BroadClass: Listen to Learn

In Pakistan, education sector has weak governance, budget constraints,  teachers are ill-trained and often lack accountability. pedagogical practices not suited to children:classes are teacher-led, have limited teacher-child interaction, and lessons focus on skill transfer, often through rote learning. During pandemic, education system adversely affected by country-wide closures of institutions. In addition to the 22.8 million children ( 5-16)  out of school including girls, poorer households and those in rural communities at greater risk of not being able to attend school. Power 99 based on the  success of already implemented distance learning  program offered a way to safely continue their education in the midst of emergency. Program is unique and specifically targets active learning, critical thinking, emotional development of children. Radio lessons guide teacher and students through activities, games, and exercises that teach carefully organized knowledge and skills while Program showed smooth transition to classes  during short period of school reopening 

Pakistan faces a critical education access and learning challenge about 22.6 million children overall 49% of population of girls are out of school and 34% percentage of student's dropout before completion of Primary. ASER Report 2018, revealed that around half of the Grade 5 students have not reached Grade 2 levels of learning Education is plagued with rote memorization, limited teacher training Especially worrying is the lack of parental/ community participation & schools function in isolation.

The coronavirus epidemic has reached deeper into daily life across the world, Out of the total population of students enrolled in education globally, In Pakistan 46.8 million children enrolled in schools  are experiencing education disruption, nearly 8.6 million are  which can have long term implications — especially for the most vulnerable. Prolonged closures without innovative alternatives will especially hurt vulnerable populations, exacerbating existing educational 1`inequalities in society, particularly when many of the resources required for home learning are not uniformly accessible to families across the country, according to the Inclusive Internet Index 2020, access to the internet is only available to 78 million users. 65% of the population in Pakistan lives in rural areas which lack the infrastructure to benefit from digital education.  

BroadClass offers innovative, accessible and cost-effective solution that leverages from the ubiquitous radio footprint to reach out to maximum number of communities across Pakistan with the ultimate goal of improving school achievements. Program provides high-quality standardized lessons along with resource material to children attending formal and non formal institutes with geographical, environmental and energy-resource constraints, special wooden radio sets with rechargeable dry batteries, built-in sound system, and  memory card options were  locally designed and provided to classrooms

The core element in intervention is complemented by face-to-face 40 hours teacher training. An assessment mechanism is put in place and administered bimonthly to measure student performance. Program team orient parents/local community on program through special designed activities to encourage them  to support their children's education by giving them 'a helping hand' and radio broadcast their testimonials creating social impact. During COVID-19 children living in confined environments experience anxiety and lack social interaction with their peers. Program provides opportunity to virtually connect them with their friends (Radio Characters) on daily basis and share their thoughts via feedback through SMS/WhatsApp and telephone calls. During these spells of school closure such quality-based academic engagement of children helped them remain in touch with their studies.

Beneficiaries of program are children, teachers , families and communities. Parents of the school children belong to low income group who are earning $ 4.47 per day for 8 hours of work. Schooling provides essential learning and when schools close, children and youth are deprived opportunities for growth and development. The disadvantages are disproportionate for under-privileged learners who tend to have fewer educational opportunities beyond school.  It becomes a challenge to ensure children and youth return and stay in school when schools reopen after closures. 

Low-income families, means vacation - a time in which children are expected to help their families. Children get engaged with their families doing agriculture, bringing wood and looking after cattle. Some are even pushed into child labor. Similarly, the absence of an educational environment at home; children's and parents' lack of interest in schooling; household poverty; pressures of domestic responsibilities; and the absence of fathers due to outstation work are the factors that will lead irreparable learning loss for these children. There is a real risk of regression for children whose basic, foundational learning (reading, math, languages, etc.) was not strong to begin with.   

According to UNICEF, out of 46.8 million children enrolled in schools of Pakistan experiencing education disruption nearly 8.6 million girls are enrolled at the primary level in Pakistan. Girls' education goes beyond getting girls into school. It is also about ensuring that girls learn and feel safe while in school; complete all levels of education with the skills to effectively compete in the labor market; learn the socio-emotional and life skills necessary to navigate and adapt to a changing world; make decisions about their own lives; and contribute to their communities and the world.  The prolonged school closures could hit girls and the most vulnerable, including those with disabilities the hardest. Girls are often obliged to take care of household chores and look after siblings.  The school closure will also act as a potential factor for increased drop-out rates, disproportionately affect adolescent girls, further entrench gender gaps in education and lead to increased risk of sexual exploitation, early pregnancy and early and forced marriage.

The program has benefited more than  1.5 MILLION students and families 60 percent girls' age range 5- 15 both in rural and urban marginalized communities of Pakistan in collaboration with nation and local departments During the inception phase, POWER99 Foundation conducted a pre/rapid assessment of  sample districts to get data.  A sample of households was selected from each district.  Tools for rapid assessment were developed in consultation with team of education departments . The scope, sequencing and master plans of the broadcasts have been developed by curriculum experts, IRI specialists, professional scriptwriters and primary school teachers who collaboratively develop the scope of content and generate activity and story ideas for programs. The script writer employs the finding of content and methodology to make the script creative and entertaining for children.

The educational benefits, delivered by the low-cost, technological aspects of the program, would not have been possible without the on-going support of the educational bodies, school leadership and the teachers. If the program is to be sustainable, it is important to ensure the approach is introduced into an environment that is responsive to change and that there is a plan for shared ownership. Enabling policies, strong and active community participation, and local champions are elements in such an environment. The program has been designed to ensure involvement of government officials and local communities at every step of implementation.  The following measures are adopted when introducing the program into a new school or area:

• Power99 Foundation works in close coordination with the education department officials that will help to develop their better understanding on actual requirements of project implementation. The program team guides heads/school administrator about proper maintenance of radios, and motivates them to include funds from the budget to support program into the future.
• Full-day orientation sessions/ meetings are held with members of School Councils, parents and communities where they are informed of the goals and methods of the program. These meetings often take an advocacy role, and focus on the importance of attendance and girl’s education.  They also encourage parent involvement in the classroom.
• Power99 Foundation recognizes that teachers need ongoing support in order to be able to develop their teaching capacities. A cohort of ‘Master Trainers, lead by program director provide training and work with the local teachers. These teachers have been trained on long-life low-cost teaching techniques with stress on indigenous material usage such as recycled bottles, newspaper, Boxes, Buttons, Beads etc.  These trainers also model and role-play lessons so that the teachers themselves experience the more interactive teaching techniques first hand. The local teachers’ response toward this teaching approach is very positive, and leads to teacher-led initiatives to develop learning aids and to adopt more child-centered teaching techniques.

• The daily broadcast radio lessons include a teachers’ guide and complete lesson plans to help teachers in planning activities and arranging the required resources.
• Master Trainers and Education Officers pay regular visits to target classroom to provide technical assistance to teachers in program activities and provide feedback on their teaching practice.

As a result of this broad involvement, Government officials, schools and communities take ownership of the program, and show interest in its replication. Power99 Foundation also approaches local CBOs/NGOs and administrators of private schools to take ownership of the program for continuation &replication and contribute for airing cost.  In this way, the effectiveness of the approach can be maximized, benefitting as many children and families as possible.

Third party evaluation shown positive impact especially on girls’ education, Out-of-school children. improved literacy rates, net enrollment rates, reduced drop-out rates..

Teachers at public, low-cost private schools practice various activities of the IRI lessons. 92% teachers interviewed using teaching aids as part of their classroom practice

Depending on literacy level of parents, they learn from their children and directly by listening to lessons. Communities have benefited from job and business opportunities, such as making of materials, books, radio sets.. Program is an example of adding economic value to the community but adding long term opportunities in the national, international area

POWER99 Foundation pioneered “BroadClass – Listen to Learn” Interactive Radio Instruction program in Pakistan. Program was first piloted in 2012 with 3,700 children of FDE schools in Islamabad for improving literacy, numeracy, teaching English by providing high-quality interactive audio programs to children, thus supporting Government of Pakistan’s efforts in achieving its constitutional and international commitments. Broadclass has proved itself as a revolution in development sector for providing quality education through social change in behaviors. Specifically Result showed gains in learning outcomes that in the late-20’s, lead to the use of Interactive Radio Instruction over the next five years in more than 45 districts across Pakistan. Before Covid – 19 In collaboration with Federal, provincial and district education department, organization has implemented program in both formal, non-formal and religious institutions in six districts across Pakistan. The program has directly and meaningfully benefited more than 400,000 students, heads/teachers, members of School Councils and parents/community members. Sixty percent (60%) of program beneficiaries are girls and female heads/teachers and education department officials. Besides direct beneficiaries, the program has benefitted more than 15 million people(out of school children, youth, parents and community member) in the outreach areas of radio transmission

Child-centered, holistic, culturally relevant approach.  

BroadClass is based on the principle that effective education for young children needs to be active, interactive and relevant. In BroadClass learner is regarded as the principal driving force, with the teacher and radio characters as facilitators of the learning process. Many active learning approaches are employed, including cooperative learning activities, listening exercises, speaking activities, riddles, sound games and role playing.

The pedagogical techniques have been devised in such a way that they incorporate social, linguistic, cognitive, and emotional contexts. Program design ensures involvement of all stakeholders at every step of implementation to develop their better understanding and ensures continuity and sustainability.

Due to public broadcast and wide accessibility, program makes educational input accessible to remote and highly mobile populations on a sustained basis. The use of low-cost technology has resulted in widespread uptake by schools which experience difficulties with school attendance and teacher engagement in new teaching practices

Program has been designed in such a way that it responds to all the diverse needs of the learners. The program is working on the agenda of providing equal quality education opportunities to the early grade children of marginalized community, especially girls.  More than 60% of program beneficiaries (heads of schools and teachers, students, members of school council and communities) are female.The project constitutes elements of gender equity (girls/boys), regional equity (urban/rural areas) and social equity (marginalized community).  More than 75% of the beneficiaries are from marginalized communities of rural areas. 

The project currently during covid-19 been directly benefitting 53,095 children in 18 target districts including 27,947 girls and 25,148 boys. The program has directly and meaningfully benefited more than 4,914,526 students, heads/teachers of partner schools, members of School Councils and parents/community members before Corona. The number serving in one year will be  7,338,471 and the number serving in five years will be 15,391,557. Sixty percent (60%) of program beneficiaries are girls and female heads/teachers and education department officials. POWER99 Foundation is working with religious institutions (Madaris) local and international organizations and provincial governments to take it to 45 districts across Pakistan.

INTERMEDIATE OBJECTIVES

• To assess the current situation of schools, Baseline study would be Conducted
• To refresh the training partner teachers about the quality of education, classroom management skills and about the activities and contents of Program.
• To improve the learning opportunities through implementation of program, radios would be provided to partner classrooms.
• For implementation of program radio lessons would be aired.
• For implementation of program rhymes and games content would be aired.
• To assess the projects’ overall performance of all the stakeholders after the completion of project.
• To fulfill the donor’s requirement for completion of project and to share results of the project with donor and all stakeholders.

INDICATORS

• A comprehensive Baseline report generated.
• No. of male & female teachers participated in follow-up training
• No. of Radios and learning material provided to the teachers
• No. of lessons on aired in the schools
• No. of content on aired in the schools
• A Comprehensive End-term report generated; showing the accomplishment of the program objectives compare with the indicators developed in logical framework.
• A Comprehensive program completion report is generated.

The detail of staff is as under:

Full-time staff: 19

Part-time Consultants: 5

Volunteers: 7

POWER99's team of professionals is from various faiths, regions, and experiences. Organization has Years of professional working experience in designing creative learning module on education and life skills especially for school children according to their classes and have Professional experience with child-based learning project in communities. This successfully empowers sustainable development and builds meaningful partnerships with all stakeholders.

POWER99 Foundation has edge by virtue of content based on universal themes, success stories, Customer loyalties to existing causes and focus areas including In-house facilities for production, broadcasting and interactive lesson creation and this is recognized by not only partners but also by national and International reporting organizations like

VOA telecast special report on Broadclass, a winning innovation in STI Forum 2019 https://www.urduvoa.com/a/view-360-Monday-may-27-president-trump-impeachment-/4934018.html

BBC News (TV) declared Broadclass as an innovative program that can help Pakistan in achieving the MDGs 2015

DW Global 3000, declared it "minor revolution in the field of education" in Pakistan.  https://www.facebook.com/broadclass/videos/840549059396551/ Aaj TV announced Broadclass an innovative solution for inclusive education. https://www.facebook.com/broadclass/videos/950760555042067/

UNESCO lists it as the only project in Pakistan in 'WHAT'S WORKING?'(unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002351/235152E.pdf)

Broad class program has been profiled by CEI as the innovative program that is Expanding Access to Early Childhood Education Technology that uses traditional form of technology – radio – to help children from marginalized populations in Pakistan gain numeracy and literacy skills.

Russian TV stated that broad class is a new approach for overcoming obstacles and providing education to the poor by using radio https://arabic.rt.com/news/688905-%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%83%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%A7%D9%86_%D8%A7%D8%B7%D9%81%D8%A7%D9%84_%D8%AA%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%85_%D8%A7%D8%B0%D8%A7%D8%B9%D8%A9

Broad Class: Listen to Learn has been using  human-centered, inclusive technology designed in such a way that it responds to all the diverse needs of the learners. The program is working on the agenda of providing equal quality education opportunities to the children of marginalized community, especially girls. More than 60% of program beneficiaries (heads of schools and teachers, students, members of school council and communities are female.The project constitutes elements of gender equity (girls/boys), regional equity (urban/rural areas) and social equity (marginalized community). More than 75% of the beneficiaries are from marginalized communities of rural areas.

POWER99 Foundation is applying because the organization values its partners and maintains extensive links with innovative development projects, experts and donors for supporting holistic and sustainable development in Pakistan.

Funding organizations,

• telecommunication industry authority,
• development partners,
• Mobile manufactures 
• Multinationals / Private Sector