HDF Schools: Speeding the Progress of Literacy among Adults

The village education programs of Shamsabad, Sindh, have witnessed an interesting positive trend.

Nusrat, 8, and Samina, 11, are friends and study in class 2 in Shah Lodhi Child-Friendly School at Jurio Ghutko village. Since they joined the HDF-sponsored school, Nusrat and Samina have been teaching their older sisters who are members of the local women's development organization (DO), Jurio-1.
Whatever they learn at school during the day they teach their sisters. Because of Samina's and Nusrat's work, their sisters are now able to write their names and sign their DO resolutions and other related papers.

DOs are the backbone of HDF's Project Pakistan model. These are community-based organizations that are responsible for administering and running projects with the help and guidance of HDF staff. It is the DO that actually involves and empowers the local community.

HDF's self-help model has now made this community realize the need to educate its adult members and share its resources.

There has been a similar positive development in the Shamsabad village of Solangi. The women of the Solangi DO, whose children attend the schools, have not only learned Sindhi but can even speak some English. In the DO of Sheena, members now greet HDF staff in English and see off their visitors with, "OK, see you next time!"
The success stories of these villages are having a positive impact on the DO's and communities of other villages. Many of them are now willing to improve the literacy rate of their communities, as they are noticing the leadership roles their children, girls in particular, are playing in the villages that have HDF-run schools.

"We have adopted a very simple procedure for launching an education project and setting up a school in a village," says Mr Aqeel Abro, the project coordinator. "We simply ask the residents of each village to construct one or two small classrooms and the rest of the cost, including books and furniture, will be carried by HDF."

The DO members in Shamsabad mention that although their villages are very small, they have been trying to establish schools for quite some time and in the process even approached their MPA and MNA, but they had no success.

Now that HDF schools are proving to be so productive, the local DO members say that they will make sure to maintain and run these schools as long as they can, even if HDF quits.

Date/Time Last Modified: 2/24/2003 8:24:07 PM