training for teachers concluded

CHITRAL: The Eagle Eye Educational Institute awarded Certificates at a Certificate Awarding Ceremony on conclusion of its Early Childhood Development teachers training program.  The training program was held for 20 days  wherein 22 participants attended from various educational NGOs including the Aga Khan Education Services, Chitral, I-Read, Anmol, the ITREB, Chitral and Eagle Eye School.

The training program was based on the High scope approach which focuses on active, direct hands on experience of children with people, objects events and ideas.  While offering choices based on their interests, the children construct their own knowledge through interaction with the materials and people around them.  Teachers and parents offer physical emotional and intellectual supporting active learning setting.   The participants were given an opportunity through provision of time and resources to create low/no cost teaching materials for their classrooms.  The teaching focused on enhancing the practical skills of the trainees especially in the area of story telling, poems, games and other creative arts.  Developing reflective practice through writing daily reflective journals was an important expectation during the training.

The participants were also familiarized on the Learning Through Play Program developed by Hincks- Dell crest Centre in Toronto, Canada whose objective is to work with parents of children 0 – 6 years at home to prepare them for school readiness and to involve children in simple activities at home to enhance brain development.  The brain is the only organ in the body which is not fully developed at birth but by the age of 5, 90% of the synapses are made depending on the kinds of experiences and attachment provided to them by their parents and caregivers in the early years.  It is hoped that the participants will hold parenting sessions in their respective villages to discuss with parents ways and means of taking advantage of this window of opportunity in child development so that a solid foundation is set for the future success of our Chitrali children.  The Urdu Calendars for parents distributed to the participants provide a variety of tips to parents in a pictorial and user friendly manner. 

The chief guest of the ceremony was Dr. Mir Afzal Tajik and the other attendees were  Zohran Shah, the Director of Eagle Eye Educational Institute, Ms. Yasmin Khan, an education consultant from Canada who oversaw the program with participation of local trainers, Mir Zaman Shah, the GM of Aga khan Education Services, Chitral, Zulfiqar Ali, the Principal of the Aga Khan Higher Secondary School and Ms. Gul Hawa, the Principal of Eagle Eye School spoke about the importance of the ECD program.

The participants shared their experiences during the concluding program.  They highlighted the immense benefits of the training program to their professional development and were very appreciative of the practical skills which have prepared them to lead as ECD teachers in their respective areas in Chitral.  The confidence and commitment of the participants in enhancing quality learning of our young children was clearly visible in their presentations of the Holy Quran, Naat, Duas, poems, skits, etc.

In his address, the Chief Guest Dr. Tajik lauded the efforts of Eagle Eye Educational Institute in building capacity of Early Childhood educators as this is an area of major focus by AKDN institutions and other NGOs in Chitral.  He emphasized the importance of providing quality education in the early years to enable a successful future for our children.  Mir Zaman Shah GM AKES,P encouraged the participants to be persistent in implementing the skills and ideas learned in the program in their respective schools.  Zulfiqar reminded the audience on the importance for every generation of teachers to provide education based on the need of the time and we cannot afford to teach the next generation in the same manner as we were taught by our teachers.  The program concluded with a brief display of engaging resources created by the participants.

G.H. Farooqi PO Box NO. 50 GPO Chitral OR Bank Islami Main Branch Chitral

telephone No. 03337069572, 03469002167, 03159698446, 03025989602, 0943 3207373, 316052, 414418 email: gulhamad@gmail.com