PA00MJT4

USAID-funded Pakistan Reading Project – Quarterly Progress Report (April 01 - June 30, 2016) 

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USAID-FUNDED PAKISTAN READING PROJECT 

QUARTERLY PROGRESS REPORT: APRIL 01 - JUNE 30, 2016 

Sponsoring USAID Office: 

Cooperative Agreement Number: 

Grantee: 

USAID/Pakistan 

AID-391-A-13-00005 

International Rescue Committee (IRC) 

Date of Submission: July 31, 2016 

Revised Date: August 25, 2016 

THE AUTHORS’ VIEWS EXPRESSED IN THIS DOCUMENT DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS 

OF THE UNITED STATES AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (USAID) OR THE UNITED 

STATES GOVERNMENT. 


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TABLE OF CONTENTS 

ACRONYMS ............................................................................................................................................. 4 

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................ 5 

SNAPSHOT OF THE PROGRAM ................................................................................................................ 7 

PROGRAM ACTIVITIES ............................................................................................................................. 8 

COMPONENT 1: IMPROVED CLASSROOM LEARNING ENVIRONMENT FOR READING ..................... 8 

COMPONENT 2: IMPROVED POLICIES AND SYSTEMS FOR READING .............................................. 23 

COMPONENT 3: COMMUNITY BASED SUPPORT FOR READING ...................................................... 23 

GENDER ................................................................................................................................................. 41 

COMMUNICATIONS AND REPORTING .................................................................................................. 42 

MONITORING, EVALUATION AND LEARNING ....................................................................................... 45 

ISSUES AND CHALLENGES ..................................................................................................................... 48 

OPERATIONS HIGHLIGHTS .................................................................................................................... 50 

PRP INTERNATIONAL VISITORS/CONSULTANTS VISITS ......................................................................... 50 

KEY MEETINGS ...................................................................................................................................... 55 

ANNEXES ............................................................................................................................................... 62 

ANNEX 1: PERFORMANCE AGAINST PROPOSED INDICATORS .......................................................... 63 

ANNEX 2: LETTER ISSUED BY GOVERNMENT OF PUNJAB FOR MOTHER TONGUE STUDY ............... 79 

ANNEX 3: GRANTS ADVERTISEMENT ................................................................................................ 80 

ANNEX 4: SUCCESS STORIES ............................................................................................................. 81 


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ACRONYMS 

ADE 

B.Ed. (Hons) 

BoC 

CA&DD 

CMR 

CPD 

CRP 

DCTE 

DEE 

DoE 

DRLP 

EGRA 

FTF 

HEC 

HR 

ICT 

KP 

LC Disability 

LCWU 

MDT 

MEL 

M&E-IS 

MOU 

MRC 

MSF 

NACTE 

NCRC 

NEAS 

NGO 

NOC 

PAC 

PCP 

PEAS 

PIRs 

PITE 

PMP 

PPP 

PRP 

PSC 

PTC 

RFA 

RIS 

SMC 

SMS 

SOP 

SSA 

TEP 

TIG 

TTI 

VMV 

Associate Degree in Education 

Bachelors of Education (Honors) 

Bureau of Curriculum 

Capital Administration and Development Division 

Community Managed Reading 

Continuous Professional Development 

Complementary Reading Program 

Directorate of Curriculum and Teacher Education 

Directorate of Education Extension 

Department of Education 

Daily Reading Lesson Plan 

Early Grade Reading Assessment 

Face-to-Face 

Higher Education Commission 

Human Resources 

Islamabad Capital Territory 

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 

LC Disability and Development Program Pakistan 

Lahore College for Women University 

Material Development Team 

Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning 

Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Information System 

Memorandum of Understanding 

Material Review Committee 

Mission Strategic Framework 

National Accreditation Council of Teacher Education 

National Curriculum Review Committee 

National Education Assessment System 

Non-Government Organization 

No Objection Certificate 

Provincial Advisory Committee 

Pakistan Center for Philanthropy 

Provincial Education Assessment System 

Performance Indicators Reference Sheets 

Provincial Institute for Teacher Education 

Performance Monitoring Plan 

Public Private Partnership 

USAID-funded Pakistan Reading Project 

Provincial Steering Committee 

Parent Teacher Committee 

Request for Application 

Reading Improvement Strategy 

School Management Committee 

Short Message Service 

Standard Operating Procedure 

School Support Associate 

USAID Teacher Education Project 

Teacher Inquiry Group 

Teacher Training Institute 

Virtual Mentoring Video 


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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 

The USAID-funded Pakistan Reading Project (PRP) is supporting the provincial and regional 

departments of education in Pakistan to improve quality of education with a focus on improving 

reading skills of children at early grade level. PRP will achieve this goal through three objectives: 

teacher trainings, policy reforms, and community support for reading in Pakistan. 

PRP’s component 1 focused on phase 2 refresher trainings for cohort 1 teachers, mentors and 

academic supervisors continued from previous quarter, in addition to the monthly Teacher Inquiry 

Group (TIG) meetings and school support visits. In this reporting period, PRP trained/oriented: 

• 4 reading specialists (2 male, 2 female) 

• 30 mentors (5 male, 25 female) 

• 62 academic supervisors (41 male, 21 female) 

• 2,097 teachers (1,302 male, 795 female) 

As of June 30, maximum of 13 TIG meetings were conducted in cohort 1 districts while a maximum 

of 10 TIG meetings were held in cohort 2 districts. As planned, mentors and School Support 

Associates (SSAs) conducted a total of 8,532 and 8,809 visits to PRP intervention schools 

respectively. 

Overall, PRP training program accomplished set goals. PRP’s package of Teaching Learning Material 

(TLM) for grade 1 that reached cohort 2 schools in this quarter: 

• Urdu grade 1 material (weeks 1-16) 

• Sindhi grade 1 material (weeks 1-8) 

PRP made significant progress in material development: 

• Sindhi TIG modules (11-18) finalized and sent for printing 

• Urdu grade 1 material (weeks 17-24) and Sindhi (weeks 9-24) delivered to design firm 

• Grade 2 material content developed in Urdu and Sindhi and approved by Material Review 

Committees (MRCs) 

• Grade 2 material (weeks 1-24) in Urdu and Sindhi sent to design firm 

Under the Information Communication Technology component, PRP reached 13,467 beneficiaries in 

cohort 1 and 2 districts through informational text messages, with each user receiving on average 4 

messages every month. Development of year 2 Virtual Mentoring Videos (VMVs) in Urdu and Sindhi 

was completed and content was prepared for dissemination. 

PRP’s scholarship program completed installments for 2,186 students including 2,009 Associate 

Degree in Education and 177 B.Ed. (Hons.) ongoing scholarship recipients. 


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PRP’s component 2 key achievements included: 

• Approval of reading standards by Gilgit-Baltistan government 

• Approval of Continuous Professional Development (CPD) strategic plan by AJK government 

• Completion of capacity building workshops on development of early grade reading 

assessment tools in AJK, Balochistan, GB, ICT and KP 

• Completion of accreditation orientation workshops for 63 Teacher Training Institutes (TTIs) – 

GB 4, KP 26, and Sindh 33. 

Two Provincial Steering Committee (PSC) meetings (AJK 1 and Sindh 1) and three Provincial Advisory 

Committee (PAC) meetings (AJK 1, Balochistan 1, and ICT 1) were held in this quarter. In addition, a 

meeting was held with key stakeholders of KP to share PRP-TIG model and discuss possibilities for 

integration of approaches and TIG model in the existing CPD system of education department. a 

meeting was held with officials of Directorate of Curriculum and Teacher Education (DCTE), 

Provincial Institute of Teacher Education (PITE), Islamia College Peshawar, University of Peshawar 

and Sarhad University Peshawar to discuss the roadmap for developing Pushto reading standards for 

early grades. In this meeting, a working group for development of reading standards in KP was 

formed and also notified by DCTE-KP. Moreover, a consulting firm hired for conducting a study on 

the use of mother tongue, developed research tools that were reviewed and piloted, and the firm 

initiated data collection in Balochistan, Sindh, KP and Punjab. 

Under Public Private Partnership (PPP), a meeting was held with Japan Embassy and they agreed to 

provide vehicles for MBL in ICT and KP regions. USAID and PRP met with Pakistan Science Foundation 

to explore ways of working together, and 2,550 books were donated by Rotary Club Karachi for PRP 

target schools in Lasbela, Balochistan. 

PRP’s component 3 advertised its Complementary Reading Program (CRP) grants funding 

opportunity under the theme of ‘tutoring’. As a result of this solicitation, a total of 64 CRP 

applications were received from 6 regions (AJK 7, Balochistan 8, GB 3, ICT 15, KP 16, and Sindh 15). 

PRP awarded three Community Managed Reading (CMR) grants in 3 regions (GB 1, ICT 1, and KP 1). 

CMR grant agreements were signed between PRP and CMR grantees. 

PRP launched its MBL Summer Reading Program for the low cost private schools in Sindh and 

Islamabad in this quarter. The MBL visited 14 schools providing an opportunity to 1,160 children 

(645 boys, 525 girls) from marginalized communities who cannot afford supplementary reading 

books to enhance their reading skills and promote a reading culture. 

The gender component organized 3 orientation sessions in AJK, GB, and Islamabad for 89 

participants (40 male, 49 female) on gender and conflict sensitivity. The project received USAID 

approval for 3 gender posters that will be distributed to PRP focused schools in the upcoming 

quarters. 


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SNAPSHOT OF THE PROGRAM 

The USAID-funded Pakistan Reading Project (PRP), implemented by the International Rescue 

Committee (IRC) and its partners (Creative Associates International, World Learning, and Institute of 

Rural Management), is supporting the provincial and regional education departments throughout 

Pakistan to improve reading skills of 

children in grades one and two. The project 

will achieve this goal through three 

components: 

• Improve Classroom Learning 

Environment for Reading 

• Improve Policies and Systems for 

Reading 

• Community – Based Support for 

Reading 

ANTICIPATED RESULTS 

• 1.3 million grade 1 and 2 students 

receiving reading interventions. 

• 23,800 teachers in public schools with improved skills in teaching reading and conducting 

classroom assessments. 

• Improved reading policies and systems for reading. 

• 111 Teacher Training Institutions (Colleges and Universities) offering ADE and B.Ed. (Hons.) 

degree programs with new reading curricula. 

• 3,649 scholarships for ADE and B.Ed. (Hons.) students. 

• 1.7 million workbooks provided for school children. 

• Provision of 23,800 tablets to teachers. 

• Mobile Libraries reaching out to 300 communities. 

• Small grants to support community based reading initiatives. 

PRP is improving the quality of teaching and assessment of reading by supporting improvements to 

teachers’ pre-service education, providing a model for continuous professional development for inservice 

teachers, and making supplemental instructional materials more widely available to primary 

school teachers. The project’s strategy entails supporting efforts of the Government of Pakistan in 

each province and region to achieve these goals. PRP is promoting the adaptation and 

implementation of policies that promote quality teaching and will ensure the sustainability of its 

initiatives over time through permanent policy changes. The intervention will be improved reading 

instruction and assessment of 23,800 teachers and 1,300,000 grade 1 and 2 students across 7 

provinces/regions of Pakistan. 

KEY ACHIEVEMENTS TO DATE 

65,244 

School Support Visits 

304,992 

Workbooks 

2,186 

Scholarships 

14,901 

Teachers 

227,099 

Students 


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PROGRAM ACTIVITIES 

This section presents key program activities under the three core components of PRP: 

1. Improved Classroom Learning Environment for Reading 

2. Improved Policies and Systems for Reading 

3. Community-Based Support for Reading 

COMPONENT 1: IMPROVED CLASSROOM LEARNING ENVIRONMENT FOR 

READING 

The following activities were carried out under component 1 during this reporting quarter. 

SUB-COMPONENT 1.1: TEACHER SKILLS IMPROVED THROUGH QUALITY EDUCATION, 

TRAINING AND CONTINUOUS PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT 

1.1.1 STUDENT MATERIALS FOR READING SUPPORT 

PRP is working closely with the provincial and regional governments across Pakistan to bring 

meaningful and measurable improvement in student reading through improved learning materials 

and teaching techniques. Over the last two years PRP developed a wide range of Teaching Learning 

Material (TLM) in Urdu and Sindhi languages including daily reading lesson plans, big books, leveled 

readers, flash cards and student workbooks for grades 1 and 2, to support teachers in teaching and 

learning process to improve beginning reading skills of students. Linguistic experts, storywriters, 

early grade language teachers, curriculum experts and language authority representatives have been 

involved in all steps of material development process. The Material Review Committees (MRCs) 

comprising of officials, subject experts, and teachers from Bureaus of Curriculum, Provincial 

Institutes of Teacher Education, and Directorates of Education review and approve the material. 

Developing early grade reading material for the Pakistani context is a very exciting and challenging 

process that includes many stakeholders from the beginning to the end product. Steps involved in 

the material development process are summarized below. 

Develop Scope 

and Sequence 

Development 

of TLM content 

Field test of 

material in 

schools 

Refinement of 

material 

Review by 

material review 

committee 

Incoporate 

feedback of 

committee 

Designing and 

layout of 

material 

Printing of 

material 

Distribution of 

material in 

schools 

Figure 1: PRP Material Development Process 

This quarter focused on development of daily reading lesson plans and workbooks for grade 2 

teachers and students. PRP’s regional material development committees developed first drafts of 

grade 2 materials at the national level and tested in PRP focused schools in urban and rural areas to 


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assess text difficulty level and contextualization. The content was reviewed by the national MRC, 

revised with field analysis feedback, and then finalized by PRP’s material development team. The 

grade 2 material is now in designing process. 

1.1.1.2 MATERIAL REVIEW / DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOPS (URDU) 

The Urdu Material Review Committee (MRC) members (15 male, 5 female) met in Karachi from May 

4-6 to review grade 2 materials in Urdu language. PRP presented the grade 2 material development 

process, acknowledging the support and efforts of MRC members in this process. The presentation 

included in-depth analysis of Teaching Learning Material (TLM) pilot process and the changes made 

to the content on the basis of pilot process. 

After an in-depth analytical review of the Urdu big books, sample lesson plans, student workbooks, 

and leveled readers, the MRC members recommended few changes that were incorporated in the 

material. The main revisions included: 

• Reviewing and revising language to ensure grade-level appropriateness 

• Modifying sentence structure at recommended points 

• Omitting an Urdu big book, گھر سجائیں‘‏ ’ because of text difficulty 

The MRC members admired and appreciated the development of grade 2 TLM and approved the 

lesson plans, workbooks, big books, and leveled readers. 

1.1.1.5-10 DEVELOPMENT OF URDU MATERIAL FOR GRADES 1 AND 2 

Grade 1 Urdu 

In this quarter, material of grade 1 (week 1-16) was printed and distributed in cohort 2 schools. This 

included big books, daily reading lesson plans and student workbooks. 

The lesson plans for grade 1 (week 17-24) were finalized by the material development committee, 

and are now in designing process. 

Grade 2 Urdu 

The material development committee developed the content of leveled readers and big books in 

previous quarter. This quarter focused on the development of daily reading lesson plans and the 

associated exercises along with the flash cards. The content was developed with the collaboration of 

material development committee, storywriters, linguists, PRP field practitioners and international 

literacy expert during a workshop from March 29-April 7, attended by 23 participants (13 male, 10 

female). 

Table 1: Participants of Urdu material development workshop 

Participants Male Female Total 

Government officials 6 - 6 

Consultants 6 3 9 

PRP regional and national staff 1 7 8 

Total 13 10 23 


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After the development of content, 6 schools were selected for material pilot testing, carried out with 

approximately 30-35 grade 2 students from each school. The pilot testing allowed PRP to evaluate 

the effectiveness of grade 2 TLM, assess the material alignment for grade-level appropriateness and 

analyze material progression for pacing and skill development within the timeframe of a week. From 

field test results, the material development team was able to revise the content before distribution 

and implementation in schools in which trained teachers are working to improve students’ reading 

skills. The table below shows the schools participating in pilot testing. 

Table 2: School selected for pilot testing 

District School Name Language Number of Students 

Shaheed Benazir Abad- GBPS New Society, Nawabshah Sindhi 26 

Sindh 

Tando Allayar-Sindh GBPS Main Sindhi Tando Allayar Sindhi 35 

Matiari-Sindh GGPS Main Matiari Sindhi 40 

Islamabad 

IMS Boys (I-X) Said Pur Village 

Islamabad 

Islamabad IMSG (I-X) PMS Colony G/5 

Islamabad 

Urdu 30 

Urdu 30 

Islamabad IMSJ (1-V) G-10 /1 Islamabad Urdu 30 

The data collection tools were finalized including questionnaire for focus group discussion, 

classroom observation tools, and interviews questions for grade 2 teachers. PRP staff involved in 

pilot testing received an orientation session on the pilot tools. Following are some of the key findings 

of the pilot testing: 

Strengths: 

• Students enjoyed the whole process and were fully engaged in all learning activities. 

• Activities were designed as per student learning outcome. 

• The instruction for teachers in daily reading lesson plan were clearly written. 

• After two days of lessons, the students became more active in responding, asking questions, 

and participating during the activities or while reading leveled reader or big book. 

• The content of big book and leveled reader was interesting and engaging for the students. 

Areas of Improvement: 

• Extend allotted time of lesson plan - 20 minutes is not sufficient to accomplish key learning 

tasks. 

• Activities can be reduced so that a teacher can focus on one activity to improve reading. 

• Most of the students were unable to write complete sentences within the given time. 

Number of student practice sentences should be reduced. 

• Difficult vocabulary in lesson plan, big book and leveled reader needs to be replaced with 

more grade-level appropriate wording. 

• The delivery of lesson plans needs some preparation before teaching. The activities of the 

lesson plan are not difficult. However, word making and writing or assessment activities for 

students require more preparation time. 


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On the basis of feedback from pilot testing, PRP’s material development team revised and finalized 

the content of grade 2 lesson plans. The table below provides an update of Urdu material 

development as of June 30, 2016. 

Table 3: Status of Urdu material development as of June 30 

Material Description Content MRC Hiring Designing Hiring Printing Distribution 

Development Approval Design 

Firm 

and 

Illustration 

Printing 

Firm 

Grade 1 Urdu Weeks 1-16 

Materials 

Grade 1 Urdu Weeks 17-24 In process In process - - 

Materials 

Grade 2 Urdu 

Materials 

Weeks 1-24 In process In process - - 

1.1.1.13 MATERIAL REVIEW / DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOPS (SINDHI) 

Sindhi writers and language experts (17 male, 4 female) participated in a national workshop from 

March 29-April 7 to develop grade 2 Sindhi material. The participants developed content for lesson 

plans and student workbooks for grade 2 that were reviewed and approved by the Sindhi MRC. 

Table 4: Participants of Sindhi material development workshop 

Participants Male Female Total 

Government officials 3 - 3 

Consultants 5 2 7 

PRP regional and national staff 9 2 11 

Total 17 4 21 

1.1.1.15-21 DEVELOPMENT OF SINDHI MATERIAL 

In this quarter, PRP finalized the adaptation of Sindhi Teacher Inquiry Group (TIG) modules (11-18) 

that are now in printing process. 

Grade 1 Sindhi 

Sindhi material for grade 1 (week 1-8) including big books, daily reading lesson plans, flash cards and 

workbooks was printed and distributed in cohort 2 schools. The lesson plans for grade 1 (week 9-24) 

were finalized by the material development team, and are now in designing process. 

Grade 2 Sindhi 

PRP’s material development team finalized the content of instruction and activities of daily reading 

lesson plans and workbooks for grade 2 (week 1-24) based on the feedback received during the fieldtesting 

and review by the national MRC. PRP also finalized flash cards consisting of letter-keyword, 

sight words, pictures, and letters for grades 1 and 2. In addition, 250 flash cards of syllables and 

letters were developed for students to practice word making in small groups. 

The following table provides an update of Sindhi material development as of June 30, 2016. 


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Table 5: Status of Sindhi material development as of June 30 

Material Description Content 

Development 

Sindhi TIG 

Modules 

Grade 1 

Sindhi 

Grade 1 

Sindhi 

Grade 2 

Sindhi 

MRC 

Approval 

Hiring 

Design 

Firm 

Designing 

and 

Illustration 

Hiring 

Printing 

Firm 

Printing 

Distribution 

11-18 - 

Weeks 1-8 



1.1.1.22 PROVINCIAL SINDHI MRC MEETING TO REVIEW MATERIAL 

Sindhi MRC members (3 male, 1 female) met in Karachi from May 4-6 to review Sindhi grade 2 

material. PRP shared the analysis of material development and its piloting process. The members 

reviewed the material in light of feedback from the pilot test, and recommended further changes 

that were incorporated by the PRP material development team. Subsequently, the Sindhi MRC 

approved grade 2 Sindhi TLM including daily reading lesson plans, workbooks, big books, and leveled 

readers. 

1.1.1.23-26 DISTRIBUTION OF MATERIALS 

Provision of TLM is critical to successful implementation of PRP reading approach and techniques at 

classroom level to improve students’ reading skills. Teacher 

Inquiry Group (TIG) modules, scripted lesson plans, student 

workbooks, big books and flash cards are integral and 

fundamental part of PRP training program that support 

teachers to improve students reading skills in grade 1 and 2. 

PRP is providing TLMs to students, teachers, mentors and 

School Support Associates (SSAs) to use in classrooms. 

Teachers are using these materials and share very positive 

results in improving students’ reading skills as well as 

improvement in their teaching approaches. 

From field data, PRP has learned that using TLM, including 

student workbooks is an engaging experience for students. In 

utilizing the materials teachers indicated feeling equipped with 

tools for teaching reading in early grades. Reading stories from 

the big books has become a regular feature in PRP focused 

schools. This is creating interest and enjoyment with reading 

among students. 

“Use of flash cards helped me a lot to 

involve and engage even the most reluctant 

students of my class in learning process. 

Now I understand the importance of visual 

aids for improving reading outcomes,” says 

Yasmeen Kousar, a PRP trained teacher in 

Bhimber, Azad Jammu & Kashmir 

PRP provided training manuals and TIG modules to all trained teachers in cohort 1 and 2 districts to 

help them improve their knowledge and skills about components of reading and different teaching 

strategies to improve student reading skills.. 


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Grade 1 Urdu TLM (week 1-16) including scripted lesson plans, big books, student workbooks, and 

flash cards were delivered to cohort 1 schools, however Urdu TLM (17-24) was not finalized and 

therefore not yet delivered to cohort 1. 

Cohort 2 schools received updated TLM Urdu week 1-16 and Sindhi week 1-8 students had already 

graduated to grade 2, while Urdu TLM week 17-24 and Sindhi week 9-24 is in the design process and 

is expected to be delivered in next quarter. PRP provided a catch up plan to teachers with specific 

guidelines on how to teach key grade 1 foundation skills to students promoted to grade 2. It is 

anticipated that in next quarter, teachers will follow this catch up plan by utilizing the updated grade 

1 Urdu and Sindhi TLM. This will subsequently enable students to benefit from grade 2 reading 

material (expected to be deliver in next quarter) during the academic year. 

The table below presents the distribution of TLM in cohort 1 and 2 schools in this quarter. This 

material includes TIG modules 1-18, and grade 1 scripted lesson plans (week 1-16), student 

workbooks (week 1-16), flash cards, and big books (week 1-16). 

Table 6: Material distribution in the quarter 

Teaching Learning Material (TLM) 

TLM distributed 

(Apr-Jun) 

Cumulative 

achievement as of 

Jun 2016 

LOP Target 

TLMs provided to reading specialist 12 57 288 

TLMs provided to mentors 705 3,925 16,565 

TLMs provided to academic supervisor 292 992 5,520 

TLMs provided to head teachers 3,560 23,800 

TLMs provided to teachers 45,938 119,422 5,149,225 

TLMs provided to student of grades 1 and 2 147,108 333,408 1,820,333 

1.1.2 TEACHER PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT – IN-SERVICE TRAINING 

1.1.2.2 TRAINING OF READING SPECIALISTS 

PRP organized a 6-day refresher training for cohort 1 reading specialists from April 4-9 in Islamabad. 

A total of 4 participants (2 male, 2 female) attended the training that was based on review of the 

Teacher Inquiry Group (TIG) year 1 concepts and introduction to the TIG year 2 modules and lesson 

plans. 

1.1.2.3 TRAINING OF MENTORS (FACE-TO-FACE) 

A 6-day refresher training was conducted for cohort 1 

mentors from April 4-9 in Islamabad. A total of 30 

mentors (5 male, 25 female) out of 33 attended the 

training to revisit concepts related to teaching and 

assessment of reading, along with the PRP’s Continuous 

Professional Development (CPD) model and reading 

approach. Three mentors could not continue with PRP 

due to their other official commitments. The project 

managed to cover all TIGs and schools with 30 mentors. 


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Mentors’ group activity during a session on 

segmentation and blending in refresher training

The participants were provided an opportunity to share their experiences from the year 1, and were 

introduced to TIG year 2 modules and grade 2 daily reading lesson plans. 

Participants completed a baseline self-assessment about the key concepts that were introduced and 

practiced in the workshop. They revisited this assessment on the last day of the workshop to see 

what they had learned and it was observed that workshop objectives were met successfully. By the 

end of this training, participants had practiced selected year 2 daily reading lessons as well as read 

alouds, and were able to utilize the rubrics to observe daily reading lesson and shared reading. 

Similarly, participants were familiarised with the content of TIG modules 11-18. 

1.1.2.4 ORIENTATION OF ACADEMIC SUPERVISORS 

Academic supervisors oversee the teaching and learning process in PRP target schools. Phase 2 

orientation sessions for academic supervisors continued from previous quarter with the purpose to 

extend continuous support to head teachers and teachers to sustain PRP reading initiatives. This 

refresher provided an opportunity to the academic supervisors to practice read alouds for grade 1 

and 2, introduce them to grade 2 material, provide overview of year 2 TIG modules, and refresh their 

understanding of coaching. 

Participants used techniques such as brainstorming, questioning, individual work, pair work, group 

work, and presentations to achieve the workshop objectives. Reflections from the participants and 

debriefing of the facilitators helped in making these sessions more interactive and effective. The 

table below summarizes the status of total number of academic supervisors oriented. 

Table 7: Number of academic supervisors oriented 

Province/ 

Region 

Oriented 

in Phase 1 

(2015) 

Previous 

Quarter 

Reporting Quarter 

Grand 

Total 

Remarks 

Total Male Female Total 

AJK 30 - 24 8 32 32 Two new Academic Supervisors joined 

and were also oriented. 

Bal 48 36 12 8 20 56 Eight new Academic Supervisors 

joined and were also oriented. 

GB 12 13 - - - 13 One new Academic Supervisors joined 


KP 53 47 5 5 10 57 Four new Academic Supervisors joined 


Sindh 

(cohort 1) 

11 7 - - - 7 4 academic supervisors could not 

participate in the orientation due to 

other official commitments. Project is 

working with the respective 

department for suitable time to orient 

these remaining academic supervisors 

45 44 - - - 44 One academic supervisor position is 

vacant. 

Sindh 

(cohort 2) 

Total 199 147 41 21 62 209 

1.1.2.6 TRAINING OF TEACHERS (FACE-TO-FACE) 

PRP is focusing its efforts in preparing teachers in selected districts across Pakistan to improve 

reading skills of students in early grades. Continuous Professional Development (CPD) of teachers is 


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essential to ensure effective implementation of PRP reading approaches and use of Teaching 

Learning Material (TLM) in improving reading skills of grade 1 and 2 students. 

During the reporting period, PRP organized 3-day Face-to-Face (FTF) refresher trainings (Phase 2) to 

review and reflect on year 1 teaching learning practices and introduce concepts in grade 2 TLM. 

A total of 1,916 teachers (1,179 male, 737 female) attended the trainings to exchange and share the 

learning and successes along with challenges faced by them during the previous year of project 

intervention. Some of the main topics covered in this training included: 

• Demonstration and practice of Daily Reading Lesson Plan (DRLP) 

• Segmenting and blending of sounds 

• Demonstration and practice of Read aloud 

• Comparison of DRLPs of grade 1 and 2 

• Use of Tablets 

The table below provides detail of teachers trained through FTF training during this quarter. The 

remaining teachers will be trained in the next quarter. 

Table 8: Number of teachers trained 

Province/Region 

Trained in 

Phase 1 (2015) 

Previous Quarter Reporting Quarter Grand 

total 

Male Female Total Male Female Total 

AJK 1298 534 521 1055 127 84 211 1266 

Balochistan 1114 499 378 877 43 29 72 949 

FATA - - - - - - - - 

GB 505 301 85 386 - - - 386 

ICT 565- - - - 86 414 500 500 

KP 2822 1276 1115 2391 122 47 169 2560 

Sindh (Cohort 1) 195 52 113 165 - - - 165 

Sindh (Cohort 2) 3011 1494 240 1734 924 221 1145 2879 

Total 8945 4156 2452 6608 1306 787 2093 8701 

New teachers joining the FTF are one of the challenges the project faced in all provinces/regions. 

Occasionally, PRP trained teachers are transferred to non-intervention schools. The new teachers 

are not familiar with PRP’s reading approach, and the correct and effective use of teaching and 

learning material provided by the project. Therefore, the students in these schools are not getting 

the required quality of reading interventions. To overcome this challenge, PRP worked on two fronts. 

PRP highlighted this issue in the steering committee meetings to minimize the transfer of trained 

teachers for two academic years. As a result, some transfers were reversed but still there are cases 

where teachers have been replaced due to promotion. Therefore PRP developed different options of 

condensed training program to orient these newly appointed teachers. During this quarter, the 

project oriented 169 new teachers (122 male, 47 female) in KP, and is expecting to train/orient new 

teachers in other provinces/regions in the coming quarters. 

1.1.2.8 TEACHERS TRAINED THROUGH TIG MEETINGS 

Monthly TIG meetings are essential part of PRP teachers’ CPD model. Teachers regularly meet to 

share, refine and assess the impact of reading strategies and approaches they are currently using in 

their classrooms. TIG meetings are guided, collaborative groups in which teachers’ discussion is 

guided by the TIG module. Teachers study relevant TIG module and prepare assigned activities 


15

efore each meeting. Teachers attend 17 monthly TIG meetings in two academic years supported by 

TIG facilitators, mentors, and SSAs. 

Cohort 1 teachers discussed modules 11, 12 and 13 during these meetings. These modules included 

‘revisiting TIG process and assessing student progress’, ‘peer visitation’, and ‘continuous 

assessment’. Teachers enthusiastically discussed the module 12 tasks ‘peer visitation’, in which 

teachers visited each other’s schools and observed lessons. They reported that by observing peers’ 

classes, they practically learnt giving and receiving constructive feedback and their confidence level 

also enhanced. They also got new ideas about classroom environment, teaching fluency, and 

vocabulary during these visits. In the discussions during the TIG meeting, teachers shared that the 

main challenge they faced was long distances between schools, especially in rural areas, and lack of 

cooperation on part of some head teachers. To overcome these challenges, the teachers in rural 

areas left early morning to observe a peer’s class. And, in cases where head teachers were not 

cooperative, the concerned School Support Associates (SSAs) and PRP’s District Program Managers 

(DPMs) talked to the head teachers to allow their TIG teachers to conduct peer visitation. The table 

below provides detail of TIG meetings for cohort 1 in this quarter. 

Table 9: Cohort 1 teachers attending TIG meetings 

Province 

/ 

Region 

# of Teachers Participated 

in Four TIG Meetings 


in Three TIG Meetings 


in Two TIG Meetings 


in One TIG Meeting 

Male Female Total Male Female Total Male Female Total Male Female Total 

AJK - - - - - - 533 483 1016 79 101 180 

Bal 21 6 27 500 266 766 52 66 118 35 26 61 

GB - - - 227 66 293 62 31 93 29 7 36 

ICT - - - - - - 72 328 400 15 93 108 

KP - - - 1080 859 1939 237 241 478 53 60 113 

Sindh - - - - - - 46 91 137 8 19 27 

Total 21 6 27 1807 1191 2998 1002 1240 2242 219 306 525 

TEACHER INQUIRY GROUP (TIG) MEETINGS AT DIFFERENT LOCATIONS 

ISLAMABAD 

GILGIT-BALTISTAN 

KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA 

AZAD JAMMU & KASHMIR 


16

In TIG meetings of cohort 2 districts, teachers discussed modules 7, 8, and 9, covering three 

components of reading - phonics, fluency, and writing to learn. Sharing their classroom teaching 

experiences during TIG meetings, teachers reported that many activities including ‘give me five’, 

‘decoding and blending words’, ‘identifying invented spelling errors’, and ‘drawing and labeling’ 

proved very helpful in assisting students in reading new words through sound and syllable 

segmentation/blending, in understanding and telling stories in their own words as well as through 

pictures, and in learning to identify and write correct spellings of known words. 

The table below provides detail of TIG meetings for cohort 2 held during the quarter. 

Table 10: Cohort 2 teachers attending TIG meetings 

Province 

/ 

Region 


in Four TIG Meetings 


in Three TIG Meetings 


in Two TIG Meetings 


in One TIG Meeting 


AJK - - - 40 27 67 470 289 759 114 119 233 

Bal 26 5 31 108 56 164 456 266 722 90 56 146 

GB - - - 71 94 165 28 15 43 7 9 16 

KP - - - 5 9 14 949 1029 1978 180 223 403 

Sindh - - - 154 22 176 2049 348 2397 221 67 288 

Total 26 5 31 378 208 586 3952 1947 5899 612 474 1086 

In summer zone areas, teachers attended maximum of 2 TIG meetings due to early school closure 

and long summer vacations. The project has already planned for additional TIG meetings in the next 

quarter after summer break to take into account this gap. 

1.1.2.9 SUPPORT VISITS TO SCHOOLS 

Mentors and School Support Associates (SSAs) continued coaching visits to cohort 1 and 2 teachers 

in all provinces/regions. PRP worked with trained 

teachers at classroom level to diagnose their needs 

and support them accordingly, and to help 

improve their teaching practices. These visits 

helped teachers to implement the Daily Reading 

Lesson Plans (DRLP) more effectively and focused 

on improvement of reading. 

From support visits, the project noted that many 

teachers are still facing problems with phonics and 

they are trying to overcome this issue by listening 

to letter sounds on tablets and by discussing these 

with mentors and SSAs. PRP teacher training team 

and senior management visited schools, monitored progress and provided need-based support to 

teachers. During these visits, staff carried out the following activities: 

1. Daily Reading Lesson Plans (DRLP) observation and demonstrating DRLPs 

2. Use of TLM and guidance on use of DRLP and workbooks 

3. Guidance on development of print rich environment 

Trained teacher engages students during a school support visit 

at a PRP intervention school 

4. Discussion and guidance on ‘interim activities’ implementation of TIG Modules 


17

The project team visiting schools observed that majority of the trained teachers are comfortable 

while delivering DRLP because of support provided by PRP. 

Despite the significant contribution of school support/coaching in improving teaching reading skills 

of teachers, there are some areas that need to be addressed. One of the challenges noted by 

mentors and project staff during schools visits is that teachers use local languages while teaching 

reading that hinder students from comprehending Urdu instructions. PRP mentors and SSAs 

encouraged teachers to use Urdu as a medium of instruction throughout the period so that students 

get an environment to learn reading in Urdu. PRP 

also learned that some teachers are facing 

challenges in completing the proposed DRLP 

activities in the available time. The project intends 

to review these lessons in coming quarters to align 

them to ground realities. 

In this quarter, PRP increased efforts for improving 

the quality of support visits by ensuring that the 

lesson observations are based on the DRLP rubric, 

teachers get productive feedback, and receive input 

on bringing the skills and concepts learned during 

TIG meetings in the classrooms. Some of the good 

practices observed during school visits are: 

Students practice skywriting during a reading lesson at a 

school in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 

• Print rich environment in PRP classrooms 

• Teachers are adopting PRP techniques for teaching reading including tap out and clap out for 

letters and syllables 

• Students feel comfortable in following teachers’ instructions and enjoy the learning process 

• Teachers are using DRLP in an effective manner with combination of board work and student 

interaction/involvement 

Achievement level of mentors’ visits further improved in this quarter, as they made efforts 

particularly in cohort 1 districts, to provide support to maximum number of schools and meet their 

quarterly targets. The tables below provide detail of school visits during this quarter. The number of 

visits achieved is comparatively higher than the quarterly target because mentors and SSAs put extra 

efforts to cover backlog from the previous quarters. 

Table 11: Number of school support visits - cohort 1 

Province/ 

Region 

School Visit 

Quarterly Target 

No. of 

Schools 

Visited 

Mentors School Support Visits 

No. of Teachers Supported 

No. of 

Schools 

Visited 

SSAs School Support Visits 


Mentor SSA Male Female Total Male Female Total 

AJK 541 541 690 543 454 997 695 550 477 1027 

Bal 707 707 447 346 194 540 478 377 227 604 

GB 323 323 174 134 70 204 242 207 112 319 

ICT 132 132 133 71 151 222 160 99 150 249 

KP 1508 1508 1392 1243 1084 2327 1425 1296 1114 2410 

Sindh 69 69 35 32 29 61 35 36 27 63 

Total 3280 3280 2871 2369 1982 4351 3035 2565 2107 4672 


18

Table 12: Number of school support visits - cohort 2 

Province/ 

Region 

School Visit 

Quarterly Target 

No. of 

Schools 

Visited 

Mentors School Support Visits 


No. of 

Schools 

Visited 

SSAs School Support Visits 


Mentor SSA Male Female Total Male Female Total 

AJK 452 452 476 462 264 726 523 498 302 800 

Bal 451 451 433 397 270 667 445 410 283 693 

GB 168 168 103 76 49 125 133 108 63 171 

KP 732 732 974 887 960 1847 985 891 1077 1968 

Sindh 1229 1229 1246 1674 234 1908 1245 1730 237 1967 

Total 3032 3032 3832 3496 1777 5273 3331 3637 1962 5599 

1.1.3 TECHNOLOGY IN IN-SERVICE CONTINUOUS PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT (CPD) 

1.1.3.2 DEVELOPMENT OF VIRTUAL MENTORING VIDEOS (VMV) 

PRP completed development of Virtual Mentoring Videos (VMVs) in Urdu and Sindhi during the 

quarter. These VMVs are ready for uploading to tablets through memory cards delivered to teachers 

by project staff visiting schools, and online Content Management System (CMS). 

1.1.3.3 DEVELOPMENT OF SHORT MESSAGE SERVICE (SMS) AND DIGITAL RESOURCES 

In the reporting quarter, the project reached 13,467 beneficiaries of PRP’s Short Message Service 

(SMS) support system. This service included cohort 1 and 2 teachers, mentors and academic 

supervisors. A total of 161,724 informational text messages were sent about teaching reading. 

1.1.3.5 DISTRIBUTION OF TABLETS 

As part of professional development program, PRP is providing tablets to teachers preloaded with 

digital content focused on improving reading skills. PRP in close collaboration with 

provincial/regional governments organized tablet distribution ceremonies in different provinces/ 

regions during the quarter. PRP distributed a total of 4,829 tablets in this quarter as below. To date, 

the project has distributed 12,847 tablets out of 23,800 life of project target. Tablets for cohort 3 

teachers will be distributed at the start of FTF trainings for these teachers. 

• 4,240 teachers (3,086 male, 1,154 female) 

• 436 mentors (319 male, 117 female) 

• 153 academic supervisors (117 male, 36 female) 

• 7 education officials (6 male, 1 female) 

The distribution will continue till end of September 2016 as planned for cohort 1 and 2. 

SUB-COMPONENT 1.2: PRE-SERVICE TEACHER TRAINING 

Under this sub component, PRP with the collaboration of Higher Education Commission (HEC) and 

selected Teacher Training Institutes (TTIs) integrated reading instruction in existing courses of 

Associate Degree in Education (ADE) and first two years of B.Ed. (Hons) degree programs, and 

developed new reading specialization courses for years 3 and 4 of B.Ed. (Hons.) program. These 


19

courses were pilot tested in selected TTIs. On the basis of findings from pilot testing, the courses 

were reviewed by course writers and international reading experts. The final version of course 

outlines and guides were approved by National Curriculum Review Committee (NCRC) of the HEC. 

1.2.2 INTEGRATION OF READING INSTRUCTION COURSES INTO THE EXISTING ADE AND 

B.ED. (HONS.) CURRICULA 

1.2.2.6 WRITERS WORKSHOP TO REVIEW AND FINALIZE INTEGRATED COURSE GUIDES FOR 

ADE AND B.ED. (HONS.) 

During the quarter, PRP conducted a writers’ workshop from May 16-19 in Islamabad to review and 

finalize the reading discipline course guides for B.Ed. (Hons). A total of 16 course writers (5 male, 11 

female) from different colleges and universities across Pakistan reviewed and finalized reading 

curricula course guides with the support of international reading experts. They incorporated sample 

lesson plans and workbook exercises developed for in-service teachers by PRP in the reading courses 

so that prospective teachers can get more resources to practice in schools. The course guides for 

reading discipline courses were finalized in this workshop, and it was also agreed that each partner 

TTI will be provided with a set of PRP developed TLM for grades 1 and 2. 

During the quarter, PRP held several meetings with HEC and received the official endorsement 

‘foreword’ by Executive Director, HEC to add in the beginning of every reading course. In addition to 

this, PRP received disclaimer from USAID to use in the first inner page of the course guides. PRP 

hired a designing and printing firm to print reading courses. 

Besides all the administrative arrangements of designing and printing, PRP held orientation meetings 

with the relevant managing authorities and apex bodies for the roll out of reading courses. 

Table 13: Meetings with partner universities and apex bodies 

Province/Region Apex bodies / Universities Person Contacted Meeting Dates 

AJK 

Directorate of Curriculum, Research and Director General April 18 

Development (DCRD) 

University of Azad Jammu & Kashmir Head of Department April 19 

Balochistan Sardar Bahadur Khan Women University Vice-Chancellor and May 26-27 

Dean 

Lasbela University of Arts, Agriculture and Vice-Chancellor and April 21 

Marine Sciences 

Head of Department 

KP 

Directorate of Curriculum and Teacher Director Training April 19 

Education (DCTE) 

Sindh University of Sindh, Hyderabad Dean April 5-6 

1.2.3 TTI FACULTY PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN READING 

1.2.3.1 WORKSHOP TO DEVELOP MASTER TRAINERS ORIENTATION MATERIAL ON 

INTEGRATED COURSES 

In this quarter, PRP organized a workshop in Islamabad on May 20 attended by 16 writers (5 male, 

11 female) to identify key areas for developing master trainer’s orientation material on integrated 

reading courses for ADE and B.Ed. (Hons.). After due deliberations, discussions and brainstorming by 


20

the course writers, international reading experts and PRP team, the following key topics were 

decided to be included in the material: 

1. Components of reading 

2. Reading standards 

3. Reading assessment rubrics and EGRA tools 

4. Reading difficulties 

5. Main areas of teaching reading 

The international reading experts developed the orientation material in light of the guidance 

provided by participants of the workshop for the above-mentioned key areas. The orientation 

workshop for master trainers is planned in next quarter. 

1.2.4 PROVIDE 1,695 NEW AND 1,954 ON-GOING SCHOLARSHIPS 

PRP has successfully continued the ADE and B.Ed. (Hons) scholarship program initially established 

under the USAID Teacher Education Project (TEP). The project awards merit-based scholarships to 

deserving students enrolled in the above-mentioned degree programs in close collaboration with the 

provincial/regional education departments, apex institutes, universities and teacher elementary 

colleges. To date, 3,161 students (1,499 TEP and 1,662 PRP) students have received at least one 

installment from PRP since the inception of the program. 

As of June 30, a total of 2,186 students (760 male, 1426 female) including 2,009 ADE and 177 B.Ed. 

(Hons.) scholarship recipients from all provinces/regions have completed their scholarship program 

with PRP. 

1.2.4.1 DISBURSEMENT OF 1197 ON-GOING ADE SCHOLARSHIPS 

PRP distributed installments to 2 ADE ongoing students (1 male, 1 female) in this quarter. Both the 

students received their final installment from PRP and have completed their scholarship program. In 

total 1,064 ADE students have received all scholarship installments and completed their degree. 

Table 14: ADE ongoing scholarships distributed 

ADE Ongoing Scholarships 

Province/Region Male Female Total 

Sindh 1 1 2 

Total 1 1 2 

1.2.4.2 DISBURSEMENT OF 447 ON-GOING B.ED. (HONS.) SCHOLARSHIPS 

PRP distributed installments to 45 B.Ed. (Hons) ongoing students (15 male, 30 female) in this 

quarter. Out of these students, 5 (all female) received their last installment and have completed 

their scholarship program. In total 177 B.Ed. (Hons) students have received all scholarship 

installments and completed their degree. 


21

Table 15: B.Ed. (Hons) ongoing scholarships distributed 

B.Ed. (Hons) Ongoing Scholarships 


AJK 3 12 15 

GB 5 12 17 

KP 1 2 3 

Sindh 6 4 10 

Total 15 30 45 

1.2.4.3 DISBURSEMENT OF 1,257 NEW ADE 

SCHOLARSHIPS 

PRP distributed installments to 329 ADE new 

students (116 male, 213 female) in this quarter. Out 

of these, 315 students (105 male, 210 female) 

received their last installment and have completed 

their scholarship program. In total 925 ADE students 

have received all scholarship installments and 

completed their degree. 

Table 16: ADE new scholarships distributed 

Secretary Education, Balochistan awarding cheque to an 

Associate Degree in Education scholarship recipient 

ADE New Scholarships 


Balochistan 30 54 84 

FATA 1 1 2 

GB 8 33 41 

Sindh 77 125 202 

Total 116 213 329 

1.2.4.4 DISBURSEMENT OF 418 NEW B.ED. (HONS.) SCHOLARSHIPS 

PRP distributed different installments to 80 B.Ed. (Hons) new students (34 male, 46 female) in this 

quarter. 

Table 17: B.Ed. (Hons) new scholarships distributed 

B.Ed. (Hons) New Scholarships 


FATA 4 2 6 

GB 9 6 15 

ICT 3 6 9 

KP 5 7 12 

Punjab 0 3 3 

Sindh 13 22 35 

Total 34 46 80 


22

1.2.4.7 GRADUATION CEREMONY 

In this quarter, PRP organized a graduation 

ceremony for 63 ADE students (20 male, 43 female) 

from Balochistan on May 27 in Quetta. These 

students were acknowledged for their dedication in 

completing their degree program and were awarded 

with tablets and honorary certificate of appreciation 

from PRP. Mr. Muhammad Khan Achakzai, Governor 

of Balochistan, was the chief guest of this ceremony 

while top senior government officials, college faculty 

advisors, principals, and parents also participated in 

this high profile event. 

Governor Balochistan handing Tablet and Certificate to ADE 

graduate in Quetta 

COMPONENT 2: IMPROVED POLICIES AND SYSTEMS FOR READING 

The overall objective of component 2 is to promote adaptation and implementation of policies that 

promote quality teaching and assessments of reading, and to promote the sustainability of PRP 

through policy changes. As a result of PRP’s assistance, the provincial/regional governments will 

have approved frameworks and policies conducive to improving reading and reading assessment. 

The following sections present details of component 2 activities undertaken during this reporting 

quarter. 

SUB-COMPONENT 2.1: IMPROVED INFORMATION AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS FOR 

PLANNING AND DECISION-MAKING RELEVANT TO READING PROGRAMS 

2.1.1 SUPPORT TO PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENTS IN THE REVIEW AND STRENGTHENING OF 

THE PROVINCIAL EDUCATION ASSESSMENT SYSTEM (PEAS) 

Reading assessment helps to determine not only what students understand from reading but also 

how they use what they understand. PRP is supporting the strengthening of Provincial Education 

Assessment System (PEAS) with a focus on conducting reading assessments. This includes capacity 

building of National/Provincial/Regional Education Assessment Systems (NEAS/PEAS) to develop, 

implement and institutionalize reading assessments at 

grade 1 and 2 level. 

2.1.1.2 TOOL DEVELOPMENT (EGRA) FOR 

READING SKILLS AT PRIMARY LEVEL (GRADE 1 

AND 2) 

During the reporting quarter, PRP organized 5-day 

capacity building workshops with 

National/Provincial/Regional Education Assessment 


23 

Government officials and teachers during assessment tool 

development workshop in Islamabad.

Systems (NEAS/PEAS) government officials to develop early grade reading assessment tools. These 

workshops were conducted in AJK, Balochistan, GB, ICT and KP as planned. The purpose of these 

workshops was to build the capacity of NEAS/PEAS government officials on developing EGRA tools 

for Urdu language for grade 1 and 2 so that they can trans-adapt EGRA based tools in Urdu. Using 

national curriculum, textbooks of respective province/region, and EGRA toolkit, the participants 

developed EGRA based tools for their respective province/region. A total of 63 government officials 

(40 male, 23 female) attended these workshops. The table below reflects region wise details of 

NEAS/PEAS government officials who participated in these workshops. 

Table 18: Participants of tool development workshop 

Province/Region Dates Participants 

Male Female Total 

AJK June 6-10, 2016 7 5 12 

Balochistan June 20-24, 2016 7 4 11 

GB May 23-27, 2016 10 3 13 

ICT June 13-17, 2016 6 4 10 

KP March 28-April 1, 2016 10 7 17 

Total 40 23 63 

2.1.1.3 ORIENTATION WORKSHOP FOR ENUMERATORS ON TOOLS 

This activity is linked to 2.1.1.2 and will be carried out after tools are finalized in all regions. 

2.1.1.4 PILOT TESTING OF TOOLS IN SELECTED SCHOOLS 

This activity is linked with 2.1.1.2 and 2.1.1.3. 

SUB-COMPONENT 2.2: IMPROVED PLANNING, IMPLEMENTATION, AND MONITORING OF 

READING PROGRAMS 

2.2.1 SUPPORT FOR THE DEVELOPMENT AND MONITORING OF READING IMPROVEMENT 

STRATEGIES (RIS) 

The purpose of developing Reading Improvement Strategies (RIS) is to highlight important policy 

issues that need to be addressed for reading reforms in Pakistan. The RIS will provide a roadmap for 

the improved teaching and learning of reading at early grade levels. PRP will translate policies and 

initiatives taken within the framework of RIS into clear guidance on the implementation of Reading 

Instruction Time (RIT), Reading Curriculum, Teaching and Learning Materials (TLM) for Reading, 

Reading Standards, Reading Assessment, and teachers’ Continuous Professional Development (CPD) 

across all provinces/regions. 

2.2.1.3 SUPPORT DEVELOPMENT OF DETAILED READING IMPROVEMENT STRATEGY FOR 

PRIMARY LEVEL STUDENTS AND TEACHERS 

In the previous quarters, PRP prepared a draft outline for Reading Improvement Strategies (RIS). The 

outline was finalized in consultation with stakeholders from Bureau of Curriculum (BoC), Provincial 

Institute of Teacher Education (PITE), and Department of Education (DoE) in all seven 

provinces/regions. The agreed outline was finally reviewed and approved by the provincial advisory 


24

committees of each province/region in the last quarter. Based on the approved RIS outline, the zero 

draft of Reading Improvement Strategies was developed during the reporting quarter that is under 

internal discussions, and subsequently the provincial/regional governments will be taken into 

confidence while finalizing the RIS for their respective provinces/regions. 

2.2.2 DEVELOP STRATEGIES TO FACILITATE PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS (PPP) 

Under this component, PRP has planned to examine various models of Public Private Partnership 

(PPP) and provide training and technical assistance to implement strategies and plans, including 

innovations and pilots, for PPPs throughout the country. 

2.2.2.3 CONSTITUTE AND CONDUCT MEETINGS OF PPP TASKFORCE ON NEED-BASIS IN 

PROVINCE/REGIONS 

In this quarter, several meetings were held with government and private sector partners as below: 

• PRP met with the Head of Literacy Mission, Rotary Club in Karachi on April 21 to discuss the 

way forward in light of the signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). Rotary agreed to 

provide primary level books for schools in Balochistan. A coordination committee was 

notified by Director of Schools, Education Department Government of Balochistan to carry 

out interventions as agreed in MOU. PRP collected 2,550 books from Rotary Club Karachi for 

distribution in the schools of the province. In order to review the contents of the donated 

books, Director Schools notified a sub-committee to review and approve these books for 

distribution in Balochistan primary schools as per government’s decision. 

• The first meeting of district coordination committee under HUBCO MOU was held on April 

22 in Karachi to discuss the way forward and develop a joint action plan for provision of 

resources to 28 selected schools. PRP along with district education office representatives 

completed need assessment and collected enrolment details of selected schools in Lasbela 

district, Balochistan and submitted the same to HUBCO. A second meeting of the 

coordination committee was held on May 18 at Hub, Balochistan. It was agreed to provide 

school bags to kachi and grade 1 students, while stationery will be provided to all primary 

students (grade 1 to 5) in the 28 schools selected by the government. The renovation work 

at these schools will begin in phases during the long summer vacations. 

• In a meeting with Additional Secretary, Education Department, KP held on May 31, PRP 

presented the concept of partnerships through a company’s CSR program. The Additional 

Secretary Education suggested that interested companies should send requests for such 

donations to Education Department for seeking approval/NOC prior to providing support to 

the government schools. 

• A Public Private Partnership (PPP) taskforce meeting was held in AJK on June 2 to share and 

discuss the proposed activities under PPP including mobile library, teacher resource center, 

classroom library, and school renovation. The taskforce members under the chairmanship of 

Deputy Secretary Elementary and Secondary Education agreed to prioritize and present 

findings to Secretary for approval, and provide support in identifying potential partners. 


25

2.2.2.5 SELECTION OF POTENTIAL PRIVATE SECTOR PLAYERS TO BUILD PARTNERSHIPS FOR 

INVESTMENT IN THE PROGRAMS OF PRP WITHOUT COST-SHARING 

Identification and selection of potential private sector players to build partnerships continued in this 

quarter. PRP held several meetings as below: 

• Habib Foundation and Convolair Pvt. Ltd. on April 20-21 respectively to explore the 

opportunities of developing partnership with USAID and provincial/regional government for 

the sustainability of PRP interventions and practices in the focused provinces/regions. As 

decided, PRP prepared and submitted a concept note for improvement of public schools to 

Habib Bank Foundation for its possible support to improve reading environment in the 

schools. Follow-up meetings are planned in next quarter to secure the agreed support for 

public schools of the focused provinces/regions. 

• Alpha Pipes Industries (Pvt) Ltd. on May 6 to seek support under Corporate Social 

Responsibility (CSR) program of the company. A concept note listing needs of a government 

school in Zarobi, Swabi was developed and shared. Following that, a No Objection Certificate 

(NOC) was obtained from Department of Education (DoE) to hand-over donated items to 

Government Girls Primary School (GGPS) Zarobi # 1, Swabi. Further coordination with Alpha 

Pipes would be carried out in next quarter to plan a distribution event. 

• City University on May 11 to seek support for PRP interventions. A concept note of most 

urgent needs of Government School Garhi Fazle Haq (infrastructure, items of general use 

such as furniture, rugs, white board, etc.) was shared with the President, City University who 

showed interest in infrastructure repair work and provision of basic facilities. A request has 

been submitted to the Education Department, KP for this PPP activity and further course of 

action will be decided after the Department’s response on this intervention. 

• Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) on May 30 to discuss areas of 

interventions and seek possible support for public schools of Balochistan. The OGDCL 

representative showed his consent to extend support for PRP activities and asked for 

submission of concept note or technical proposal to discuss future possibilities. 

• Pakistan Science Foundation on June 17 to explore the possibilities of partnership. Both PRP 

and USAID participated in the meeting and following areas of collaboration were discussed: 

o 

o 

o 

o 

Science caravans may visit PRP focused schools following approvals from 

provincial/regional governments 

Science magazines and books for primary grades may be distributed in PRP focused 

schools through private sector 

Exchange of materials between PRP and Pakistan Science Foundation 

Explore the possibility of co-hosting fairs and exhibitions 

2.2.4 APEX INSTITUTIONS CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT THROUGH TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE (TA) 

The need assessment of the apex institutions responsible for Continuous Professional Development 

(CPD) was completed in all provinces/regions in previous quarters. Based on the needs assessment, 


26

PRP is providing technical assistance to all provinces/regions to facilitate the apex institutions to 

develop CPD strategic plan for respective province/region. 

2.2.4.3 IDENTIFICATION AND SELECTION OF PROVINCIAL/REGIONAL TA 

During the reporting quarter, the consultant for development of CPD strategic plan was hired in 

Balochistan, FATA, GB and Sindh; whereas, in ICT, the Capital Administration and Development 

Division (CA&DD) approved the scope of work for hiring a consultant and recruitment process was 

initiated by PRP. 

2.2.4.4 CONSULTATION WITH RESPECTIVE DOE’S AND APEX INSTITUTIONS 

During the reporting period, consultative meetings on development of CDP strategic plan were held 

in AJK, GB and Sindh. In GB, consultant held meetings with officials of Education Department, 

Elementary College Skardu, Colleges of Teacher Education (male and female) Gilgit, and PRP trained 

teachers. In Sindh, consultant held meetings with the Reform Support Unit (RSU), Sindh Teacher 

Education Development Authority (STEDA), BoC, PITE, Divisional Educational Technology Resource 

Center (DETRC), Chairman Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) Hyderabad, Faculty 

of Government Elementary College of Education Hyderabad, district and Taluka education officials. 

2.2.4.5 DEVELOPMENT OF STRATEGIC PLAN COVERING ALL ASPECTS OF STRENGTHENING 

THE APEX INSTITUTIONS 

In AJK, PRP continued with meetings and workshops with apex education officials to develop CPD 

strategic plan that covers all aspects of strengthening the apex institutions and various options to 

recognize teachers, TIG facilitators, mentors, and head teachers who are participating in PRP inservice 

training program. This plan was finalized by the relevant stakeholders and subsequently 

endorsed by the Secretary Education, AJK in the provincial steering committee meeting. 

SUB-COMPONENT 2.4: PROVISION OF LEADERSHIP AND OVERSIGHT TO THE PROGRAMS 

2.4.1 PROVISION OF LEADERSHIP THROUGH NEED-BASED STEERING COMMITTEE 

MEETINGS 

In every province/region, the steering committee is one of the highest decision-making forums on 

policies and is chaired by the respective education secretary. In the reporting quarter, two Provincial 

Steering Committee (PSC) meetings were held (AJK 1 and 

Sindh 1) as below: 

Provincial Steering Committee - AJK 

A meeting of AJK Provincial Steering Committee (PSC) was 

held on May 19 in Islamabad. The meeting was chaired by 

Secretary Education Mr. Raja Muhammad Abbas Khan and 

attended by the PSC members or their representatives. 

USAID/Pakistan representative Carrie Antal and Daman 

Bozdar participated in the meeting. A total of 12 participants 

(10 male, 2 female) attended the meeting. AJK government 

approved Continuous Professional Development (CPD) 

strategic plan for in-service teachers. 

Presentation of CPD model during AJK steering committee 

meeting in Islamabad 


27

Provincial Steering Committee - Sindh 

PSC meeting was held on May 4 in Karachi. The progress regarding mentors and teachers’ refresher 

trainings, tablet distribution, accreditation workshops and PRP grants program was shared with 

committee members during this meeting. 

2.4.2 STRENGTHENING OF OVERSIGHT SYSTEM THROUGH NEED-BASED ADVISORY 

COMMITTEE MEETINGS 

In the reporting quarter, three Provincial Advisory Committee (PAC) meetings were held (AJK 1, 

Balochistan 1, and ICT 1) as below: 

Provincial Advisory Committee - AJK 

The committee technically reviewed and recommended AJK CPD strategic plan for the approval from 

steering committee. A total of 16 participants (15 male, 1 female) attended the meeting held on May 

19. 

Provincial Advisory Committee - Balochistan 

The committee decided that Policy Planning and Implementation Unit (PPIU) will issue a letter to all 

district authorities to specify timeframe for not transferring trained teachers from PRP intervention 

schools, and that all transfers of PRP school teachers may be cancelled. A total of 12 participants (10 

male, 2 female) attended the meeting held on May 10. 

Provincial Advisory Committee - ICT 

The committee meeting was held to share progress of PRP activities in ICT including policy, PRP 

baseline updates, midline data collection, and hiring of consultants for technical assistance, and to 

seek guidance of committee members for approval of policy initiatives including development of 

reading assessment system in the region. In total 8 participants (all male) attended this meeting held 

on June 7. 

SUB-COMPONENT 2.5: IMPROVED EDUCATION POLICIES/TEACHING WORKFORCE 

SUPPORT AND MOTIVATION 

2.5.2.1 SHARE AND REVIEW TIG MODEL WITH THE APEX INSTITUTIONS RESPONSIBLE FOR 

CPD 

During this reporting period, PRP completed 

dialogues with AJK government officials to 

adapt/adopt PRP’s Teacher Inquiry Group (TIG) 

model for the Continuous Professional Development 

(CPD) system. The AJK government approved CPD 

strategic plan for in-service teachers and also 

adapted PRP’s TIG model. 

In addition, PRP held meeting with officials of DCTE, 

PITE and Adam Smith International (ASI) in KP to 

Additional Secretary, KP highlighting the need of aligning PRP’s 

TIG model with Education Department’s CPD model 


28

share its TIG model and discuss possibilities for integration in the existing CPD model of Education 

Department, KP. All the participants unanimously agreed on differences, solutions and modus 

operandi for alignment of TIG model and Education Department’s CPD model. A total of 7 

participants (5 male, 2 female) attended the meeting on June 2. 

2.5.2.4 STANDARD SETTING FOR READING AT GRADE 1 & 2 - URDU, SINDHI AND PUSHTO 

In this reporting quarter, the process of development of Pushto reading standards was initiated in 

KP. A meeting was held with officials of DCTE, PITE, Islamia College Peshawar, Pashto Department- 

University of Peshawar, and Sarhad University Peshawar on June 3 to discuss the roadmap for 

development of Pushto reading standards for early grades and recommend a working group for this 

purpose. A total of 10 participants (7 male, 3 female) participated in the meeting. As a result, DCTE- 

KP notified a working group for development of Pushto reading standards. 

2.5.2.5 GRADE LEVEL PERFORMANCE READING STANDARDS (URDU, SINDHI AND PUSHTO) 

APPROVED BY THE PROVINCIAL/REGIONAL GOVERNMENTS 

The compliance level reading standards of Urdu were approved in AJK, GB, ICT and KP in previous 

quarter. In the reporting period, a consultative workshop on finalization of compliance level reading 

standards in Urdu for Balochistan province was organized in Quetta on April 12. The participants 

reviewed and finalized compliance level reading standards for early grades. The workshop 

participants also recommended submitting the final draft for its approval by the provincial steering 

committee. A total of 26 participants (7 male, 19 female) attended the workshop. 

2.5.4 TEACHER RECRUITMENT RULES AND COMPENSATION 

PRP followed with the provincial/regional governments for the amendment in recruitment rules to 

allow the Associate Degree in Education and B.Ed. (Hons.) graduates to compete for jobs as 

elementary school teachers. The Education Departments, Government of Sindh, Balochistan and GB 

have already notified the amended rules. PRP will provide technical assistance to ICT, FATA, and KP 

to make further revisions to existing recruitment policies and procedures by incorporating the new 

qualifications. As reported in the last quarter, technical assistance is not required in KP and FATA. 

2.5.4.2 PROVIDE TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE IN DEVELOPING RECRUITMENT RULES TO ENSURE 

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES FOR ADE/B.ED. (HONS.) GRADUATES 

During this reporting quarter, PRP received approval of the consultant’s scope of work by CA&DD. 

The recruitment process was initiated for hiring a regional consultant to develop recruitment rules 

to ensure employment opportunities for ADE/B.Ed. (Hons.) graduates in ICT region. 

2.5.4.3 APPROVAL AND NOTIFICATION OF THE RECRUITMENT RULES BY THE RELEVANT 

GOVT. DEPARTMENTS 

This activity in ICT will be initiated once the consultant is hired. 

2.5.5 DEVELOP TEACHER CERTIFICATION AND LICENSING PROGRAM 

2.5.5.1 IDENTIFICATION AND SELECTION OF TA 


29

Under this activity, PRP will provide technical assistance in Balochistan, FATA, GB, ICT and KP to 

develop a road map for teacher licensing regime. So far, poor response of the provincial/regional 

governments was reported in the previous quarters. On continuous follow-up with 

provincial/regional governments, and with the approval of respective governments, the hiring 

process of consultant was finalized in Balochistan, GB and ICT. In FATA, this activity is on hold due to 

No Objection Certificate (NOC) issue and consultations in KP are ongoing. 

2.5.5.2 DEVELOP DRAFT CERTIFICATION AND LICENSING STRUCTURES 

This activity is linked with 2.5.5.1 and will be initiated once the consultant is hired. 

2.5.5.3 CONDUCT WORKSHOPS TO FINALIZE LICENSING STRUCTURE 

Although planned in this quarter, PRP could not initiate this activity because it is linked with 2.5.5.1 

and 2.5.5.2. 

2.5.6 ACCREDITATION OF TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAMS 

In Pakistan, teacher education programs are accredited by National Accreditation Council for 

Teacher Education (NACTE), which is a well-established entity under the HEC. NACTE has developed 

standard tools for accreditation of a TTI, looking at facilities, performance, discipline-specific staffing, 

and course content. These tools are quite technical in nature; therefore PRP is organizing capacity 

building workshops in collaboration with NACTE to help TTIs prepare their accreditation application 

package. 

2.5.6.1 PROVIDE ACCREDITATION FEES TO NACTE FOR PARTNER TTIS AND SIGNING OF MOU 

In this quarter, PRP processed payment of accreditation fee to NACTE for 19 TTIs in Balochistan. 

Further, PRP Balochistan team coordinated with the partner TTIs for the completion of required 

documents for NACTE accreditation. 

2.5.6.2 HOLD PROVINCIAL ACCREDITATION ORIENTATION WORKSHOPS ON ACCREDITATION 

TOOLS IN COLLABORATION WITH NACTE 

During the reporting quarter, PRP in collaboration with NACTE completed 3-day orientation 

workshops for 63 TTIs – 4 in GB, 33 in Sindh, and 26 in KP attended by 188 faculty members (111 

male, 77 female). The purpose of these workshops was to orient faculty members of TTIs on the 

NACTE accreditation process and tools. Table below shows the details of workshops for TTIs. 

Table 19: Participants of accreditation workshops 

Gilgit-Baltistan 

Dates Number of TTIs Male Female Total 

June 2-4 4 10 5 15 

Sindh 

April 6-8 11 21 11 32 

April 19-21 11 18 16 34 

April 25-27 11 24 15 39 

Total 33 63 42 105 

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 

May 17-19 13 21 16 37 

May 24-26 13 20 11 31 

Total 26 41 27 68 


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2.5.6.3 COMPLETION OF ACCREDITATION TOOLS 

The partner TTIs are in process of completing the accreditation tools and submitting to NACTE. PRP 

will collect the list of Institutional Accreditation Committees (IACs) from TTIs. 

2.5.6.4 DISSEMINATION OF ACCREDITATION RANKS/CATEGORIES GIVEN BY NACTE 

This activity is linked with 2.5.6.3. 

2.5.7 POLICY DIALOGUE ON THE PROMOTION OF USING MOTHER TONGUE FOR READING 

INSTRUCTION 

Under this activity, PRP will conduct a study on the use of mother tongue for literacy instruction at 

early grade level, which will be further used for a policy dialogue with the government. 

2.5.7.2 CONDUCT STUDY FOR THE INTRODUCTION OF MOTHER TONGUE AS A MEDIUM OF 

INSTRUCTION 

During the reporting quarter, meetings were held with the research team of consulting firm hired for 

conducting a study on the use of mother tongue. The consulting firm developed research tools that 

were reviewed and finalized in consultation with PRP. The survey tools were piloted in Haripur 

district of KP and the same were revised on the basis of pilot results. Moreover, facilitation to the 

consulting firm for data collection on mother tongue study was completed in Balochistan, Sindh, KP 

and Punjab, and the consulting firm initiated data collection in the above-mentioned provinces. 

ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES 

• Secretary Education, Government of AJK held meeting with district education officials of five 

PRP focused districts through webinar facilitated by PRP. In this meeting, the Secretary 

Education directed district education officials of Kotli district, AJK to cancel transfer of PRP 

trained teachers. As a result, the officials cancelled transfer orders of 75 PRP trained 

teachers who were earlier transferred from PRP focused schools to non PRP intervention 

schools in the district. 

• Held meetings with Joint Educational Advisor, Ministry of Federal Education & Professional 

Training (MoFE&PT) on hiring of consultant for National Curricula Framework. All the 

required relevant documents and nomination letter were collected from the Ministry for 

providing technical assistance. 

COMPONENT 3: COMMUNITY BASED SUPPORT FOR READING 

This component focuses on a range of innovative program grants based on practical experience and 

global evidence regarding the importance of community-based support to reinforce children’s 

learning and reading skills acquisition. PRP is soliciting support from a variety of Pakistani NGOs and 

school management committees through small community grants and a few larger grants that will 

be focused explicitly on community-based reading activities in support of PRP’s goals. 


31

The following sections present details of component 3 activities undertaken during this reporting 

quarter. 

SUB-COMPONENT 3.1: COMPLEMENTARY READING PROGRAM (CRP) GRANTS 

3.1.1 COMPLEMENTARY READING PROGRAM (CRP) GRANTS 

3.1.1.1-2 RFA DEVELOPMENT ON THE BASIS OF THEMATIC AREAS 

PRP developed two concept notes on ‘summer/winter camps’ and ‘tutoring’ and submitted to USAID 

for approval. Upon USAID’s approval, two Request for Applications (RFAs) were drafted for the 

above-mentioned grant themes and were submitted to USAID for review and feedback. 

3.1.1.3 RFA APPROVAL FROM USAID 

PRP received USAID’s approval on 1 RFA for ‘tutoring’ theme on May 16. As per USAID’s feedback, 

PRP will remove the CRP themes related to ‘gender’ and ‘summer/winter camps’ and add: ‘enabling 

writers’ workshops to develop reading materials’ and ‘reading for adolescent girls’. 

3.1.1.4 SOLICITATION: CALLS FOR PROPOSALS RELEASED 

In this quarter, PRP advertised the opportunity available under Complementary Reading Project 

(CRP) grants ‘tutoring’ theme in English (The News), Urdu (Jang), and Sindhi (Kawish) newspapers on 

May 22 (see annex 3). The documents including RFA, application form, budget, guidelines and list of 

PRP intervention school were posted on the website link http://www.pakreading.org.pk/grants. The 

deadline for submission of applications against this solicitation was June 22. 

3.1.1.5 TECHNICAL REVIEW COMMITTEE MEETINGS – PROPOSAL EVALUATION 

As a result of the above-mentioned solicitation, PRP received a total of 64 CRP grant applications 

from the 6 provinces/regions (AJK 7, Balochistan 8, GB 3, ICT 15, KP 16, and Sindh 15). PRP is under 

the process of reviewing and scrutinizing these applications in order to check their completeness and 

eligibility. Technical review committee meetings are planned in all the provinces/regions in the next 

quarter. 

3.1.1.9 GRANTS MONITORING 

During this quarter, PRP regional grants team conducted 85 monitoring visits for 9 CRP grants 

awarded to local NGOs (AJK 12, Balochistan 14, GB 17, ICT 18, KP 12, and Sindh 12). The following 

activities were conducted by 9 CRP grantees in this reporting period. 

GRANTEE: HELP IN NEED (HIN) 

THEME: READING EVENTS TO PROMOTE PARENTAL ENGAGEMENT 

During the reporting period, following major activities were carried out by the CRP grantee in district 

Hattian of AJK region. 

Teachers and Parents Gatherings 

A total of 71 teachers and parents gatherings were held successfully in 71 schools of district Hattian- 

AJK. A total of 1,049 participants (937 parents, 107 teachers, and 5 guardians) attended these 


32

gatherings where they were provided an opportunity to interact with each other and to discuss and 

share children’s performance both in school and at home. 

Family Reading Awareness Sessions for Family Reading Time 

A total of 18 awareness sessions for family reading time were conducted in district Hattian-AJK, 

attended by 78 participants (70 parents, 8 teachers). The participants were motivated to engage in 

‘family-based reading activities’ under the grant program for improving reading skills of their 

children studying in grades 1 and 2. 

Establishment of Home Reading Corners 

A total of 802 reading corners were established in homes of grade 1 and 2 children in district 

Hattian-AJK. In this activity, parents and children 

selected and decorated one room in their home as a 

reading space. 

Read a Book - Donate a Book 

Read a Book - Donate a Book campaign was 

launched in the CRP grants targeted communities, 

and book care and collection committees were 

formed in 7 villages (Parsa, Bandi Jamadaran, 

Charoot Ban, Sarai, Makniat, Purana Makaan and 

Amra Sawan) of district Hattian AJK. The committee 

members collected books from the community and 

placed these books at a common place in the village 

such as hujra/masjid with mutual consent of the respective community. 

Read a Book - Donate a Book is being organized in district 

Hattian-AJK 

Labeling Household Items 

During the reporting period labeling household items activity was completed in 316 homes of grade 

1 and 2 students. Parents and children were guided to write and paste the labels on the 

objects/items to facilitate children in associating the written word with the objects/items. 

Parents, Teachers and Children Classroom Display and Decoration Day Celebration: 

Classroom display and decoration event was 

organized in 30 schools to make classroom 

environment stimulating and motivating for the 

students. A total of 824 participants: 480 students 

(234 from grade 1 and 246 from grade 2), 289 

parents (234 mothers, 55 fathers), and 55 teachers 

(22 male, 33 female) participated in the activity. 

Let’s Read Together Today 

The activity was conducted in 9 of the CRP grants 

targeted schools in district Hattian-AJK. A total of 

130 participants (29 male, 101 female) including 

parents, students and teachers participated in ‘let’s 

Participants of Let’s Read Together Today activity in district 

Hattian-AJK 


33

ead together today’ activity. 

Exchange Books 

Exchange books activity was conducted in 10 communities of the 5 Union Councils of district Hattian- 

AJK. A total of 49 books were exchanged between neighboring families of these communities 

including storybooks, history books, Islamic books, and children’s magazines to promote reading 

culture. 

GRANTEE: AZAT FOUNDATION (AF) 


Azat Foundation (AF) a CRP grantee working in Kharan, Balochistan conducted the following 

activities in this quarter. 

Community Based Reading Event 

Community based reading events were organized 

in 20 selected schools in district Kharan- 

Balochistan. Community elders as well as children 

participated to read books and newspapers during 

the events. A total of 378 community members 

(143 male, 235 female) participated in these 

events. Children were encouraged to read 

storybooks and short articles from newspapers in 

front of parents, teachers and community 

members. 

Community based reading event in Kharan, Balochistan 

Distribution of Stationery/Materials 

Materials including stickers for labeling household items, flip charts, markers, pencil sets, and 

storybooks were distributed in 20 selected schools in district Kharan-Balochistan. 

GRANTEE: FORESIGHT INSTITUTE FOR EDUCATIONAL AND LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT (FIELD) 


Foresight Institute for Educational and Leadership 

Development (FIELD), a CRP grantee working in Skardu, 

GB conducted the following activities. 

Family Reading Time and Labeling Household Items 

During the reporting quarter, FIELD introduced homebased 

activities ‘family reading time’ and ‘labeling 

household items’ in 475 households in district Skardu- 

GB. Family members sat together to read a book, and 

children of grades 1 and 2 labeled various household 

items with the help of their parents. 

Fatima Diya, a primary student labels an item at her 

home in Skardu, Gilgit-Baltistan 


34

Exchange Books 

Exchange books activity was conducted in 20 selected schools in district Skardu-GB. A total of 160 

community members (54 male, 106 female) participated in this activity. Books were exchanged 

between children, parents, elders, teachers, and community members. 

Provision of Stationery/Materials 

During the reporting quarter, FIELD distributed 

materials including stationery sets, K2 newspaper, 

and Phool magazine in 20 CRP grant targeted 

schools in district Skardu-GB. The stationery was 

also used for ‘labeling household items’ activity. 

Parent Teacher Gathering 

FIELD conducted parent teacher gatherings in 11 

CRP grant targeted schools in district Skardu-GB. A 

total of 149 participants (35 male, 114 female) 

participated in these gatherings to interact with 

each other and discuss the performance of their 

children. 

Parent teacher gathering at a school in Skardu, Gilgit-Baltistan 

Teachers’ Training Workshops 

FIELD conducted 3-day teachers’ training workshop in district Skardu-GB attended by 29 teachers (4 

male, 25 female). The purpose of this workshop was to build capacity of the teachers to engage 

parents in child learning, focusing on reading skills. 

GRANTEE: KARAKORAM ASSOCIATES FOR EDUCATIONAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (KAEED) 

THEME: CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS 

Karakoram Associates for Educational and Economic Development (KAEED), a CRP grantee working 

in Ghizer, GB conducted the following activities during the reporting quarter. 

Baseline Survey 

KAEED conducted a baseline survey in 40 schools in district Ghizer-GB. A total of 898 children (466 

boys, 432 girls) participated in the baseline survey activity. School data including information about 

number of children with special needs (visual impairment) in each school, and the required facilities 

to meet their educational learning needs was collected in this survey. 

Project Launching Ceremony 

Project launching ceremony was organized at 2 locations in district Ghizer-GB. A total of 100 people 

(73 male, 27 female) participated in both the events. 


35

Children Eye Screening Test 

Screening test of 1,118 students (617 boys, 501 girls) to identify visual problems of the children from 

40 project schools was conducted during the reporting 

quarter. Children with special needs will be treated 

according to the findings. 

Awareness Sessions for Parents 

During the reporting period, awareness sessions for 

parents were conducted in 23 CRP grants targeted 

schools in district Ghizer-GB. A total of 391 parents 

(179 male, 212 female) participated in these sessions to 

create awareness among parents for understanding 

problems of visually impaired children. 

Screening test is in progress in district Ghizer, Gilgit- 

Baltistan 

GRANTEE: HASHOO FOUNDATION 


Hashoo Foundation (HF) a CRP grantee working in Islamabad region conducted the following 

activities during the reporting quarter. 

Cluster-based Trainings for Parents 

A total of 12 two-day cluster-based trainings of parents 

were conducted, attended by 948 participants (185 

male, 763 female). Parents learnt the techniques and 

approaches of creating favorable reading environment 

for children at home. 

Parents Mobilization Activity 

HF conducted mobilization activity for parents of 17 

schools in ICT region to support them in selecting and 

decorating reading corners at home. A total of 473 

parents (122 male, 351 female) participated in the activity. 

Labeling Household Items 

A total of 473 parents (122 male, 351 female) of students from 17 targeted schools were sensitized 

to label all their household items with their children to establish a print rich environment at home. 

Story Sharing Day 

HF organized story sharing day in 38 selected schools. A total of 370 parents (82 male, 288 female) 

participated in the story sharing activity and shared indigenous stories with children. 

Communication with Parents through SMS 

Cluster-based training for parents at a school in 

Islamabad 

During the reporting period, a total of 8,028 Urdu vocabulary text messages through SMS were sent 

to 669 parents of grade 1 and 2 students in the focused schools to introduce two words per day to 

their children. 


36

GRANTEE: HUMAN DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION (HDF) 


Human Development Foundation (HDF), a CRP grantee working in Mardan, KP conducted the 

following activities during the reporting quarter. 

Establishment of ‘Kitab Ghar’ 

During the reporting period, HDF established ‘Kitab Ghar’ in the 20 CRP grants targeted schools in 

district Mardan-KP. The Kitab Ghar, a place where the 

students can sit and read together, were equipped with 

furniture and storybooks for primary students. 

Parents-Teachers-Children Meetings 

HDF conducted 20 parents-teachers-children meetings in 

district Mardan-KP. A total of 2,121 participants (519 

parents, 1,447 children, and 155 teachers) participated 

in these meetings to discuss their child’s school 

performance. 

Provision of Reading Corner Kits 

Children receive kits for reading corner at a school in 

district Mardan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 

HDF provided reading corner kits to a total of 1,047 

grade 1 and 2 students (347 boys, 700 girls) of the CRP grant targeted schools in district Mardan-KP. 

This material will be used in establishing reading corners at homes of grade 1 and 2 students in the 

upcoming months. 

GRANTEE: HEALTH AND RURAL SERVICES FOUNDATION (HRDSF) 


Health and Rural Services Foundation (HRDSF), a CRP grantee working in district Mansehra-KP was 

asked to hold CRP grant activities by security agencies of Pakistan for not having MOU with 

Economic Affairs Division and local administration. The management of HRDSF is working closely 

with district administration, Mansehra and security agencies to seek permission/NOC for project 

implementation. Recently, HRDSF received a letter of recommendation from Social Welfare 

Department, district Mansehra and now they are in final stage to get the approval/permission from 

local administration on the basis of this recommendation letter. 

GRANTEE: ROOT WORK FOUNDATION (RWF) 


Root Work Foundation (RWF) a CRP grantee working in Sindh region conducted the following 


Training of Teachers on Visual Impairment 

Four teacher training workshops were organized in Sujawal-Sindh focusing on visually impaired 

children. A total of 100 teachers (84 male, 16 female) attended these trainings that were facilitated 

by a qualified trainer eye specialist (ophthalmologist). 


37

Distribution of Visual Screening Kits 

Vision screening kits including snelen chart, lea symbols, occluder with pin hole, magnifying sheets 

and measuring tape were provided to 100 trained teachers (84 male, 16 female) to conduct the 

screening of children for identifying visually impaired children. 

Partners Organization (SRPO) 

GRANTEE: SINDH RURAL PARTNERS ORGANIZATION (SRPO) 


Sindh Rural Partners Organization (SRPO) a CRP grantee working in Sindh conducted following 


Baseline Survey 

SRPO conducted baseline survey in 300 schools of district Tando Allah Yar-Sindh to analyze schools’ 

condition, available facilities and provisions, teachers’ capacity and training needs, and existing 

school management committees. Reading assessments were also conducted for students of grade 1 

and 2 in these schools. The findings of the baseline were compiled and final baseline report was 

submitted by the grantee after incorporating feedback from PRP. 

Sensitization and Awareness Raising Meeting 

SRPO conducted 50 sensitization and awareness raising meetings with parents in district Tando Allah 

Yar-Sindh attended by 1,275 parents (843 male, 432 female). Parents of the selected communities 

were sensitized to enroll their children in government primary schools of the area. 

SUB-COMPONENT 3.2: COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT 

3.2.1 COMMUNITY-MANAGED READING GRANTS (CMR) 

3.2.1.4 GRANT AWARD 

During the reporting quarter, 3 Community 

Managed Reading (CMR) grants were awarded, 

one each in GB, ICT, and KP. The grants 

agreements were signed by PRP and respective 

grantees, however the activities will start when 

schools reopen after summer vacations. 

1. In ICT, 1 CMR grant agreement was signed 

between PRP and School Management 

Committee of Islamabad Model School (I – 

V) I- 8/1 Islamabad on May 23. 

2. In KP, 1 CMR grant agreement was signed 

Grant agreement signed by Head Teacher, Government Girls 

Primary School, Forest College, University of Peshawar 

between PRP and Government Girls Primary School, Forest College, University of Peshawar 

on May 24. 

3. In GB, 1 CMR grant agreement was signed between PRP and Government Boys High School, 

Jagir Basin, Gilgit on June 14. 


38

3.2.1.5 GRANTS MONITORING 

Implementation of the 3 CMR grants awarded in this quarter will start when schools reopen after 

summer break. Therefore, the monitoring is subject to implementation of the CMR grants activities. 

However, the post follow-up/monitoring of the already completed 18 CMR grants activities were 

carried out on monthly basis in all 6 provinces/regions. During the reporting quarter, PRP regional 

grants team conducted a total of 45 post follow-up/monitoring visits (AJK 9, Balochistan 12, GB 6, 

ICT 5, KP 9, and Sindh 4). Some of the major findings of the post follow-up visits are as under: 

• In all the CMR grants targeted schools, 20 minute reading period is now an integral part of 

school timetable. 

• Parents are visiting the respective CMR grants targeted schools on regular basis. A close 

coordination between parents, teachers and school administration is visible in these schools. 

• The teaching and learning materials (Pico projectors, tablets, storybooks and thematic 

charts) provided under the PRP grants are being utilized in classrooms. 

• Children take storybooks (provided by PRP) with them for 2-3 days to read with their siblings 

at home. 

3.2.2 MOBILE BUS LIBRARIES 

3.2.2.7 ACTIVE MOBILE LIBRARY PROGRAM IN AT LEAST 300 SCHOOL/COMMUNITIES 

The Mobile Bus Libraries (MBLs) visited total 27 schools (ICT 12, Sindh 15) in this quarter. PRP’s 

target was to visit 34 schools in both regions (ICT 14, Sindh 30), however due to early closure of 

schools for summer vacations the target could not be achieved. As an alternate, the project 

proposed a summer reading program in low-cost private schools of Islamabad and Karachi from 

June-August that was approved by USAID. A total of 14 schools (ICT 6, Sindh 8) were visited by the 

MBL under its summer reading program. 

MBL stayed in each school for 5 days to conduct reading activities with students. In this quarter, the 

MBL performed following activities to promote reading culture among primary school children. 

MOBILE BUS LIBRARY ACTIVITIES 

READ ALOUD/STORY TELLING SESSION WORD BUILDING INDEPENDENT READING 

AUDIO LISTENING SMALL GROUP READING CREATIVE WRITING 


39

Table 20: Number of school’s visited and beneficiaries 

Province/ 

Region 

Girl 

Schools 

Boy 

Schools 

Mix 

Schools 

Total 

Schools 

Total 

Enrollment 

No. of 

Beneficiaries 

% of 

Beneficiaries 

ICT 3 - 9 12 7,082 5,319 75% 

Sindh 5 10 - 15 2,516 1,679 67% 

Total 8 10 9 27 9,598 6,998 73% 

In addition to above reading activities, the MBL: 

• Distributed books to establish reading corners and promote a culture of reading among 

students. A set of 550 books was handed over to each school head at last day of the visit. 

6,050 books were given to 11 schools in ICT, while 15 Sindh schools received 8,250 books. 

• Established 35 reading corners in both regions (ICT 11, Sindh 24) to give students access to 

reading resources. 

• Conducted 27 parents’ meetings in both regions (ICT 12, Sindh 15) to brief them about MBL 

program and the importance of reading. A total of 98 parents (13 male, 85 female) 

participated in these meetings. 

Participation in Literature Festivals 

• MBL participated in 4 th Islamabad Literature Festival from April 15-17 to brief visitors about 

the MBL program, its objectives, modes of operation, and its impact. Parents and children 

expressed a keen interest in MBL and appreciated PRP’s efforts to improve reading skills 

among children. 

• MBL participated in ‘Qomi Kitab Mela’ (National Book Festival) from April 22-24 in Pak-China 

Center Islamabad to engage visitors in reading activities and promote PRP initiatives. 

• MBL participated in World Book Day celebrations on April 23 in Gharo village located outside 

the Karachi city. The event was organized by the Education Department and PRP’s MBL was 

the center of attraction for the visitors. 

MBL Summer Reading Program 

In the reporting quarter, MBL introduced summer reading program to make summer mornings more 

thrilling and joyful for students of marginalized communities. This initiative is an effort to open the 

gateways to a world of fantasy, joy and imagination to promote a culture of reading and provide an 

opportunity to the children to touch, feel, see and read the text written in the books. 

Each MBL is visiting a school for 3 days in a week for 3 hours from 8:00am to 11:00am in both 

Islamabad and Sindh. A total of 14 schools (ICT 6, Sindh 8) were visited by the MBL, benefiting 1,160 

primary students (635 boys, 525 girls). 

Following are the activities being conducted with children during summer reading program. 

• Storytelling 

• Buddy reading 

• Independent reading 

• Audio listening 

• Drawings 

• Creative writing 


40

MBL SUMMER READING ACTIVITIES 

AUDIO LISTENING BUDDY READING PRIZE DISTRIBUTION 

The management of private schools, parents and specially children of schools in both regions 

appreciated the summer reading program. Total 1,160 students have benefited from the variety of 

activities MBL offers, and 98 parents, mainly mothers, attended the MBL activities. 

GENDER 

4.1 NATIONAL GENDER STUDY 

During the reporting quarter, PRP reviewed proposals submitted by interested firms, finalized a firm 

for conducting national gender study, and conducted meetings with the consultants. This study will 

gather first-hand, field-based and region-specific information related to gender gaps and 

discrimination that impact PRP’s goal of improving reading skills in early grades. The study will 

provide insight to PRP and to educational institutions to address gender discrimination and to design 

more gender equitable and sensitive interventions for the learners of grades 1 and 2. It is expected 

that the study would be completed in the next quarter. 

4.2 DEVELOPMENT OF GENDER SENSITIVE MATERIAL 

4.2.2 DEVELOPMENT OF BROCHURE AND POSTERS ON GIRL FRIENDLY APPROACH 

In this reporting quarter, PRP received USAID’s approval for three gender posters and initiated the 

process of printing. However, distribution of gender posters to PRP focused schools will start in the 

next quarter after summer vacations. 

Furthermore, PRP completed pilot testing of brochure developed on the concept of gender-friendly 

schools (Urdu brochure) in all provinces/regions, and Sindhi brochure in Sindh province. Focus Group 

Discussions (FGDs) were conducted with a group of 6-7 teachers/mentors for their feedback in each 

province/region. Overall, 53 participants (26 male, 27 female) participated from all 

provinces/regions. A three-phase approach was utilized in the updating and refining of the gender 

brochure. The first phase involved review and gathering input from Material Review Committees 

(MRCs). The second phase involved pilot testing the draft gender brochure with the target audience 

(teachers/mentors). The third phase involved reviewing and incorporating the pilot test results. In 

the next quarter, PRP will submit brochure to USAID for final approval. 

4.4 TRAINING OF PRP GENDER FOCAL STAFF ON GENDER AND CONFLICT SENSITIVITY 


41

4.4.1 ORIENTATION SESSIONS OF PRP STAFF ON GENDER AND CONFLICT SENSITIVITY 

Three orientation sessions were held in this quarter (one each in ICT, AJK and GB) attended by 89 

teachers, mentors, SSAs and academic supervisors (40 male, 49 female). The participants were 

sensitized about gender issues in education. They were oriented on the concepts like gender and 

sex, gender stereotypes and gender discrimination. Moreover, they were also provided an 

opportunity to look at PRP’s reading material from a gender lens and analyze Pakistan’s gender and 

education statistics and policies. 


• Gender Advisor represented PRP at the National Youth Speak Forum in Lahore on April 13. 

More than 200 young and passionate graduates of Pakistan’s top universities, including 

interns from other countries, participated. Project introduction and its role in promoting 

gender equality in education in general, and reading in particular, across Pakistan was 

highlighted at this forum. 

COMMUNICATIONS AND REPORTING 

5.1.1 BRANDING OF VENUES AND MATERIAL DEVELOPED BY PRP 

PRP ensured branding and marking of all material developed by the project as per USAID guidelines. 

Branding of various program reports such as baseline assessment report, PPP guidelines and toolkit, 

etc. was completed. PRP also provided branded stationery, standees and photography facilitation for 

various program and administrative events including the material distribution ceremonies in KP, 

Sindh, Balochistan and AJK, graduation ceremony in Balochistan, Islamabad Literature Festival, and 

mini literature festival at a government school in Islamabad. 

5.2.1 MAJOR PUBLIC EVENT 

• Islamabad Literature Festival: PRP took part in the 4th Islamabad Literature Festival held 

from April 15-17 at Lok Virsa, Islamabad where the MBL and stall were the center of 

attention. PRP teachers and staff from Balochistan, Islamabad, AJK and GB displayed 

‘classroom rich materials’ and attended sessions over the 3 days. 

• Reading culture reigniting in Pakistan: PRP became part of the National Book Day Festival in 

Islamabad organized by National Book Foundation and another Book Day Festival in Karachi 

hosted by Education and Literacy Department in Sindh. PRP’s stalls were decorated with 

hand-made storybooks of teachers and students, and the Mobile Bus Libraries engaged 

young visitors in reading and art activities. 

5.2.2 PRINTED AND ELECTRONIC PROMOTION AND MEDIA COVERAGE OF PROJECT 

INITIATIVES 

In this quarter, PRP ensured media coverage wherever needed and, in particular for the tablet 

distribution and material distribution ceremonies. A total of 18 print media mentions were made 

during the quarter. Detail is given below: 


42

• 3 print media mentions for PRP-Kachhi, Balochistan tablet distribution & creative reading 

competition on May 7. 

http://pakreading.org.pk/sites/default/files/press/AJK%20Material%20Distribution%20Cere 

mony%20May%2026%202016.pdf 

• 2 print media mentions for teaching learning material ceremony held in AJK on May 26. 

http://pakreading.org.pk/sites/default/files/press/AJK%20Material%20Distribution%20Cere 

mony%20May%2026%202016.pdf 

• 4 print media mentions for material distribution ceremony in district Nowshehra, KP on May 

27. 

http://pakreading.org.pk/sites/default/files/press/KP%20Material%20Distribution%20Cere 

mony%20May%2027%202016.pdf 

• 9 print media mentions for enrollment campaign in girls’ primary school, district Mansehra, 

KP from April 21-27. 

• PRP on Air: 

o USAID Education Office and PRP 

appeared in a live weekly Radio Show 

on FM 101: “Aap Hum Aur Behtar 

Zindagi” to share project achievements 

and efforts of promoting a reading 

culture in Pakistan. They also 

responded directly to questions from 

listeners. 

o PRP Head of Office and Technical 

Coordinator from Islamabad 

represented the project in a Radio 

Show (Raabta). 

USAID and PRP at the radio show 

• Highlighting PRP work: John Groarke, USAID/Pakistan Mission Director, wrote an article for 

Dawn highlighting PRP’s work. 

• Video commercial: TV channels also broadcasted USAID’s Ramadan greetings video ad 

produced with the support of PRP. 

• PRP designed newspaper advertisements for grants and material development departments. 

• PRP program updates including tablet distribution, updated teaching learning material, and 

summer reading program were posted on social media websites of USAID, IRC and Creative 

Associates during the quarter. 

5.3.2 PROJECT DOCUMENTARIES 

• PRP received final cut of PRP video documentary from the vendor that is in process of 

review. 


43

5.3.3 SUCCESS STORIES 

• Two success stories attached (see annex 4). 

5.3.4 NEWSLETTERS 

• PRP circulated 11 weekly e-newsletters to USAID, project staff in all provinces/regions, 

partners and senior provincial/regional government officials. 

5.3.5 PHOTOGRAPHY/VIDEOGRAPHY OF PROJECT ACTIVITIES 

• PRP ensured photographic record of all major events and submitted 10 selected 

photographs to USAID as part of the social media package. 

5.4.1 MONTHLY, QUARTERLY AND ANNUAL REPORTING 

• PRP produced and submitted 1 quarterly and 3 monthly reports in this quarter. 


• Campaign launched to enroll more children: On the request of Education Department, AJK, 

KP and Sindh, PRP participated in the launching of school enrollment campaign at the 

regional level. At the occasion, Education Ministers reiterated their commitment to improve 

quality of education and enroll 100% school-aged children in the public education system. 

• Urdu Ki Taraqi PRP Ke Saye Main: The education management of Nilore Sector, Islamabad 

organized a ‘Mini Literature Festival’ on May 12 witnessing students and teachers from 14 

intervention schools. The Deputy Director 

Trainings, Federal Directorate of Education 

recognized the achievements upon completion of 

one academic year of reading intervention. 

Participating schools exhibited their material and 

students performed skits and were engaged in 

reading-focused games. 

• Books For All - Celebrating Learning to Read in 

Sindh was organized by teachers in Karachi to 

share the joys of reading with the homeless 

Students perform a skit during mini literature 

festival at a school in Islamabad 

children at Edhi Child Home, ‘Kashana-e- Atfaal-o-Nonihal, and with the students of Sindh 

Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT). Storytelling, story writing, and reading 

activities were held, and PRP trained teachers donated handmade storybooks to the 

children. 

• Celebrating tomorrow’s teachers: PRP organized a Graduation Ceremony for Associate 

Degree in Education students in Quetta, Balochistan on May 27. Mr. Mohammad Khan 

Achakzai, Governor Balochistan graced the event and presented tablets to position holders. 

He reiterated Balochistan Government’s commitment to education reforms and encouraged 

the graduates to play their role in improving quality of basic education in Balochistan. 


44

MONITORING, EVALUATION AND LEARNING 

6.3: ESTABLISHMENT & IMPLEMENTATION OF PROJECT MONITORING SYSTEMS 

(SYSTEMATIC MONITORING) 

6.3.3 REVIEW AND UP-GRADATION OF ONLINE INFORMATION SYSTEM ON NEED BASIS 

The online Monitoring and Evaluation Information System (M&E-IS) was upgraded with new features 

to cater for program needs and support senior management in decision making. These updates 

included: 

• Student enrolment module integrated to manage scanned enrolment forms, and related 

reviews. Export data facility added for exporting student enrolment data in spreadsheet, and 

exporting graphs from dashboard. 

• Teacher information section updated to add teaching grades for existing teachers, and 

manage performance data for teacher transfers in TIG schools. 

• Teaching Learning Materials (TLMs) module updated to incorporate revisions in data 

collection tools for teachers, students, and distributions to academic supervisors and 

mentors. New pages and graphical modules added for TLM distributions including regional 

and district level distribution figures. 

• Updated yearly and quarterly target versus achievement for school support visits. 

6.3.5 TRAINING OF COMPONENT BASED FOCAL STAFF ON M&E 

PRP continued to provide need-based support to M&E regional and district staff during the reporting 

quarter particularly on data entry and updates on M&E-IS. The M&E central and regional team held 

5 orientation sessions for 193 program and district M&E staff (91 male, 102 female) on M&E data 

collection tools and related SoPs, minimum documentation criteria, M&E-IS and their roles and 

responsibilities. 

M&E quarterly review meeting was held in Islamabad during the quarter, attended by 6 regional 

M&E coordinators. The aim of the meeting was to discuss progress, quarterly targets, and challenges 

being faced in their respective provinces/regions. 

6.3.6 SUPPORT TO PROJECT STAFF IN TRACKING PROGRESS AGAINST WORK PLAN & PMP 

The central and regional M&E staff continued to provide support to project staff in tracking activities 

during their field visits. Support was provided to program team in: 

• Reviewing performance data and related paper-based evidences for material distribution, 

TIG meetings, and school support visits 

• Updating training data of teachers/mentors on M&E-IS 

• Updating TLM data on M&E-IS 

• Tracking on-going student enrolment data collection and uploading on M&E-IS 

• Monitoring and reviewing progress of CRP grantees 


45

6.3.7 UPDATES ON USAID INFO 

PRP held a meeting with USAID to discuss changes in PakInfo, and align targets of MSF indicators 

with revised MEL plan. Yearly targets and quarterly achievements were updated and shared with 

USAID for revisions through PakInfo administrator. The project data related to MSF indicators for 

previous quarter was uploaded to PakInfo in May 2016. 

6.3.8 UPDATES ON TRAINET 

PRP is waiting for USAID input to activate the TraiNet website for updates. 

6.4: DESIGN AND CONDUCT SURVEYS/STUDIES DEPENDING ON NATURE OF ACTIVITIES 

6.4.1 DESIGN AND CONDUCT BASELINE SURVEYS 

Student enrolment for year 2016-17 in PRP intervention schools of cohort 1 and 2 districts was 

completed in this quarter. The data was collected using student enrolment tool designed to measure 

the number of primary-level students and learners receiving reading interventions. PRP will report 

final enrolment data after verification in next quarter. 

6.4.2 DESIGN AND CONDUCT SURVEYS AS PER PMP AND WP TO MEASURE CHANGE 

The language mapping survey report was drafted in this quarter and will be finalized for submission 

to USAID in next quarter. 

6.4.3 DESIGN AND CONDUCT RESEARCH STUDIES 

• Rural School Support Study: PRP continued research activities under the rural school 

support study in this quarter. The study was initiated in December 2015 in 14 schools 

located in Panjpai, Balochistan, Swabi, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Astore, Gilgit-Baltistan. This 

is a participatory research that aims to build capacity of grade 1 and 2 teachers to participate 

in the process of defining and studying their immediate problems related to teaching 

reading, developing and testing theories through practice, and implementing the practical 

knowledge that emerges from the process as well as the training. In this quarter in addition 

to organizing the face to face trainings and the subsequent TIG meetings for each cluster, 

teachers’ interaction during TIGs’ proceedings were observed and documented. Focus group 

interviews were held with the teachers and with some community members to delve into 

the community level issues that impact learning in schools. All schools were surveyed for the 

provision of technology for both teachers and students (tablets). After survey, the ICT 

equipment was procured and dispatched to the regions for deployment. The use of 

ICT/tablets will be studied to determine whether ICT related activities assist rural and 

isolated teachers in engaging their students in learning in a more inclusive manner. 

• Cost Effectiveness Study: To assess the cost effectiveness of training interventions, PRP is 

conducting a sample-based study to determine which intervention is more cost-effective in 

terms of improving children’s reading skills. After discussions with USAID in October 2015, 

the following variants were chosen for the regions: 


46

Table 21: Variations being tested in four locations 

3 VARIATIONS being tested in 4 locations 

Group Face to TIGs, Student 2 days Provinces/regions 

Face teacher 

modules 

materials coaching 

A KP, Sindh 

B X ICT, GB 

C X ICT, KP 

D X Sindh, GB 

The study was initiated in January 2016. In this quarter, 5-day face-to-face training of 29 

teachers (19 male, 10 female) was conducted in GB and ICT to build their capacity for 

teaching reading. Training of additional groups (variants) is planned for August 2016. 

• Teacher Beliefs Study: This study aims to measure changes in teachers’ beliefs about 

teaching reading and how children learn to read during PRP intervention. The research is 

being conducted with 9 teachers. Although initially 39 teachers were selected for the study, 

due to budget constraints (the design requires teachers’ travel to Islamabad as well as 

researcher’s travel to the individual school for observations), the number was reduced to 9 

teachers only. In this quarter, PRP organized a workshop in Islamabad for the selected 

teachers (6 male, 3 female) from AJK, Balochistan, KP, and Sindh. The purpose was to orient 

them on reflective journal writing techniques. 

6.4.4 PROCESS EVALUATION FOR IN-SERVICE TEACHER TRAINING 

The process evaluation of sample TIGs in cohort 1 districts was carried out by an external firm I-SAPS 

and final report was submitted to USAID in this quarter. The objective of this exercise was to 

evaluate how program activities are delivered and the extent to which they are implemented as 

planned. In order to share results/findings with project staff, process evaluation workshops were 

conducted in Islamabad, AJK, Balochistan, KP, and Sindh - while GB is planned in next quarter. The 

findings are intended for in-service component team and technical leads to assess changes or 

adaptation required to implement PRP in-service component activities as per program objectives. 

6.5: IMPACT EVALUATION (STUDENT ASSESSMENT) 

6.5.3 COHORT WISE STUDENT ASSESSMENT AT GRADE LEVEL TO ASSESS READING 

IMPROVEMENT 

In this quarter, PRP initiated the planned midline 

assessment survey by modifying the tool in consultation 

with international consultant and rendering the same on 

Tangerine ® software. A 5-day material development and 

master trainer workshop was conducted in Islamabad 

from April 11-15 to develop standardized material for 

enumerators’ training. A total of 12 participants (7 male, 

5 female) were trained as master trainers. All the 

participants were trained to administer assessment tools 

Midline assessment data collection in process 


47

using Tangerine ® software, and hands on practice of rendered tool (Early Grade Reading 

Assessment) was ensured during the workshop. 

PRP organized 6 regional/provincial enumerators’ training workshops in AJK, Balochistan, GB, ICT, 

KP, and Sindh for 32 enumerators (17 male, 15 female) to train them on administering midline 

assessment survey. The table below provides details of participants. 

Table 22: Participants of enumerators' training workshops 


AJK 4 2 6 


GB 3 3 6 

ICT 2 2 4 

KP 3 3 6 

Sindh 2 2 4 

Total 17 15 32 

The midline data collection was completed in 184 schools for 2,591 students (1,421 boys, 1,170 girls) 

who have completed grade 1, and 184 grade 1 teachers (100 male, 84 female). Necessary data 

cleaning was performed after completion of midline data collection, and compiled data was shared 

with research advisor and international consultant for analysis. The table below provides gender 

wise data of schools and participants. 

Table 23: Schools, students and teachers in data collection 

Province 

Schools Students Teachers 

/Region Boys Girls Total Boys Girls Total Male Female Total 

AJK 24 11 35 306 182 488 24 11 35 

Bal 20 14 34 242 187 429 20 14 34 

GB 17 17 34 238 265 503 16 18 34 

ICT 12 12 24 184 160 344 8 16 24 

KP 19 17 36 269 261 530 19 17 36 

Sindh 14 7 21 182 115 297 12 8 20 

Total 106 78 184 1421 1170 2591 100 84 184 

A meeting was convened with USAID to discuss PRP baseline assessment report and technical 

feedback was shared for necessary modification in the baseline report. PRP is in process of 

incorporating USAID feedback in this report. 

ISSUES AND CHALLENGES 

• Teacher transfers: Transfer of PRP trained teachers to non-intervention schools is one of the 

challenges in all provinces/regions even though the number of transferred teachers is not 

significant compared to the total number of trained teachers in each province/region. In AJK, 

as a result of PRP efforts transfer orders of 75 trained teachers were cancelled by the 

Education Department. Some of these teachers were away from TIG schools for 3-4 months, 

and did not participate in TIG meetings during this period. That made it challenging for 

them, as well as for mentors and SSAs, to bridge this gap. Project SSAs increased frequency 

of their support visits to these teachers to provide additional coaching/support for daily 

reading lessons, and cover remaining topics in TIG modules. In Sindh, after the introduction 


48

of biometric verification of schools, PRP trained teachers were transferred to non-PRP 

schools. PRP conducted series of meetings with Education & Literacy Department regarding 

re-transfer of PRP trained teachers to PRP intervention schools at provincial and district 

level. Due to these efforts Karachi district education office issued a notification to hold 

transfers of 30 teachers. 

• Early closure of schools: Government of Sindh announced summer vacations 11 days earlier 

than scheduled affecting TIG meetings and support visits. PRP coordinated closely with 

district education offices, teachers and mentors to reschedule the planned activities and 

organized additional TIG meetings / school visits in advance to complete the target as 

planned for this quarter. Early closure of schools also affected the schedule of data 

collection for mother tongue study in both Sindh and Punjab provinces. PRP’s close 

coordination with the Education Departments and District Administration in both provinces 

helped the team in timely collection of data from selected schools. 

• Grant activities on hold in Mansehra, KP: Health and Rural Development Services 

Foundation (HRDSF), a grantee working in Mansehra, KP was asked by security agencies to 

suspend activities due to non-availability of MOU and registration with Economic Affairs 

Division—causing a delay in achieving the regional grants target. PRP sent a formal letter to 

cease all operations until HRDSF receives the NOC. Their management is working closely 

with District Administration (Mansehra) and security agencies to get permission/NOC for 

project implementation. 

• Relationship building in Sindh: Given that USAID has 2 reading projects and a large 

construction project under the Sindh Basic Education Program in Sindh, the Secretary 

Education has a complicated, multi-faceted schedule. USAID/Islamabad suggested PRP 

strengthen their presence with the Secretary Education, Sindh by scheduling regular visits to 

update PRP activities. A senior PRP Team will start the regular meetings by providing a 

presentation on the most recent achievements to senior government officials at the 

beginning of the next quarter. When the Secretary Education returns from his trip abroad in 

September, PRP will schedule a presentation for him. 

• IRC registration with Government of Pakistan: The implementation of National Action Plan 

by the Government of Pakistan and Law Enforcement Agencies across Pakistan required 

international NGOs to register with the Ministry of Interior in addition to Economic Affairs 

Division. Accordingly, IRC submitted required application form and necessary documentation 

for registration with the Ministry of Interior, Government of Pakistan. The registration is 

pending despite continuous follow up with relevant government departments that has 

impacted the participation of international consultants and staff to support PRP. 


49

OPERATIONS HIGHLIGHTS 

Human Resources 

• Total of 65 staff (41 male, 24 female) hired: 15 (7 male, 8 female) of IRC, 16 (7 male, 9 

female) of World Learning, 23 (19 male, 4 female) of Creative Associates and 11 (8 male, 3 

female) of IRM. 

• Hired 38 enumerators to complete the midline assessment across Pakistan. 

• Total of 45 staff (30 male, 15 female) departed: 23 (14 male, 9 female) of IRC, 1 (1 male, 0 

female) of World Learning, 14 (8 male, 6 female) of Creative Associates and 7 (7 male, 0 

female) of IRM. 

• Two IRC employees Humayun Afridi (M&E Officer) and Muhammad Javaid (Graphic 

Designer) passed away this quarter. 

• Conducted orientation sessions on employee handbook in Islamabad, Sindh, AJK and 

Balochistan. 

Administration 

• In reporting quarter administrative and logistics support was provided for programmatic 

events, USAID meetings, internal activities and stakeholders. Similarly, travel and lodging 

facilities were also provided to internal and external staff. Moreover, refresher sessions on 

Vehicle Management Policy were arranged to raise awareness among staff about vehicle 

management. 

PRP INTERNATIONAL VISITORS/CONSULTANTS VISITS 

Shahid Sadiq 

Security Coordinator 

Visitor Dates Purpose 

May 30 to June 2, 2016 

To attend IRC global safety and 

security training in Uganda 

Sharoon Shoukat 

Senior Security Officer 

Barbara J. Toye-Welsh 

Chief of Party 

Dr. Naeem Sohail Butt 

Deputy Chief of Party Program 

Mansoor Ali, Senior Director 

Operations and Compliance 

Zulfiqar Ali 

Technical Director Teacher Training 

Hamid Javaid 

Finance Controller 

Bahiyyeh Syed 

Executive Officer to COP 

May 30 to June 2, 2016 

June 14 to June 18, 2016 






To attend IRC global safety and 

security training in Uganda 

To attend a three day intensive 

modification meeting in Dubai 












50

Maryam Jillani 

Program Associate 

Education for Development 

Division, Creative Associates 

Visitor Dates Purpose 

July 11 to July 22, 2016 

PRP International Visitors/Consultants Visits (Next Quarter) 

To review Creative Associates 

program activities at PRP in Sindh 

and Islamabad 

Visitor Destination Dates Purpose 

Uzma Anzar 

Research Advisor, 

International Rescue 

Committee 

Dr. Fathi El-Ashry 

Senior Associate, 

Education for 

Development 

Division 

Josephine Clark 

Kennedy, Associate 

Director TESOL 

Washington DC - 

Islamabad 

TBD 

Work with M&E team to plan and 

implement PRP evaluation and help 

assessment team in student data analysis. 

Egypt - Islamabad TBD Orientation of master trainers of AJK, GB, 

KP, FATA, ICT and Punjab on integrated 

reading courses developed for ADE and 

B.Ed. (Hons.) 


Islamabad 

TBD, Consultant Washington DC - 

Islamabad 

Barbara J. Toye- 

Welsh, Chief of Party 

Dr. Naeem Sohail 

Butt, Deputy Chief of 

Party Program 

Mansoor Ali, Senior 

Director Operations 

and Compliance 

Tayyaba Aurangzeb, 

Senior Director 

Finance and Grants 

Zulfiqar Ali, Director 

Technical Teaching 

Training 

Cairo - Dubai 

Islamabad - Dubai 




TBD 

22/08/16 to 

26/08/16 

TBD/09/16 to 

TBD/09/16 

TBD/09/16 to 

TBD/09/16 

TBD/09/16 to 

TBD/09/16 

TBD/09/16 to 

TBD/09/16 

TBD/09/16 to 

TBD/09/16 

Orientation of master trainers of AJK, GB, 

KP, FATA, ICT and Punjab on integrated 

reading courses developed for ADE and 

B.Ed. (Hons.) 

Assist the reading specialist in developing 

the reading improvement strategy (RIS). 

Review Strategic RIS document for technical 

feedback 

Assist the reading specialist in conducting 

national workshop 

Launch the modification. In-depth design 

work across pre-service and component 2. 

Design the quarterly TIG and school support 

visits in a comprehensive and sustainable 

model for teachers’ professional 

development to improve reading 























51


Shahida Maheen, 

Director 

Supplementary 

Resource 

Development 

Mahvash Ali, Director 

Communications And 

Outreach 

Kashif Pervaiz, 

Director Human 

Resources 

Khadim Hussain, 

Monitoring and 

Evaluation 

Coordinator 

Khurasan Ali Shah, 

ICT Specialist 

Dr. Fayyaz Ahmed, 

Technical Director 

Policy 

Salman Ahmed, 

Public Private 

Partnership Specialist 

Dr. Shaheen Ashraf, 

Gender Specialist 

Omer Azmat Butt, 

Grants Coordinator 










TBD/09/16 to 

TBD/09/16 

TBD/09/16 to 

TBD/09/16 

TBD/09/16 to 

TBD/09/16 

TBD/09/16 to 

TBD/09/16 

TBD/09/16 to 

TBD/09/16 

TBD/09/16 to 

TBD/09/16 

TBD/09/16 to 

TBD/09/16 

TBD/09/16 to 

TBD/09/16 

TBD/09/16 to 

TBD/09/16 
























































52


Ruman Ijaz, 

Assessment Specialist 

Bahiyyeh Syed, 

Executive Officer to 

COP 

Hassan Ali, Senior 

Manager, Operations 

and Logistic 

Hamid Javaid, 

Finance Controller 

TBD 

Creative Associates 

Maryam Jillani, 

Technical Manager, 

Creative Associates 

Nadya Karim-Shaw, 

Country 

Representative, 

Pakistan 

World Learning 






Dubai 


Dubai 


TBD, World Learning Washington DC - 

Dubai 

Aasim Reza, Project 

Coordinator IRM 


TBD/09/16 to 

TBD/09/16 

TBD/09/16 to 

TBD/09/16 

TBD/09/16 to 

TBD/09/16 

TBD/09/16 to 

TBD/09/16 

TBD/09/16 to 

TBD/09/16 

TBD/09/16 to 

TBD/09/16 

TBD/09/16 to 

TBD/09/16 

TBD/09/16 to 

TBD/09/16 

TBD/09/16 to 

TBD/09/16 
























































53


Muhammad Farooq 

Akbar, Advisor 

Programs and 

Coordination IRM 

Jennifer Sklar, 

Deputy Director, 

Education, 

International Rescue 

Committee 

TBD, International 

Rescue Committee 

Kashif Pervaiz, 


Resources 

Rabia Hussain, HR 

Coordinator 

Barbara J Toye- 




Dubai 



TBD/09/16 to 

TBD/09/16 

TBD/09/16 to 

TBD/09/16 

TBD/09/16 to 

TBD/09/16 

19/07/16 to 

21/07/16 

Islamabad - Dubai 19/07/16 to 

21/07/16 

Cairo - Dubai 19/07/16 to 

21/07/16 

TBD, 2 Senior Staff Islamabad - Dubai TBD/08/16 to 

TBD/08/16 

Meeting for 2 

days 



Cairo - Dubai 

TBD/08/16 to 

TBD/08/16 

Meeting for 2 

days 

TBD, 2 Senior Staff Islamabad - Dubai TBD/09/16 to 

TBD/09/16 

Meeting for 2 

days 



Kashif Javaid, 


Resources 

Yasir Ali Khan, HR 

Manager KPO 

Agha Khannan, 

Supply Chain 

Manager, KP 

Cairo - Dubai 

Islamabad – 

Chiang Mai, 

Thailand 

Islamabad – 

Chiang Mai, 

Thailand 

Islamabad – 

Bangkok, Thailand 

TBD/09/16 to 

TBD/09/16 

Meeting for 2 

days 

21/08/16 to 

26/08/16 

21/08/16 to 

26/08/16 

15/08/16 to 

20/08/16 






















Modification Orientation Meeting with COP 

Modification Orientation Meeting with COP 

Modification Orientation Meeting with HR 

Senior Staff 

Senior Staff Meeting with COP 




To participate in IRC Annual HR Workshop 

To participate in IRC Annual HR Workshop 

To participate in IRC Global Supply Chain 

Workshop 


54


Mohammad Abdullah 

Khan, Supply Chain 

Coordinator 

Islamabad 

Hamid Javed, Finance 

Controller 

Tayyaba Aurangzeb, 

Sr. Director Finance & 

Grants 

Islamabad – 

Bangkok, Thailand 

Islamabad – 

Munyonyo, 

Uganda 

Islamabad – 

Munyonyo, 

Uganda 

15/08/16 to 

20/08/16 

22/08/16 to 

27/08/16 

22/08/16 to 

27/08/16 

To participate in IRC Global Supply Chain 

Workshop 

To participate in IRC Finance Conference 

To participate in IRC Finance Conference 

Key Activities for Next Quarter 

• Grade 2 Urdu and Sindhi material design and illustration work 

• Material review committee meetings to review and approve grade 2 Urdu and Sindhi 

material design and illustration 

• Distribution of teaching learning material package to cohort 1 and 2 schools will commence 

from September 2016 

• Cohort 2 Phase II face-to-face trainings in all provinces/regions 

• Master Trainers’ orientation workshop and faculty training on reading integrated courses 

• Provincial accreditation orientation workshops for TTIs 

• Orientation workshop for enumerators (government officials) on assessment tools 

• Piloting of reading assessment tools in selected schools 

• Provincial workshops to discuss the outline of strategic plan for CPD 

• Mother Tongue and Gender studies 

• Provincial/regional grants review committee meetings 

KEY MEETINGS 

Meetings with USAID and other Stakeholders in Islamabad 

April 6 

Chief of Party (COP), and Supply Chain met with Daman Bozdar USAID/AOR to discuss and review 

new processes for submission of tax exemption letters to USAID. 

April 7 

COP met with Daman Bozdar USAID/AOR to discuss Lion’s Club cost share proposal, Sindhi and Urdu 

material distribution, Islamabad Literature Festival, and May 2016 event in GB. 

April 15 

COP met with Daman Bozdar USAID/AOR to discuss quarterly report and MOUs with Lion’s Club, 

Laraib Energy, Paramount, and Ferozsons. 


55

April 21 

COP met with Daman Bozdar USAID/AOR to discuss short-term technical assistance to the Ministry 

of Federal Education for rolling out education quality standards and new policy/curricula reforms. 

April 28 

COP met with Daman Bozdar for a PRP-USAID weekly progress update meeting. 

May 3 

Acting COP and PRP senior management met with Daman Bozdar USAID/AOR to discuss consultative 

workshops with education department, update on USAID’s visit to Fatima Jinnah Women University 

Rawalpindi, tax exemption letters, and tentative dates for school visit in May. 

May 10 

Acting COP, M&E, and Communications met with USAID (AOR & PakInfo technical team) to discuss 

changes in PakInfo historical data and aligning targets of MSF indicators with the revised MEL plan. 

May 17 

Acting COP, Director Teaching Training and Director Supplementary Resource Development met with 

Carrie Antal, Education Advisor, Daman Bozdar USAID/AOR, and UNDP representatives to discuss 

teacher-training activities in FATA. 

May 20 

Acting COP and M&E met with Daman Bozdar USAID/AOR to discuss PakInfo data. 

May 25 

Acting COP and Supply Chain met with Daman Bozdar USAID/AOR to discuss taxation exemption 

issues. 

June 2 

Acting COP and assessment team met with Daman Bozdar USAID/AOR and Sumbal Naveed, Project 

Management Specialist (USAID/Education) to discuss PRP baseline report. 

PRP Azad Jammu & Kashmir Meetings 

April 1 

Head of Office (HoO)-AJK met with Secretary Elementary & Secondary Education to brief him about 

progress on Continuous Professional Development (CPD) strategic plan. 

May 4 

HoO-AJK met the Secretary Education to brief him about the agenda of Steering Committee meeting 

planned for May 19, and confirm his participation. 

May 5 

HoO-AJK met the Secretary Education to discuss Material Distribution Ceremony for cohort 2 and 

hosted a video conference with selected district education offices to review PRP progress. 


56

May 10 

HoO-AJK met with Director Institute of Education, University of AJK for her participation in the 

upcoming writer’s workshop to review and finalize course guides for ADE & B.Ed. (Hons). 

May 12 

HoO-AJK held meeting with Controller Examination, University of AJK for issuance of result 

notification for B.Ed. (Hons.) semester 4 of session 2013-17. 

May 16 

HoO-AJK along with the policy team met with Secretary Education and Director Directorate of 

Education Extension to finalize the agenda and roles and responsibilities for Provincial Steering 

Committee meeting. 

May 26 

HoO-AJK met with Minister of Education to update him about CPD strategic plan. 

PRP Gilgit-Baltistan Meetings 

April 7 

HoO-GB met the Secretary Education, GB for approval of reading performance standards in the 

region. 

April 19 

HoO-GB held coordination meeting with Director Academics, Director Planning, and Director Special 

Education to discuss midline assessment survey. 

May 16 

HoO-GB met the Director Education to finalize dates for the material distribution ceremonies in 

Hunza and Ghizer districts. 

May 24 

HoO-GB met the Secretary Education to discuss distribution of assets handed over to PRP from 

another USAID project, and to share progress on the decisions made at National Forum on Reading 

meeting held in March 2016. 

May 27 

HoO-GB attended the closing ceremony of the EGRA trans-adaptation workshop and met Director 

Education Gilgit (Academics). 

June 14 

HoO-GB met the Secretary Education, GB regarding the feasibility of launching the Mobile Bus 

Library in GB. 

June 19 

HoO-GB attended a meeting of the development partners’ forum chaired by the Secretary 

Education, GB. The Secretary announced the formation of this forum to generate support of partner 


57

organizations for bridging gaps in annual development plan of Education Department. The forum will 

meet on quarterly basis. 

PRP Balochistan Meetings 

April 21 

HoO-Balochistan met with Rotary Club on implementation of MOU signed between Education 

Department-Balochistan, Rotary Pakistan Literacy Mission, and USAID. 

May 6 

HoO-Balochistan met with the Director of Schools at Directorate Education Department to formalize 

a coordination committee to oversee implementation of Rotary Club activities outlined in the MOU. 

May 9 

HoO-Balochistan met the Provincial Coordinator OGDCL Pakistan to discuss PPP opportunities. 

On May 12 

HoO-Balochistan met the Director of Schools to seek support for mother tongue study in Gwadar 

district. 

May 18 

HoO-Balochistan participated in two-day provincial consultative workshop on Sustainable 

Development Goals (SDGs) organized by Government of Balochistan, UNICEF and UNESCO 

Balochistan in Quetta. 

June 6 and 13 

HoO-Balochistan met with Director Schools, Balochistan and for PPP activities. 

June 22 

HoO-Balochistan met with Additional Secretary Education to discuss teacher licensing and 

certification and Mobile Bus Library. 

PRP Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Meetings 

April 18-20 

HoO-KP met with Director Inter-Services-Intelligence (ISI) and Head of Military Intelligence (MI) in 

district Mansehra and Abbottabad to brief about PRP objective and activities as well as seek 

clearance on tablet distribution in district Abbottabad and Mansehra. 

April 28 and May 2 

HoO-KP met the Assistant Commissioner Mansehra to discuss issue of tablet distribution. 


58

May 2 

HoO-KP held meeting with District Education Department Abbottabad to seek approval for 3-day 

orientation session of academic supervisors. 

May 9 and 12 

HoO-KP met with Director Provincial Institute of Teacher Education (PITE) and Director Elementary 

and Secondary Education Department to discuss integration of TIG model in the CPD framework of 

Education Department. 

May 11 

HoO-KP met the District Education Officer Charsada to share project updates and seek approval for 

distribution of materials/tablets. 

May 19 

HoO-KP met with the Deputy Director Training and Senior Subject Specialist DCTE-KP regarding 

accreditation status of Regional Institutes of Teacher Education (RITEs). 

May 25 

HoO-KP met the Additional Secretary and Chief Planning Officer to brief them on integration of TIG 

model in the CPD framework of Education Department. 

May 25 

HoO-KP met the Director, Deputy Director Training, and Senior Subject Specialist DCTE-KP to discuss 

submission of program accreditation fee to NACTE. 

May 31 

HoO-KP met with the Additional Secretary to discuss integration of PRP CPD model with the 

Education Department CPD framework. 

June 14 

HoO-KP met with the Deputy Commissioner (DC) to discuss tablet distribution in District Mansehra. 

However, the DC notified that due to security agencies concerns, the tablets would not be 

distributed in district Mansehra. 

June 15 

HoO-KP held a meeting with the Director and Deputy Director Training of DCTE-KP on notification of 

Pushto Reading Material Development Committee and working group for Pushto reading standards 

in KP. 

June 17 

HoO-KP met with the DC Abbottabad to discuss tablet distribution in Abbottabad, which has been 

halted by the security agencies. The DC declined the proposal of tablet distribution due to concerns 

from the security agencies. 


59

June 21 

HoO-KP met with the Secretary Education KP to seek approval on supporting education department 

in developing a structure for teacher certification and licensing in KP. 

June 22 

Director IER University of Peshawar visited KP office to meet HoO and discuss the support required 

from PRP for the upcoming Education Conference. 

PRP ICT Meetings 

May 16 and 17 

HoO-Islamabad Field Office (IFO) met with Joint Educational Advisor, Ministry of Federal Education 

and Professional Training to review PRP progress. 

May 18 

HoO-IFO met the CEO of READ Foundation in Islamabad to discuss possibilities of collaboration. 

May 26 

HoO-IFO met with Nasir Khan – Head of Capital Curriculum and Textbook Wing (CCTW) and Dr. 

Zulfiqar Cheema – Education Officer CCTW to clarify their concerns on the payment issues related to 

their participation/ contribution in PRP Material Review meetings. 

June 14 

HoO-IFO met with Rafique Tahir – Joint Educational Advisor Ministry of Federal Educational and 

Professional Training to share progress of PRP activities. 

June 17 

HoO-IFO observed EGRA Tool Development Workshop and met officials of CCTW. 

PRP Sindh Meetings 

April 7 

HoO-Sindh met with District Education Officer Tando Allayar and discussed the project activities and 

the utilization of tablets by educational officials, mentors and teachers. 

April 8 

HoO-Sindh met with District Education Officer and Taluka Education Officer, Matiari and discussed 

the project updates and utilization of tablets by the teachers and mentors. 

April 20 

HoO-Sindh met with Director Bureau of Curriculum & Extension Wing and discussed accreditation of 

TTIs and the issues of self-evaluation of TTIs. 


60

April 20 

HoO-Sindh met with Chairman and Member/Secretary of NACTE to discuss the self-evaluation of 

TTIs and the support of NACTE to TTIs during the accreditation process. 

April 23 

HoO-Sindh met with Senior Education Minister, Chief Program Manager Reform Support Unit and 

Director Schools at the World Book Day and briefed them on the PRP material and activities. 

May 5 

HoO-Sindh met with District Education Officer, Taluka Education Officers, and Deputy 

District Education Officer Naushehro Feroze and discussed the project updates and teachers' 

transfer issues. 

May 19 

HoO-Sindh met with Chief Program Manager Reform Support Unit (RSU) to discuss hosting the 

Material Distribution event at RSU. 

May 25 

HoO-Sindh met with Secretary Education at the policy dialogue "Access to Basic Education and 

Development in Sindh". 

June 9 

HoO-Sindh participated in a meeting with Sindh Teacher Education Development Authority (STEDA) 

on continuous professional development framework. 

June 10 

HoO-Sindh met with Director General Monitoring Cell, Education & Literacy Department to 

understand the M&E mechanism of Education & Literacy Department and discuss the issue of 

teachers' absenteeism during their participation in the TIG meetings or mentors' visits. 

June 13 

HoO- Sindh met with Director Curriculum and Extension Wing, Education & Literacy Department 

Sindh to discuss CPD strategic plan. 

June 16 

HoO-Sindh met with Director General Monitoring Cell and presented the letter outlining the 

procedure of teachers/mentors' travel during school timings to ensure that the process is 

transparent and no teacher can abuse the privilege of leaving the school during PRP activities. 

June 27 

HoO-Sindh participated in meeting with STEDA on development of the continuous professional 

development strategy for Sindh. 


61

ANNEXES 

1. Performance against Proposed Indicators 

2. Letter issued by Government of Punjab for Mother Tongue Study 

3. Grants Advertisement 

4. Success Stories 


62

ANNEX 1: PERFORMANCE AGAINST PROPOSED INDICATORS 

A. List of MSF Indicators 

Indicator 

reference 

# 

Indicator Description 


Year 3 (Oct 2015-Sep 2016) 

TARGETS 

Life of Project Targets 

Achievements during Q3 FY 

2016 (Apr 1 - Jun 30 2016) 

ACHIEVEMENT 

Cumulative achievement (as of June 

2016) 


Overall Program Goal - Students performing better in reading 

1 USAID MSF Indicator 4.2.2a. 

Number of learners receiving 

reading interventions at 

primary level 

0 

Total 421,613 312,011 733,624 747,108 552,892 1,300,000 

- - - 113,575 113,524 227,099 

Type: Output 

2 USAID MSF Indicator 

(4.2a): Number and 

proportion of learners who, 

by the end of two grades of 

primary school, demonstrate 

that they can read and 

understand the meaning of 

grade level text 

Type: Outcome 

3 USAID MSF Indicator (4.1b) 

Percent change in drop-out 

rates in USG assisted schools 

(Proxy Indicator) 

Type: Outcome 

4 USAID MSF Indicator (4.2d) 

Number of learners with 

improved reading skills 

Type: Outcome 

TBD 

296,390 223,610 520,000 

5% point 

decrease 

from the 

baseline 

518,703 391,297 910,000 

Component 1 - Improved Classroom Learning Environment for Reading 

Students and Schools 


63

Indicator 

reference 

# 

Teachers - In service 


4.2.2d MSF indicator: 

Number of teaching and 

learning materials provided 

with USG assistance. 

Type: Output 

1.2.1: Number of TLMs 

provided to Reading 

Specialist. 


provided to Mentors. 


provided to Academic 

Supervisor. 


provided to Head Teachers. 


provided to Teachers. 


provided to student of Grade 

1 and Grade 2. 

1.2.7: Number of Radio 

shows broadcasted. 

1.4. USAID MSF Indicator (4.2.2- 

b) 

Number of in-service 

teachers/educators/teaching 

assistants who successfully 

completed training or 

received intensive coaching 

or mentoring with USG 

support (S.I. 3.2.1-31) 

Type: Output 


Year 3 (Oct 2015-Sep 2016) 

Total - - 

TARGETS 



2016 (Apr 1 - Jun 30 2016) 

ACHIEVEMENT 


2016) 


1,658,29 

0 

- - 7,015,781 

194,05 

5 

96 288 12 57 

461,414 

5,862 16,565 705 3,925 

2,060 5,520 292 992 

8,218 23,800 3,560 

972,834 5,149,225 45,938 119,422 

669,220 - - 1,820,333 

333,408 

147,10 

8 

50 - 50 

0 Total 4,197 3,578 7,775 12,940 10,860 23,800 123 58 181 8,900 6,001 14,901 

AJK 600 512 1,112 2,000 1,705 3,705 1,355 1,103 2,458 

Balochistan 530 452 982 1,856 1,416 3,272 1,449 869 2,318 

FATA 427 364 791 1,424 1,213 2,637 - - - 

GB 124 106 230 414 353 767 497 240 737 

ICT - - - 138 117 255 101 464 565 

KP 1,160 989 2,149 3,867 3,295 7,162 122 47 169 2,865 2,662 5,527 


64

Indicator 

reference 

# 



Year 3 (Oct 2015-Sep 2016) 

TARGETS 



2016 (Apr 1 - Jun 30 2016) 

ACHIEVEMENT 


2016) 


Punjab - - - 

Sindh 1,356 1,155 2,511 3,241 2,761 6,002 1 11 12 2,633 663 3,296 


a) 

Number of administrators 

and officials successfully 

trained with USG support 

Total 6,162 5,265 11,427 14,266 12,199 26,465 

AJK 887 758 1,645 2,220 1,645 4,118 

Balochistan 800 687 1,487 2,002 1,487 3,719 

- - - 2,740 1,966 5,814 

- - - 587 397 984 

912 508 1,241 

Type: Output 

TBD 

FATA 628 535 1,163 1,575 1,163 2,921 

GB 185 158 343 476 343 885 

- - - - - - 

- - - 298 59 357 

ICT - - - 156 - 290 

- - - 63 177 240 

KPK 1,701 1,452 3,153 4,267 3,153 7,913 

- - - 880 825 1,705 

Sindh 1,961 1,675 3,636 3,570 3,636 6,619 

- - - - - 1,287 

1.7.1. Number of reading 

specialists trained. 

Type: Sub Indicator of 1.7. 

Sub total 

AJK 

- - - 16 16 32 

2 2 4 

- - - 16 9 25 

- 3 1 4 

Balochistan 

2 2 4 

- 2 1 3 

FATA 

2 2 4 

- - - - 

GB 

2 2 4 

- 2 1 3 

ICT 

2 2 4 

- 2 2 4 

KP 

2 2 4 

- 2 2 4 

Punjab - - - - 

Sindh 

4 4 8 

- 5 2 7 


65

Indicator 

reference 

# 


1.7.2. Number of mentors 

trained. 



Year 3 (Oct 2015-Sep 2016) 

TARGETS 



2016 (Apr 1 - Jun 30 2016) 

ACHIEVEMENT 


2016) 


Sub total 465 395 860 1,072 911 1,983 

AJK 67 57 124 167 142 309 

- - - 649 444 1,093 

- 124 50 174 

Balochistan 59 50 109 148 125 273 

FATA 48 40 88 119 101 220 

GB 14 12 26 35 29 64 

ICT - - - 11 10 21 

KP 129 110 239 322 275 597 

Punjab 

Sindh 148 126 274 270 229 499 

- 102 72 174 

- - - - 

- 37 9 46 

- 7 26 33 

- 191 195 386 

- - - - 

- 188 92 280 

1.7.3. Number of head 

teachers trained. 


Sub total 

AJK 

5,572 4,745 10,317 12,853 10,947 23,800 

800 681 1,481 2,001 1,704 3,705 

- - - 2,720 1,610 4,330 

- 413 330 743 

Balochistan 

706 602 1,308 1,767 1,505 3,272 

613 341 954 

FATA 

570 485 1,055 1,424 1,213 2,637 

- - - - 

GB 

166 141 307 414 353 767 

- 236 48 284 

ICT 

- - - 138 117 255 

- 48 145 193 

KP 

1,547 1,317 2,864 3,868 3,294 7,162 

- 631 581 1,212 

Punjab 

- - 

- - - - 

Sindh 

1,783 1,519 3,302 3,241 2,761 6,002 

- 779 165 944 

1.7.4. Number of academic 

supervisors trained. 

Sub total 

125 125 250 325 325 650 

- - - 247 119 366 


66

Indicator 

reference 

# 



Year 3 (Oct 2015-Sep 2016) 

TARGETS 



2016 (Apr 1 - Jun 30 2016) 

ACHIEVEMENT 


2016) 



AJK 

20 20 40 50 50 100 

- 47 16 63 

Balochistan 

FATA 

GB 

ICT 

KP 

Punjab 

Sindh 

35 35 70 85 85 170 

10 10 20 30 30 60 

5 5 10 25 25 50 

- 5 5 10 

25 25 50 75 75 150 

- - - - 

30 30 60 55 55 110 

77 33 110 

- - - - 

- 23 1 24 

- 6 4 10 

- 56 47 103 

- - - - 

- 38 18 56 

Teachers - Preservice 

1.9 MSF Indicator 4.2.3a. 

Number of host-country 

individuals who completed 

USG-funded short-term 

training or exchange 

programs involving higher 

education institutions 

Total 123 123 246 333 333 666 

AJK 18 18 36 36 36 72 

Balochistan 21 21 42 57 57 114 

FATA 6 6 12 12 12 24 

- - - 124 104 228 

Type: Output 

GB 6 6 12 12 12 24 

ICT 0 0 0 6 6 12 

KP 30 30 60 78 78 156 

Punjab 9 9 18 24 24 48 

Sindh 33 33 66 108 108 216 

1.11 USAID MSF Indicator: 

(4.1.2-a) Number of students 

1954 

(On- 

Total 1,335 2,314 3,649 

1,168 1,993 3,161 


67

Indicator 

reference 

# 


receiving US-funded 

scholarships to attend 

Pakistani institutions of 

higher education 

Type: Output 


Year 3 (Oct 2015-Sep 2016) 

TARGETS 



2016 (Apr 1 - Jun 30 2016) 

ACHIEVEMENT 


2016) 


going) AJK 106 285 391 106 282 388 

Balochistan 263 292 555 259 280 539 

FATA 87 49 136 74 49 123 

GB 78 208 286 71 206 277 

ICT 9 19 28 9 19 28 

KP 401 557 958 374 551 925 

Punjab 68 467 535 17 177 194 

Sindh 323 437 760 258 429 687 

1.11.1: Number of studentteachers 

enrolled in ADE 

program receiving new 

scholarships from the 

Pakistan Reading Project. 


Sub total 495 762 1,257 474 751 1,225 

AJK 34 57 91 34 57 91 

Balochistan 86 148 234 89 145 234 

FATA 50 23 73 50 23 73 

GB 11 35 46 10 36 46 

ICT 6 13 19 6 13 19 

KP 178 312 490 178 312 490 

Punjab - - - - - - 

Sindh 130 174 304 107 165 272 

1.11.2: Number of studentteachers 

enrolled in B.Ed. 

(Hons) program receiving 

new scholarships from the 

Sub total 164 254 418 160 257 417 

AJK 6 32 38 6 32 38 


68

Indicator 

reference 

# 


Pakistan Reading Project . 



Year 3 (Oct 2015-Sep 2016) 

TARGETS 



2016 (Apr 1 - Jun 30 2016) 

ACHIEVEMENT 


2016) 


Balochistan 19 33 52 21 31 52 

FATA 7 4 11 7 4 11 

GB 11 9 20 11 9 20 

ICT 3 6 9 3 6 9 

KP 72 47 119 72 47 119 

Punjab 14 70 84 14 70 84 

Sindh 32 53 85 26 58 84 

1.11.3: Number of ADE 

program scholarship holders 

of USAID-TEP continuing 

receiving scholarships from 

the Pakistan Reading Project. 


Sub total 522 985 1,507 411 672 1,083 

AJK 55 157 212 54 155 209 

Balochistan 133 66 199 130 63 193 

FATA 30 22 52 17 22 39 

GB 42 138 180 38 135 173 

ICT - - - - - - 

KP 98 144 242 72 135 207 

Punjab 50 278 328 - - - 

Sindh 114 180 294 100 162 262 

1.11.4: Number of B.Ed. 

(Hons) program scholarship 

holders of USAID-TEP 

continuing receiving 



Sub total 148 299 447 116 300 416 

AJK 5 25 30 5 25 30 

Balochistan 25 45 70 19 41 60 


69

Indicator 

reference 

# 




Year 3 (Oct 2015-Sep 2016) 

TARGETS 



2016 (Apr 1 - Jun 30 2016) 

ACHIEVEMENT 


2016) 


FATA - - - - - - 

GB 14 26 40 12 26 38 

ICT - - - - - - 

KP 53 54 107 52 57 109 

Punjab 4 119 123 3 107 110 

Sindh 47 30 77 25 44 69 

1.11.5: Number of in-service 

TTIs faculty receiving bridging 




1.12 USAID MSF Indicator 

4.2.2c. Number of individuals 

enrolled in Associates and 

Bachelors Degree Programs 

in Education. 

Type: Output 

Sub total 6 14 20 7 13 20 

AJK 6 14 20 7 13 20 

Total 832 833 1,665 4,160 4,165 8325 2,775 5,286 8,061 

AJK 90 90 180 450 450 900 233 541 774 

Balochistan 143 143 285 713 713 1425 653 962 1,615 

FATA 30 30 60 150 150 300 138 17 155 

GB 30 30 60 150 150 300 48 261 309 

ICT 15 15 30 75 75 150 11 29 40 

KP 195 195 390 975 975 1950 423 477 900 

Punjab 60 60 120 300 300 600 291 1,730 2,021 

Sindh 270 270 540 1348 1350 2698 978 1,269 2,247 

1.13 USAID MSF Indicator (4.2C) 

Number of graduates of 

Associates and Bachelors 

Degree Programs in 

Education 

6990 Total 833 833 1,665 3,720 3,998 7,718 1,196 2,034 3,230 

AJK 90 90 180 360 360 720 104 232 336 


70

Indicator 

reference 

# 


Type: Impact 


Year 3 (Oct 2015-Sep 2016) 

TARGETS 



2016 (Apr 1 - Jun 30 2016) 

ACHIEVEMENT 


2016) 


Balochistan 143 143 285 570 570 1,140 377 430 807 

FATA 30 30 60 120 120 240 14 22 36 

GB 30 30 60 120 120 240 46 179 225 

ICT 15 15 30 60 60 120 - - - 

KP 195 195 390 780 780 1,560 249 528 777 

Punjab 60 60 120 240 240 480 60 153 213 

Sindh 270 270 540 1,078 1,080 2,158 346 490 836 

1.15 USAID MSF indicator (4b). 

Percentage of graduates from 

USG-supported tertiary 

education programs 

reporting themselves as 

employed 

13% 

(TEP 

Study) 

Total 83 1665 5% 333 6660 5% 20% 

Type: outcome 

Component 2: Improved policies and system for reading 

Reading Policies 

2.4. USAID MSF Indicator (4.2.1b) 

Number of policies, laws, 

regulations or guidelines 

developed or modified to 

improve education quality, 

access or management 

Type: Output 

Total 12 42 1 23 


71

Indicator 

reference 

# 


2.5. USAID MSF Indicators 

(4.2.1)-a Number of 

universities/TTIs offering new 

education degree programs 

Type: output 

2.6 USAID MSF Indicator (4.3.2- 

b) Number of education 

officials trained to administer 

early grade reading 

assessments 


Year 3 (Oct 2015-Sep 2016) 

TARGETS 



2016 (Apr 1 - Jun 30 2016) 

ACHIEVEMENT 


2016) 


Total 29 111 110 

NA 40 85 - 

Type: output 

Component 3 - Community Based Support for Reading 


c) Number of USG assisted 

CSOs working to improve 

education quality and access 

Type: Output 

0 Total 21 35 9 

AJK 3 5 1 


FATA 3 5 - 

GB 3 5 2 

ICT 3 5 1 

KP 3 5 2 

Sindh 3 5 2 


a) Number of PTAs or similar 

school governance structures 

supported 

Type: Output 

Total 10 20 3 21 

AJK 1 3 3 


FATA 1 3 - 


72

Indicator 

reference 

# 



Year 3 (Oct 2015-Sep 2016) 

TARGETS 



2016 (Apr 1 - Jun 30 2016) 

ACHIEVEMENT 


2016) 


GB 1 2 1 3 

ICT 1 2 1 3 

KP 2 3 1 4 

Sindh 2 4 4 

3.5. USAID MSF Indicator (4.3-a) 

Change in percent of parents 

who express confidence in 

the school system in USG 

focused districts 

TBD 

20% point 

increase 

Type- Outcome 


73

B. List of Custom Indicators 

Indicator 

reference 

# 



Component 1 - Improved Classroom Learning Environment for Reading 

Year 3 (Oct 2015-Sep 2016) 

TARGETS 



2016 (Apr 1 - Jun 30 2016) 

ACHIEVEMENT 


2016) 


Students and Schools 

1.1 Custom indicator: 

Number of Early Grade 

Reading Material Review 

Committees (MRCs) formed 

and functional. 

Type: Output 

0 Total 9 9 9 

AJK 1 1 1 


FATA 1 1 1 

GB 1 1 1 

ICT 1 1 1 

KP 2 2 2 

Sindh 2 2 2 

1.3. Custom indicator: 

Number of classroom based 

corner libraries established 

Type: Output 

0 Total 3,081 2,627 5,708 12,940 10,860 23,800 

AJK 600 512 1,112 2,000 1,705 3,705 

Balochistan 530 452 982 1,856 1,416 3,272 

FATA 427 364 791 1,424 1,213 2,637 

GB 124 106 230 414 353 767 

ICT 138 117 255 138 117 255 

KP 1,160 989 2,149 3,867 3,295 7,162 

Sindh 102 87 189 3,241 2,761 6,002 


74

Indicator 

reference 

# 

Teachers - In service 



Year 3 (Oct 2015-Sep 2016) 

TARGETS 



2016 (Apr 1 - Jun 30 2016) 

ACHIEVEMENT 


2016) 


1.5. Custom Indicator:Percentage 

of primary school teachers 

who demonstrate application 

of reading instruction 

methods in classroom 

teaching.Type: outcome 

TBD 

Sub total 

55% 55% 55% 60% 60% 60% 

AJK 55% 55% 55% 60% 60% 1 

Balochistan 55% 55% 55% 60% 60% 1 

FATA 55% 55% 55% 60% 60% 1 

GB 55% 55% 55% 60% 60% 1 

ICT 55% 55% 55% 60% 60% 1 

KP 55% 55% 55% 60% 60% 1 

Punjab 55% 55% 55% 60% 60% 1 

Sindh 55% 55% 55% 60% 60% 1 


Number of Apex institutions 

dealing with the Continuous 

Professional Development of 

Teachers as per the TIG 

model. 

Type: Output 

Teachers - Preservice 

0 Total 

(1 per 

province/ 

region) 

7 

1.8. Custom Indicator 

Number of TTIs further 

strengthened to offer/initiate 

ADE and B.Ed. 

Type: Output 

0 Total 29 - 27 

AJK 1 - 1 

Balochistan 1 - 1 

FATA 2 - 2 


75

Indicator 

reference 

# 



Year 3 (Oct 2015-Sep 2016) 

TARGETS 



2016 (Apr 1 - Jun 30 2016) 

ACHIEVEMENT 


2016) 


GB 0 - - 

ICT 2 - 1 

KP 4 4 

Punjab 

3 3 

Sindh 16 15 

1.10 Custom Indicator - Number 

of TTI faculty members 

oriented on delivery of the 

reading course including 

practicum and assessment. 

Type: Output 

Sub total 

123 123 246 333 333 666 

AJK 18 18 36 36 36 72 

Balochistan 21 21 42 57 57 114 

FATA 6 6 12 12 12 24 

GB 6 6 12 12 12 24 

ICT 0 0 0 6 6 12 

KP 30 30 60 78 78 156 

Punjab 9 9 18 24 24 48 

Sindh 33 33 66 108 108 216 

1.14 Custom Indicator: 

Percentage of studentteachers 

who demonstrate 

increased knowledge of 

reading instruction methods 

promoted through Pakistan 

Reading Project in ADE and 

B.Ed. (Hons) programs 

TBD 70% 

Type: outcome 


76

Indicator 

reference 

# 


Component 2: Improved policies and system for reading 


Year 3 (Oct 2015-Sep 2016) 

TARGETS 



2016 (Apr 1 - Jun 30 2016) 

ACHIEVEMENT 


2016) 


Reading Policies 

2.1 Custom indicator: 

Number of Steering 

Committees established and 

functional at provincial/ 

regional levels for Pakistan 

Reading Project 

Type: Output 

Total 7 7 

AJK 1 1 

Balochistan 1 1 

FATA 1 1 

ICT 1 1 

GB 1 1 

KP 1 1 

Sindh 1 1 


Number of provinces with 

approved Reading 

Improvement Strategies 

(RIS). 

Total 7 7 - 

Type: Output 


Proportion of provinces 

implementing and 

monitoring RIS. 

Total 1 - 

Type: Output 


77

Indicator 

reference 

# 



Year 3 (Oct 2015-Sep 2016) 

TARGETS 



2016 (Apr 1 - Jun 30 2016) 

ACHIEVEMENT 


2016) 


2.7 Custom Indicator: 

NA Total 2 10 5 

Number of Public Private 

Partnerships (PPP) 

established to promote 

reading at early grade. 

Type: output 

Component 3 - Community Based Support for Reading 


Number of reading 

enhancement initiatives 

completed by Pakistani civil 

society organizations (CSOs) 

Type: Output 

0 Total 21 35 

AJK 3 5 

Balochistan 3 5 

FATA 3 5 

ICT 3 5 

GB 3 5 

KP 3 5 

Sindh 3 5 


Number of communities with 

access to mobile bus libraries 

Type: Output 

Total 150 300 27 75 

ICT 50 100 12 44 

Sindh 100 200 15 31 


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ANNEX 2: LETTER ISSUED BY GOVERNMENT OF PUNJAB FOR MOTHER TONGUE STUDY 


79

ANNEX 3: GRANTS ADVERTISEMENT 


80

ANNEX 4: SUCCESS STORIES 

SUCCESS STORY 

Reading Beyond School 

“Seeing my daughter take interest in 

reading has inspired me to read to my 

children every day and help them become 

better readers.” 

Mir Baz, Malaika’s father 

Malaika is reading a story to her father 

and younger sister in her house 

A print rich wall at Malaika's home 

Malaika is helping her friends read a 

story at school 

Malaika begins her day going over the different letters and 

words she has displayed on a print-rich wall in her house. She 

makes up her own jingles and rhymes to highlight a particular 

sound and also gets her siblings involved in the activity. Her 

father helps her with difficult Urdu words and enjoys seeing his 

daughter taking so much interest in reading. 

Malaika is a primary student at a PRP intervention Government 

Girls High School Gulmit, Gilgit-Baltistan that received one year 

of support through the project. The activities carried out at this 

school under PRP have helped her develop an immense 

interest in reading and to take this interest beyond the school 

premises. She has put up charts and drawings containing Urdu 

letters, words, and sounds on the walls of her house and is also 

inspiring her friends and siblings to improve their reading skills. 

Her father, who is a teacher at a government school, is happy 

with her performance and feels that PRP is giving his children 

valuable reading skills without increasing their workload. 

What particularly fascinates him is the way Malaika helps her 

older siblings, one of whom is a grade 7 student, to read 

difficult words. As she reads a story to her sister, one can tell 

how much she loves reading. “I was surprised to see her 

helping her older sister read difficult words using a fascinating 

technique. Malaika sat with her and helped her read complex 

words indicating the number of sounds they hear in a word by 

tapping of fingers,” says her father. 

Malaika’s teacher is also happy with the way PRP’s activities 

are contributing to an improved reading culture at the school. 

Ms. Shazia, who taught Malaika’s class last year, says that what 

her students are learning through PRP now will continue to 

inspire them throughout their lives. She sees a significant 

improvement in this year’s class as compared to earlier classes, 

attributing it to PRP’s efforts at improving reading skills of early 

grade students in her school. 


81

SUCCESS STORY 

Reading Techniques Prove Fruitful 

The high level of reading skills of the 

students on their first day in a new grade 

came as a surprise for Shabana, a primary 

teacher at a government school in 

Abbottabad, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 

Shabana Kousar doing a vocabulary activity with primary 

grade students using the word زنجیر (chain), May 2016 

Shabana was all set to take her first class as an 

assistant teacher in her new job at Government Girls 

Jica Model School Mirpur in Abbottabad, Khyber 

Pakhtunkhwa; she knew the first day would be 

disappointing—an unproductive effort with a passive 

lot of students, particularly in the absence of their 

class teacher, who was unwell. 

But this year, she was in for a surprise. After 

introductions with class, she asked a student to read 

the title page of the Urdu textbook. The student 

complied and read it aloud surprisingly, with 

perfection. Considering her an exception, Shabana 

asked another student to read the contents on the 

inside page. He astonished her by reading the entire 

list. Thinking she might have stumbled upon a special 

batch, Shabana picked a random student and wrote a 

difficult word بلوچستان on the board, asking her to 

pronounce it. The girl lifted her hands, said ب and 

چس and clapped again followed by لو clapped, said 

and ‏,تان clapping each time. “What did you just do?” 

she asked. “CLAP OUT!” echoed the class. Curious, she 

scribbled کتاب on the board. Now the students held up 

their hands, palms to their confident faces, producing 

four distinct sounds and thumb-touching a finger with 

each, said the word in chorus. They called it ‘Tapping 

Out’. “That day I learned more than I taught the 

children,” confessed Shabana. Tapping, skywriting, 

blending, segmentation, and decoding. 

When Rubina, the class teacher, came the next day 

that was when Shabana heard about PRP and its 

training model focusing on reading. In Rubina’s 

opinion, students learn to read better when teachers 

understand their learning needs. She explained, “It 

was a challenge for me too but thanks to PRP training, 

monthly meetings and regular coaching visits to our 

school, I became a true language teacher.” Shabana is 

now excitedly looking forward to her new job! 


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