Tameer
Need
The significant shortage of subject specialist (science) teachers in middle and high (government) schools across the country, and the lack of science communication skills among existing science teachers are not challenges that can be addressed in the short or medium-term. This shortage cannot be remedied with the existing one-school deployment model which the state has adopted (and continues to rely on).
Design
Project Tameer expects to build on research conducted by the Nobel Prize-winning duo (Duflo and Banerjee) to assess the impact of placing Science Tutors in government schools where there are no science teachers, or teachers who teach science but are not qualified to do so.
Program
Through Project Tameer, intends to pilot a multi-school Science Tutor deployment to ensure maximum coverage, increased value of investment in terms of resources, and providing a basis for the state to revisit its existing recruitment and single-school placement policies. A science graduate (preferably with some teaching experience) will be hired locally and provided a monthly remuneration, a transport allowance, and a fixed-term contract of eight to ten months (to coincide with the academic calendar).
The tutor(s) will be provided back-office support in content, formative assessments, and activity-design by PAMS.
The project also includes establishment of STEM Clubs in the targeted schools, engagement of higher educational institutions in the school-support program as regular host of Math-a-thons and Science-a-thons, base-line and end-line assessment of students enrolled in grades 6 – 8 in the targeted schools, and an inter-school science competition.
Tajdeed
An engagement strategy for government school teachers through the development of Teachers’ Baithaks; the program intends to result in the development of learning content for multi-grade teaching (primary schools) and for mathematics and science subjects (middle and high schools) by teachers. The program also involves a teachers’ competition, and establishment of Professional Development Units in at least two teachers’ associations.
Via Tajdeed, PAMS intends to promote the development of informal teachers’ networks to take advantage of a social engagement model for capacity building of teachers by members of their own community.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa SST Welfare Association, the Punjab Educators’ Association, and the Senior Staff Association, Punjab are PAMS’ partners in Tajdeed.