Creative Associates International: Pakistan Reading Project

• In Event: Multiple paths toward sustainable policymaking: strategies for creating and implementing early grade reading policies in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kenya, and Uganda

Proposal

Provision of quality education remains a challenge in the Pakistan education system. After three years of formal instruction, 23% of students are still unable to read a single word and many other students, though able to recognize some words, are unable to read full sentences. Key factors undermining these poor reading results include:

• Language curriculum does not adequately cover reading skill;
• Reading instruction time is sparsely (or not at all) included in classroom timetables;
• There is an absence of national reading standards or benchmarks;
• Teachers do not receive instruction on how to teach reading during their pre-service training; and
• There are very few opportunities for primary school teachers, especially those in rural areas, to partake in professional development or engage with other teachers for innovation or improvement of reading instruction.

This panel presentation discusses how the USAID-funded Pakistan Reading Project (PRP) has developed a collaborative, multi-stakeholder approach that addresses these challenges and seeks to improve the quality of EGR education within Pakistan. Key to PRP’s approach is engaging provincial and regional governments of Pakistan to develop Reading Improvement Strategies (RIS) that embed policies that support EGR into their current education systems. This type of policy framework around reading was previously missing from the Pakistan public education system.

Overall, this presentation makes the case for how international development practitioners can collaborate with local policy makers and educational planners to develop, implement, and institutionalize EGR policies in a sustainable and scalable manner.

Authors

• Naeem Sohail-Butt, Chief of Party, Pakistan Reading Project

• Qaiser Munir, Pakistan Reading Project