Education plays a crucial role in aid responses following a natural disaster or complex emergency. Understanding its social responsibility during the recent floods across Pakistan, the Sindh Education Foundation launched an Emergency Education Program (EEP) as part of its Foundation Relief Initiative (FRI).
Foundation recognizes that education during emergencies is a lifesaving strategy as well as a right that displaced adults and children are entitled to since it helps to bring some structure into their daily routines as well as helps them in dealing with traumatizing memories. The program initiated across Sindh province in early September 2010 aims at providing ‘friendly spaces’ for recreational activities as well as non-formal education for displaced children and adults across the province of Sindh. Resource manuals have been developed in Sindhi language for teachers of early years as well as adult educators; comprising educational content in areas of crises management, health and hygiene education, environmental awareness, life skills, human values and rights modules and structured recreation activities like art and drama for active learning. These manuals can serve as supplementary education materials in early emergency and can also be used for enriching the curriculum, training of trainers, teachers training or conducting lessons to meet some of the psychosocial and learning/recreational needs of emergency-affected children and adults.
In order to maximize the usage of the emergency education content, SEF initiated the process of information dissemination to facilitators/educators. Training sessions designed for teachers demonstrate various teaching methodologies such as activity based learning, discussions and role-plays, etc. to be used during the educational/recreational interventions in various IDP camps. So far trainings have been extended to 700 teachers in Benazirabad, Sukkur, Khairpur, Ghotki, Dadu, Qamber, Larkana and Shikarpur districts of Sindh province. |
