W O R K S H O P P R O C E E D I N G S June 29, 2009 Institute of Literacy & Mass Education, Allama Iqbal Open University, Islamabad Organised by PACADE & U N E S C O PACADE: 101-J, Model Town, Lahore. Ph: 042-5830148/5845402 Fax: 042-5830148 E-mail: [email protected] UNESCO: H # 17, St. # 8, Sector F-7/3 Islamabad. Ph: 051-2611170-3 Website: www.unesco.org JOY OF LEARNING BACKGROUND Normally workshops relating to EFA and in particular literacy, focus on policies, projects, programmes and how to implement them. Scholarly papers are read and impressive power point presentations made. Sometimes training of teachers too attracts notice. Seldom however attention is paid to the learners and the learning centres. The learners and how they are to be inspired involved and engaged at the learning centres escape attention. This in spite of the fact that the output, product and bottom line of all policies, planning and funding is Learners and the Quality of Learning. The idea of this workshop came from Mr. Ichiro Miyazawa who was good enough to send a note on “The Joy of Learning”. There is a definite need for alternate or different ways of doing things to make learning attractive ,interesting and realistically useful. All literacy programmes have to be functional in that learners are enabled to acquire and use the basic human skills of reading, writing and elementary calculations along with new knowledge and raised awareness to become more confident and competent and thus to be a part of the literate environment. And further to be able to participate in community programmes and activities. Some of the Significant Observations and Recommendations emerging from workshops on JOY OF LEARNING held at Lahore and Karachi: 1. Reading Material should relate to learners’ interests. 2. Lessons and ideas as far as possible should be related to previous day’s learning 3. Literacy teachers should use literacy materials that stimulate as many senses as possible in order to enhance chances of more durable learning in terms of Reading, Hearing, Seeing, Writing and Performing. 4. Addressing learners’ problems, in various ways like, divided attention, time constraints, psychological inhibitions, physical conditions, conservative environment, family difficulties, distance from centre, lack of relevance of reading contents to their lives, age factors. 5. Use of multiple instructional techniques 6. Creating a friendly atmosphere at the centres. Learners should look to teachers as guide and friends. 7. Humour helps liven up the learning process. Use of funny stories, riddles and jokes for instance. 8. Programmes should be built (a) on learners’ knowledge, skills and life experiences (b) on a participatory approach so that learners are encouraged to play an active role in their learning. 9. Teachers to get to know each learner well to be able to cater to his/her needs and difficulties. 10. Efforts made to develop literacy environment at the centre by using audio-visual aids, posters and opportunities for discussing learners’ common problems and concerns. 11. Adult learner should be encouraged to work with their children to ensure that they go to schools regularly and attend to home-work etc. 12. There should be activities within and outside the learning centres which provide useful information and enhance awareness about environment, household management, rights, religion, health and child care. 2 P r o c e e d i n g s The Inaugural Session The Workshop on How to Enhance the Learning of Learners / Joyful Learning was held on June 29, 2009 at Allama Iqbal Open University Institute of Literacy and Mass Education. It was inaugurated by Professor Dr. Mahmood-ul-Hassan Butt, Vice Chancellor AIOU. Present on the occasion were Mr. Ichiro Miyazawa, Education Specialist UNESCO, Dr. Zafar Iqbal, Director Institute of Literacy & Mass Education, Mr. Sajjad Haider, Project Wing, Federal Ministry of Education, Mr. Iqbal-ur-Rehman, Director Education NCHD, Dr. Ijaz Ahmad, Mr. Ahsan Baseer, Ms Razia Abbas, Ms Mahnaz Ansar Khan, Country Director, Dhaka Asania Mission Pakistan, Mr. Jawad Ali Shah, EEF, representatives of leading NGOs, teachers, students of different Universities, Mr. Inayatullah, President PACADE and Ms. Sophia Malik coordinator of the Workshop. A list of participants is at Appendix B. Chairman PACADE’s Welcome Statement Mr. Inayatullah welcomed Vice Chancellor Professor Dr. Mahmood-ul-Hassan Butt and thanked him for finding time to inaugurate the workshop. He also welcomed Mr. Ichiro Miyazawa, Dr. Zafar Iqbal, Mr. Sajjad Haider, Mr. Iqbal-ur-Rehman, Dr. Ijaz Ahmad, Mr. Ahsan Baseer, Ms Razia Abbas, Ms Mahnaz Ansar Khan, Mr. Jawad Ali Shah, representatives of leading NGOs, teachers, students of different Universities. He thanked UNESCO and the Director Dr. Zafar Iqbal for helping organize the workshop at the Institute of Literacy & Mass Educational, Allama Iqbal Open University, Islamabad. He spelt out the purpose of the workshop on the theme of Joy of Learning and this workshop, he said was focused on the learners and teachers and how programmes could be built on learners’ knowledge, skills and life experiences. And how a participatory approach followed so that both teachers and learners benefit from each others’ background and experiences. Mr. Ichiro Miyazawa, Education Specialist UNESCO Mr. Miyazawa expressed his happiness at the holding of the workshop. He was of the view that our learning can become learning can be much more intensive, deeper, wider and more sustainable when we are interested. It seems to me that this could be a universal rule which we all know from our life experiences. Good facilitators help you learn and improve skills and attitudes are as important as knowledge. A good facilitator is ready to learn together as one of learners rather than being an authoritarian who pretends to know everything. If the facilitator does not enjoy its facilitation, the quality learning can not be expected. I would like to stress this out from my experience as a teacher. 3 He emphasized the importance of mutual respect, the role of the teachers as one who inspires and makes learning an enjoyable experience. Dr. Zafar Iqbal, Director ILME, Allama Iqbal Open University, Islamabad Dr. Zafar Iqbal appreciated the initiative taken by PACADE to hold the workshop on an important subject. He welcomed the participants on behalf of Allama Iqbal Open University Institute of Literacy and Mass Education. Literacy leads to learning and empowers learners. The progress of a country largely depends on the literate population. Therefore, there is an urgent need for Pakistan to increase a number of literate people. He was happy that a workshop was being held on a theme that generally was ignored in literacy centres. We need new ways of teaching and learning in literacy centres, he said. He regretted that teachers performed their functions in a routine manner and did little to rouse interest in learning amongst students or inspire them to take their studies joyfully. Ms Mehnaz Ansar Khan, Country Director Dhaka Asania Mission Islamabad Firstly, she thanked PACADE which provided an opportunity for her to attend an important workshop. She introduced her organisation’s activities and shared some experiences faced in running adult female literacy centres. Besides the need for motivated teachers, it is important that the reading material is related to the life of the learners. Professor Dr. Mahmood-ul-Hassan Butt, VC – Allama Iqbal Open University, Islamabad The Vice Chancellor appreciated PACADE –UNESCO initiative in organizing the workshop on an important subject and hoped that it would come up with useful ideas and suggestion. He referred to the valuable work done by the AIOU Institute of Literacy and Mass Education. He was unhappy at the low literacy rate of the country and hoped that Government would make a sustained efforts to achieve the national targets. He appreciated the contributions made by Mr. Inayatullah for the promotion of literacy in Pakistan. 4 WORKING SESSION 1 5 This session was co-chaired by Dr. Zafar Iqbal and Mr. Inayatullah A number of presentations were made: Presentation by Mr. Ijaz Ahmad Mr Ijaz Ahmad narrated all the important factors that must be taken into consideration while deciding which innovative approaches should be used to enhance the learning of learners. The following factors should remain in focus before undertaking a program, during a program and after the program:  Who are our illiterates? Generally most of them are females.  They are not free. What do they do? They are busy with work and do not have the time for classes. The strategy used must ensure that the program is joyful and its contents inspire the learners to come to the center. The reading material should be relevant to the learners’ interests. The material should be delivered effectively. Therefore the choice of trainer and how training includes use of learning aids is important. The strategy used must also address how to retain the learners’ interest once (s)he completes his/her classes. The material used and the trainer must be a source of counseling for the learners who must be guided on how to utilize their learning experience in their practical life. Presentation by Mr. Jawad Ali Shah Mr. Jawad Ali Shah shared his experiences of literacy centers in NWFP. He covered various elements of the centers: Diverse Backgrounds of Learners He explained the general age range of learners varies from 9 to 39 but older people also allowed as well. The latter have rich backgrounds comprising of valuable experiences related to their lives, land, shops. Hence the center has learners from diverse circumstances and personal histories. Often the instructor is younger and not qualified. Handlings adults is thus is more difficult as compared to handling children. Learners’ Convenience Most of the learners are autonomous and self-directed. The timings of classes must be aligned with learners’ convenience. There must be flexibility. Learners have problems such as sudden deaths. Classes sometimes have to be rescheduled. Teacher’s Choice of Content Learners must be free to direct themselves. Unlike children, it is not easy to satisfy them. The learners should be allowed to work on topics of their interest. For instance, if someone wants to or is running a shop, he must be provided with material that covers better ways to run a shop. 6 The conservative and religious nature of society (with special reference to NWFP) often has to be accommodated. Twenty five percent of EEF’s centers are Mosque Literacy Centers. It is easy to establish classes in mosques but the “Talib-Kari” culture is difficult to manage. Material used is focused on simple topics such as calculations, basic, social and functional literacy with supplementary content on first aid, health and Clean Drinking Water. Because many elders exhibit resistance towards learning from younger teachers, topics such as “tahara” or translation of Quran would appeal to them and help overcome the barrier mentioned. Mr. Shah concluded his presentation with an emphasis on the need for monitoring of centers. The centers must be visited regularly, punctuality must be maintained and teacher’s attendance must be closely monitored. Presentation by Mr. Iqbal-ur-Rehman Mr. Iqbal-ur-Rehman made a comprehensive power point presentation covering important topics including but not limited to issues in social mobilization, reasons for high drop out rates and quality issues. Possible solutions identified included the making of a literacy calendar that accommodated special local activities such as harvesting. He also highlighted the need for a team consisting of a language expert, literacy professional, adult psychologist and reviewer at the planning stage and also for periodical review. Mr. Iqbal-ur-Rehman pointed out two more important needs:  A good research and development program is required. It should encourage us to listen to the learners.  A family literacy approach must be incorporated when planning a program. It should involve one literate family member teaching other family members. Mr. Iqbal-ur-Rehman highlighted some points as to how a literacy centre could be converted into a learning centre as follows:  Extra Curricular Activities should be organised in the Literacy Centers.  General discussions on subjects of interest to the learners.  Develop a habit of newspaper reading.  Use of locally developed materials.  It is essential that teacher has an understanding of the Learners.  Promotion of Learners Centered Activity Based Learning Approach.  Linking Literacy with Post Literacy and Continuing Education.  Comprehensive teachers training program.  Monitoring System must support Learners Friendly Literacy Centers. Presentation by Professor Razia Abbas Professor Razia Abbas emphasized the importance of prioritizing literacy programs for females. She identified the need for innovative techniques for teaching math. She felt currently math teaching skills were extremely poor and required improvement. Learners and 7 even students in schools don’t consider it an interesting subject. They feel bored in the class. There is no attraction for teachers to perform better. There is need to improve and discus the new methods to teach mathematics. Presentation by Mr. Bilal Aziz Mr. Bilal Aziz chose to spend his time on emphasizing the importance of rural mapping. Because rural mapping involves community members discovering their own needs and identities through an exploratory process of their backgrounds, histories, geographical areas, he explained it has a noticeable impact on the social mobilization results and community involvement. This in turn has positive effects on the outcomes of the programs. The environment for imparting literacy matters. Literacy managers and teachers can benefit from such information. Presentation by Mr. Asaf Nawaz Phd. Student Mr. Asaf Nawaz felt that the duration of teachers’ training and the literacy programmes was too short. He pointed out to the need for paying attention to learners’ priorities. Most learners demand income generation programmes or health related programmes. He also felt teachers should encourage registering deserving learners and integrate their needs. Otherwise we will be faced with the usual scenario of fake registrations in which learners have been forced to register in the programmes. He also identified the need for establishing libraries with material from resourceful institutions such as Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU), National Agriculture Resource Council (NARC) and Dawwah Academy. He made some points from his research study in the field of Literacy and NFE:  Majority of the teachers did not treat the learners respectfully. They neither encouraged the learners nor they motivated them for learning.  Fake registration of the learners was common practice in adult literacy and the main reason was compulsion from the organization to register not less than 25 learners.  Majority of the teachers did not pay individual attention to the learners due to limited space available in literacy centres and irregularity of the learners in arriving at the centres.  Most of the teachers did not spend specified time in the centres due to early departure of the learners.  Mostly teachers did not check the class work of the learners properly and ask other fellows learners to check work of one another. The learners supported their relatives and friends in the class.  The duration of teachers training was insufficient to make the teachers professionally strong and anagogical aspects were missing.  To most of the learners, the timing of the literacy class was not appropriate. Presentation by Ms Nighat Farooq In her presentation she made the following major points were given below: 8 • Basic Functional Education Programmes (BFEP) was started in 1985. Initially it was a project named as Functional Education Project for Rural Areas (FEPRA) funded by ODA. It was research project. • In this approach there was no face to face instruction by trained teachers. • The courses were presented to groups of 15-25 learners in their villages using simple, low cost media. • Within each learning group, one of its members acted as group leader, whose tasks included convening study meetings and presenting course materials. • To develop a workable strategy for the education of illiterate/semi literate of rural masses. • After three years, an innovative strategy was developed to pass on information through non-broadcast media. • The programme was designed to help the rural masses to learn and put into practice things which will be of functional use in their everyday life for the improvement of their economic condition, general health, social conditions and standard of living. • The aim was to implement a strategy appropriate to rural areas which can be replicated and extended to different main cultural regions as well as educationally deprived areas. • To collaborate with Government and non-Government agencies concerned with rural development and act as a resource centre for other organizations. 9 Group Recommendations & Observations 10