By Fazal Khaliq
MINGORA: Education activists here on Thursday said that the Accelerated Learning Programme (ALP) bore fruitful results in its first phase in helping primary pass girls to continue their education in far flung areas of Swat where there are no middle schools.
It was shared in a district education coordination committee (DECC) and advocacy caucus meeting which was attended by all district education stakeholders including education activists, and representatives of various non-government organizations while the meeting was chaired by district Swat female education officer Zaibun Nisa.
The ALP school system has been introduced in the remote areas where there are no opportunities of schooling for girls beyond primary level. The system has been introduced under a project called Institutional Support for Participatory, Inclusive and Responsive Education (INPIRE-II), funded by Reach Out to Asia and implemented by Initiative for Development and Empowerment Axis and Care International.
The IDEA progamme manager Ashfaq Rehman said that life skills trainings were also being imparted to the students along with regular education. “Out of 1167 girl students enrolled in sixth grade in the 34 ALP schools, 911 girls were promoted to grade seven after passing examination conducted by education department. However, 23 girls got fresh admission in grad seven taking the total to 934,” he said.
He said that 66 life skills sessions with the ALP students and 22 with the youth activists were, so far, conducted.
However, he said the project would end in December 2017 due to which thousands of other girls, after passing primary school, would deprive of further education. “There was an immediate need to up-grade the 34 girl primary schools to middle level so that thousands of girls can continue their education to middle and high schools,” he said, adding that communities, where the 34 girls primary schools located, also asked education department and their respective elected representatives to either upgrade the existing primary schools or construct middle schools in their areas immediately.
This year, according to the data provided by IDEA, about 798 girls are reading in grade five in the 34 primary schools but will not be able to get further education after they passed grade five due to no middle school in their areas.
Education activists said that the ALP initiative was best but there was an immediate need of establishing such schools on permanent basis. “What will the girls do after the ALP programme ends? The government must follow the ALP system or construct middle and high schools in those areas,” said Niaz Ahmad, education activist.
Swat female education officer Zaibun Nisa also endorsed the idea of ALP school system and said that the donor of the Institutional Support for Participatory, Inclusive and Responsive Education (INPIRE-II), project must extend the existing Accelerated Learning Programme (ALP).
