This is the first part of the blog series that delves with our travels across KPK. This part documents our experience in Peshawar and Mardan. 

We here at SABAQ have fallen love with KPK.

About a month ago, we received an invitation to participate in the first KP Summer Camp organized by Khyber Puktunkhwa’s Elementary and Secondary Education Department and Alif Ailaan. This event, spanning across all 25 districts in the province, aimed to improve learning outcomes in Math and Science by showcasing innovative teaching methods and providing forums for discussion about increasing student engagement in these subjects.

KPK has been mostly unchartered territory for us, with SABAQ making its mark most prominently in Sindh but also in a significant capacity in Punjab, AJK and Gilgit Baltistan. With the opportunity this provided to explore KPK, we set on planning for this trip, settling to cover six districts in seven days. As daunting as this seemed, Shahryar, our go-to man for anything and everything, Sana, our resident science expert and I organized resources, asked for food recommendations and planned for this road show of sorts.

Traversing through Khyber Puktunkhwa one school at a time.

Peshawar

The KP Summer Camp officially kicked off at the Government Shaheed Husnain Shareef Higher Secondary School on Monday, August 7^th. After a quick opening ceremony, Team SABAQ scrambled off to set up in the school’s impressive AV room. In no time, we had students trickle in to see what we had set up and our lesson on Natural Habitats starting on a strong note.

There is one thing that always makes me excited about showing SABAQ content and that is the initial reaction to our videos and the students here did not disappoint! Pretty soon, the students were discussing why each habitat is unique in nature and we had lots of other participants take a peak to know what was going on.

Our blended lesson was quite the hit with the students where they were encouraged to interact with each other, flex their creative muscles and solve interactive exercises on the tablet. While several of our observers commented that this approach is a good mix of teaching methods, students too agreed that this

Mardan

After a grand welcome to the Government Boys Higher Secondary High School – Baghdada (garlands were involved!), we carried out a lesson on Food Chains in their impressive IT Room, fully fitted with an interactive white board. While students were engrossed in the different activities that had been planned for the lesson, what stood out for us was the participation of our observers, one of whom was the District Officer. They had paired up with students to see what the students were doing on the meraSABAQ tablet, with their excitement priceless on getting answers right.

“We’ve never had lessons like this before! How amazing would it be if our students were taught this way”, said Ibzar Husain, the D.O. present to observe us.