What was the educational situation for the children in these communities before the programme began?
Before the SLD programme began, many of the children in the Parkari, Kachhi, Thradari and Dhatki communities had no access to education. Some lived in remote areas where there were no government schools. In some areas, people lived on land belonging to rich landowners who did not allow the ethnic minority children to attend school. Many people did not understand the importance of education and health and were not aware that they had basic human rights. If problems arose, people often did not realize that they could work through the problems together. When project leaders started bringing awareness about MT literacy and education to people in their language communities, they also presented information about community health. They encouraged people to work together and advocate for basic human rights. Slowly the situation changed and as people became interested in education they also began to realize that they could work together to improve their communities.
What are the programme goals?
All the programmes share the same goals. These are to provide good primary education for children, to improve community sanitation and health and to bring the communities together to advocate for human rights.
Which agencies or organizations support the programme?
The Canadian International Development Agency( CIDA) provided funding to PCDP to open five MTB MLE schools. CIDA also provided funding to KCDA for their programme.
Since 2007, Wycliffe Norway, in cooperation with Norway Agency for Development Cooperation( NORAD), has provided funding for PCDP and KCDA to open schools and expand their adult literacy and other development work.
Since 2015, The Seed Company has provided funding for TCDO and DCDP as well as two new literacy projects sponsored by the Marwari Community Development Organization( MCDO) in Sindh and Punjab.
SIL International literacy specialists and consultants continue to provide technical support in language development, MT materials development and teacher training.
Does the programme have policy support?
The government of Pakistan does not have a specific policy that supports MTB MLE. However, there is a relationship between Sindh provincial government officials and some SLD schools, teachers and supervisors. Because of these relationships some SLD schools have been registered with the provincial government and school supervisors have the authority to issue government exams. Some SLD schools have not been registered. Students in these schools are registered
Booklet for Case Studies
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