Mahenaz Mahmud is currently working as the Director Programme Development at the Teachers Resource Center. Her multidimensional roles at various levels in TRC, as well as the TRC Institute of ECE (IECE) and her expertise in early childhood education reflect various layers of experience at both practice and policy levels. Her primary focus is initiating and leading innovative projects in the Government sector, urban slums, and rural Sindh through designing and leading capacity building for teachers and staff in areas of curriculum planning, teaching strategies, research initiatives and project management.

Please tell us a bit about your background and your association with the teaching profession and the Teachers Resource Center?
I did my early years schooling in Calcutta of which I have very vague but pleasant memories. However, memories of the formal secondary school in Dhaka are not very happy ones. I have very little recollection of what was taught in the class and it was more of the friendships that stayed with me. I preferred to learn on my own, rather than in the classroom, through reading, thinking things through, doing some hands-on activity if required to help me understand a new concept. Though at that time I didn’t know what learning styles were. I got married at quite an early age by today’s standards but continued with my university studies. A break from academics really came when I started expecting my daughter and I switched roles from a student to being a full time mother.

I come from a family where there were quite a few teachers. My aunt, my mother-in-law and my grandfather, were all in the teaching profession. My daughter began going to the Karachi Grammar School (KGS) that had a system where mothers were encouraged to come and help out. I started going in thrice a week as a mother helper. That was when my learning about education, teaching and classrooms really began. The experience was completely different from what I had imagined schools would be like. My psychology background helped me as well to understand the children I was working with in the classroom. I went on to teach at KGS for 10 years and it was during this time that the Teachers’ Resource Centre (TRC) was established.

TRC was established in 1986. Being the first organization of its kind and therefore having no workshop leaders, I was one of the teachers who were asked to join the team and share their learning experiences. As a workshop leader at TRC, I conducted many workshops, within schools and for the Lyari Street Schools and I experienced the enchantment of changing teachers’ lives and thereby influencing many more children than I could have if I was working in a single classroom. It was around 1992 that the ‘Initiating Change through Professional Development’ (ICPD) project came about, which was a watershed for TRC in terms of working successfully with public sector schools. This is when and where I observed the need for Early Childhood Education (ECE). Eventually in 1997, with due support from CIDA and the Aga Khan Foundation, Pakistan, TRC went full time into Early Childhood Education.

Do you believe in a child-centered approach to teaching and learning? How difficult is this to implement within a classroom?
I think there is no other way than the child centered approach for teaching and learning. I am a product of a teacher directed approach and as I said, I do not have happy memories of my school years. Child centered learning is not new, but in this country and also in many parts of the world it is not practiced in its true spirit. I do believe that children need to be able to make their own choices and feel in control of what they are doing. By this I don’t mean that they should lose respect for our norms and become individualistic to the extent that they can’t think beyond me, myself and I. I don’t advocate that at all.

Children learn in different ways, they have different learning styles. For example, all the children in any given class, may not be good listeners, so the teacher will have to work around that and not expect that all the children will have understood just because she has ‘told’ them something. While some respond to verbal instructions, other may prefer visuals or hands-on activities. One of the most common methods of teaching children in the classroom these days, is by showing them flash-cards with words that teachers want them to learn. Flash cards are not child centered or active learning at all. Depending on their ages you need to have different activities for children that are age appropriate and developmentally appropriate. At the end of workshops, we find that teachers often say there should have been more activities. The point I’m trying to make is that if adults feel that way, during a two or three day workshop, then how can one expect children, who have a relatively shorter attention span, to sit around and learn through teacher-centered learning.

Please clarify the difference between activity based learning in the classroom and extra curricular activities in general.
For example, some schools have their art rooms outside the classroom, or there is a separate play room, or ‘activity’ room. Children may go there every day, but it is still a separate set up. So what message are you giving to the children? This sends across the message that children are going to take off time from ‘work’ to perform activities in another room.

Activity based learning, on the other hand, gives you choices about how you can use materials to match your own learning style and pace of learning. Activity based learning has to be integrated into the lesson plan. So, for active learning to take place, the materials should be present in the classroom. Teacher talk, i.e. the manner in which teachers talk is extremely important as well and it can make or break a child’s interest in learning. Instructional strategies that engage students in the learning process stimulate critical thinking and a greater awareness of other perspectives.

Some schools of thought conclude that activity based learning that involves toys and materials, is a western concept that should not be imposed on indigenous communities that lack the resources to implement these approaches. What do you have to say about this?
I don’t agree. Ancient eastern civilizations have used toys for children. Children love to play and work with toys and it is a natural way for them to learn. But if it is the lack of resources that people are concerned about, I don’t think children need expensive toys. In fact, they do not need any specific kinds of toys for active learning. Indigenous toys are culturally appropriate and wonderful. We should have these in the active learning classroom. If you do not have a set of lego-blocks or other expensive toys that doesn’t mean you cannot have Active Learning. You need to have materials that the children are familiar with (for example, everyday objects, boxes, safe bottles and tins) whether you are sitting in a school in rural Sindh or in one of the up-market schools in Karachi. You need to have materials that the children are interested in, that they can manipulate and discover from. Children don’t take an interest in very expensive toys for very long unless they are open-ended. For example, blocks are something I really do endorse the use of and these don’t have to be the special kind imported from abroad. You can make blocks yourself, like wooden blocks and for very young children you can have blocks made with soft cloth. Materials can also be made with throw-away stuff. So if people get into the habit of recycling, it would be great. Instead of throwing away what is generally considered as “junk” we should all re-use safe, non-toxic trash, to make materials that hold young children’s interest and at the same time teach them different concepts. The objectives of activity based learning can thus be achieved in a cost-effective, eco-friendly manner.

Personally, in the Early Childhood Education Certificate Programme, I practice active learning in the courses that I teach. It is not that I give out toys, though, sometimes I do, but I give the students materials and I give them choices. They can work individually or in groups to solve a problem, do some research, find the answers to questions and understand concepts. It is minds on, something that engages the learner. You can implement active learning at whatever level you want.

TRC initiated the policy dialogue with the Government regarding the National ECE Curriculum, and we understand that there was a dire need for a curriculum at the ‘kachi’ level. Please talk to us about some of the challenges you faced during the development of the curriculum, from policy dialogue, right up to teacher training.

Initially when I began working in the public sector schools, (during 1992-1995) I noticed that there weren’t any ‘kachi’ classes. I used to see these small children coming in with their siblings, and they used to keep sitting, waiting for their older brother or sister to finish class before going home. There were no classrooms for them and no resources and this broke my heart. In 1996, the Aga Khan Foundation, Pakistan approached us and we were asked what it is that we would like to do. That is when we designed the Early Childhood Education Project and this project initiated a change in the whole policy environment.

I always knew there had to be a curriculum, as there was no framework for ECE in the country. Talking to communities, parents, grandparents and caregivers, I had learned that they were more interested in the social emotional indicators of learning, contrary to our assumptions that they would want their children to learn reading and writing. Hence, a curriculum was developed and the government approved it. The process involved many challenges including frequent transfers of decision-makers at the policy level, lack of clear guidance on how to acquire approval of curriculum drafts and procedural delays. So we plodded forward literally at a snail’s pace before the curriculum was finally approved and launched in 2002.

Do you think there has been an impact of the ECE Curriculum on public school classrooms? What researches have been carried out to assess this impact and what have been their findings?
To be really honest, due to shortage of resources we have not carried out any elaborate impact studies. We did carry out one longitudinal study i.e. “Innovation in the Kachi” which is available on the TRC website. Moreover, as a technical assistance partner part in the RCC: ECD Programme we have conducted research and received very positive feedback from all the teachers we trained in Sindh and Balochistan. We have also conducted informal research to study the challenges that teachers faced in implementing the ECE curriculum once they went back into the classroom. These challenges related mainly to lack of interest and ongoing facilitation from the various decision-makers in schools on providing classroom based learning support following the initial TRC trainings. Initially, when the teachers were trained we did go into the classroom to give them support but given our limited resources that could only be done up to a certain time.

Is activity based learning restricted to the school and classroom or does it need to be provided to children at home too? What would be your advice to parents about implementing this approach at home?
I wouldn’t quite put it that way, as the home is an activity based environment. Classrooms as we know them, are really “unnatural” learning environments where 25-30 children of the same age, but different interests, are put together to work with one or two teachers, they are expected to still sit for hours at end and learn concepts and skills within an unrealistic time frame. Does this make any sense?

The home environment is entirely different. There is ample, relaxed, time, space and materials for children to learn actively and all that they need in addition to that is adult support from time to time. My advice to parents would be, not to buy expensive toys, but to involve children in whatever is happening around the home and whatever the mother or father is doing, for example if the mother is cooking in the kitchen, the children can help or be given pots and pans and spoons to play with on the kitchen floor, which can be kept clean. If fathers are working with some tools, children can be involved in that too. Young children learn by imitation and should be given opportunities to do just that. Giving them choices will minimize forced activity and therefore reduce confrontational situations. Parents need to understand that they have to work with the child’s nature and this is not very difficult if one goes with their flow. As a parent one needs to put in a little more time and effort and just enjoy being with children. These days unfortunately, young urban parents are very confused about child rearing practices and what is right for their child. Obviously they want the best for their own child, but the concept of “best for the child” is what people are confused about. It is not very difficult to understand what children need if we really tune in and listen. Children don’t really have to have each and everything their little hearts desire, or that their friends have. With a bit of honest reasoning they give in to more sensible choices of toys or leisure activities. Parents should not get “bullied” by their children … their personalities won’t be scarred forever if parents say “No” to them sometimes. Occasionally, children want to be on their own and have some quiet time, which they should be given. It is not necessary that children be taken for an outing everyday just so that they can be entertained. Give them choices with what is available at home. Encourage them to find their own entertainment.

The media (print and electronic) is having a huge influence on children and parents, enticing and compelling them to do, or buy or eat this that and the other. Parents tend to give in to children’s demands to maintain a status quo and peace in the home. What children need and want is a lot of time, attention and of course unconditional love. If one has chosen to have children, then we owe them our care and attentiveness. There is no substitute for that. You can buy them the most expensive toys and as many as you can afford but there is still no substitute for our personal interactions with them. Make your home child friendly, don’t have too many don’ts for the children; have some so that the child learns where the boundaries are. Talk to them about meaningful things, do interesting things with them, give them respect, play games with them, read to them and with them; don’t expect them to pick up the habit of reading if they don’t see you pick up a book once in a while. If you don’t like to read, just pretend that you do in front of the child. Parents need to walk the talk!