MPs take part in storytelling workshop

Islamabad

As part of Children’s Literature Festival and Alif Ailaan’s newly-launched School Reading Programme, several parliamentarians and education managers participated in a storytelling workshop here on Wednesday.

The programme is aimed at ensuring that poor learning outcomes and quality of education begin to occupy increased space in the education discourse, by engaging politicians, local government officials and education managers with children studying in primary government schools through the art of storytelling.

The workshop itself was designed to facilitate the participants for visits they would be making to government schools within their constituencies to hold storytelling sessions with primary students, as well to brief them on poor learning levels in the country.

Among the elected representatives present were Deputy Mayor of Islamabad Zeeshan Naqvi, PPP Senator Farhatullah Babar, PTI Senator Samina Abid, PTI MNA Nafeesa Khattak, PTI MNA Ayesha Gulalai, AEO Urban Farida Yasmin, AEO Bara Kahu Abdul Waheed, AEO Nilore Ghulam Mustafa Qureshi, AEO Tarnol Sadia Adnan, DEO Male Rawalpindi Muhammad Akram Zia and DEO Female Rawalpindi Shahida Hashmi.

Communications specialist and trainer Rimsha Ali Shah led the workshop, engaging the participants through a friendship-themed story.

The politicians and education officials took their turns in retelling the story through their own unique understanding and technique, and shared their favourite tales from their own childhoods.

Deputy Mayor Zeeshan Naqvi, PTI Senator Samina Abid, PTI MNA Nafeesa Khattak and PTI MNA Ayesha Gulalai promised to visit a school in their constituencies next week and committed to raise the issue of improving the quality of education in the National Assembly and all other public forums.

PPP Senator Farhatullah Babar commented, “The data on learning levels has in particular shocked me. Today’s storytelling session has been a very fruitful exercise in helping us realize that quality of education is a real concern in our education system and we must take immediate action to improve it.”

As the new Deputy Mayor of Islamabad, Zeeshan Naqvi committed to visiting government schools for conducting a storytelling session with children as well as improving quality of education in the capital.