By Hannah Valentine | Public Relations Officer
Dear Friend, we are very happy to be writing this year's first report for Global Giving. Through this report you will learn about the achievements of Primary Education Project throughout 2014, and about the new activities taking place in our project, this year. So read on!
64 village LEAP schools had become self supporting during 2014, and PEP has established 14 more village LEAP schools in 2015. PEP currently has 78 village LEAP schools running in five areas of Rural Sindh.
NEW SCHOOL BUILDINGS
Recently in 2014, PEP was able to construct 5 new school buildings for the sustainable schools that gave children a better environment to study. According to the PEP policy, school buildings are constructed for those schools who are able to prove their sustainability, and their commitment to education. The achievement of new school buildings has raised the villagers status among other villages, and has encouraged them to maintain their position.
The 5 village LEAP schools have been selected on the basis of the School Management Committee's (SMC) ownership, commitment and motivation for the long term sustainability of their schools.
WOMEN'S PROGRESS
Women at the other hand, have been supported through the Women's Empowerment Program (WEP) and have made a big difference in encouraging other women to join WEG groups. Through establishing new 14 WEG groups in each village, the women were able to have the awareness about girls' education, early marriage, health and hygiene, human rights and savings. This awareness helped to increase the enrollment of girls in the PEP schools, and a lot of women understood the importance of education for a girl.
TRAINING FOR RURAL TEACHERS
The teachers of our schools have been very committed to the purpose of teaching and developing the potential of children. The PEP Teacher Training (ITEP) serves as the core of our project, as we aim to build an effective network of teachers that can lead their communities to an educated future. We are very privileged to witness PEP teachers grow in confidence and in potential through PEP trainings.
DISCOVER HOW GIYAN AND HIS FAMILY WERE BENEFITED THROUGH THE PROGRAMS OF PEP
Giyan is one of the qualified teachers at PEP school. He had a tough life in his young years and he had to struggle for a quite long time to get an education. His father had passed away when he was very young, and since then he worked hard to help his family as well as for achieving an educated future. When he attended the Initial Teacher Education Programme (ITEP) in 2009, he was able to develop his potential in teaching and that gave him the confidence to teach the poor children of his village.
As Giyan’s mother worked in the cotton field, she had to face some hardships because the crop season only lasts six months and so for the rest of the year it was difficult for her to earn enough income. Giyan became worried about this as each family member has to pool their income so that they have sufficient resources for the whole family.
PEP gave the village an opportunity to start a WEG Group and Gian’s sister became a member. 30 women from their village joined the group and the members saved money regularly and used it to help each other.
Giyan realized that this would be an effective way to increase their family income. He suggested his mother take a loan to start a sewing business. It was successful, and from the profits she and her daughter paid back a loan they had taken.
Through the WEG, Giyan was able to help his family and his mother earn sufficient income and have inner satisfaction from their achievements. They have understood their rights and what it means to help one another.
By having WEG in each village, the women now have a chance to make themselves self-reliant and purposeful members for their communities.
EVENTS TAKING PLACE AT PEP
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