Qandeel

From the darkness of ignorance to the light of Education

Handbook of Qandeel School System

For

Managing, Monitoring and Evaluation

A Project of

Theosophical Order of Service

Contents

QANDEEL HOME SCHOOL PROGRAM

INTRODUCTION

Qandeel Home School Project is a unique educational undertaking of TOS Pakistan. The teachers selected are those who are willing to offer one room each in their homes. They have at least done high school diploma and higher qualifications. They agree to teach 25 to 30 children of ages 3 to 9 years. The teacher is one person taking care of multi grade teaching. She is trained by the TOS to manage all the administrative needs of the school. She also allows the children to explore and express their full potential. The children learn basic educational tools of reading, writing, arithmetic and social skills of compassion, cooperation, generosity, humility, confidence, foresight and leadership.

Once the children finish grade 1, they are admitted in a nearby mainstream school for their further education till they have reached to the secondary school certification level even beyond. The expenses of their mainstream education such as admission fees, monthly fees, books, stationery, uniform etc. are supported  from the funds of Education Sponsorship Program of TOS.

The project was conceived in 1997 from a need to impart literacy to children, particularly female, who for some or the other reasons, have remained outside the orbit of formal education. The percentage of out of school children in Pakistan is very high. According to one conservative estimate about 40 percent of girls and 30 percent of boys at primary age level are not attending schools. Overall, Pakistan has the second highest rate of out-of-school children in the world. It is painful to observe that these children if not provided access to knowledge, are consigned to illiteracy and ignorance for life. It was this awareness that brought setting up a chain of ‘Alternate Path Education Centers’ or Non-formal Education centers called Qandeel Home Schools by TOS Pakistan. The schools are located in economically depressed areas of Karachi. These are known as ‘Katchi Abadis’ meaning ‘shanty settlements’ It manages now a set of 15 schools in different economically disadvantaged populations of Karachi. Country wise no of Qandeel Schools supported are as follows:

Funding

The schools are funded by the generous donations of their sponsors. Each sponsor supports a school of 25 to 30 children. These children could be venerable to the designs of extremist and bad elements of society. The sponsors help to bring light of education to this group of children who would otherwise never had a chance of being a knowledgeable, productive and responsible citizen of their community.  The cost of supporting a group of children per year is about US $ 1500 only.

Community mobilization and  participation

Qandeel Home School system is a community based project. The schools are located closer the places where the children live. Local community mobilization, participation and involvement are important ingredients to ensure quality and sustainability. The community plays an important part in designing, implementing and monitoring the program, ensuring ownership.

1. There are presently 15 home literacy centers known as Qandeel Home Schools, which means “Candle Light of Literacy” functioning mostly in Orangi which is one of the main marginalized areas of Karachi. 327 children are enrolled in the network of Qandeel Schools.

2. The methodology of Qandeel School is locating a young lady in the area. Her education should be at least  with some teaching experience, who can provide a room within her humble home, where approximately 25 to 30 out of schools girls and boys can be given basic education for three hours, five days a week.
3. The purpose is to motivate and encourage parents who are not aware of the advantage of education and normally not willing to send their children specially girls to schools, due to cultural reasons or economic problems.
4. Through the personal efforts of the teachers, parents feel confident to send their children to a school in their vicinity. Here the teacher nurtures the children in a homely environment and prepares them to class one level.
5. These children are then provided guidance and financial assistance through Education Sponsorship Program to join mainstream schools till they finish their Secondary Education Certification Exams.
6. Funds for their continuing education are provided through the Education Sponsorship Program.

All Qandeel Schools are regularly inspected by our Education Officer and Education Coordinator to ensure the children are receiving proper and quality education.

List of Qandeel schools with locations and sponsors is attached as Annexure 01.

Performance of Home Schools in Karachi

In her Dissertation ‘AN EVALUATION STUDY OF THE HOME SCHOOLS MOVEMENT’, Shama Aziz states ‘A summative evaluation of the achievements of the home school children in Urdu and mathematics showed that the home school children surpassed their government school counterparts in achievement of both the subjects.

The comparative statistics for survey were collected from home school teachers, home school students, mothers of home school students, home school leavers, community leaders and educators, and class II students of both of home schools and government schools. 

Community mobilization and participation

Qandeel Home School system is a community based project. The schools are located closer the places where the children live. Local community mobilization, participation and involvement are important ingredients to ensure quality and sustainability. The community plays an important part in designing, implementing and monitoring the program, ensuring ownership.

The Teachers at Qandeel Schools

The teachers are central to the schools. All teachers are female. The teachers selected offer one room each in their homes. They have Intermediate and higher qualifications. They agree to teach 25 to 30 children of ages 3 to 9 years till the children have acquired enough literacy in Urdu, English, Mathematics and science to pass class 1 examination.

Education beyond Qandeel in Mainstream Schools

The teacher is one person taking care of multigame teaching and of all the administrative needs of the school. She also allows the children to explore and express their full potential. The children learn basic educational tools of reading, writhing, arithmetic and social skills of compassion, cooperation, generosity, humility, confidence, foresight and leadership.  

Once the children graduate class 1, they are admitted in a nearby mainstream school to continue their education further to Secondary School Level.. TOS endeavors to select schools for these children known for providing reasonable quality education. These children in mainstream schools are funded for all their expenses of tuition, books, uniform etc

by TOS Pakistan under their Education Sponsorship Program (ESP) till they  finish their Secondary School Certification,

Selection of Teachers

The teachers are selected from the local community. The teachers go through a process of selection that usually starts from recommendation from existing teachers. The curriculum is reinforced with topics related to issues that children face in their daily lives.   Parental and community participation is high in schools. Qandeel Schools give particular emphasis on girls Education. Teachers interested in establishing a center subscribe to the following:

•  collect and enroll 25-30 out of school/drop out children living in the vicinity of her home.
•  teach, guide and facilitate the children to learn in a multi graded system of education.
•  be responsible for the safety and security of the children while they are in her care.
•  accept and follow all the rules and regulations of  Qandeel School.
•  participate in all the training programs, meetings, seminars, workshops for self development.
•  strive to improve her teaching /learning skills.
•  help children get admission in a nearby main stream school once they are capable to join such a school.
•  maintain proper records of the children under her care.
•  facilitate the development of full potential of children.
•  be  loving, caring and compassionate.
•  instill spirit of compassion, cooperation and communication in children.
•  be on probation for 3 months from the time of joining.
•  work at Qandeel school for at least 2 years from the date of joining

The application form and the Memorandum of Understanding are at annexure 02 and 03.

Multi-grade teaching

Qandeel schools are one room one teacher schools. There is no choice but to follow multi-grade teaching.  Children of all grades learn in the same room.  Multi-grade teaching requires serious planning to be able to teach students different subjects at different levels. This is challenging and demanding on teachers. Its advantage is that it allows children of varying age groups to learn from one another and interact socially. These schools also function as means of strengthening communal relations. Stronger ties between the school and community ensures regular student attendance, increased participation, and better learning outcomes.

With proper training, teachers are able to better manage classroom and develop skills to ensure learning meets each student’s individual growth needs.

Computer as a teaching Aid

Each school gets a computer system as a teaching aid. Children enjoy learning moral stories, poems, artwork nursery rhymes and other videos.

Technology for Communication

Teachers and management form a Whatsup group to showcase their class work. This way everyone remains connected and well-informed about the progress of the schools, teacher work and work of the children. The process also helps for learning from each other and motivates everyone for doing better.

Curriculum

As stated earlier, the central theme of the curriculum design is to impart basic educational skills of reading, writhing and arithmetic to the extent that the children are able to merge with the mainstream schools when they are ready for their further education to higher schools, colleges and universities, They are also encouraged to develop in them compassion, cooperation, generosity, humility, confidence, foresight and leadership. Children start from learning alphabets and numerals. Over the period of time they are able to comprehend and   write short paragraphs, essays and stories. They are also able to recognize numbers and do simple additions, subtraction, division and multiplications.

Teaching Kits

All the teachers are provided with a Teaching Kit consisting of teaching manuals, a set of books, a set of charts of animals, plants etc., maps, a globe, boxes of pencils, pens videos etc.

They are also given a blackboard, mats for the children to sit on, an electric fan, a water-cooler etc.

A recent addition to the Kit is a computer system and a custom made table. This would immensely help the teachers and the children in benefitting from the resources on the internet for teaching learning purposes.

Training

Teachers are provided basic training of few days in record keeping, lesson planning, assessment of children and methods for mixed grade teaching. They are also trained to understand children of their social needs and development. Workshops, short courses and refresher courses are held on regular basis.

Teacher Meetings

Teachers meet at least once a month at the head offices of Qandeel School System. These meetings provide excellent platform for teacher interaction, exchange of views on teaching learning experiences. The occasions are also used for workshops on variety of subjects such as lesson planning, creative and innovative ideas for teaching learning.

Teacher Motivation

Teachers are encouraged and motivated for their optimum performance. They are given financial and non financial incentives for achieving excellence. They are declared as the teachers of the month in group of their peers.

Record Keeping

Every teacher has to maintain records of their children. As the children are enrolled their information about their names, gender, parents, address, phone numbers etc are noted on an Admission Form. The teacher uses an attendance register to record the names and attendance of students. All teachers have to provide monthly statistics on a form called Monthly Operating Report. The form gathers statistics about number of children, their ages, classes, attendance, new admissions, course completion and such other data. The information collected goes into database and is used for decision making.

Teacher Monthly Operating Report form and Monthly Operating Report of all schools are at Annexure 04 and 05

Management of Qandeel School System

A Council of Management oversees the working of the schools. It sets policies and reviews the performance of children, teachers and other staff. All the members in the council are volunteers. Most of them are experienced professionals in their fields of education, finance, management, technology etc.

Manager of Qandeel School Project

A full time professional heads the system as Manager/Education Officer. She reports to the Portfolio Member on Education of Council of Management. She directly monitors the performance and development of the schools.  She implements the policies and procedures of the Council of Management regarding teacher selection, development, performance and all aspects of running the schools. She arranges teacher meetings, seminars workshops, training programs, exhibitions and remains in constant touch with the teachers for the knowledge of their needs and better performance.

She endeavors to search for new teachers willing to open and run schools in their homes. One of the main functions of the Manager /Education Officer is to remain in constant touch with the sponsors providing them timely information about the schools supported by them. She also looks for new donors and supporters for new schools.

She helps the teachers in getting doctors to agree to conduct annual health tests for the children,

She helps children to find places in public schools for their further education once they complete their basic education at the Qandeel system.

A checklist to follow up for the Manager is at Annexure 06

Coordinator/Inspector of Schools

A coordinator/Inspector helps the manager to collect information on number of aspects of managing the school. He visits the school at least once a month.

Monitoring and Evaluation

A coordinator/Inspector collects information about children academic and social progress on simple forms designed for the purpose. He observes the progress of children in Urdu, English, Mathematics and social interaction. He notes teachers’ performance of planning, administration and teaching skills. He checks facilities available, use of resources, health and hygiene of children as follows:

• Main entrance area to the school is clean                                 
• Class room is neat and tidy                             
• Children leave shoes outside neatly before entering the class room                               
• Children sit on a mat on the floor                                
• It is safe to reach Class room if staircase is used                       
• There is a trash can                             
• Toilets are clean                                 
• Toilets have enough water                              
• Enough stationery ,paper, notebooks, pencils, chalk etc. available                                
• There are racks for library and other teaching material                         
• There is a computer system for the use of class and teacher                             
• Drinking water is available in a cooler                        
• Children are neat and tidy                               
• Children wash their hands with soap after toilet etc.                            
• Children brush their teeth at night and morning before breakfast                       
• Children use trash can for trash                       
• Children nails are clean                       
• There is no child with communicable diseases                         
• Children do not suffer from malnutrition                                 
• Children are given vaccination every year                               
• Doctors check the health of children every year                       
• Eyes are tested every year.                              
• Ear and Nose are tested every year.                             
• There is a First Aid Box.                                 
• Doctor is on call for emergencies.       

The coordinator/Inspector also observes the performance of the teachers as follows:

• Attendance Register is maintained                              
• Timetable prepared                             
• Children know the timetable                           
• Lesson is planned                               
• Previous lesson is reviewed                            
• Home work is checked                       
• Questions are asked to ascertain understanding of previous lesson                               
• Children participation is encouraged by saying good, nice, excellent etc.          
• Teacher is clear about objectives to be achieved at the end of lesson     
• New lesson is explained to the class                            
• Teaching material like charts, maps, Pictures or models were used
• Group work with children was done                            
• Children were given work to do on their own also                               
• Teacher supervised the group or individual work                                 
• Children learned with joy                               
• Teacher related the knowledge learned with life examples                               
• Children were encouraged to be loving, kind, helpful and cooperative  
• Teacher has full command over the subject                             
• New home is was given                      

A number of checklists and forms have been developed to ease the collection of information. The recorded data is compiled in a Management Information System used for decision making.   

Course Material

The course material is chosen to meet the goals of imparting basic educational skills of reading, writhing and arithmetic. The course material helps them to learn alphabets and numerals. Over the period of time they are able to comprehend and   write short paragraphs, essays and stories. They are also able to recognize numbers and do simple additions, subtraction, division and multiplications. They are also encouraged to develop in them compassion, cooperation, generosity, humility, confidence, foresight and leadership qualities. Armed with this background, children are ready to be accepted for entrance at public schools comfortably.

Assessment of children performance

Children performance is observed and recorded monthly. The children ability in Urdu, English, Arithmetic and social behavior is evaluated.

Assessment of attainment in Languages  

The Qandeel schools are one room one teacher schools. The structure and resources are limited. The objective is to prepare the children well so that they excel in their knowledge and attitude at the main stream schools.

The kids are therefore prepared from no knowledge of alphabets in both Urdu and English to recognize, speak, read and write the same. From this level onward they learn to write names of, plants, animals, parts of body and other familiar things in their surroundings. They are now ready to learn construction of simple sentences. Once they are able to do that they are encouraged to comprehend and write short stories, essays, paragraphs and poems.

Assessment in Mathematics

Know-how of mathematics is equally important as the languages. The journey of leaning numbers starts with recognizing and writing numbers. Once the children are familiar with the numbers up to 100, they then given practice to add, subtract, divide and multiply digits. Children also learn to recognize and draw geometrical shapes like triangle, square, circle, cube etc. All this is done involving the children with activities those are real to their lives.

Assessment of Social Attitude

The teacher sets an example of loving, kind, compassionate, cooperative and enthusiastic. She encourages children to do the same. She rewards the children by material and non material incentives for their good behavior and performance. She encourages students to listen and follow the instructions. She sets the atmosphere and activities in the class so that children take lead in what ever they are learning.

Awareness through Special day celebrations

The teachers arrange to celebrate special days to enhance awareness of their environment. Mother’s day, Father’s day, World Health day, International day for Tolerance, International  day of Peace, World Environment day, World Toilet day, Watermelon day, Mango day etc. are joy full activities participated by children.

Education Sponsorship Program

A unique feature of Qandeel School Project is the follow up and support of the students after they have completed their goals of basic education. A proper record of their activities after they leave the schools is kept. The teachers and the management keep close liaison with the parents elementary and high schools in the area. They help the students get admitted in these schools. The children are economically assisted through its Education Sponsorship Program if in need.  At the moment Education Sponsorship Program helps about 400 children.

Students achieving their educational goal through Education Sponsorship Program

A group of engineering students supported by Education Sponsorship Program

Annexures

Qandeel Schools Handbook

Annexure-1

List of Qandeel schools with locations and sponsors

Annexure-2

The application form

Annexure-3

Memorandum of Understanding

Annexure-4

Teacher Monthly Operating Report form

Annexure-5

Monthly Operating Report of all schools

Annexure-6

A checklist to follow up for the Manager