Implementing Partner: Khoj Society for People's Education
Country: Pakistan
Date: 1999-2003
Donors: The AB Charitable Trust, Reed-Elsevier Foundation, The Glendower School, Isle of Man Overseas Aid, Parthenon Trust.

Initially focusing on literacy programmes for women, Khoj have been working in Ghaziabad, near Lahore, since 1995. Through dialogue with women in their literacy programmes, and a wider understanding of the community's social and economic problems, it became clear that there was also a pressing need for quality educational services for children.

Khoj and LfL developed the Alternative Elementary Education Project (AEEP) specifically to meet the needs of children living in the Ghaziabad slums. Children had limited or no access to formal or informal schooling for a number of reasons - cultural restraints, the need to earn money, the lack of schools, and time to attend classes.

The AEEP provided lessons that were relevant and responsive to the problems and issues arising in everyday life, especially in low-income households. Khoj philosophy sees children as active participants in their learning process rather than passive recipients of information. An alternative curriculum based on the national curriculum was designed using a child-focused, reflective approach including health, nutrition, civic education, Urdu literature, problem solving, organic farming and computer technology. This highly successful methodology was subsequently used to train teachers in LfLs schools across the North West Frontier Province.

Beneficiaries

Children educated - 4,500
Teachers trained - 101
Mothers attending women's groups - 609
Total - 5,210

Testimonials

Rashida: "I am 22 years old. Until I joined the Khoj school I was illiterate. I would spend all my time at home doing housework and day-dreaming. Now I teach 41 primary school students. In only 3 years my whole life has changed. I have learnt so much about the world and about issues that I have to tackle in my daily life. First, I didn't even know how to spell my own name. My family was against me learning. They thought it was useless for a girl to have an education. They told me I would never be able to make anything of myself, but now I am not only a teacher, but working in a neighbouring village. It is beyond what I had ever even hoped to dream about. The girls in this village were never allowed to step out of their homes alone. We have always been told that we are useless but now we all have so much confidence. Even though I have a job teaching primary level children, I want to improve myself. I have applied to do my matriculation from the Allama Iqbal Open University. When I finish that, I want to learn how to operate a computer."