Children in Pakistan during a Think Equal activity from our Level 1 programme.
The launch of the Pilot Programme
In August 2022, Think Equal launched a Pakistan pilot programme in collaboration with CARE, a non-profit organisation that delivers high-quality education to underprivileged children. The classroom teachers carried out the programme implementation, and the story-based sessions entailed 22 storybooks. To help children learn more easily, stories were narrated in Urdu and different activities, such as role-playing, art, songs and games, were carried out.
Overview of the programme
The project expanded across 33 schools and 106 classrooms, impacting 3858 students. Our program team oversaw the planning, implementation and evaluation of the pilot with a program lead and six master trainers. To track development, focus group discussions were conducted with weekly progress reports shared throughout the project. 107 teachers received a week of training that was conducted across six clusters. They were trained to conduct storytelling sessions and to understand the need for early social and emotional learning.
The trained Think Equal teachers covered a weekly storybook, each comprising three lessons. With a focus on enhancing children’s social-emotional learning, teachers carried out a variety of activities given in the lesson plan booklet and resource books. In alignment with Think Equal’s main objective of maintaining consistency and effectiveness, the core team regularly observed and evaluated the teachers.
Evaluation approach
Some evaluation tools were used to achieve a holistic overview of the project’s impact, including two separate focus group discussions and an end-of-the-program survey with participating teachers.
Findings
Think Equal’s Pakistan pilot programme found that:
- 100% of participating teachers recommended the scheme for middle and high school students.
- 100% of parents felt that the lesson activities helped their child become more expressive, empathetic, less frustrated and more confident.
- 98% of teachers felt that the overall environment of the classroom became more positive, more vibrant and happier since the TE story lessons started
- 86% of teachers shared that students’ school attendance and academic performance have improved as a result of the storytelling sessions
Impact
Throughout the six-month pilot, the programme significantly impacted several areas.
Impact on the wider school environment
The project extended its effect to the wider school community, where non-participating students and teachers inquired about the program and were interested in conducting the same activities in their respective classrooms.
Impact on learning
Through the focus group discussions, it was revealed that the storytelling sessions substantially strengthened student-teacher relationships. Students became more engaged in different activities, resulting in improved attendance and academic performance.
Impact on teaching
The project has also made a significant impact on teaching. Alongside the children, teachers have also become more confident, expressive and understanding towards their students.
Testimonials
From our collection of testimonials, we can clearly see the impact of the programme;
Teacher testimonial:
“TE program has majorly influenced my personality. I have learnt the art of keeping calm and adopting a more empathetic behaviour towards my students.”
Student voice:
“I was ungrateful about living in a small home, until my teacher read us the story “Home”. After that, I realised that every home is beautiful.”
Parent testimonial:
“My daughter has become more aware and knows how to calm me when I get upset. She tells me to take deep breaths and it helps, she learnt this in her school.”
Here at Think Equal, we are eager to implement a social and emotional learning curriculum for young children across the globe. So far, we have successfully executed this in several other countries.
Click below to explore the other countries in which we have implemented a programme or and read the complete report:
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