Sultanabad school teaching & living

Greetings readers!

Well, I've been staying in the charming and beautiful village of Sultanabad for the past week, teaching for six days in the local school there and staying with the Nasim Khan family. It's been one of the best weeks of my trip so far in that I've been made to feel a welcome member of the community here with invitations to dinner, tea, walks aplenty in this short time and have also been given free reign to teach classes, where I have enjoyed teaching scientific understanding in particular.

It's been such a contrast with the atmosphere I have observed in UK schools. Here in the Northern Areas of Pakistan, I have had to make virtually no effort to have the attentiveness of the class as they all seem to be enthusiastic pupils hungry to improve their knowledge of the world.

I actually feel quite sad to leave here, but the cold weather that is descending has me feeling it is time to move south and lower in altitude to warmer climes (ie India)! I was intending to fly on one of the propeller-driven Fokker planes to Islamabad. The 20-hour bus journey that I took a month ago to get up here was such an ordeal - what with the dirt, cold, cramped seats, getting a flat tyre at 2.30 a.m. etc etc. It was also going to be neat to take off at a sharp incline in order to get out of the valley and fly around the mountains, including Nanga Parbat (they're too high for the plane to fly over them).

Unfortunately, I've had a lapse of good judgement and have got a refund on my 40 quid ticket and using the money to buy blankets in Gilgit market. Along with the substantial number of blankets already donated by some Germans, Mr Habib (local man running my hotel) and I are taking the bus down to Manserra and then on to the Bagram valley in the heart of the quake-zone to distribute the blankets to quake survivors. Mr Habib has friends in the valley with whom we can stay. It's going to be an uncomfortable couple of days!

So, it's a week or so more in Pakistan and then India here I come! (for the third time, BTW)

Gruff

PS. Below is a testimonial I wrote for the school to assist them in obtaining funding assistance and to also achieve the placement of a volunteer foreign teacher (for example, through an appication letter to the Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) organisation).

If anyone reading this would like to donate their services to the school, then they can email me or email the school board of directors at:
Email: dureaddan@yahoo.com or asad_khan96@yahoo.com
Tel: (050811) 56445

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Testimonial for experience of teaching at English Grammar School Sultanabad
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My name is Gareth Lloyd and I was a guest teacher at the EGSS in Sultanabad near Gilgit in the Northern Areas of Pakistan for the period Monday, 28 November to Saturday, 3 December 2005. I am a citizen of the United Kingdom and was invited as a guest teacher at EGSS school and given the opportunity to teach the children in English, science and mathematics. I am an experienced and qualified (Bell School of English, Cambridge) TEFL teacher and qualified and trained in scientific fields.

The EGSS community school project was initiated 12 years ago by the local community of parents and other adults to address a real need for the kind of quality education of the children that the Pakistan government-provided schools have been failing to address in the Northern Areas. With the enthusiasm of their self-formed board of directors (who are in honary positions and donate their time freely), they have achieved impressive results in the delivery of such quality education. However, it is plain from their communications with me that the board and the teaching stafff at the school feel frustrated that lack of funding and assistance with professional development is hampering their ability to make further progress in the quality of the education they can provide to their pupils.
The facilities at the school are in short supply due to the need of the school to live within their very restricted budget. For instance, their classrooms were not purpose-built and are quite dark due to the small windows etc. The school is currently in rented premises and are looking forward to the day when they can accrue the funding to purchase their own land and construct buildings that are more suitable for a learning environment.
The study textbooks seem to be well-chosen and are of appropriate content. In particular, the science books present this subject matter in a clear way with colourful and attractive illustrations. However, the school is almost totally lacking in science equipment with which to demonstrate and make dynamic the subject. With some modest financial investment in laboratory equipment, the science teaching could really be brought to life.
Just recently, the school board of directors appear to have been successful in their persistent endeavours to secure the donation of at least five personal computers (PCs) from Gilgit district council. The council have also offered to pay for construction of dedicated computer lab should the school secure funding to purchase the local land for such a facility. Subscriptions are already raised from the pupils' parents to support the ongoing finances of the school at the maximum that these parents can afford, so unless outside funding can be secured, the construction of such an IT laboratory looks unlikely at present.
The EGSS community school is a very worthy project that is striving to give opportunities through education to the local children that were generally not available to their parents. But the school is surviving on a quite precarious budget and to make improvements to the facilities (such as the unsuitable classrooms and the lack of scientific equipment) and ensure that teaching staff can continue to be employed, the school urgently needs financial assistance from outside the community and quite probably outside Pakistan as well (ie a foreign donor). Supporting EGSS financially would require only quite modest sums, since local prices and wages are low, but the return for such investment in terms of educational benefit to the Sultanabad pupils would be substantial. My recommendation is that educational charities and funding bodies in the United Kingdom, United States, Europe, Japan and elsewhere in the world should seriously consider lending the EGSS school their support.
I have found the head mistress ( the principal, by name of Zahra) and all the teachers to be incredibly cooperative in assisting me to have a productive period of teaching and classroom assisting at EGSS. I have been given full opportunity and assistance to prepare and develop lessons in English, science (my specialist interest) and mathematics. The teaching staff have also been very encouraging to involve me as an assistant in their own classes and I have observed their teaching ability, dedication and enthusiasm in this capacity. Although the teachers seem lacking in confidence in their professional ability due to the shortage of professional training and development for them, this timidity is not justified and it is obvious that the pupils are making impressive progress in their knowledge of English, science and mathematics.
I have had a marvellous week of teaching at EGSS and have felt rewarded in my knowledge that I have seen the children benefitting from my stay and the exposure it has given to both the students and teaching staff for the experience of hearing the pronounciation of a native-English speaker. Proper pronounciation is one of the main contributions they need from the services of a foreign teacher, though contributions in subjects such as science and mathematics would also be welcome. I have enjoyed broadening their vocabularly with some unfamiliar words and telling them about my travels and life back in England. From the questions ventured by the students have plainly been fascinated by information from the world outside the Northern Areas. It was particulary memorable to teach phonetics to the youngest children in the nursery classes with the aid of songs played with my guitar!
The domestic facilities in the Northern Areas are often challenging (electricity power cuts are an almost daily occurrence), but I was provided with complementary food and accommodation in a very comfortable, large and clean room in the home of Naseem Khan - a Sultanabad family near to the school. The EGSS school is situated in a beautiful area at the lower part of the Hunza valley with some of the highest mountains of the Karakoram mountains, such as Rakaposhi (about 7,800 metres), within short distances. There are some very rewarding mountain treks, valley walks and activities on offer in the local area and the local people here are among the most friendly and hospitable of all that I have met on my overland travels from the United Kingdom.
I would certainly recommend the school, the professional staff and the local village of Sultanabad to any foreign teacher considering donating their services to an underprivilged, but very deserving community. With the input of outside financial resources to support their facilities development and the future placement of a native English-speaking teacher, the English Grammar School Sultanabad can only go on to yet greater things.