Document Type

Conference Paper

Publication (Name of Journal)

Impact: Making a difference

Department

Professional Development Centre, Karachi

Abstract

After completion of my studies at Aga Khan University Institute for Educational Development (AKU-IED), I reported back to my parent organization Aga Khan Education Service for Pakistan in the first week of July 2002. I was posted in Aga Khan Girls High School Ovirk, Garamchashma as a headmaster on August 5, 2002. This school is situated in a very backward area of district Chitral. After joining the school I held meetings with teachers and members of the school management committee to introduce myself and also to get their views about the future of the school. I realized after the meetings that the school management committee members (SMC), who represent the community in school, were worried about the poor performance of the high school students in external examinations. Statistics showed very poor performance of the students in the last six years’ Board examinations. I decided to work on this single issue on priority bases. I met students individually to help them improve their results in the external examinations scheduled for April 2003. I also held a series of meetings with teachers and parents in order to improve the students’ results. Board’s examinations were held in April this year and the results were announced in June. These results amazed all the rank and file of the area. The results were hundred percent passes with twelve percent A and forty-four percent B grades. This was a new record in the seven years history of the school. I introduced School Improvement Plan in April this year. Under this plan teachers were asked to use Urdu or English in their daily conversation. The school library was re- activated after being in a non-functional state for the last one and a half years. Physical punishment, a cherished activity of the teachers, was banned. In addition to that many other administrative measures were announced to put the school administration on the right track. I made intervention after a long needs assessment of the school. Things have started changing in the school. For example, the teachers have started using Urdu and English in their classes and among themselves. Previously, the local language used to be the language of teaching. I have been helping teachers in their classroom teaching and other forums. The impact of all these things may come up in the ongoing mid-term exam results.

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