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ALIF
Spells Open Sesame For Pre-schoolers in Pakistan
By Nadeem Iqbal
Inter Press Service
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 ISLAMABAD,
Apr 11 (IPS) - ALIF, the first alphabet of the Urdu language
is also a neat acronym for a Pakistani non government organisation
(NGO) which runs an innovative electronic media project for
pre-schoolers. |
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Funded
by Pakistani expatriates, the project aims at bridging the
learning and skill-development gap between privileged and
underprivileged children without being dependent on donors
as so many projects in the social sector are in Pakistan.
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Launched in September, last year, ALIF (Active Learning Initiative
Facility), is the brainchild of Safi Qureshi, a former member
of US President Bill Clinton's export council.
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Now in his mid-forties, Qureshi was also cofounder and former
chief of AST Research Inc., a personal computer firm that
once ranked as the fourth largest computer manufacturer in
the world.
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ALIF's
key visual literacy project is the popular Khul Ja Sim Sim
(KJSS) programme -- basically an Urdu adaptation of the 'Open
Sesame' series broadcast in 23 countries and itself a version
of 'Sesame Street' produced by the US-based Children's Television
Workshop (CTW).
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Open Sesame is currently broadcast in 23 countries, while
the Sesame Street series as a whole (including English version
and co-productions) is viewed in 88 countries including Pakistan.
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KJSS familiarises children with the puppet characters andconcepts
of the Open Sesame show within a thoroughly Pakistani frame
of contexts.
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Dr.
Tahir Raza Shah Andrabi, director of ALIF describes the 104-episode
KJSS series as an effort to enrich the pre-school children's
environment, which has been invaded by Indian film tunes meant
for older audiences.
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''Talk to any school-going child. First he will recite some
poem to you and once on his own would start singing popular
Indian movie tunes,'' Andrabi, recalled from visits to villages
to assess the impact of his TV show.
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''We
are targeting children of the 3-7 age group from lower middle
class families which form the backbone of society and many
of whom are probably the first generation going to school.''
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Telecast twice a day, 75 programmes of KJSS have so far gone
on air since launch in April last year and is due to continue
until July 2000. Home videos and audio cassettes will soon
be available for Urdu-speaking people around the world.
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To supplement the TV programme, a nation-wide campaign 'View-Do-Read',
involving book publishers, community organisations and schools
is being launched.
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Andrabi, a research associate at the London School of Economics,
thinks that differences in cognitive abilities, logical and
analytical skills between haves and have-nots appear as early
as the primary school stage.
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In his late thirties, Andrabi is currently associate professor
of economics at Pomona College, Claremont, California as well
as research associate at the London School of Economics (LSE).
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His academic credentials included a degree from Swarthmore
College and a doctorate in economics from the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT).
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''Another factor calling for early-age intervention is that
children from disadvantaged backgrounds are late starters
-- some do not even enter school until age 7,'' Andrabi added.
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In Pakistan more than 37 percent of households have one or
more TV sets and that figure is expected to double in six
years. In rural areas, TV-set acquisition is twice as fast
as in the urban areas and this offers great potential for
the future.
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KJSS revolves around the concept of multiple intelligence
--which is based on the assumption that each learner is intelligent
and talented no matter what the background or exposure.
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The theory proposes that all individuals possess several different
kinds of intelligences which could contribute and enrich the
classroom environment.
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To fulfill the learning needs of such diverse groups, teachers
are encouraged to view the overall social and physical environment
as a vast learning resource. Parents and communities actively
participate in the learning process.
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Multiple-intelligence acknowledges that there are sources
other than the conventional class room where the learning
experience occurs -- including watching TV, visiting places
and ordinary interaction with parents and elders.
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ALIF requires teachers in conventional classrooms to include
TV programmes in their curricula to standardise and enrich
the pre-school environment of all children in the country
-- in a way similar to the pre-school movement in the US.
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KJSS shows have around 12-13 explicit curricular messages with
goals including numeracy, communication and language, critical
thinking, environmental concerns/ecology, health and hygiene,
character-building self-development, and social awareness. |
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Going on air on PTV for 30 minutes at 6 pm and at 11 am and
also on PTV-World at 4 pm, KJSS has no commercial break because
ALIF pays its way. |
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A preliminary impact assessment carried out on 400 children
in both rural and urban areas showed the programme to have captured
the attention and curiosity of not only the targeted group but
also older children in the 7-11 age group. |
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Mehnaz Akber, principal advisor to ALIF and education specialist
with the federal Ministry of Education said, ALIF offers a conduit
for a growing number of Pakistani-Americans to participate in
societal and development activities in the home country. |
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''Since the mid-90s there has been a feeling among overseas
Pakistanis that the better they do in foreign countries the
more their home country was going down. So a man who has earned
a lot wants to build a school in his home village.'' |
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ALIF taps on the sentiment and asks expatriates to contribute
money to their programmes -- which could well be extended to
the building of schools |
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''There is a space for overseas Pakistanis to invest in because
Pakistan is no more on the priority list of international donor
agencies,'' she said. |
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Experience showed the attitude of international agencies towards
Pakistan to be fickle and linked to political exigencies. ''Which
is wrong because a change in the government does not mean a
change in the needs of the community,'' Akber added. |
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This article
is free of copyright restrictions and can be reproduced provided
that Inter Press Service is credited. |
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