To date the Home Schools Program (HSP) has established 100 Home Schools. These schools are providing low-cost and quality educational opportunities to more than 4000 students. A tremendous achievement of these schools is that 80% of girls from 23 talukas of 12 districts of Sindh now attend school on a regular basis. These schools employ the services of 165 teachers and it is the primary responsibility of the Sindh Education Foundation and the partnering NGO to work together to provide support and training services to these teachers to improve the learning environment in the classroom. Bearing these vital objectives in mind the program team recently organized an extensive activity-based training. The training also helped teachers understand various subjects and improve their teaching techniques. This teachers training, initiated in February, was accomplished in 3 clusters of the program, Karachi, Larkana and Hyderabad.

This productive 5 day training, one that was immensely appreciated by all school supervisors and teachers, covered various topics such as:

- Belief system
- Professional development
- Child psychology: learning and behavioral patterns
- Activity-based learning
- Multi-grade teaching
- Learning material orientation

The enthusiasm that welcomed the training team during the activity helps the organization realize the value of enhancing the capacities of people who are working at grassroots levels, because eventually it is these people who directly make all the difference SEF strives for.

An in-depth monitoring activity was conducted in the schools of the Home Schools Program and their respective communities. The basic idea was to gauge the performance of the partner NGOs and supervisors, as well as the perceptions of the community members, parents and students. The results obtained from this activity would consequently help in reviewing the policies and fine-tuning the intervention strategy of the program. The study also attempted to assess information related to the students’ enrolment, attendance, their use of resource material in the classroom, teachers’ qualifications, attendance and training needs etc. Through individual sessions with teachers, during which the team discussed topics such as multiple intelligences and multi-sensory approaches, the team sought insights into the need to create a more nurturing, culturally relevant and creative learning environment in the classrooms through the use of learning materials and other teaching aids.

Amongst the wealth of insights that were gained through the initiative, it was observed that the partner schools are wholeheartedly living up to their vision of inculcating within the communities the sentiments of educating children with self-reliance and self-esteem.

The monitoring also revealed that schools have benefited greatly now that teachers have been trained to practice more activity-based learning and multi-grade teaching methods. It was also learnt that in the schools of Shahdadpur and Faridabad clusters, community members have galvanized themselves and have nominated members who are voluntarily teaching in these schools without any financial compensation. Yet more inspiring is the account of a girl, in the Thul district, who is voluntarily running a school since 1999. Here the landlord (Wadera/Zamidar) of this area supports the teacher by granting her Rs.200/-per student per year for those students who pass the annual exam from a nearby government school.

Despite the success stories, there is still a need of facilities such as additional learning material and teaching aids, especially in Sindhi; services such as teacher’s training, appointment of school supervisors and teachers, and financial support. The Foundation is undertaking efforts to meet the existing needs of the partner schools.

The Sindh Education Foundation partnered with local NGOs for the formation of new schools under the umbrella of Home Schools Program. 68 new schools were welcomed to the Home School Program bringing the total number of schools to 100. The Home Schools Program is one such initiative which provides primary education to girls in areas where even boys' schools do not exist. These schools are established with collateral support from the community, which includes the infrastructure (building, furniture etc) as well as participation in the management process. Concurrently, SEF plays the role of a facilitator, providing financial and technical support for capacity building of the school.

Prior to the establishment of schools an extensive situation analysis was conducted which identified potential villages where schools were required. Around 150 villages of district Umerkot, Mirpurkhas, Badin, Tando Muhammad Khan, Sanghar, Nawabshah. Jamshoro, Dadu, Larkana, Shahdad Kot, Jacobabad and 3 towns of Karachi i.e. North Nazimabad, Kemari & Malir were monitored. It was then decided to open 68 new schools in potential villages. A ceremony was arranged at a local hotel in Hyderabad where letters were distributed amongst representatives of partner NGO’s, to open schools in selected villages/areas. Cheques for the establishment of the schools, including the purchase of student benches, school sign board, blackboard etc. for every school were also distributed. Some of the NGOs that have partnered with the SEF for the development of the home schools include: Sachal Education Welfare Society, Community Development Foundation (CDF), Indus Development Association, Chandia Welfare Association, Women Literary Drive Organization and others.

The education system in most developing countries is increasingly being seen as providing tools to engage communities towards social reform. In this regard teachers are deemed to be the main proponents for promoting critical thinking. It is important for teachers/ educators/developers to understand the importance of teachers’ beliefs about education & their relationship with teachers’ practices.

To promote this notion, two 4-day training workshops were held in the month of March, 2005, one in Karachi and the other in Jamshoro, for the teachers of the Home Schools Program (HSP). Approximately 100 teachers & supervisors from various parts of the province including North Nazimabad, Kemari & Malir Towns of Karachi, Jamshoro, Mirpur Khas, Kot Ghulam Muhammad, Sinjhoro-Sanghar, Mehar-Dadu & Thul-Jacobabad participated in the workshop. The participants were exposed to new techniques and theories regarding teachers’ beliefs about education. They were also made to recognize basic classroom behavioral problems of children such as shyness, attention deficiency etc. Finally, they reviewed basic strategies to address such behavioral issues. In addition, the participants were facilitated to create an open, creative and activity-based learning environment in the classroom. They were also guided how to effectively teach in a multi-grade setting. Partner NGOs/individuals and teachers were encouraged to work together for teaching-learning processes and community mobilization. Mr. Mazhar-ul-Haque Siddiqui, Vice Chancellor, University of Sindh, Jamshoro inaugurated the ceremony and Mr. Mohammad Ibrahim Joyo distributed certificates amongst the participants at the end of the workshop.