Home school education initiative ceremony

Lahore

The closing ceremony of the Home School Education Programme was held in a hall on Bund Road.

The project has been implemented by Youth Commission for Human Rights-Center for Research and Training (YCHR-CRT) in the districts of Muzaffargarh and Lahore with the support of USAID Small Grants and Ambassador’s Fund Programme.

Highlighting the project details, YCHR Chief Executive Officer Shazia Khan said the YCHR-CRT had initiated the home school education project from March 15, 2016. This is a multi-grade learning approach and designed to address the needs of out of school children in the underdeveloped districts of Punjab, Lahore and Muzaffargarh. 

A baseline field survey conducted by the organisation in underdeveloped and marginalised areas of Muzaffargarh and Lahore highlighted alarming facts regarding the status of out-of-school children. Under the umbrella of the home school education project, YCHR has established 20 home schools; 15 in Muzaffargarh district and five in Lahore district, aimed to provide education opportunities to 600 out-of-school children of 5 to 14 years of age, at least 50 percent girls, through informal home schools and ensure continuity of their education.

Twenty potential teachers through social mobilisation campaign were identified, one for each home school. YCHR has engaged Directorate of Basic Education Community Schools (BECS), Ministry of Federal Education Professional Training to provide trainer as consultant having demonstrated relevant experience to conduct training of teachers. After an extensive training, the home school teachers with their devotion and door to door mobilisation have enrolled 1,128 students; 437 boys and 691 girls.

For mainstreaming home school students, 686 students; 265 boys and 421 girls, have been enrolled in formal schools. Keeping in mind the importance of girl’s education, the home school teachers also enrolled about 200 adolescent girls in their home schools.

For effective functioning and monitoring of home schools, 10-member school management committees have been formed for each home school. The committees are working towards a well-functioning school system. They are also monitoring academic progress of students. Education Department in Muzaffargarh and the Directorate of Basic Education and Community Schools in Lahore have supported monitoring process for effective functioning of home schools.

Punjab Assembly member Ms Saadia Sohail Rana congratulated the organisation on the initiative and said that Muzaffargarh was one of the least developed districts of Punjab, and extending a helping hand to assist the national efforts to increase literacy was commendable. She said the government would make efforts to sustain such interventions.