NGO's Role in Education: 50 Years of Pakistan

By Fayyaz Baqir
Local Heritage of Community Work in Education
The areas that now constitute Pakistan had in place a very sound and firm tradition of providing
education on the basis of self-help by beneficiary communities a little more than a hundred years
ago. This self-help system provided universal literacy to males and females in most of urban and
rural settlements through a very elaborate management structure of traditional rural communities
which has been called "Village Corporation" or "Village Republic" by many modern social
scientists. The nature, level and outreach of this education was partly described by G.W. Leitner,
Director of Public Instruction in Punjab in his "Report on indigenous Education in Punjab"
submitted to Government of (British) India and published in 1882. This system of universal
literacy based on the concepts of voluntary work and self-help was not known as NGO work and
was much larger in scale compared to present NGO initiatives but was built on the same
conceptual foundations on which educational activities have been successfully undertaken among
low-income communities by NGOs during the past few decades. There were eight different types
of schools and standard of education and pedagogical methods used in these schools were so high
that they were imported in England in the earlier part of the nineteenth century. These schools
included Pathshala schools, Chatshala schools, Gurmukhi schools, Sanskrit schools, Arabic
schools, Persian schools, Quran schools and special schools for merchant class.
Describing educational work in punjab Leitner stated that "By 1854-55 there were 28,879
villages and at least as many schools in Punjab. In towns, Delhi had 279 schools, Amritsar 143
schools,and Sialkot 38.. (Leitner, 1882, pp.4)". Rate of literacy was so high that referring to 1852
Settlement Report Leitner mentioned that " In the backward district of Hushiarpur there was 1
school for every 19.65 males ( Ibid, pp.2). Education was considered basic moral responsibility of
every educated individual and in the words of Leitner "I am not acquainted with any Native,
Hindu, Mohammadan, or Sikh, who, if at all proficient in any branch of indigenous learning or
service, does not consider it to be a proud duty to teach others." (Ibid, pp.19) Continuing his
statement he says "Even among those educated natives who have not thrown aside social or
religious restraints, I have known men devoting half of their slender incomes to maintaining
schools or pupils at them" (Ibid, pp.19). This voluntary spirit was integrally linked with a sound
financial management system established by various communities as well as farming community in
general. A brief description of this community based system for providing education is given
below.

Self-help system of management of schools

Page 1 of 16

In Hindu communities people living together in a settlement constituted an organized body, and
various functionaries who met important needs of this community enjoyed rights over the soil.
These functionaries included the headmaster, accountant, police officer, the priest, the school
master, the astrologer, the smith, the carpenter, the barber, the potter, the leather worker, as well
as other non farming specialists and tradesmen. Due to their recognized rights over the land the
received a share from the crop at the time of harvest. This provided a sustainable arrangement for
the community to receive various professional services that it needed. Consequently one could not
see a single child in any Hindu village- except for the children of outcast families- who was not
able to read, to write and write. (Ibid pp18).
Among the Sikh communities financial management of Sikh schools depended on five different
sources i) Allocation of land for schools, ii) Contribution of Sikh fraternity for the cause of
education of Sikh children, iii) Endowment of Dharamsalas to which Gurmukhi schools were
attached iv) Presents of students or their parents to the teachers (Ibid, pp35) and v) Fees given by
parents in cash or kind for their children's education. These fees were preferentially given to
Dharamsala or Dehra rather than Bhai (school teacher) in person as a sign of respect to the
teacher.
Muslim communities established and supported Persian and Quran schools. These schools were
generally held in or just outside the mosque, and most of the times a teacher was attached to these
schools. Quran schools existed in almost every mosque in Punjab as well as in private houses.
Persian schools were open to students from other religions and were largely attended by Hindus
who in the words of Leitner were " more attracted by the persian language than repelled by the
Mohammadan religion" ( Ibid pp.59, 69). Male members of every religious and professional
community used to teach female members of the family at home which led to universal literacy
among males and females in Punjab. There are fragmented evidences of existence of similar
systems in areas outside Punjab also.
Success and demise of traditional education system
Provision of universal literacy through community participation depended on three core
components of traditional model: i) Selection and provision of site for school and financial
support of the teacher by local community. ii) Permanent arrangement for financial support of
local teachers through a variety of means including allotment of plots for school, presents and
gifts to school teachers, creation of endowments for education and provision of share in the
village crop. iii) Teaching others as a basic moral responsibility of every educated person.
Successful, sustainable and community oriented models of education in low income communities
of contemporary Pakistan depend exactly on the same three elements. The gap caused by the
discontinuity of the traditional system was anticipated by Leitner and he had warned that if
community based system of education is demolished under the pretext of modernization of
education literacy will be wiped out from Punjab. Leitner's prediction prophetically came true.
It is interesting to have a cursory look at the reasons which led Leitner to arrive at this conclusion
true. At the time of British annexation of Punjab village cess collected from each village was used
to cover the salary of three village functionaries; Lumberdar, Chowkidar and School Teacher.
British administration in Punjab decided to continue the salaries of lumberdars and chowkidarsPage 2 of 16

which are paid by the government to this very day- and discontinued the salary of local school
teachers diverting the funds to selected government schools in urban areas for providing "modern"
education. That was it. As the source of supporting local school teacher with local resources was
blocked community based education system fell apart. Schools run by religious communities with
their own resources were gradually closed down due to lack of further demand by government for
people trained in indigenous schools as well as arm twisting tactics used by the government
functionaries. During the period between 1850s and independence from British Raj leaders of
various communities concentrated their efforts for creating institutions of higher learning to train
middle and upper strata of population.
NGO's Work for Education after Independence
At the time of creation of Pakistan in 1947, private sector had a major share in providing
education through schools at various levels. These private schools were run both by societies
motivated by the cause of promoting education as well as individuals making their living through
education and teaching. No detailed figures about the share of private owners and societies are
available but breakdown between the government and private sector is known. Whereas
government owned 4% of primary schools, private sector owned 43% of these schools. The
figures for ownership of middle and high schools were 3% and 9% for government and 47% and
83 % for private sector respectively. Rest of the schools i.e. 53% primary schools, 50% of middle
schools and 8% of high schools were run by the local bodies.
Since government was not able to meet most of the educational needs of population with its given
resources, private sector continued to play an important role in providing education. One
important change that took place was greater role of private sector in providing education at
higher level and increased involvement of government in primary and middle level education.
Consequently government owned 93% of primary schools and 88% of middle schools and private
sector operated 40% high schools and 51% colleges. The role of local bodies declined
significantly during this period and share of educational institutions managed by them came down
to less than 10% in the case of primary and middle schools and colleges and 26% in the case of
high schools. Due to nationalization of educational institutions in 1972 role of private sector and
NGOs for provision of education was briefly interrupted but it resumed its functioning in 1979
with the result that by 1990 5000 educational institutions were being run by non-government
enterprises and organizations to provide education from primary to University level (Qaisrani,
1989).
Due to lack of availability of any reliable research and documentation regarding the role of non
government enterprises and organizations it is not possible to draw a detailed map of NGO
involvement in education between 1947 and 1990. Some insights based on qualitative studies
present the following picture of NGO schools: i) Majority of schools run by NGOs are located in
urban areas and less than 50% of these schools are owned by NGOs ii) A large number of teachers
in these schools is untrained and they work way below the salary of government school teachers
with longer hours of work. iii) Student teacher ration in these schools is mostly between 1:20 to
1:40 which is much better than student teacher ratio in most of the government schools iv)
Minimum fee charged in these schools is Rs.50 which shows community capacity to avail fee
Page 3 of 16

based services at reasonable prices. Detailed information based on current activities of NGO
managed schools is given below.
PRESENT STAGE OF NGO WORK IN EDUCATION
EDUCATIONAL MYTHS
The success of NGO work in education is based on rejecting some common myths about
education and exploding these myths through community level work. It is therefore paramount
that these myths be examined and exposed before the role of NGOs in the education sector is
considered. Some of these myths about education are given below.
1. Present education is socially relevant
The first myth circulating in our society is that education is necessary because it is useful or
socially relevant. Since the majority of people in our country are illiterate, many can't comment on
the benefits of education. Those who are literate are faced with high rates of unemployment. This
phenomenon of low literacy rates and a high rate of unemployment exist simultaneously if our
education system is producing people not prepared for fulfilling societal needs. Persistence of this
myth has precluded any major effort for bringing about any basic changes in our education system.
This attitude about education is strengthened by other common myths also. The reason we are
having so much difficulty in making a transition from a predominantly oral culture to a written
culture is our misunderstanding of the basic flaws of our education system. Analysis of
fundamental myths surrounding our education shows the relevance, utility and effectiveness of
NGOs in meeting the challenges of a contemporary society.
2. Education means formal schooling
Another common misconception is reducing education to the process of going through a formal
schooling system. This has deprived most of the initiatives by government and non-governmental
agencies of the flexibility, adaptability and effectiveness of education offered through distant
learning, functional literacy programs as well as continuous and non-formal education. A lack of
awareness of advantages of alternative education arrangements with curriculum based on the
assessment of specific needs of the target student population, a short period for completing
studies, flexible study hours and use of unconventional teaching techniques has blocked the
progress of basic and functional literacy at the grass roots level.
3. The Government is responsible for mass education
Another myth which has paralyzed the popular will for accomplishing a high rate of literacy is the
belief that the Government is basically responsible for and capable of promoting universal literacy.
This view is also held because most of us are not aware of the existence of short term adult
literacy programs, economically affordable home schools in low income areas, and the role of
literacy as a powerful tool for community development and community level costs and benefits of
basic and functional literacy. The involvement of NGOs in all aspects of education from setting up
home schools in low income areas to establishing internationally reputed universities of Medical
Page 4 of 16

and Managerial Sciences has clearly demonstrated that total dependence on the government is not
the only choice available to us.
4. There is a lack of resources for education
Although Pakistan ranks amongst the countries devoting the smallest share of resources for
education, it is important to note that a lack of financial resources is not the basic cause of the
high rate of illiteracy here.
During most of the Pakistan's Economic Plan period we have not spent more than 50 percent of
the resources allocated for primary education. Only during an 8 year interval between 1970-78
were up to 94 percent of resources allocated for primary education actually spent. (See Table 1).
A critical review of available financial and physical resources shows that it is not the availability
but proper utilization of resources which constitutes the basic problem in spreading mass
education in Pakistan. Although there are around 46,894 villages in Pakistan " the number of
mosque schools (25,200) alone can cover a sizable portion of the population and following the
home school and community centre models can substantially add to the existing capacity of the
schooling system (Siddiqui, 1990: 32).
Table 1 Plan Allocation and Expenditure on Primary Education
Plan
1955-60
1960-65
1965-70
1970-78
1978-83
1983-88

Allocation for
Primary Education
(Million Rs.)
51.4
78.0
68.5
473.9
1970-78
7000.0

Actual Expenditure

Utilization

(Million Rs.)
21.2
19.0
25.0
444.0
1413.1
3533.0

(Percentage)
41.0
24.0
36.5
94.0
46.3
50.5

Source: Siddiqui, 1990: 24

5. Education can be spread without community participation

The reason that a very small portion of population has access to basic literacy (despite, inter alia, the
availability of physical resources, educated and available teachers, and the demonstrated financial
viability of home based schools) is that there is a lack of community participation. The myth that
education can be spread without community participation is significant as has been demonstrated by
the experiences of many of the developed economies. Community participation is important for two
fundamental reasons.
Page 5 of 16

Firstly, community participation introduces the elements of relevance and accountability to our
education system. This makes education meaningful and interesting for students, helps to lower the
dropout rate and improves the quality of education.
Secondly, community run home schools, mosque schools or other similar models would check the
leakage of resources and provide a low cost alternative to the traditional government run primary
schools. (See Table 2)
Further the establishment of home schools requires a tiny fraction of the total resources required
compared to the traditional alternative and strengthens community control over education and its
initiative for undertaking other development activities. This is another fact which needs to be brought
to the public's attention, thereby strengthening the NGO's initiative for mass literacy.
6.Education can be spread by increasing the number of schools
The final and perhaps most powerful myth which needs to be explored is that there is only one viable
form of education and form of pedagogy. Spreading education to many simply means increasing the
number of schools rather than improving pedagogical techniques to made education more useful and
attractive for students. A detailed review of an alternative system is given below.
New vision of education
1. There exists two divergent views on education; participatory or authoritarian. The spread of
literacy and its impact on socio-economic development depend on which view of education one
accepts and upholds. Does one consider education a mere means of control or the realization of
freedom and latent creative energies of the students? According to the participatory or active learning
principle, learning can be facilitated by creating situations and undertaking activities in which
individuals acquire knowledge by working on the solutions themselves. Here, the teacher only directs
the students toward the solution by asking specific questions or posing problems Students are active
in describing, analyzing, suggesting, deciding and planning.
Table 2 The cost of establishing and running different types of schools (In Rs )
School
Types
Items:
Start-up/Building
Teachers Salary
No. of Teachers
needed
Enrollment Capacity

Ten Room
School*
1,500,000

Two Room
School
250,000

Mosque
School
75,000

Home
School#
3,000

1,500+
10

1,500+
2

300**
1

500
1

400

Under 100

Under 100

50

Ministry of Education, 1989, pp.3

Field Survey

National Education Consultants, 1990 pp.48

**

Ashraf, 1990, pp.95

Page 6 of 16

2. In traditional education authoritarian model, the teacher is seen as possessing all the essential
information, and the pupils are seen as empty vessels to be filled in with knowledge (Hope, pp 9)
Under active learning, education is considered as a process of location and reconstruction of
experience. A teacher's job, instead of indoctrinating the students, is to help students learn through
asking appropriate questions and posing problems and build their capability to solve problems instead
of blindly following instructions. This type of education whether for children or adults serves as an
entry point for social change instead of being limited to a set of uninteresting rituals. It works like
magic. Among the NGOs contacted by TVO only Teachers' Resource Center (TRC), The Book
Group (TBG), and Aurat Muaven Aurat (AMA) are practicing the participatory approach other
NGOs are not even aware that this is a pedagogical issue at all. In government run institutions even if
certain individuals have this awareness they are unable to do anything about it.
The effectiveness of participatory learning is confirmed by the observation that there is a tremendous
gap in the level of achievement of a majority of children in learning spoken and written language. The
reason for this is simple, the elements of free expression, encouragement, free choice of subject of
matter and the immediate connection of the subject of conversation in learning a spoken language are
conspicuously missing when a child learns the written language. A complete reversal of the
pedagogical method in teaching written language and other subjects leads to lower rate of
participation and learning among children as well as adults (Mustafa n.p.).
3.The teacher student relationship
The dominant approach to education also determines the teaching methods and pattern of student
teacher relationship which strengthens the common lack of interest and apathy toward education
This practice, instead of selecting appropriate ideas and tools for generating productive dialogue
between teachers and students, reduces education to the Pavlovian practice of using fear as a
conditioning device for evoking desired response from students. Education therefore becomes a
means of institutionalizing dependence rather than an instrument of social change.
This becomes a major block in the way of promoting mass literacy. Amnesty International is working
toward educating teachers and students on human rights in schools at present. Coordination of this
work with other efforts to design new reading materials and training programs for teachers can
produce valuable results.
4.Teachers' training
Teacher's training is the weakest link in the chain of our education system. Training on subject as well
as teacher-student communication is weak and irrelevant and does not provide any back up facility to
the teachers when they start functioning in the schools.
The TRC has started providing meaningful training to school teachers in Karachi but it is serving a
very narrow urban base, does not provide training in the field, and has not institutionalized any
continuous training programme. TBG is also providing teachers' training especially for the use of
reading materials created by them. They are interested in having a wide outreach and should be
supported in building their training programme.
Page 7 of 16

Field based training at the district level in Punjab would be the strong point of Ali Institute of
Education (AIE). Teachers training centres -Beaconhouse Resource Center (BRC} and Karachi
Grammar School Staff Development Center (KGSDC) have recently been set up by the Karachi
Grammar School and Beaconhouse School system also. Specialized training for teaching English
language is provided by English Language Resource Unit (ELRU), Renewal and Improvement of
Schools (RISE), Society of Pakistan English Language and Teachers (SPELT) and Pakistan
American Cultural Center (PACC). There is no programme offering continuous follow- up of initial
training given and providing interactive training for helping teachers in solving problems arising from
every day teaching activities. Training for teachers of adult literacy classes is provided by Adult Basic
Education Society (ABES) and Local Government Training Institute (LGTI). There is no
professional training available for teachers of working children's schools. Components of a vital
training programme are scattered at different locations. A better awareness on part of the users and
the training of trainers through a combined programme could help to meet training needs efficiently.
Details of general, specialized and continuous training programs for school teachers run by NGOs
are given in Table 3 below.
Table 3 Type and Capacity of teachers training by NGOs
Type of Training

Institution Offering

Workshop/Seminar
Field Based
Home schools
Adult Literacy
Field Based

TRC
AIE
Busti
ABES, LGTI
IED

Beneficiaries per
year (Avg)
1400
Planning Stage
1,000
40

Total Beneficiaries
8,493
N.A.
314
20,000
90% teachers in
Northern Areas

Source: NGO Documents, personal Contact

5.Education as an end or a means
The social impact of education land especially adult literacy) cannot be fully realized if its connection
with the process of development is not understood. As an instrument of social change opening the
communication horizon through literacy should move hand in hand with the opening up of creative
energy in the form of social action for change. Literacy and education do not have a neutral social
impact. They are acts that reveal social reality in order to transform it. (Hope, pp. 16). Paulo Friere*
has offered an elaborate framework for using adult literacy as an entry point for social action for
development. It has been applied successfully by many community based organizations all over the
world (Freire, pp83).

Page 8 of 16

From Freire's point of view literacy becomes an agent of change only if it is considered a means and
not an end of the work in the communities. In Pakistan most of the organizations involved in adult
literacy do not link their literacy work with community development and thus lose a potential
opportunity for building social institutions and initiating a process of sustainable development. Only
one organization AMA of Sargodha has followed a combined strategy and established 30 literacy
centers which have undertaken development activities based on self- reliance. ABES and Family
Planning Association of Pakistan (FPAP) have also shown interest now in experimenting with their
method in selected areas. More coordination for this purpose needs to be encouraged. There is also a
need to visit and evaluate the AMA programme and assist the trainers in documenting the lessons
learnt from the 3 years experiment in Sargodha.
6. Contents and materials
Most of the reading materials used in our primary schools and some of the adult literacy programs
are made with complete disregard for the level of students' exposure and interaction with reality.
"What little reading material is available, is not systematically scrutinized for appropriate thought
processes or interest level of children. The stories do not relate to children' world in any form.
Difficult ideologies are presented which are beyond a child's capability level and have no relationship
to the child's thought process" (National Book Council, pp.46). " In addition, the TRC has also found
that conventional syllabi are poorly related to everyday world/local environment of children, and
there is an absence of integration between theoretical and practical course components" (TRC, 1989
pp.41). As a result, the TRC felt a need to:

encourage initiatives like the Book Group where reading material is designed specifically to
clarify concepts, and teach skills through activity,
pay attention to social, emotional and scientific learning,
help children as well as adults learn through problem solving iv) develop modules as a means for
holding dialogue, and
make use of indigenous audio visuals.

"Materials and activities should be designed to develop the child socially, emotionally and physically
and develop the child's ability to communicate, understand scientific and mathematical concepts and
create through a variety of media" ( TRC, 1991 pp.7). At present only TBG, World Wide Fund for
Nature (WWF) and TRC are producing such materials. The same strategy needs to be followed for
adult literacy.
Nirali Kitabain is producing literacy materials for adults and distributing it through ABES and Health
Education and Adult Literacy (HEAL). A new team in HEAL is working on improving these
materials at present. Details of reading materials and regular publications of different NGOs are given
in the Table 4.
Table 4 Reading Materials produced by NGOs
Name of NGO

Type of

Name of

No. of titles/

No. of
Page 9 of 16

The Book Group

TRC

WWF
Nirali Kitabain
Aurat Muaven
Aurat

Publication

Publication

serials

Books
Teachers Guides
Children Mg.
Child Mg. Env.
Env. Ed. Mg.
Newsletter
Book

Book series for

school children
Funline
Alif Ujala
Gulistan

16

Teachers
Early Childhood
Education
Handbook
Panda Comics
Functional
Literacy Books,
A&V Cassttes
Muallim-iAsatiza

Comic Book
Basic and
Functional
Literacy
Teachers Manual

Copies/
title
6,000

500
1,000

7
260
1

9,000
Every title
has many
eds. in 000s
1,000

Source: Brochures, Reports and Personal Contacts

7. Duration of courses and class timings
Working children of school going age, farmers, adult females and other people in similar situations
are ready to come to school and attend classes if class schedules are decided keeping in view the
economic and social demands on their time. ABES has been running its adult literacy classes very
successfully because it offers classes only during the 6 months Slack period for farmers between
October and March. Similarly adult females class timings are adjusted keeping in view their work
schedule. Some home schools have handled the time constraint faced by their students by offering to
complete 5 years work in 3 years by using traditional summer vacation time for reading purposes.
Their school hours are also different and adjusted in view of the special needs of the children from
low income families. Distant and continuous education is offered by Allama Iqbal Open University
(AIOU) and some other organizations making it easy for a very large group of people to join literacy
classes. Innovative solutions regarding length, duration, spacing and frequency of courses and classes
offered can create opportunities of receiving education where none existed before. Table 5 gives a
summary of some of the programs run by NGOs on these lines. Time management needs to be used
as an important tool for educational planning at all levels.
Table 5 Duration of Courses and class timings in different literacy programmes
Name of NGO
ABES
HSTWO
YCHR

Course Offered
Basic Lit.
Funct. Lit.
Primary Ed.
Primary Ed.

Duration
6 months
6 months
3 years
3 years

Class Time
Aft. / Eve
Flexible
Mor/ Eve

Literacy Level
Basic Ed.
Health etc
Primary
Primary
Page 10 of 16

OPD

Primary Ed.

3 years

Flexible

Primary

Source: NGO documents

8. Extracurricular activities
Debates, games, trips to museums, competitions/contests, melas, visit of exhibitions, and science
caravan display are being used now by organizations as diverse as Anjuman Bara-e-Taleem (ABT),
Society for Advancement of Education (SAHE), Anjuman Behbood-e-Mehnat Kash Atfal (AMBA),
Youth Commission for Human Rights (YCHR), and Pakistan Science Foundation. They have been
used to provide working children a respite from the drudgery of work, induce the involvement of
parents and community in educational work, stimulate interest in the study of science and use of
logical thinking among students, and introduce liveliness in otherwise regimented education system.
Some school children groups and NGOs have used theater, puppet shows, skits and other
performance art forms as a means of education itself. Prominent among these are Rosary Hospital,
Children-to-Children (CTC) health education groups in Chitral and Baluchistan and numerous other
little known missionary groups. Latent possibilities existing in these art forms and extra curricular
activities need to be used more systematically specially for encouraging reading habits (see Table 6
for an overview of extra curricular activities employed by NGOs for educational purposes).
Table 6 Unconventional educational activities
Name of
NGO
ABT

ALBBS

Educational
Activity
Science Mela, Visit
Museum,
Planetarium, Essay
Contest
Hobby Clubs

CTC

Drama Group

Help learn
technology
Health Ed.

PSF*

Moving Exhibition
Planetarium
Drama Group
Drama Group
Box Libraries

Knowledge of
nature, science
Health, Env
Awareness
Cultural Literacy

RH
SAHE
TAF

Purpose
Promote
scientific
thinking

Source: Personal visits, Press reports

means of education

Target
Beneficiary
School
Children

Area

same

Lahore

same
same

Baluchistan,
Chitral
Pakistan

Child,/comm
Child/comm
Community

Gujrat
Lahore
Pakistan

Punjab

* PSF is not an NGO but is using unconventional

Alif Laila Book Bus Society {ALBBS) has chosen to emphasize extracurricular activities as the basic
thrust of its education programme. In doing so it has formalized these activities, brought into use
their educational content and introduced a functional, income generating and skill building
Page 11 of 16

component into primary education which would make it more meaningful and relevant. Childrens
library established by them also falls in the same category and cultivate reading, socializing and
research habits among little children. For encouraging reading habits among adults The Asia
Foundation (TAF) distributed box libraries to 4200 Union Councils. The collection of books and
distribution of libraries were successfully completed but the programme ran into problems at the
utilization stage. This was a very forceful initiative and its adaptation after small pilot experiments is
worth considering.
9. Fundamental relationships
There is increasing awareness among NGOs working for all types of literacy programs that the
formation of parents committees and their involvement in monitoring the progress of students and
educational institutions, interaction with the school administration and participation in decision
making and responsibility sharing is vital for the progress of literacy work at the community level.
Their involvement in planning and implementation of educational activities introduces an element of
accountability in the system. In the district of Kohat community involvement in the administration of
government run schools is also being experimented with. Institutionalization of such committees
would provide a very firm basis for community involvement in education as well as development
activities.
10. Models of education
A variety of models with a lower cost component, increased community participation and focus on
low income and working children and adults are functioning at present. Although materials and
methods of teaching used here are old or have been imported from the formal sector and teachers
here have little or no training yet these models offer the possibility of financial sustainability and
replication on a large scale.
Home schools for children in low income areas and male and female adult literacy centers in rural
areas are run in teachers home. At present these schools are functioning in Baldia of Karachi,
Organization for Participatory Development {OPD) of Gujranwala), Hafizabad Literacy Promotion
Programme {HLPP) of Hafizabad, ABES of Gujranwala and YCHR of Lahore. Table 7 gives the
details of targets achieved by different NGOs working for literacy.
Table 7 Number of literacy centres/home schools run by NGOs and estimate of beneficiaries
NGO

Project Area

ABES

Gujranwala
Islamabad
Balochistan
Thatta
Sargodha
Pakistan
Islamabad

ABMA
ALST
AMA
BLLF
BS

Target
Group
A
A
WC
C
A
WC
A

No.
enrolled
6,000
3,106
300
2,100
300

Total no.
educated
131,818
2,500
N.A.
N.A.
-

No. of centres
300
227
10
70
30
122
23
Page 12 of 16

Busti
FPAP
GG
HELP
HLPP
HSTWO
OPD
PARD+
SCF
YCHR
YMCA
Total

Karachi
Islamabad
Islamabad
Pakistan
Karachi
Hafizabad
Baldia
Gujranwala
NWFP
Tharparkar
Lahore
Azam Basti
17

C
A
A
A
C
A
C
C
C
A
C
SC
-

6,296
2,100
1,293
40
16,750
756
275
1,196
273
600
20
43,059

38,000
N.A.
142,987*
100
N.A.
N.A.
2,462+
150
N.A.
N.A.
315,517

362
148
95
59
3
800
31
11
16
7
23
1
2,349

A=Adult; C=Children; WC=Working Children; SC=Street Childrn

N.A.=Not Applicable
Source: NGO Reports, Personal Contact
* This includes students of literacy classes + each one teach one scheme
+ Figures are available only for the years 1987-91

Factors that contributed to the origin and development of home schools were:
i)
ii)
iii)
iv)
v)

Limited resources of Katchi Abadis

Shortage of regular schools
Problems of admission
Expensive education
Use of children in contributing to family income {UNICEF, pp.136).

There are disagreements among professionals regarding the usefulness and sustainability of the home
school model as well as quality of education provided by home schools. An alternative suggested is
building one room, one teacher schools with a view to turn them into formal schools through
incremental development and make them a part of the mainstream. This argument may prove
superior to the idea of home schools in the long run. It is important to remember here that one room,
one teacher schools and schools functioning in a teachers' house should not be confused with home
school unless they plan to stay in the informal sector for ever.
The WWF has been producing comic books on the environment for children. FPAP and some other
groups have used puppet shows for community education on special issues. ABES is planning the use
of newspapers for continuous education. A "kids teaching kids model has been used by Alif Laila,
Rosary Hospital and National Farm Guide Council (NFGC). Special Education for the blind is
offered by the Association of the Blind in Faisalabad .
Page 13 of 16

11. Financial support

Most of the non-formal school models have emphasized the need for and attained financial
independence (See Table 8).
Table 8 Financial management of different models of education
Type of
Institution

Name of
NGO

Cost of set
up (Rs.)

Cost per
Student (Rs.)

Salary based
on fee

None

Teachers
stipend/m
(Rs.)
None

Street
Schools
Home
Schools
Literacy
Centres
Mosque
Schools
Primary
School

Lyari CBOs
Busti

Under
1,000
3,000

None

500

100%

ABES

2,500+

650-750

350

33%

PARD*

None

45.50

350

None

1,500,000

2,000

1,185

None

Free Service

Source: Reference Publications number 16, 19 and 22 and NGO Documents

+ These expenses are valid if at least 50 centres are opened.
PEPAC, PP142
In Baldia and some other schools initially a very low student fee is charged which covers the teacher's
salary. This fee gradually increases over time in order to aid the programme in becoming self
sustainable. In YCHR schools in Lahore teachers run nurseries at home for which they are provided
training, inputs and marketing support. This offers them an additional source of income in view of
their low salaries. In Panno Aqil, Sindh a regular government primary school has used tree plantation
around the school boundary as a source of income for repair and maintenance. Grants for salary of
teachers are used by ABES, HLPP and Islamabad Literacy Programme (ILP). Financial support by
the community partially covers the teachers' salary in OPD. These schools aim to become self-reliant
in the near future.
12.

Beneficiaries of literacy work

Target beneficiaries of most of the literacy programs run by NGOs are children of school going age,
school dropouts, working children and adults. Special emphasis in most of these programs is on
female education. However, materials used are the ones used for primary schools in most of the
children programs.
Page 14 of 16

13.

Existing work in the NGO sector

Table 9 describes the pattern of activities carried out for education by various NGOs in different parts
of Pakistan. We see that different organizations have worked for developing different components of
present education system in the country. Coordination of these efforts by these organizations and
individuals can lead to a breakthrough in the quality and scale of Education in Pakistan.
Table 9 Pattern of education work in NGO Sector
Project Focus
Literacy

Teacher Training
Reading Materials
Active Learning
Publications
Awareness
Book Collection and
Distribution
Supporting Education
Unconventional
Education

NGO/Resource Person
FECT, FPAP, BUSTI, ABES, SGA,
HEAL, PARD, ALST, HLPP, OPD,
PLPP, YCHR, IF, BLLF, FWCS,
AMBA, MWS, Boy Scouts, Girl
Guides
ABES, LGTI, TBG, TRC, AIE,
HSTWO, SAHE, CP, SPELT, RISE,
PACC
TBG, WWF, ABES, LGTI, AMA
TBG, TRC, HEAL
TRC, WWF, CP
ILM, AI
TAF, RCMI

Work done
Literacy centres established.

AKES, UNESCO, UNICEF, UNDP,

OXFAM, SAP, SPO, CIDA, ODA,
WB, TVO, USAID
ALBBS, AMA, ABT, CTC, SPDA

Provided funds, sponsored

programmes

General and special training

provided
Books, comics
Modules developed
Newsletter, Magazines
Publicity campaigns
Distributed books

Page 15 of 16

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18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
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24.
25.
26.
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28.
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