PACE

Post primary Basic & Continuing Education Program

Field Area: A.J Chowdhury High School, College Road, Patiya & Jiri Mir-Khalil High School, Jiri, Patiya, Chittagong.

Introduction
BRAC has been working with rural secondary schools through its Post-primary Basic and Continuing Education (PACE) program. There are now 18,500 secondary schools in Bangladesh that have 238,158 teachers but only 54% of them are properly trained. In collaboration with the Government, PACE initiated a secondary school teacher training program in 2002 to bring a qualitative change in teaching and learning in secondary schools. The training provided by BRAC complements that of the Government and together they form a comprehensive training package. PACE has been developing Computer Aided Learning (CAL) materials in Math, English and Science to be used as self learning tools for teachers, in teacher training and in classrooms where computers are available. These interactive materials are aimed at improving teachers' classroom skills and to give students a better grasp of difficult concepts by providing useful visualizations and making lessons more interesting.

Secondary School
Start up with a school
When we start working in a new area first we collect all the information about all the registered secondary school of that area. We work only with the registered non government high school which has got monthly payment order (MPO). The communication way with that school from the office must have to be good enough. If the condition of the school matches with our criteria then we communicate with them. First we talk to the headmaster of that school. We tell them about the facilities provided from BRAC. Then we communicate with chairman of the school management committee & with local community. After this personal communication we may call for a large group meeting. There our PO or DM will be discussing about the procedure of BRAC. After the discussion, if they agree with the procedure from the school end then agreement will be signed. In this way we start working in a new school.

Mentoring
We have found that schools with mentoring offer a better learning environment which improves student attendance and participation. Under this initiative, 25 students from Grades VI to IX are selected from participating schools to attend a five-day training course on mentoring to develop self-esteem, leadership skills, and creativity. Upon returning to their schools, the mentors form small groups and provide social and academic support to their peers. There is specific module for mentoring training.
Subject base class conduction
The POs visit schools in a regular basis. He observes the attendance of a class, students group work, teaching procedure, cleanliness of the school, study material etc. He also communicates with the head teacher for yearly school action plan (SAP). There are ten specific points like attendance, assembly, cleanliness, internal exam result analysis etc. After the year end it is required to compare the target and achievement.
Teachers training
In post primary Basic Education Program we facilitate training to the teachers. First we arrange workshop for chairman, vice chairman of the SMC and head master and the asst. head master of that school. There we try to make them aware about their duties & responsibilities as a chairman. Then we give management training to the head teachers. Here he or she learns about school management system. The duration of the training is five days. In addition with that we facilitate subject base training to other teachers. From one school two teachers for class 6 to 8 & two teachers for class 9 & 10 will be getting training. They get training for English, Mathematics, and Science and for new schools they will be getting for Bengali & Computer as well.

Continuing education
The Continuing Education Programme (CE) was introduced in 1995 and through this component Gonokendros (union libraries) are set up in rural areas to help people maintain their literacy skills, and promote reading opportunities for children, students and adults. They organize skills training in a range of trades in collaboration with the Directorate of Youth Development. Gonokendros also provide computer training for children, students and youth at a low price.

Starting
Generally in case of gonokendro we communicate with the local influential and educated community. They conduct small group meeting with the youth group, teachers, and other educated people. After this personal communication we may call for a large group meeting. There our PO or DM will be discussing about the procedure of BRAC. After the discussion, if they agree with the procedure then we make convener committee. The job of this committee is to develop fund for the library.

Fund collection
The convener committee takes initiatives for raising the fund. The PO just tries to show them the way. The most common way is member admission. There are several types of members like life time membership, donor membership, general member etc. When they will be able to raise fund of TK = 50,000/- then BRAC will give more 50,000/- and it will be invested on Delta BRAC housing. From the profit of it, the expenses of the library will be cover up.
Furniture & Book
BRAC gives furniture of TK 35,000/ for furniture of that library. It includes book shelves, chair, table, equipments for kid’s corner etc.
Mobile Libraries:
These mobile libraries operate as extensions of Gonokendros, reaching women and elderly citizens who are unable to travel. A part-time assistant librarian manages the mobile library, carrying about 100 books to the doorsteps of members by rickshaw van once or twice a week.