Innovations in Education

There are many examples of innovative educational programs and communities around the world getting involved in educating young people in creative ways. We have pulled together some of the most inspiring stories here. China: Child-Centered Classrooms © Teachers Without Borders While rote learning and all-day lectures used to be the norm in many Chinese classrooms, a project called the Yunnan Minority Basic Education Project (YMBEP) has trained teachers to use more child-centered methods. These methods include more group work, open questioning, and the use of teaching aids and games. According to a recent article in Developments magazine, YMBEP is designed to improve the quality of basic education available to poor ethnic children in China and will be used in about 50 counties, with some 25,000 teachers trained to date. The project also introduces the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child to government officials, school mangers, and teachers. A number of stakeholders have worked together on this initiative, including the UK’s Department of International Development, the Yunnan Provincial Education Department, and Save the Children. Bhopal, India: Flexible School Schedules for Working Kids Education centers created in Bhopal, India are helping to get children from slums back into the education system. The aim is to encourage the poorest of the area’s children to return to school while ensuring that they can also continue to work, which is necessary to support their families. The centers stay open from morning to evening and children attend as they are able, but not on any fixed schedule. These flexible schedules have enabled children to get back into their studies without losing their jobs. And the role of the center coordinators does not end at teaching, explains an article from InfoChange India. They also act as advocates for the students and intervene with the children’s employers, urging fair and kind treatment. The centers are run by Aarmabh, a partner of the Poorest Areas Civil Society Programme (PACS), in conjunction with other social activists. Benin: Taxis Take the Message to Town © UNICEF / United Nations' Integrated Regional Information Network Education is likely to be more successful when teachers and parents are strongly supported by the broader community. A campaign on behalf of girls’ education by taxi drivers in Benin is a case in point. The country’s motorbike taxis, or Zemidjans, are joining a six-month national drive to get all girls into school. The Zemidjans receive training and a bright yellow shirt with a slogan for the campaign. They talk to passengers about the importance of girls’ education. A UN report on this story says that the number of girls in school in Benin has risen from 36 percent in 1990 to 84 percent in 2005, but the government wants to see these numbers rise still further—in view of the fact that one in three girls in the country is still out of school. Uganda: Plugging In to the World Uganda offers a good example of a country that has improved educational opportunities through the use of information and communications technologies (ICTs). In 1996, Uganda became the first country to participate in the World Bank’s World Links for Development (WorLD) project. Designed to help new generations learn about world cultures, encourage school-to-school project collaboration, and serve as an information channel for teachers around the world, WorLD Uganda has connected over 32 schools to the Internet, with more than 1,920 teachers and 30,000 students currently participating. WorLD also helped to create SchoolNet Uganda, the country’s first non-governmental organization dedicated to ICT-based education. In a more recent project, WorLD is also participating in a bilateral initiative with Schools Online and the Gates Foundation to use satellites to connect 15 rural schools to the Internet. Similar to ICT-focused education projects in other developing countries, Uganda’s Internet-enabled schools are used for community “after-hours” IT training. (For many more success stories about ICTs and education, see a report from the International Telecommunications Union.) Afghanistan: Catching Up Girls Women’s radio is an effective educational tool in Afghanistan, where many women and girls cannot read, write, or get out of their homes to access educational sources. © IRIN (Integrated Regional Information Networks) A system of fast-track education in Afghanistan is giving girls a second chance at education to make up for the years of school they missed during the rule of the Taliban, which did not allow girls’ education. At the Sha Shaheed School in Kabul, two years of school are taught in one. Some 360 pupils attend classes there in the mornings or the afternoons, six days a week. The hope is that the girls, who are typically 10-14 years old, will eventually re-enter the public school system with students their own ages. The Sha Shaeed School is one of nine schools sponsored by CARE International's Out of School Girls Project which currently provides education to 2,541 students in the cities of Kabul and Charikar. Arranging parent meetings—especially to emphasize a mother’s vital role in promoting education—is also an important part of the program. Northern India: A 'Learning by Doing' School for Girls An article from The South Asian Web site highlights a unique school for girls in northern India that operates based on the principle of learning by doing. At the Lakshmi Ashram, 70 girls from ages 6 to 16 are involved in the life of their community by doing everything from growing vegetables to tending to the school’s animals. With about five to eight children living with each teacher, the girls get individual attention and build their confidence. They also attend four hours of formal classes each day, including learning languages, math, sciences, history, and geography. The school’s incorporation of more standard teaching methods has not been without its challenges, however. While adept at “hands on” topics like forest conservation and biodiversity, the girls sometimes struggle with more abstract concepts like chemistry and algebra. Despite some of the drawbacks, the article notes that the school has “created confident young women who seem to have an important influence in the families and their communities.” Thailand: Special Education for Disabled Burmese Refugees The Consortium Burma Border project has opened a special education center for Burmese refugees with disabilities in Thailand. Before the center opened in 2001, some children with disabilities were sent to primary school where their needs could not always be met. Now, through the center, students can learn more successfully in a program that aims to cultivate a positive environment for those with disabilities. As a result, students are developing a sense of pride in their abilities and themselves, alongside their academic accomplishments. Since its inception, the center has thrived, and 1,000 children and adults have been given an education they would not have received otherwise. Dehra Dun, India: A School Takes On a Village Students in Dehra Dun, India gave new meaning to “service learning” when they were given a homework assignment to transform the nearby village of Fatehgram. As reported by The Indian Express, the students first set up a step-by-step plan of action and proceeded to visit the village on weekends and vacations to prioritize their needs. The students worked with the Himalayan Environment Studies and Conservation Organization (HESCO) to help Fatehgram—a village of 65 people that had no road, electricity, or potable water. Since electricity was a top priority, work first began on upgrading two power-generating watermills. Toilets were installed in every house, a road to the village was built, an irrigation channel repaired, and several income generating activities were launched, including the development of a fish pond and bee hives. The school plans to continue offering support to the village until it is self-sufficient. Ethiopia: It Takes a Village...to Get a Grant While Ethiopia’s government has committed to universal primary schooling, increased enrollments have hurt its educational infrastructure and student-teacher ratios. Fees also remain prohibitive for some families. A “Community-Government Partnership Program” Schoolchildren in Adwa, Ethiopia © Niamh Burke / UNESCO / ASPnet seeks to alleviate some of these problems by providing grants to create better schools in Ethiopian villages. Local communities have to be intimately involved, however, because seed grants are only given after an educational committee is formed, an action plan is developed, and the village contributes financially to the schools. Contributions may be cash, in-kind donations of supplies or livestock to sell, or hours of labor on constructing schools. So far, 400 of the planned 1,800 schools have raised an average of four times the initial seed grant provided. Pakistan: Bringing Books to Women Because of cultural traditions in Pakistan, many women cannot leave the house unescorted to get to local literacy centers. To address this problem, women have designated spaces in their homes as “reading corners” where 10-20 women meet twice weekly to practice reading aloud. A family literacy mentor travels from home to home, to bring new books and meet with the women. Furthermore, to provide more reading material and explore their own histories, the women have begun writing down their personal and family stories to share with one another. World Education, the Education Sector Reform Assistance project, and their local partners in Pakistan are currently working to broaden the reach of this Family Reading Program. ** Talkback! Leave your comments below. NEXT ARTICLE: Feature from India - Computer-Aided Learning PERSPECTIVES HOME: Learning the Future

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