Community school students perform better than schools

ESED assessment found teachers were more dedicated leading to better results

PESHAWAR: Created as a stop-gap measure to accommodate students who could not make it to the government-run schools, community schools in the province seem to have performed better than hoped. Not only have they helped bridge the enrollment deficit but the students have outperformed those in regular schools.

The Elementary and Secondary Education Foundation (ESEF) had set up more than 2,200 Girls Community Schools (GCS) across Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P). Their primary purpose was to help enrol the out-of-school children (OOSC), provide them with primary education and help them transition to regular schools.

The GCS has provided education to around 121,570 students, and have enrolled an additional 48,000 OOSC.



The K-P Elementary and Secondary Education Department (ESED) has recently conducted a sample-based assessment of around 15,000 children students enrolled in grade two across the province, including 2,122 students from GCS. The assessment was administered through the Assessment and Evaluation wing of the Directorate of Curriculum and Teacher Education (DCTE) in three key subjects: Mathematics, English, and Urdu.

“These 2,213 GCS are offering primary-level education to around 66 per cent girls and 34 per cent boys across the province,” unveiled ESEF Managing Director Zulfiqar.

“The assessments of this year show that the students in GCS performed better than the students of public schools. This is primarily because of the dedicated teachers in the community schools,” he explained. “The Independent Monitoring Unit (IMU) team of the ESED monitors the schools on regular basis. Our vision is to enrol more and more children in schools and to make sure that no child is left out of school.”



The ESEF, in collaboration with private education service providers, intends to provide education facilities by opening new schools in eligible areas across K-P in a programme called the “New School Initiative” (NSI).

Through this scheme, out of school children eligible for the NSI will be enrolled in these schools. The ESEF has already identified the potential far-flung districts such as Battagram, Torghar, Kohat,  Kohistan, and Shangla for this initiative.

The provincial government has already allocated substantial budget to support these new schools - in the form of tuition fees, free textbooks and uniform for all OOSC enrolled under this scheme.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, July 23^rd, 2018.