Updated 8 December 2008

The following letter was written by Education Advisor, Terry Ward.  In October 2008, Terry assisted the ZCSS schools to build capacity among the teachers and Trustees in India.

Dear Friends

Salaamun Alaykum.

My name is Terry and I am currently in the Indian State of Gujarat working with the children who are being supported by the Zainabiya Child Sponsorship Scheme (ZCSS).

As an educationalist with some overseas experience, I was asked by my friends at The World Federation to come here to see what additional help the scheme could give to the schools.

The conclusion was that there was no point in sponsoring children’s education unless we ensured that the schools they attend are of the highest quality.  You will be pleased to know that the schools are doing a great job - often in difficult circumstances.  I have met many students who have received sponsorship and are now in further education or earning a living to support their families which would not have been possible without support.  So the scheme is achieving its mission of removing some families from poverty through giving them educational opportunities.

However, although the school teachers are working hard, we can still help them to improve.  The two keys to the success of schools are strong leadership from the Principal and well targeted management by the Trustees.  Therefore I have been working with both these groups to see if together we can get a better understanding of their roles and then look at what help is required so they can fulfil it.

The thinking behind this work is that if we help the Trustees monitor the work of the Principal in developing the school and to give the Principals the skills they need to support and the develop their teaching staff, then the school will become even better.

To do this, I have facilitated workshops with trustees, principals and the teaching staff to tease out the roles.  This has been followed up by practical on the job training in the schools.  As a result I have spent more than two hundred hours working with teachers in their classrooms.  Change is not easy to achieve but there have been some modification in practice and attitude that seems to leading to better learning.  The full impact of such changes will take a long time to see but I do not feel I have wasted my time on this enterprise.

The other aspect to the work being done here is to build capacity so that future training will not need the input of a foreigner but will be done by a local person.  A person has been identified and I have every confidence that he is the right individual for the task.

I therefore feel that in the future the children will be better supported in their education.

Terry Ward         
Education Adviser
November 2008

For further information, email zcss@world-federation.org