In today’s ever evolving world, youth in many parts of the globe continue to face major inclusion and learning challenges caused by inequality, poverty and human rights violations. Therefore, it is important that children and youth are equipped with tools that will allow them to respond and help address global challenges.
For these reasons, the “Gender-Sensitive Global Citizenship and Life Skills Education for Youth” project is being implemented in Indonesia, Nepal and Pakistan, among other countries, to reach the most vulnerable youth. The project will run for 3 years and is supported by Reach Out to Asia Program (ROTA) of Education Above All Foundation (EAA).
The Project in Pakistan
In Pakistan, youth lack access to quality education, they face unemployment and lack of meaningful community engagement*. Moreover, the country’s level of unemployed young people stems from the lack of education, experience and skills necessary for the job market, from discrimination, rural-urban and gender disparities**.
In Pakistan, the project is being implemented in 34 schools and 4 non formal education centres, in the Sukkur district of Sindh province and the Jaffarabad district of Balochistan province throughout 2021-2024.
The Role of GULK (Saving Box) in Students’ Lives
In grade 9 of the Government Girls High School (GGHS) of New Pind in Sukkur District, an Aflateen Club was created after Ms Naheed, a teacher, received training on Aflateen+. She taught the curriculum to her students and shared the knowledge and teachings on social and financial education (SFE), including savings, social entrepreneurship and life skills.
The students were interested in learning SFE as they saw how useful it could be for them to help them saving money and fulfil their social and financial needs. Together, they started saving money in GULK (a saving box), while also learning how to manage their savings and record their expenses.
Then, recently, the Education Department notified the high school that this year students would have to pay an admission fee to register for the final exam. Teachers, students and parents became distressed as to how every student could pay the fee, especially the poorer students of the school. The situation was discussed at the Aflateen Club and its members suggested that the fees could be covered for some students through the great amount of savings that the club had accumulated. This generous act not only helped students who could not afford the exam admission fee, but also motivated teachers to contribute to the savings.
“My Daughter is Now my Best Friend”
In the Government Girls Higher Secondary School in Old Sukkur, the Aflateen+ curriculum is implemented to provide students with social and financial education. What is more, teachers from the school shared that the programme is also bridging the gap between parents, students and teachers.
One student’s mother shared her story. She works as a tailor and has a family to take care of, so after she has fulfilled her responsibilities at home, she has spare time to stitch one suit per day.
Recently, her daughter started helping her in several domestic chores. At first surprised, the mother asked her daughter what motivated this change in her behaviour. The daughter explained that it was her social responsibility to help her mother and added that
