the ‘Mainstream’:
Liberating Education for Livelihoods
Baela Raza Jamil : Education Specialist
Sudhaar ITA Alliance
&
Save the Children UK
UKFIET International Conference
Learning & Livelihoods
September 15, 2005
University of Oxford, UK
1
Presentation Outline
Conceptualizing Mainstream for
learning and livelihoods
 Profiling Pakistan
 Deconstructing the Mainstream
 Implementation of re-conceptualized
mainstream in a child labor project
 Implications for EFA /MDGs Policies
and Strategies

2
Conceptualizing Mainstream for
learning and livelihoods

Education and learning classically conceived as a lifelong nondiscriminatory right & entitlement, for human security & spirituality.

Education significant explanation for poverty: income & capabilities

Framework of delivery severely divisive, conceptually & operationally

Non-formal and in-formal education sub-altern categories. Formal has
grand images & assumptions of mainstream education

Huge challenge of EFA and MDGs in South Asia 46 Mill out of school
children 60 % girls. Public sector quality v. poor. High drop outs, push
outs and un-enrolled; mushrooming un-regulated private sector.

High levels of poverty 30-45 % and fragile livelihoods

Interpretation of ‘mainstream’ minimalist, a bridge from NFE to
Formal
3
Profiling Pakistan – Challenges

Population : 152 mill ( PGR : 1.9%);

Federation: 4 provinces 108 district govts./Governance service delivery challenge

Population below 15 years of age : 43.4%

Poverty : 32.1% : 45 million poor - PRSP (2003)

IMR

Literacy rate : 52%. Female literacy 29 %

Gross Enrolment Rate (GER) 89%

Full time child labor : 3.3 million (1996 survey ) 75% boys (ILO 246 mill. global)

Under Devolution Education & Literacy separate functions
: 91 per 1,000 live births(1998)
Rural Population : 67.5 %
U5MR : 120 per 1000
Net Enrol. Rate : 56% to 66%
4
Profiling Pakistan :
Positive Gains

Growth rate : 8.4% and projected to remain so for next 5 years

Per Capita US$ 736 ( top 50% income; bottom 20%, 5%)

Debt servicing reduced from 40 to 30%

Social sector allocations increasing since 2001-02

GDP Allocation to Education increased from 1.6% to 2.9%;

Education Sector Reforms in place with sector wide focus

Private sector education provision 37 to 40% & incentive based

Women’s political representation one of the highest globally: 33%
Local government & 17% National level

Active settlement, peace & healing process : Afghanistan, India,
Bangladesh
5
Deconstructing the Mainstream
Mainstream – Major Interpretations

Bridge from NFE to Formal

Special Ed: Integration ; inclusion

Gender : systemic integration of gender policy,
planning, budgeting, audit and implementation
within all sectors

Social Policy : Equality : integration of equal
opportunities principles.. and practices into
Government & public bodies..
– Entails rethinking mainstream provision to accommodate
gender, race, disability and other dimensions of
discrimination and disadvantage, including class,
sexuality and religion."
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H( Scottish Parliament Equal Opportunities Committee 2002)
Deconstructing the Mainstream

Linguistic Assumptions
- Mainstream : healthy, flowing, standards
- Non-Formal : away from ‘form’ or ‘ghair rasm’ (not conforming to
custom)

NFE Practices
– Negative
- Non-Formal and Literacy budgets 3-5% in South Asia
- Marginalized in Public policy : NGO-IZATION, low cost primary
education option,(teachers salary 50% & less than govt. ) a
learning ghetto for disadvantaged
– Positive
- Non-Formal Education: A space for broad spectrum
innovations. Community participation, challenging formal
- NFE upgrading itself as a non-elite non-state response to poor
formal state schooling & from primary to middle levels
7
Basic Learning Needs in
Education For All Jomtien /Dakar

Jomtien (1990) : Basic Learning Needs comprise both essential
learning tools (such as literacy, oral expression, numeracy, and
problem solving) and the basic learning content (such as
knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes) required by human
beings to be able to survive, to develop their full capacities, to
live and work in dignity, to participate fully in development, to
improve the quality of their lives, to make informed decisions,
and to continue learning. Countries and cultures (specific), &
inevitably, change with the passage of time…

Jomtien compromise : Article 5: ‘access to primary schooling’.
‘ The main delivery system for the basic education of children
outside the family is primary schooling’.

Dakar (2000): Adopted a rights based transformative approach.
Basic learning needs for All is an education that includes
learning to know, to do, to live together and to be.. (Delors 1996)
to improve .. lives and transform .. societies
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Transformative and Redistributive
role of Education and Learning
An overall shift in focus from education to learning and from lifelong
education to lifelong learning. LLL is life long and life wide

Education and Learning : Sen and Dreze 1995

Intrinsic importance: [a] valuable achievement[...] for a person’s effective
freedom.

Instrumental personal roles: capabilities and for economic opportunities;
adding to a person’s freedom

Instrumental social roles: facilitate public discussion of social needs and
encourage informed collective demands

Instrumental process roles: reduce child labour...brings young people
together broadens their horizons,

Empowerment (transformative) & distributive roles: increases ability to
resist oppression, to organise politically, and to get a fairer deal within,
family, society workplace to reduce gender-based inequalities.
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Addressing Child Labor through Quality
Education for All
N.W.F.P.
Disputed Territory
JAMMU & KASHMIR
Sheikhupura
Kasur
BALUCHISTAN
SINDH
Implemented in Punjab Province Pakistan
Grantee: Save the Children UK, Pakistan
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Implementing Re-conceptualized Mainstream
Through ACLQEFA - US DoL & SCF UK
Education Initiative with
Two Pronged Concurrent Approach in Areas with High Child Labor
For Expanded Household Choices (4-14 years)
Literacy /
Skills
Establishing
Non-Formal
Options
Improving
Formal
Education
Strengthening District Education Planning & Coordination
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Goal
Reduce child labor and promote education
through
Increased
local and national level commitment
Strengthened
education system in two districts
Strengthened
district level institutions and policies
Sustainable
resource mobilization
12
Access to education and vocational
skills for working children



Non Formal Education-260 NFE Centers
–
Working Children Enrolled
–
Non Working Enrolled
968
•
Total Enrollment
9087
•
Mainstreamed
2122
Literacy-98 Literacy Centers
–
Working children enrolled
2140
–
Completed Literacy
1200
–
Linked with Voc Trg
639
Major Child Labour Areas
–

8119
Agriculture, Carpet, Tailoring/Embroidery, Daily Wage Labor, Cottage
Industry, Restaurant/Domestic workers, Brick Kilns, Workshops
Govt. Schools for School Support 239
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Interventions & Approaches: Formal Govt. Schools & NFE Centres
Formal
NFEs
Curriculum
Govt. prescribed Urdu Medium
Science Kit
Govt. & Urdu Supplementary
Primary kit
Assessment
& Recognition
Six monthly/ annual
Scholarship exams G. 5
Quarterly monitoring as per
project monitoring plan
Six monthly exams
Quarterly monitoring
MoU Dept of Ed to conduct
assessment & certification
HRD Training
Head Teachers 6 days
Teachers
10 days
School Councils 2 days
Teachers 20 days
Remedial & follow up support
QEFA Groups 2 days
School Enrichment
Education Fund
Summer Schools, Health, Reading,
Hobby IT Clubs : Child Friendly
At Risk Children US $ 20 annually
Health, Hobby & IT clubs : Child
Friendly Schools
Mainstreamed US $ 20 annually
Infrastructure
Furniture
Grants for infrastructure & furniture/
electricity w/community sharing22 %
Furniture, utilities, materials
Community donating land/labor
School Based
Planning
SDPs prepared for all schools in
two districts 4400
No SDPs for NFE
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SEQUENCE OF MAJOR STEPS FOR MAINSTREAMING

Identify Government Schools in target areas of child labor prevalence

 Document admission criteria in govt. schools

 Identify NFE children to be mainstreamed : shortlisting children with 4060% marks to be mainstreamed preferably in groups

 Develop cost sharing package for mainstreaming with parents/community

 Organize individual motivation meetings with parents and QEFA groups

 Finalize mainstreaming package with each family individually.
Costs of books, stationery, school bags to be covered and also in some cases
uniforms through the Education Fund.


Implement mainstreaming with support of government school teachers
motivating them to be supportive, child friendly and caring

 Develop and implement follow-up strategies to sustain & track
mainstreamed children
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Mainstreamed Children based in
Community and Govt. Schools NFEs
853
1269
Instead of expected 275 students, 2122 were mainstreamed: 7+ times
60% from government and 40% from community NFEs
Children of NFE in government schools far more dispersed across
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Grades 1-6 than those from NFE in community schools
Monitoring Learning Competencies in
Formal & NFE Schools
Period 4 (April-June 2005)
Baseline
Kasur
Sheikpura
Total
Plann
ed
Math (F)
83.15
73.68
79.60
78
58
Urdu (F)
77.70
54.95
67.95
71
51
Eng (F)
68.50
38.88
56.66
84
64
Math(NF)
35.79
31.93
33.86
49
21
Urdu(NF)
58.74
53.51
56.13
59
29
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F = Formal ; NF = Non-Formal
Monitoring Learning Environment & Active
Teaching in Formal & NFE Schools/Centres
Period 4 (April –June 2005)
Kasur
Baseline
Sheikhupura Total
Plann
ed
Classroom
53.33
Environment(F)
58.64
55.68
63
43
Active
Teaching(F)
54.15
57.41
55.75
77.00
57
Classroom
70.31
Environment(N
F)
71.68
70.98
81
51
Active
71.52
Teaching(NF)
72.09
71.80
92
62
F = Formal ; NF = Non-Formal 18
Monitoring, Community
Participation and District Planning



Learning Assessment & baselines of NFE and Formal are strictly
maintained with actual results against planned targets. Formal
schools have higher baselines and higher learning levels to NFEs.
Classroom environment and interaction records are part of
monitoring for both Formal and NFEs. Latter perform better
Sharing best practice is encouraged

Community participation through: i) School Councils,
ii)
Quality EFA groups and iii) Citizen Community Boards (CCBs) as
legal development bodies
 To date out of 80 planned CCBs 40 have been registered and
trained for accessing district development funds

Three year rolling District Education Plans (DEPs) developed for
comprehensive education planning.
 DEPs being scaled up for the entire province aligned to provincial
and district planning and budgeting cylces
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Lessons Learnt …..

A child labor project became an opportunity for implementing
partners, district & provincial govts. to explore gains/ value added
from an ‘open holistic’ approach across formal, non-formal and
literacy programs, aided by positive policy climate coinciding with
launch of a province wide sector reform program for EFA

Schools are optimized as community learning centres. The
differences in planning, content, approach and delivery are minor
for divisive hierarchies.

Practice of iterative mainstreaming established for NFE.

The financial, human and learning gains more than originally
conceived.. resources leveraged through a diversified, systemic &
unified approach to education & learning.

Not only have the targets been met and exceeded but where there
were shortfalls in learning outcomes and environments,
possibilities of making up by sharing and learning across formal
and non-formal practices are actively pursued.

Reinforcement of merit by communities, departments of education
& NFE of different delivery systems, complementing life long 20
learning, for rights, empowerment, choices & well being.
Implications for EFA/MDGs
Policies and StrategiesExpanding household choices
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION & LITERACY
Shift : From Provider to Financier and Facilitator of a Public Good
Scope = M A I N S T R E A M FRAMEWORK
Life Long Learning Options for Households
W
O
R
K
P
L
A
C
E
Education
ECE/Pri/Mid/Hi/College/
Univ.(state and non-state)
NFE
ECE/Prim/Middle
Literacy /
Skills/Technical
Access to Credit
Gender sensitive and Inclusive
Public ………………& Private Options
Linkages w/
Technical
Education /
Safety Nets
&
Community
Development
Depts.
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Key Policy Recommendations
1. Bring all education planning under one policy umbrella with multiple
education, learning and skills windows (from ECD to tertiary) state’s
responsibility of education as a public good. Two qualifiers:
– a) purging current divisions which consistently fragment and weaken
education provision is a critical pre-condition, and
– b) design standards of learning which are accessible to all providers and
learners for accountability/self-regulation.
2. Enhanced financing and resources for education across the spectrum with
fungible and flexible budget lines with state as a financier, facilitator to
education provision through partnerships.
3. Expel the notion of non-formal to replace it with life long learning or basic
education (inclusive of the current NFE & literacy pre-vocational education).
4. Technical/vocational skills education to have a focused planning and
implementation window
5. Set up separate financing windows for school education and post secondary
/tertiary education with internally fungible systems, available to state and
non-state providers for optimized outreach.
6. Provide maximum support to disadvantaged groups through a diversity of
approaches and partnerships for substantive distributive and transformative
equity.

‘Mainstreaming’ an
overarching policy framework for education & learning: an inclusive22
holistic response to life long learning needs for sustainable development & livelihoods
Thank You !
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
Annexes
– Optional support materials
24
Quality Education Measures &
Assessment


Measures
–
–
–
–
Teacher Training and Follow up support
Remedial Program in NFE centers
Provision of Teaching Kits
School Enrichment Program
–
Improvement of Class room environment
Project assesses quality education in selected NFE,
Literacy and formal government schools thru:
–
Students Mastery
–
–
–
Teachers Mastery
Classroom environment
Interactive teaching
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Facilitate District Government
Departments

Education Department
–
Facilitated in developing District Education Plan
–
Facilitated in preparing 4100+ School Development Plans
–
Facilitated in identifying schools for provision of missing
facilities under PESRP
–
Initiated training in IT & Planning for 5 Markaz
–
Developed software and supported in data entry &
reporting for Recruiting Educators in SKP
–
Developed Primary Examination System Software in SKP
–
Developed software on school monitoring and jointly
monitored 50 schools with Education Department in SKP
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Provincial Level

Dept. of Education
–
Secretary/Special Secretary Schools and Additional Sec. Planning
for policy and planning linkages ; software sharing and linkage
between formal and non-formal education for mainstreaming
–
DPI – Elementary Education
•
Institutional strengthening thru Planning /ICT support
•
Collaborative Work on School Councils;
•
Social Mobilization: World Teachers Day, Corporal Punishment
–
University of Education
•
PEAS/ Assessment System Peer Review
•
Sharing of all in-service training materials
–
Directorate of Staff Development
•
Sharing of all in-service training materials
•
District Education Planning in additional districts
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Generate local and external resources
for education

Contribution by Community Groups for NFE/Literacy
Centers

Contribution by three Community Groups in form of land
for constructing NFE centers

Contribution by Schools Councils and community
members for small infrastructure in government schools

Sponsorship of 16 government schools by local
Philanthropists, PCP and expatriate Pakistanis
Total contribution >Rs 3.0m

Scholarship linkages to 100 Government School
students thru Dist Zakat Committee
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Sustainability Options

Community Groups converted into CCBs are able to
obtain government funds for continuing education of
working children

Construction of NFE Centers with Community and
project support to continue education of working
children

Conversion of NFE centers to low cost private schools
managed by teachers

Working children’s access to NFE centers established
by Literacy Department

Sponsorships of schools thru PPP

Linkages with Zakat and Bait ul Maal
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Areas of Concerns

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
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Raising Quality of Education
Rethinking NFE System
Increasing Local Ownership
Improvement and institutionalization of District Education Plan
Relevant training of Education & Literacy Departments
Formal Training of Community Groups and School Councils
Linkages of children with viable vocational training programs
Continued education of mainstreamed children
Sustaining child-friendly approaches: changing practices such
as corporal punishment
Access of working children to Literacy Dept NFEs
Sustaining project impact
30
Our Partners


District Governments
Departments of Education, Literacy & Community Development
University Colleges of Education
District Zakat Councils
TEVTA, Sanat Zar
Elected representatives
ILO, UNICEF
Khoj, NCHD, Ali Institute of Education, PCP
Global Campaign for Education Partners
SoS, KEWC

Tannery Association Dingarrh

Bait ul Maal
Local Partners

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