HDF Schools: Speeding the Progress
of Literacy among Adults
The village education programs of
Shamsabad, Sindh, have witnessed an
interesting positive trend.
Nusrat,
8, and Samina, 11, are friends and
study in class 2 in Shah Lodhi Child-Friendly
School at Jurio Ghutko village. Since
they joined the HDF-sponsored school,
Nusrat and Samina have been teaching
their older sisters who are members
of the local women's development organization
(DO), Jurio-1.
Whatever they learn at school during
the day they teach their sisters.
Because of Samina's and Nusrat's work,
their sisters are now able to write
their names and sign their DO resolutions
and other related papers.
DOs are the backbone of HDF's Project
Pakistan model. These are community-based
organizations that are responsible
for administering and running projects
with the help and guidance of HDF
staff. It is the DO that actually
involves and empowers the local community.
HDF's self-help model has now made
this community realize the need to
educate its adult members and share
its resources.
There has been a similar positive
development in the Shamsabad village
of Solangi. The women of the Solangi
DO, whose children attend the schools,
have not only learned Sindhi but can
even speak some English. In the DO
of Sheena, members now greet HDF staff
in English and see off their visitors
with, "OK, see you next time!"
The success stories of these villages
are having a positive impact on the
DO's and communities of other villages.
Many of them are now willing to improve
the literacy rate of their communities,
as they are noticing the leadership
roles their children, girls in particular,
are playing in the villages that have
HDF-run schools.
"We have adopted a very simple
procedure for launching an education
project and setting up a school in
a village," says Mr Aqeel Abro,
the project coordinator. "We
simply ask the residents of each village
to construct one or two small classrooms
and the rest of the cost, including
books and furniture, will be carried
by HDF."
The DO members in Shamsabad mention
that although their villages are very
small, they have been trying to establish
schools for quite some time and in
the process even approached their
MPA and MNA, but they had no success.
Now that HDF schools are proving
to be so productive, the local DO
members say that they will make sure
to maintain and run these schools
as long as they can, even if HDF quits.
