A trust school with an international setting

Sanjan Nagar school stands out by following International Baccalaureate


Ammar Sheikh October 03, 2016
Classes at the school focus on critical thinking and problem solving. PHOTO: EXPRESS

LAHORE: Trust schools for the underprivileged seldom care for a quality. But Sanjan Nagar Public Education Trust Higher Secondary School stands out and has gone a step ahead of others by implementing the International Baccalaureate (IB) education system.

While children sing, dance and apply their imagination to draw and sketch in a typical school day, what is different here is the way subjects are taught and the community involved. IB is not new to the education circles in the country, but the schools that offer the education are high-end expensive ones, often called ‘elite’ schools.

What makes the aspect even more significant is the location of the institute. It is located near Youhanabad, the neighbourhood that saw death, destruction and violent clashes after twin bomb blasts struck a church in March 2015.

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Although the locality has mostly Christians living there, the school has children from both Muslim as well as Christian families. Teachers also comprise a diverse group of people, who say they are trying to inculcate tolerance and acceptability among their students, and through them in their families.

Unique curriculum

“We are trying to teach students about religious harmony, peace and a way of co-existence,” Danial Ishaq, IB coordinator for the school, tells The Express Tribune.

“We have devised our own curriculum in line with the IB guidelines,” he adds. “Critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, innovation, collaboration, communication skills and cultural awareness are the lines on which children are taught.”

Teachers at Sanjan Nagar school say they are preparing children for the future and think IB system is the best way to teach. “It was a challenge to implement it here and also a learning experience for us as we [teachers] had to prepare ourselves [first],” recalls one of the teachers.

Implementation of the system was an uphill battle as not only were the resources limited, but the teachers also had to convince people of the community. “The school is part of the community here,” said the primary year head, Misbah Rani. “Parents are also involved. They are asked to come to the school to discuss the progress of their children with us,” she says.

Hurdles on the way

In the process of bringing about a quality change, the school administration had to make adjustments that would not have been required in any other setting.

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“Some parents from the most underprivileged backgrounds came to us, saying their children demanded chairs and tables to sit on at home as well [as there were chairs for them in school],” said another teacher, while showing the classrooms. “We had to then arrange a seating setup where in each classroom we accommodated floor mats as well as chairs and desks so that students could make a choice.”

Now the management has to struggle to obtain accreditation for the next level, from the Swiss IB education programme. In 2014, the Sanjan Nagar school got Primary Years Programme accreditation — considered to be the toughest accreditation to get — and is now working towards obtaining the Middle Years Programme accreditation from IB.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 4th, 2016.

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