MAHI PARVEEN

About Me: Mahi Parveen

Profession

I am a public school teacher and I am proud to be a teacher because I am associated with a prophetic profession. Currently I am based at Professional Development Centre North under Child-Friendly School (CFS) Project as a Professional Development Teacher (PDT).  As a PDT, I am responsible for  designing and conducting baseline surveys and training needs analysis (TNA), workshops for Assistant Education Officers (AEOs), teachers, headteachers and community representatives of CF schools, providing field-based support to CF schools, developing work plans for the project, facilitating headteachers and teachers in the design of school development plans  as well as develop teaching - learning materials and lesson plans, write reports on workshops and the field visits etc.

Province

I belong to Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) which was formerly known as the Northern Areas. It is the northernmost political entity within Pakistan. It borders Khyber Pukhtoon Khwa to the west, Afghnistan to the north, China the east and northeast, Azad Kashmir to the southwest and Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir to the southeast. Gilgit–Baltistan covers an area of 72,971 km² and is highly mountainous. GBis one of the beautiful valleys of Pakistan. It is rich in natural resources. It attracts local and foreigner tourist because of its beauty and the pleasant weather in the summer. I live in Gilgit in the capital city of GB.

Family

My family consists of my lovely kids (Aleesha, Eliza & Rehan) and my husband. My family is my world. My family members have been a great source of encouragement and strength in all matters of my life. They have been a wind underneath my wings to reach the desired destination of my career.

Personal Interest

Like other teachers, I enjoy reading books. In addition, I like working and mingling with other people to broaden my understanding of the philosophy of teaching and learning processes.

Goals for the Future

I am very ambitious about the development of my area. I want to utilize my full potentials and put forth my best to make a difference in the lives of children. I also want to make a contribution to enhance the status of women in the society because they suffer a lot due to patriarchal structure. Furthermore, I would like to play a role in promoting peace in my area.

Educational Institute

Basically, I belong to government education department, but currently I am based at the professional Development Centre North (PDCN) under Child-Friendly Schools (CFS) Project as a Professional Development Teacher (PDT). Child friendly School Project is a joint venture of UNICEF, Directorate of Education (DoE) and PDCN. The aimed of the project is to enhance quality of education in the region by creating child friendly environment, involving communities in school affairs and creating child-centered teaching and learning environment. So far, this project has reached to 254 public schools of GB. So, in this way I am connected with two main organizations DoE and PDCN. My home organization is Government Education Department, GB which is putting its efforts to make education accessible and possible for each and every child of GB. Along with this, it is striving to enhance the quality of education by providing training opportunities for teachers.

I am also associated with PDCN through CFS project, because I am based there. It is a teacher professional development centre. It has many resources such as a purposeful building, a charismatic and dynamic head, highly qualified staff, a collaborative culture and modern technologies to facilitate all the teachers to develop their professional and leadership skills. It is also working for the promotion of peace and harmony among the people of GB.

I love both of the institutions from bottom of my heart because both of them are working for the noble cause of spreading education and providing quality education at the children’s door steps.

Needs of my Institution

I am directly associated with the 254 Child Friendly Schools of GB. Many of these schools have diverse challenges, like scarcity of teaching-learning resources, less qualified staff, unaware parents, under-privileged communities, and unhygienic and unfriendly infrastructures. Through this project, these schools are provided with the support to create child friendly environment in these schools. This project has a great impact on the improvement of the overall environment of the schools, but it is a long way to go.

Reflection Philips Academy

On July 12, 2012, we visited Philips Academy. Ms. Black accompanied us during these visit. During this visit, one of the faculty members of the academy guided us to visit various departments and available resources, such as department of science, history, library, gymnasium etc. we also visited the museum of fine arts and archeology department on the campus. We attended presentations about the work they have done and observed the collections of the exemplary pieces of art available at the museum. The entire environment of the academy was so fascinating for me because it has a learning conducive environment for each and every student regardless of nationality, gender, religion, caste and creed. Moreover, it has all the required resources and facilities to maximize students’ learning. So every bit of the visit was beneficial and very relevant to my job. However, the following three concepts were more inspiring for me than others. First of all, I was very much inspired by the experiential teaching and learning methods of the teaching, where students are engaged in hands-on and minds-on activities. In contrast to it, in my context we just focus upon the rote memorization for good grades. Secondly, the concept of community services was also a quite new concept for me where a student is given an opportunity to work at different departments according his/her choice and interest even at school level. As a result, he/she gets a chance to explore his/her own potentials and hidden talent to opt for the most relevant career for him/herself. Finally, I observed throughout the visit that the child safety and security is the top priority everywhere. The facilities provided at schools are according to the interest of child and the environment is provided keep in view his/her holistic development. While contrasting this environment to my context, I can say that this component is totally missing in my context because environment is not very friendly in many of the schools. Even the location of the schools is questionable because they are constructed in the hazardous places. According to my understanding, all the above-mentioned concepts are applicable in our context, but to make this applicable we need to develop the knowledge and skills of our teachers to institutionalize these concepts. Therefore, I will start working on these concepts from the headteacher and AEOs. I will convince them about the importance of experiential learning and community services by sharing my experiences at Plymouth. Thereafter, I will incorporate it in the regular programs to familiarize the teachers about these concepts. I will also help teachers during the field visit to implement these concepts in their schools. I am hopeful that this idea will be appreciated and implemented by the teachers.

NON-SIBI

Non sibi is voluntary services which are rendered by the school boys and girls to help out the underprivileged children of the society. The main purpose of this activity is to support others to fulfill their basic needs. On one hand, this activity is a great source of encourage for the students to help other kids like them and other hand this activity inculcates a sense of responsibility towards the larger community at this stage. It also helps to develop empathy for others even among small kids. I admired this concept a lot, because I am of the view that if we encourage these students to do voluntarily work at this level, they will become good and informed citizens of the society. In addition, in this age we can bring a behavioral change very easily.
This concept exists in my community, but it is not at the school level. In schools, only teaching and learning activities are focused and even the co-curricular activities are not very much in practice because of the lengthy syllabus of the schools. After going back to Pakistan, I would introduce this concept in all the target schools and try to share this concept with the educators of the other project, because I believe that though such activities we can make our students responsible regarding their responsibilities towards the society. I also think that it is an easy way to reduce corruption rate in my country by instilling a caring attitude among them at school level.

Max Warburg Courage Institute

July 20, 2012

We paid a visit to Max Warburg Courage which is a memorial and charity institute. The mission of the Max Warburg Courage Curriculum, Inc. is to strengthen the character development and literacy skills of students. The program empowers children to discover, then recognize, the role of courage in the lives of the characters they read about, in the lives of those around them, and in their own lives – past, present and future. In addition, this institute helps out kids from all over the world to develop their reading, writing and critical thinking skills by engaging them in project-based activities. It also provides a platform to every child to give a voice to his/her stories and essays in the world.  These stories and essays are published to tell the world how people have managed their problems.

This program is a lesson to the people of this world in how to manage their fears and problems and lead a good life. This gives voices to the children to share their stories with others and encourage others to do the same. My teachers and students also have many stories to share with others. I can encourage them to narrate their own stories and help them to express themselves in written way. In this way, I can help them to improve their writing skills and share their fears with me and I can help them to overcome their fears by involving their parents and other community members. I can also help them to publish their courageous stories by sending them to the Max Warburg Courage Institute.

Unfortunately, in my context, our students are not given enough chances to read and write, as a result, their skills are not fully developed. According to my experience and opinion, this is the main cause of drop out at the higher level. That is why I will encourage my language teachers to use this curriculum document to enhance their students’ writing and reading skills at the primary level.

REFLECTION ON WASHINGTON D.C. TRIP

We had an opportunity to visit Washington D.C. from July 22-25, 2012. It was a great chunk of this program. During this visit, we had a chance to visit many significant places such museums, Pakistan embassy, Pavilion (old post office building), capitol building, Adams, Voice of America Washington monument, Albert Einstein statue, state department and many more important places. We were also given an opportunity to take a moonlight trolley tour. In this way, we had a great time with our facilitators and colleagues. During this trip, we met many important people and visited many places. This entire trip was full of enjoyment and learning. This trip made me realized how nations have built themselves and how the sacrifices of some people give a life and strength to the entire nation. In addition, I found an environment of justice and where every individual has a right to practice his/her faith independently and enjoy every facility available in the society. Moreover, I observed a value for time among the citizens and a culture of working with full dedication which is a strength of a good nation. In my opinion, this trip has given me a direction for my professional life as well as for the personal life. It has given me a strength and courage to come forward and to give my nation a goal especially concerning my teachers. I want my teachers to understand their roles and responsibility while working with dedication to utilize their full potentials to change the mind sets of their students and direct their concentration towards the development of their county making this world a peaceful place for our coming generations. I will also work to utilize the students’ talents and capacities to bring a positive change in the society. I know that this is not an easy job to do but I am hoping it is not impossible. I will convey this message to as many people as I can reach by incorporating this concept into my regular programs.

 

MASTER ACTION PLAN

GOALS:

Educate and raise awareness among the teachers and students of all the schools existing in the Sonikot Gilgit and community resides in the area about a healthy and hygienic environment and sensitize them about the hazardous effects of environmental issues.

OBJECTIVES:

By the end of the project, the teachers and students will able to:

1. Develop a good mechanism to manage solid waste produced by households and schools.
   
2. Demonstrate a self-responsibility and ownership to keep their environment neat and
   clean.
   
3. Launch a campaign to raise awareness among the mothers to maintain healthy
   environment.
   
4. Promote advocacy among the young learners by their peers.
   
5. Form an environmental club of teachers, students, SMCs and MSGs.
   

PROCEDURES: Activities

•   Physical observation of the polluted sites
  
•   Meeting with the head teachers /principals/notables of the area
  
•   Workshop for teachers (3 teachers from each school)
  
•   Sessions for girl guides and boy scouts
  
•   Debate among the students on the following topic “Is the culture of the place
  affecting the environment, yes or no?’
  
•   Formation of students, teachers, SMC and MSGs environmental club
  
•   Developing posters with quotations related to environmental issues and prevention
  (interschool competition)
  
•   Formation of students, teachers, SMC and MSGs environmental club
  
•   Cleanliness day
  
•   Door to door campaigns by girl guides and boy scouts
  
•   Dissemination of the information through Face book
  

 Denomination of information through local cable 

Required resources

Camera, notebook, pen, Consent letters, stationery for the workshop, Handouts, Multimedia, Refreshment, Library books, internet, water paint, poster colors, brushes, prizes for students, charts, gloves and masks, daily Allowance for teachers, fee for cable to play the message, refreshment for girl guides and boy scout while conducting door to door campaign

Timeline

The activities will be started on August 25, 2012 and ended on December 30, 2012.

Success Criteria

1. Photos
   
2. Movie clips
   
3. Running notes
   
4. Consent letters
   
5. Registration sheets
   
6. Attendance sheet
   
7. Evaluation forms
   
8. Samples of students’ work
   
9. Final report would be written which would include the following things:
   

a) Initiatives taken

b) Successes
c) Challenges
d) Recommendations for further improvement.

Budget

Items                                                          Purpose                             Required Amount

1. Stationery and other require items                 workshop                          $ 80 
2. Writing pads
3. Pens
4. Folders
5. Flip charts
6. Markers
7. Stapler and pins
8. Masking taps
9. A4 sheets
10. Thumb pin
11. Scissors
12. String
13. Color pencils

2.     Handouts                                                 workshop                               $ 60

3.     Refreshment                      workshop/ door to door campaign/              $ 70

                              

                                                  Session for girl guides/boy scouts

4. Remuneration                                    workshop                                          $50

5.  Gloves, masks, prizes for students        Cleanliness day                             $70

       and refreshment

6.  Items                                              poster competition                              $80

1. Colors
2. Flip charts
3. Markers
4. Paints and brushes
5. Pictures

7.   Cable fee                                          Dissemination of Message               $90

     

Total                                                                                                              $ 500