Educational ties: Global classrooms connect

The City's School in Bhit Shah was among the first from Sindh to join.

KARACHI:

In 2004, a school was established in the small village of Bhit Shah by a peasant's son, who was also the first in his family to complete his postgraduate studies. Today, the school has joined ranks with 40,000 others as part of a global education network.

The project, Connecting Classrooms, not only earned The City's School an international award from the Tony Blair's Faith Foundation but also enabled its students from the small village to apply to the Kennedy-Luger Youth Exchange and Study Programme through which they can study in the United States for one year.



The man behind The City's School and also among the first to bring Connecting Classrooms to Pakistan, Wali Muhammad Danish Jatoi, was in the limelight on Friday at an event held by the British Council Pakistan to link 47 more public schools from the four districts of Sindh to its 'Connecting Classrooms' programme.

The programme, which also enabled Jatoi to pursue his dreams, offers resources for international school partnerships, professional development for teachers and the opportunity to share teaching methods across the United Kingdom and more than 50 countries in Asia, Africa, Middle East and the Americas.

"Public education must provide the bedrock from which national and individual prosperity rises together and we are delighted to work with the Sindh government to help make this happen" said Barbara Wickham, the British Council Director for Sindh and Balochistan.

Bonding over education

Jatoi told The Express Tribune that The City's School started as a sincere effort to impart quality education to the underprivileged children. He was also once among the "underprivileged" but now, with Google as his witness, he is known not only locally but internationally. "Just Google Danish Jatoi," he said confidently, dressed in a three-piece suit.

Sir Vernon Ellis, the British Council chair, was quick enough to verify Jatoi's claim with help of his tablet PC. "I admit that you have valid ground to claim this. Google just has confirmed it," he quipped to evoke laughter.

Ellis was at the event along with Sindh Education Minister Nisar Ahmed Khuhro to sign an agreement to work jointly on education development in the province.

Jatoi's journey from a local teacher in a village to a "global citizen' began in 2007 when he received a call from the British Council to prepare his passport for visiting London.

"I had earned my Master's degree in computer science while selling insurance policies to bear my expenses," he recalled. Subsequently, with opening up the school in the village, he utilised his expertise to get in touch with a number of international organisations through emails to enhance the academic programmes and teaching methodology. It was then he stumbled upon the British Council's global school partnership initiative in 2005.

Making a connection

"By 2007, I was one of the seven people from Sindh who, for the first time, were going to discuss the Connecting Classrooms project with the schools in United Kingdom, their quality assurance agency and the British Council London," he said. "This was the real beginning of transformation. I never thought to have the capacity that I have today."

On his return from the UK, the British Council piloted five clusters of Connecting Classrooms across Pakistan and nominated him as the cluster coordinator in Matiari district. The school gradually started accepting global culture and ethos as students and teachers were sharing ideas with their partner schools in Birmingham. "The day when Birmingham cluster schools visited the Bhit Shah cluster, the excitement was worth watching. They experienced living in our community and the skills people have even without proper education."

Jatoi hoped that the addition of 47 more public schools in the 60 existing schools would help teachers and students connect across the world.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 12^th, 2013.