By Zahra Ahmed | Head Of Development and Communications
It’s 7AM as Wahaj’s mother walks into his room to wake him up for school. He has already missed 2 days of school this week making an excuse of being sick. He didn’t enjoy going to school as the classroom didn’t challenge him. Questions were neither encouraged or answered and he felt the problem lay with him if he was unable to grasp a concept that was being taught in class. Wahaj was a hard worker, but he had problems with understanding Mathematics and English. His family was unable to support his learning. Wahaj had made repeated efforts to seek additional support with minimal interest from his teachers. As he lay there his mother was growing impatient with his antics. He decided to get ready before he angered her any. As he boarded the school bus, unhappy, he had no idea his life was about to change for the better. He was about to meet two new teachers working at Teach for Pakistan.
Teach For Pakistan Fellows; Abdul Ghaffar (Mathematics) and Adil (English), changed the way Wahaj and his classmates approach their academics. In class they are encouraged to ask questions and attempt work even at the risk of being wrong. The confidence in their abilities has grown and they look forward to interactions with their teachers and coming to school. Wahaj actively partakes in classroom interactions; going from shy and reserved to involved. Wahaj and his peers also look forward to small tokens of success from their teachers (water paints, chocolates, stars) and receive support when the going gets tough. Standardized tests administered to the students both before and after the Fellows’ introduction revealed that students scored approximately 10% higher in both English and Math after just two months of being taught by the fellows.
Wahaj has grown much more confident in his own abilities. He also tutors his two younger brothers in Math and English. He also teaches his father and his uncle how to read and speak English. He likes to read to them in English, practicing his own skills and imparting knowledge at the same time. Wahaj aspires to grow up to be like Abdul Ghaffar and Adil. His is one of the many hundreds of families that are directly benefiting from the presence of Fellows in public schools of Nilore, Bhara Kahu and Tarnol in Islamabad.
With the money raised for the 2017-18 recruitment campaign Teach For Pakistan successfully recruited and placed 18 bright young people as teachers in 8 public schools located in low-income areas of Islamabad. The program received over 500 applications over a three month period. The 2017-18 cohort of fellows boasts graduates from the best universities in the country, including Fellows from all sorts of academic disciplines. The cohort is also the most geographically diverse cohort to date, with fellows being chosen from small towns and large cities all across the country.
By Zahra Ahmed | Development and Communications
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