Join the Teach For Pakistan Movement

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.

• UPDATE__AUGUST_2018_GG.pdf (PDF)
  

"The education system of Pakistan is fragmented on the ground and millions of children are deprived of the basic need of education. My motivation to work for Teach For Pakistan is to improve the access of good quality education for all and to get hands on experience of the education sector of Pakistan. I am aspiring to apply for the Fellowship program." Muhammad Zeeshan - Campus Ambassador 2018, Lahore University of Management Sciences. Its young people like Zeeshan that Teach For Pakistan recruits to go and teach for two years in underserved schools and communities.

Thanks to your generosity the recruitment and selection campaign has been live on campuses in Islamabad and Lahore since January 2018. The campuses targeted specifically for our recruitment include Lahore University of Management Sciences, Quaid-e-Azam University, National University of Science and Technology, Bahria University, FAST, COMSATS and Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Science and Technology.

A total of 17 campus ambassadors have been working tirelessly since January 2018 to get the recruitment buzz going. They have been supported by a social media campaign, a printed material campaign and on-campus information sessions. These efforts have paid off with 800 + applications started and more than 50 completed to date. The applications were opened online from January 18, 2018 and will continue till March 15, 2018. The selection process will start from mid March 2018. Selection and matriculation is targeted for completion by May 2018.

Teach For Pakistan's vision of expanding opportunities for all children is embodied in Sardar Khan- Campus Ambassador 2018, Quaid-e-Azam University's words, "There is no employing class, no working class, no farming class. You may pigeonhole a man or a woman as a farmer or a banker. But the son of the farmer will be a doctor or a worker or even a banker, and his daughter a teacher or whatever she dreams. The son of a worker will be an employer - or maybe  the President. Teach For Pakistan is working to change mindsets by nourishing minds through education and I am proud to be a part of this cause by working as a Campus Ambassador".

Links:

• Recruitment campaign on social media