“Teaching could be so joyous and meaningful”, I had no idea at the time when I was selected for the Early Childhood Education training program spanning over a period of 22 days organized by DevCon (An Association for Rural Development) and USAID in our district, says Ms. Salma, who has been teaching for past 16 years at a Government Primary School.
She overwhelmingly feels that her personal and professional life has been changed after learning ECE.
“I was a typical teacher and used conventional teaching methods; where students are hesitant in asking different questions and most of the time my response to them remained discouraging. I was non-cooperative and at times a bit harsh while dealing with children. I did not know how to tackle them. After receiving this training I have learnt that the process of learning is more important than the product and that young children learn by interacting with their environment, with other children, and with adults which stimulates willingness to learn. I don’t push my students to learn everything by heart now as it is a detriment to child’s later development and ability to learn effectively. Children are not unintelligent rather some are creative, and doing things differently can bring promising changes in their growth and development. . I enjoy their questions now and try to interact more,” she says.
USAID through its Small Grants Program awarded a grant of $ 237,758 for a period of 27 months from December 2012 to February 2015 to Promote Early Childhood Education (ECE) in 30 schools (15 governmental and 15 private), District Badin through provision of ECE Center in each school, professional training program in ECE for 60 teachers, establishment of washroom facility in 6 schools and rehabilitation of additional 38 washrooms, and installation of hand pumps for safe drinking water at 12 locations.
Over 1,029 students (over 546 girls, 483 boys) are now experiencing unconventional quality education in an innovative, interactive, friendly and healthy environment. This will help in building their personality and character besides providing them a strong foundation of knowledge and wisdom. Moreover, successful execution of present intervention will open the doors for its replication in other private and government schools of the province.
