Progressive Education Network Pakistan

Progressive Education Network is a non-profit company with a mission to provide quality education to less privileged students in Pakistan.^[1] Presently, Progressive Education Network is providing education to nearly 17,000 students across Pakistan and plans to reach 1 million children by 2025.

History

Progressive Education Network was founded by a group of professionals, businessmen and educationalists who wanted to alleviate the education emergency in Pakistan.^[2] They studied several models, such as BRAC^[3] and CARE Foundation,^[4] before incorporating PEN with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan in 2005 as a non-profit company, under Section 42 of the Companies Ordinance 1984. Companies registered under this ordinance have to abide by strict regulations of reporting, audit and governance under the supervision of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan.^[5]

Operating Model

In Pakistan, the public school system is the largest school system which caters to the low-income strata of the society. Unfortunately, public schools lag far behind the private sector in terms of student achievement.^[6] With the goal of maximizing its impact in the education sector, Progressive Education Network adopts under-performing Government schools through a public-private partnership and then works to improve the schools’ infrastructure and quality of education. The rationale behind this model is that by adopting under-performing public schools, PEN can leverage the existing infrastructure of public schools to focus on the quality of education delivery.^[7]

Improvement of Academics

Primarily, PEN is focused on improving academics in its adopted schools through the following interventions:

• Training of teachers to develop their pedagogical skills
• Hiring additional teachers to reduce class-size
• Enrollment drives in local communities around its adopted schools to increase student enrolment
• Providing free notebooks and teaching aids
• Establishing computer labs and hiring computer instructors
• Developing syllabus breakup and lesson plans to aid teachers with their instruction

Improvement of Infrastructure

As most public schools lack basic amenities, PEN carries out the following improvements to the schools’ infrastructure to create an environment conducive to learning:

• Construction and renovation of classrooms and toilets
• Provision of clean and cold drinking water
• Providing student and teacher furniture
• Provision of electric fixtures, such as ceiling fans and lights in the classrooms
• Setting up playgrounds
• Hiring of janitors to clean school premises twice daily

Co-curricular Activities

Co-curricular activities are a main component of PEN's intervention in public schools. PEN conducts debate, creative-writing, and sporting contests to foster character development and confidence among the students of its adopted schools. It also collaborated with student organizations of elite universities in the country to provide mentoring and career counseling to disadvantaged children.^[8]

References