TRANSITIONAL VOYAGE TO EMERGE INTO LEARNING COMMUNITIES FOR SCHOOLS IN PAKISTAN

Darvesh Karim, AKU-PDCN Gilgit.

Learning community is a group of people who share common values and beliefs and actively engage in learning together from each other. This is based on an advanced kind of educational or 'pedagogical' design. The people who facilitate learning communities may contribute from several distinct fields of study.  To create a learning community we have to focus on learning rather than teaching, work collaboratively and have to hold ourselves accountable for results and better outcomes.

Through literature review we can identify the guide lines for creating a learning community as Lovely, S. & Buffum, A.G. (2007) states that, “A major goal in the design of a learning community is facilitating a culture of collaboration within a setting that is complicated by the cross age diversity of most teams” (p.28). To facilitate this culture of collaboration we have to offer the opportunity for reforms.  The major requirements to create learning communities are according to Retallick, J. Cocklin, B. & Coombe, K. (Eds.). (1999)  are respect, caring, inclusiveness, trust, empowerment and commitment. These are the guide lines through which we can create learning community in schools.

For an effective learning community in educational institutions, there are many indicators to identify the existence of learning community; however, following two factors are more dominant towards fostering learning community in a school.

1.      Supportive and Shared Practices

2.      Distributed Leadership

Supportive and Shared Practices

Several kinds of factors determine when, where, and how the staff can regularly come together as a unit to do the learning, decision making, problem solving, and creative work that characterize a professional learning community. If we will not take care of these factors many consequences can occur in the institution. Stewart, D. & Prebble, T. (1993) describes this situation as, “Relationships among staff groups are a consequence of the communication patterns and networks that exist in the organization” (p.94).

Review of a teacher's behavior by colleagues is the norm in the learning community.  This practice is not evaluative but is part of the "peers helping peers" process for own understanding or to help each other. Such review is conducted regularly by teachers, who visit each other's classrooms to observe, and discuss their observations with the visited peer. Stewart, D. & Prebble, T. (1993). “Reflecting on our professional practice tends to be more profitable when a colleague is able to help us reflect on that practice and suggest alternatives” (p.45). This process use to be based on the desire for individual and community improvement and is enabled by the mutual respect and trustworthiness of staff members.

Teachers can proudly claim the existence of learning community in their schools, if they we have the sense of non-evaluative assessments and positive feedback to each other and for the enhancement of this sense, the teaching-learning atmosphere and leadership influence on teachers is very much revolutionary, which create such an atmosphere of respect and trustworthiness among the all the teachers. It is very well said that development never ends, so exercising the supportive and shared practices may lead teachers to strengthen and reinforce further this important aspect of learning community.

Distributed Leadership

Distributed-leadership means interdependency and coordinated work. This theme is presented as an alternative to focused leadership. According to Gronn (2003) it is the new trend increased after 1980, which is certainly a step up from one person leadership as we can see the work of head teacher is increasing and the responsibilities of managing the school needs to be shared.  This is also articulated by Arrowsimith (2007) that “Distributed leadership (DL) is an emerging form of power distribution in school which extends authority and influence to groups or individuals in a way which is at least partly contrary to hierarchical arrangements” (p.22). In the context of Pakistan, we can partially relate this leadership theme to some of the educational institutions.

Distributed leadership starts from willingness to share authority, the capacity to facilitate the work of staff, and the ability to participate without dominating. Stewart, D. & Prebble, T. (1993) states that, “If principals wish to change what teachers do, they must first change the way teachers think about what they do” (p.189).

Members of the Learning Community work together, share expertise, and exercise leadership to ensure that student achievement is the intended result of all decisions.  They retain primary responsibility, appropriate autonomy, and are accountable for making decisions affecting the important aspects of the learning community.

It seems clear that transforming a school organization into a learning community can be done only with the sanction of the leaders and the active cultivation of the entire staff's development as a community. Thus, a look at the principal of a school whose staff is a learning community seems a good starting point for describing what these learning communities look like and how the principal accepts a collegial relationship with teachers to share leadership, power, and decision making. Stewart, D. & Prebble, T. (1993) describes this notion of leadership as, “Leaders make a difference, but their work should be seen as an integral part of the activities of the whole group” (p.199). Through this practice, all grow professionally and learn to view themselves to use an athletic metaphor as "all playing on the same team and working toward the same goal: a better school".  This idea has very accurately articulated by Sergiovanni, T.J. (1996);

Communities are collections of individuals who are bonded together by natural will and who are together bond to a set of shared ideas and ideals. This bonding and binding is tight enough to transform them from a collection of “I’s” into a collective “we” (p.48).

REFERENCES

Arrowsmith, T. (2007). Distributed leadership in secondary schools in England: the impact on the role of the head teacher and other issue. Management in Education. 21(2), 21-27.

Gronn, P (2003). The New Work of Educational Leaders: Changing Leadership Practice in an Era of School Reform. London. Sage Publications.

Lovely, S. & Buffum, A.G. (2007). Generations at School: Building an Age-Friendly Learning Community.  California: Crown Press.

Retallick, J. Cocklin, B. & Coombe, K. (Eds.). (1999). Learning Communities in Education: Issues, strategies and contexts. London: Routledge.

Sergiovanni, T.J. (1996). Leadership for the Schoolhouse: How Is It Different? Why Is It Important? San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Stewart, D. & Prebble, T. (1993). The Reflective Principal: School Development Within a Learning Community. New Zealand: ERDC Press Massey University.

A reflection on my assumptions, which challenged

A reflection on my assumptions, which challenged

Darvesh Karim

AKU-PDCN Gilgit

Lifelong learning is a continuous process, and it should continue to refresh and update our understanding and knowledge. This process sometimes challenges our knowledge and understanding about different phenomenon. This piece of reflection is the confession of two assumptions I had previously, which were challenged by reading two articles.

Firstly, I had a perception that a child learns according to his/her mental capacity gradually but after going through an article ‘A theory of teaching as assisted performance’ written by Roland Tharp and Ronald Gallimore, in which specifically they discuss about the zone of proximal development in short ZPD. This knowledge came to me and of-course it challenged my previous assumption and convinced me that no doubt the child learns according to his/her mental level ‘gradually’ however, the ability to solve problems by his/her own use to be in a ‘slow motion process’. The writer ensures that this slow motion process of learning can be accelerated further by the assistance of teachers, parents and more capable peers. So in between the child’s individual capacity of knowledge and assisted capacity of knowledge is assumed as ZPD. Through this process the development process increases rapidly. This process continues throughout the life for learning new knowledge and skills.

Secondly, I had another assumption which was also challenged and I had to accommodate the new concept and knowledge and had to build-on it during my university and independent studies. It was my understanding and assumption, as it was taught to me in school life that any child use to be a blank piece of paper mentally and for his/her development, parents, teachers and the environment play vital roles to add new information and knowledge. While, the new concept of different smartnesses or the multiple intelligences of the child is to be kept in mind during the teaching learning process. As it is very much clear that initially every body is quite different from each other and this difference has been categorized and presented as multiple intelligence theory by dividing the abilities to different groups like, word smart, picture smart, body smart , music smart, people smart and self-smart etc. This understanding came to me through the article ‘The Foundations of the Theory of Multiple Intelligences’, written by Thomas Armstrong.

Karim from Altit - a great entertainer - Video Dailymotion

Karim from Altit - a great entertainer - Video Dailymotion

Choosing the field of education

Choosing the field of education

By: Darvesh Karim

Entering the education field has been a very motivated decision for me. This particular decision is completely based on the former experience I had had all the way to the moment I decided I will connect my future with it. Nowadays, when parents are very busy the workers of the educational field are the people, who teach the young generation what is beautiful and what is ugly, what is right and what is wrong and million other things. Every person someday used to be an ordinary pupil that had teachers. The schooling experience of every person may develop either positive or negative attitude towards education in general. It is a fact of common knowledge that one of the most important parts in the educational process is the teacher. Choosing the education field has to be connected with a “calling” of a person, because it requires a lot of professional and personal qualities and constant self-perfection.

My personal experience in school taught me that a teacher could really make a difference in the process of education. A teacher may develop respect to the subject, to the teacher’s personality and to the education in general. A pupil may even see the difference in the manner of explaining and presenting the material teaching the same subject.

I discovered this difference when I had a substitute teacher coming to class and making my most hated subject one of the most interesting in the whole school program. I decided that I do want to make children love teaching and show them how fun and interesting learning can be. I decided to make it the reason of my life.

There have been lots of debates on good and bad teachers. And this particular experience made me realize that I do want to make a difference for children and make their education interesting for them in the first place and therefore motivate their own educational activity. I want to become a “good” teacher, not just a teacher reproducing the material student knows, but sharing attitudes, experience and reveal all the interesting sides in the educational process. It is vital to make sure the pupils get only the most positive experience from teaching. My experience made me realize how many mistakes some teachers do and gave the greatest desire to learn everything in order to become a real professional in the field of education.

Such a position towards education may reveal more talented young people among pupils and students. By making the process of education more productive we increase the educational level of the whole nation and I want to make my own personal contribution into this “highly professional education”. I have also thought that sharing the knowledge you have with other people is wonderful, and maybe one day I will inspire a young person to dedicate him/herself to the field of education. And this will be the best reward for me and for all the forces I plan to contribute in this field now. This experience was a “push” in the direction of the field I admire so much.

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Brief Report/Perspective

GOVERNMENT OF GILGIT-BALTISTAN

  BOYS MODEL HIGH SCHOOL KARIMABAD HUNZA

 1912-2012

Centennial Celebrations 2012

BRIEF REPORT/PERSPECTIVE

KARIMABAD TOWNSHIP HUNZA

05813-96139

Email: abhsk@yahoo.com

PROFILE OF HUNZA

Area: 7,900 square kilometers (3,100 sq. mi).

Population: 91000 according to an internet source

Literacy Rate: 85% according to a rough estimate

Languages: Brushaski,Shina, Wakhi

According to a rough estimate the economy of Hunza can be divided into the following categories: 

1.      Agriculture  and livestock :                                                  40%

2.      Business, import, export, tourism:                                     10%

3.      Jobs:                                                                                         30%

4.      Others:                                                                                     10%

5.      Unemployment:                                                                10%

Impact:

·         KKH, Democratization and institutionalization, AKRSP (AKDN), Education and Technology.

Challenges/constrains:  

·         Overpopulation and scarcity of land.

·         Mass education without specialization and perfection.

·         Unemployment.

Suggestions/Recommendations

·         Household management trainings

·         Introduction of corporate business

·         Taping of offshore outsourcing opportunities

·        Natural resource management

PURPOSE OF THE REPORT

Federal Government Boys Model High School Karimabad Hunza is going to complete hundred years of its establishment in the year 2012. This venerated institution was established in 1912 as the first primary school in Hunza-Nagar district. From its establishment to the present era, the school has played a great role in educating the masses of Hunza and their development. The present school administration, after consultations with some of its respected alumni, has decided to celebrate this great historic event with great pomp and show. In this regard, the services of some professional individuals were sought to make the event more successful and memorable. In agreement with the recommendations of this team of professionals, it has been decided that the year would be celebrated in three phases in parts of three major events. One of the events is a video documentary on the history of the school which will be comprised on interviews from individuals, who have a good understanding of the history of the school and biographies of late teachers. Another event is publication of a book containing articles on the role of school in their personal achievements and development of the area.  The third one will be a one-day grand ceremony at the end. This report is part of the aforementioned events which will be published on the schools’ website that is going to be launched in a couple of weeks.   

GEOGRAPHICAL OVERVIEW  

Hunza, a place of lofty mountains, mighty glaciers and scenic valleys is located in the extreme North of Pakistan. It shares its boundaries with Peoples Republic of China in the North and North East; Afghanistan in the North West, while the beautiful Nagar valley lies in its South and district Gilgit is in the West. It is also linked with an important Central Asian country, Tajikistan, by 7 to 13 kilometer long in width, Wakhan strip in the North West.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE AREA

Because of its strategic importance; Hunza acquired the attention of the world powers especially the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and the Great Britain in the past. They got access to the court of the then Mir of Hunza, Mir Safder Ali Khan and expressed their desire to develop diplomatic relations with Hunza. These relations were of defense nature according to which the throne of Hunza had to be loyal to one of the aforementioned powers against the other in case of attack. In return, they promised to provide financial as well as military support. The Mir swore allegiance of both the countries first but with the passage of time, his intentions changed and he started taking interest in Russia. When the British came to know about the fact, they decided to invade the valley and conquered it before it fell to the Russian influence. Mir Safder Ali Khan with his few courtiers and family members left Hunza and took political asylum in Kashghar, China. After conquering Hunza, the British Government appointed Mir Mohammad Nazim Khan, the step brother of Mir Safder Ali Khan, the new ruler or Mir of Hunza. As a result, Hunza became directly under control of the great British Empire.

Notwithstanding its negative implications, the war brought the people of Hunza close to the British and provided the later with a chance to have a clear understanding of the habits, potentials and strengths of the former rather than considering them a barbaric nation.  The British found that the people of Hunza are proactive, hardworking and change accepting ones, despite the fact that they scrapped together the meanest existence of life and were never exposed to the bounties of a modern world.  The British wanted to educate the people of Hunza so that their potentials could be used in the best interest of their government and to uplift their financial as well as social status. Unfortunately, this was not in the interest of the then elite, who strongly believed in social stratification based on might, race and lands. It hampered every effort of providing education to the common man and warned the Mir of its negative implications for his regime.

THE BEGINNING OF A NEW ERA

At the beginning of the twentieth century there was only one primary school in Gilgit Agency for the entire Gilgit-Baltistan. It is said that in 1910 two more primary schools; one in Astore and another in Bunji were opened, while the then Primary School Gilgit was upgraded to middle level. In Hunza, after many years of consultations and deliberations, the English succeeded to establish a primary school at Baltit now Karimabad. So, the first ever primary school in Hunza was the third ever school in the entire Gilgit-Baltistan. The available school record shows that it might have been operating informally during its initial years until 1925 as it cannot provide sufficient evidence about the school activities; such as number of students enrolled, resources, teachers, periods, subjects etc. However, a properly maintained record of the school is available from 1925 and onwards, which is a great and trustworthy resource for any research work to be done in future.

TEACHING, A PRESTIGIOUS PROFESSION

From the very beginning, criteria for inducting teachers in this school were very tough. The only educated from upper class were allowed to join the school as teachers who had already access to the court of Mir. So, this profession became prestigious and noble. Ultimately the earliest poets, authors and intellectuals belonged to this profession. Apart from their duties in the school, these teachers had even a greater role in society like religious leaders, letter writers, dispute settlers and social reformers.

SCHOOL’S JOURNEY THROUGH VARIOUS TIME PERIODS

The Karimabad High School evolved through various time periods and saw many changes. According to a local source, a Hindu pundit from Kashmir became the first incharge of the school, while another source contradicts it and says that someone known as Abdul Aziz Sialkoti was the first head of the school. The report further adds that the first school building consisted of three rooms and two teachers from Punjab were inducted because there was human resource issue in Hunza. Wazir Inayatullah Baig was the first local graduate, who became incharge of the school in 1916. He was also the first Hunzai graduate from Aligarh University. Wazir Inayat served in the school for six years and in 1922 Ghani Khan, popularly known as Gari Khan, who was the son of the then Mir of Hunza, became the second local incharge of the school. He had a reputation of having a very harsh attitude with his students. It is said students were so scared of him that out of forty only twenty students remained in the school and others left.  Ghani Khan died in 1928 and Mohammad Nijat, a graduate of Kashmir High School succeeded him, while Akhund Taighoon was appointed as a new teacher.

The school record shows that in 1938 there were 80 students enrolled in the school. In 1939, Afiyat Khan, a graduate of Gilgit Boarding School became incharge of the school and in the next year in 1940, Sikandar Khan assumed the same position.  In 1958-59, the school was upgraded to middle level and Mr. Dad Ali became the head teacher of the school. By 1970 the school remained the only middle school for the entire Hunza-Nager region. Students from far off areas came to receive education.  In 1970, the school crossed another milestone and it was upgraded to secondary level. In 1976-77, the then education minister, Mr. Abdul Hafeez Pirzada, visited the school and approved to construct a new building for the high school at the same site of the then middle school building.

 On his arrival to Hunza in 1984, the then Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mohammad Khan Junejo declared it Model High School and approved fund for addition of more rooms with the old building, but for some inexplicable reasons implementation on the order was not possible. However, in 1993, a part of the old building of 1922 was demolished and a laboratory, few rooms and an office for the head master were constructed.

In the mid-nineties, a wave of private English medium schools incarcerated the entire area; as a result, a significant fall in the enrolment of students was seen because parents were more fascinated by the newly established English medium schools.  The school had to face a tough competition with these private schools in the vicinity to keep its survival. These schools were constructed by communities to ensure provision of quality education and equip students with English language skills. To pace up with these private schools; English was employed as medium of instruction from class 6^th to 10^th.

An issue emerged when the government banned induction of new teachers: there were sixteen approved positions for teachers in the school but only six teachers were serving in the school. To overcome the issue, the community was consulted and a PTA fund of Rs.50/- was raised to hire community teachers. In 2000 the government lifted the ban on the recruitment of teachers and the school inducted four more teachers to fill the gaps. English was employed medium of instruction right from the nursery class. In 2003, a number of initiatives were taken at the school level to ensure quality in teaching learning and administration: a SWOT analysis was conducted and on its basis a realistic School Development Plan (SDP), vision, mission and code of conduct were designed. Moreover, to maintain transparency in the induction of teachers, a tough screening system was adopted.

In 2004, an effort was made towards effective and efficient utilization of available resources in the school instead of depending on purchase of costly ones. For the first time, merit citation ceremony was celebrated at a grand level. To encourage students for their excellent performance in the board and home exams, cash rewards were granted to the position holders. Community had an ill perception about teachers’ punctuality and regularity in government schools. An attempt was made to address this issue through an emphasis on observing the code of conduct by the teachers.  In the next year, in 2005, flag of honor was introduced to encourage inducing hygienic and conducive learning environment and a committee was also formed to assess the process. PTA was motivated to have an effective liaison with teachers and communities to minimize students and school related issues.

In 2007, the school signed an agreement with a UNICEF sponsored project known as ‘Child Friendly Schools Project (CFS) and in 2011 it has signed another agreement with an Australian funding agency sponsored project, Educational Development and Improvement Program (EDIP). These projects are working on five areas: increasing enrolment and reducing drop outs, quality education, community participation, gender sensitivity and inclusiveness. The aim of both projects is bringing government schools at par with some good schools of our country. These projects help the school in provision of instructional materials, repair and maintenance of the building and capacity building of teachers through Professional Development Centre North (PDCN). The EDIP project also sent a Professional Development Teacher (PDT) at the school, who provides professional support to the teachers.

SCHOOL’S ROLE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE AREA                                                                        

This school has played a pivotal role in the development of the area and its people. It is because of the school that Hunza has acquired a reputation as a place having highest literacy rate in the country, which is a matter of great pride and prestige for all of us. During the hundreds year’s period, the school produced countless individuals, who not only worked and are currently working on high positions in government and private sectors in the country but also serving in developed countries. Its alumni are spread in all over the world in order to pursue higher education and better employment opportunities. It is difficult to identify all those alumni who got prominence in their careers either in the past or now; however, a few of them are mentioned here for our readers as instance:  Major General Salman, Brigadier(R) Hissamullah Baig, late Brigadier(R) Sheruallah Baig, Brigadier Doctor(S) Ghulam Mehdi, Brigadier (S) Abdul Wahid, Air Commodore(R) Naunihal Shah, Dr. Faqir Mohammad, scholar Fida Ali Aisar have got their education from this school.

In addition, the school has given the people of Hunza a vision and produced a cadre to play a leading role in future development of the area. By 1974, the people of Hunza thought ‘leadership’ as a hereditary thing and a right of an elite class. A major reason of this perception was that there was lack of awareness among the people and those who were educated belonged to the upper class. Secondly, the then administrative set up was not so complex to require high qualifications. However, with the abolishment of that set up, government institutions were introduced for the first time in the area, which demanded educated people to run them. These educated individuals made the most of this precious opportunity and got employed as Magistrates, Assistant Commissioners, Deputy Commissioners, Education Officers, Health Officers and Police Officers. Furthermore, some of them contested local bodies’ elections and assumed leadership roles as chairmen, MNAs and MPAs in the legislative assemblies.

In early eighties, the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) arrived in the area and revolutionized the pace of progress in various departments. It initiated projects in several development sectors such as education, health, agriculture, livestock, banking and basic infrastructure. The aim of AKDN and its sub-institutions was to reduce poverty and bring development in the area through education and participation of local communities in various project works. These institutions required the services of qualified and skillful individuals who, by dint of the said school, were ready to take charge of the responsibilities.  During their services in these institutions, these individuals got high level professional trainings and exposure of some prestigious universities of the world, which changed their perceptions about development and improved their proficiency of work.

These individuals gave a clear vision to the communities about the contemporary demands of social and human development and its challenges. For this purpose, they greatly emphasized on the provision of quality education to the new generation and mobilized the communities to establish English medium schools on their own in each village of Hunza. With their establishment, these private schools faced a vacuum of human resource which was filled by the alumni of F.G. Boys Model High School Karimabad. Even today, the success of these private English medium schools is greatly depended on the services of our alumni, who provide support in teaching, administration and management. The reason is that these private schools need time to become self-sufficient because it has not long been since they were established and their own product has yet to come in the market to take responsibilities. In this regard, the credit of succeeding all these private schools goes to the F.G. Boys Model High School Karimabad which provided human resource for them and made them able to function as independent set ups.