UNO’s Pakistan Teaching Excellence and Achievement Alumni Return Home to Make Impacts in their Communities
UNO's TEA Grant teachers returned to Pakistan and are now completing a variety of leadership projects which will greatly impact their communities.
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Sehar Naveed teaches classes for children in a rural, underserved village in Sindh, Pakistan. There are fifty students attending who otherwise do not attend school. Sehar said,“The parents in the village are very thankful for this opportunity which they never imagined possible. They don’t have funds to send their children to schools in the nearby city.”
Saleem Akhtar holds a winter learning camp for a growing number of at-risk teens. Students bring their own firewood to heat the classroom each day.
Muhammad Iqbal trains female public school teachers in remote locations in Baluchistan. The participants in his training have never received any professional development to improve their teaching. They are very appreciative of his service.
Rehmat Ali has started a volunteer club at his school in Punjab. One of their first projects was cleaning up trash at a public park. The club’s goal is to facilitate one service project each month and also hold community events celebrating international days or festivals. Rehmat said, “During my stay in the USA, I noticed that Americans are inclined towards community service. This theme was missing in our schools and institutions. My project goal was to make my students aware of their roles in society and instill in them a passion to serve their respective communities.”
*Please excuse the photo quality
UNO’s International Program’s Center for Afghanistan Studies (CAS) continues to host Pakistani English teachers for professional development in teaching as well as cultural exchange. Pakistan Excellence and Achievement (TEA) English Language Teacher Exchange is funded by the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan and in partnership with Vision Building Future (VBF), a Pakistani NGO. In 2022, CAS hosted 90 teachers from all regions of Pakistan.
The teachers returned to Pakistan and are now completing a variety of leadership projects which will greatly impact their communities. UNO instructors and mentors are in touch with the alumni and are inspired by their far reaching contributions. The leadership projects cover a variety of community needs. Teacher training, especially for female teachers, is one important focus. Others are conducting winter learning camps during the cold season when schools are not in session. They are targeting teens who do not have strong family support and are at-risk of becoming school dropouts. Alumni are organizing events related to volunteerism and community service like working together with students and teachers to clean school facilities and picking up trash in local parks. One alumnus reported to be traveling to remote and needy areas and facilitating the formation of community groups that will hopefully prompt new development efforts. His inspiration came from learning about community engagement and service learning during the program at UNO. Other leadership projects are focusing on mental health awareness and trauma informed teaching. All of these projects were imagined and planned during the participants’ time in Omaha and are now being implemented. The photos highlight just a few of the many projects being carried out by the TEA program alumni in Pakistan.
To learn more about UNO's Center for Afghanistan Studies, visit world.unomaha.edu