USAID-funded Pakistan Reading Project – Quarterly Progress Report (January 01 - March 31, 2016)

The project aims to improve the quality of education in Pakistan, with a focus on enhancing reading skills of 1.3 million children at the early grade level. PRP is achieving this goal through three objectives: teacher trainings, policy reforms, and community support for reading. PRP's component 1 focused on phase 2 refresher trainings for cohort 1 teachers, mentors, and academic supervisors. The project trained or oriented 20 reading specialists, 626 mentors, 147 academic supervisors, and 6,608 teachers. As of March 31, a maximum of 12 Teacher Inquiry Group (TIG) meetings had been conducted in cohort 1 districts, while a maximum of 7 TIG meetings had been held in cohort 2 districts. Mentors and School Support Associates conducted a total of 5,674 and 6,006 visits to PRP intervention schools, respectively. PRP's training program is on track, but material development is delayed. The project engaged experienced national and international experts, brought on board a full-time Director of Supplementary Resources, and hired a well-known publishing firm for material development. In this quarter, PRP made significant progress in material development, finalizing and distributing TIG modules (11-18), redesigning and sending Grade 1 material (weeks 1-16) for printing, and developing Grade 2 material content in Urdu and Sindhi. Under the Information Communication Technology component, PRP reached approximately 14,000 trained teachers through informational text messages, with each user receiving on average 7 messages every month. Development of year 2 Virtual Mentoring Videos (VMVs) is under process and expected to be completed in the next quarter as planned. PRP's scholarship program completed installments for 1,576 students, including 1,435 ADE students and 141 B.Ed. (Hons.) ongoing scholarship recipients. Key achievements under component 2 in this period include the approval of reading standards by Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan, and Islamabad Capital Territory Governments, the approval of the Reading Improvement Strategy draft outline by the advisory committee in Balochistan, and the signing of Memorandums of Understanding with the National Accreditation Council for Teacher Education to initiate Accreditation of Teacher Training Institutes in all provinces/regions. Additionally, the consultant for development of continuous professional development strategic plan in Azad Jammu & Kashmir held consultative meetings with education department officials, while a consulting firm for conducting mother tongue study was brought on board and study initiated. PRP's component 3 developed two concept notes on "Summer/Winter Camps" and "Tutoring" themes for the upcoming Complementary Reading Program grants and shared them with USAID for approval. A total of 9 grantees are implementing their activities in respective provinces/regions. PRP distributed completion certificates to 18 Community-Managed Reading grantees upon successful closeout of small grants. Furthermore, an event "Celebrating Grants Achievements" was held in Islamabad on March 10 to celebrate success and share experiences of grantees, government officials, and the beneficiaries of PRP grants nationwide. Natasha De Marcken, Director of Education USAID, and Qaiser Majeed Malik, Additional Secretary Capital Administration and Development Division, were the key participants in this national event. PRP launched its Mobile Bus Libraries (MBL) for the Sindh region in February 2016. Dr. Fazlullah Pechuho, Secretary Education Sindh, inaugurated the MBL, which aims to provide access to books and reading materials for children in underserved areas. The MBL will travel to different locations in Sindh, providing a mobile library service to children and promoting a love for reading.