Fighting for Quality Education

Agami has been relentlessly working to improve and facilitate education to ensure quality education is delivered. A lot of factors determine the quality of education, and one such accountable group would be the teachers, who make a difference in their students’ achievement. Hence, Agami has identified wellprepared teachers are critical to quality of student learning and achievement. As a result of which, AEF has been working since 2016, to implement Teachers’ Training programs which focus on improving teachers’ knowledge, skills and dispositions through professional development.

AEF's Teachers’ Training uses an augmented approach - AEF’s Teachers’ Training is catered to primary teachers who are expected to teach all class subjects to their students, be it Mathematics, Science and English. Agami evaluators understand that each subject requires special attention, and hence have worked over 12 months and more on programs like Improving English Teaching (IET), Interactive Science Training, Life is Fun Science Training (LiF), and Mathematics Olympiad sessions. Over the years and during the training sessions, the classes invite different teachers from Agami-sponsored schools to learn and share their experience. This augmented approach, in contrast to a siloapproach where science teachers are trained in science and English language teachers receive english learning courses, were carefully discussed throughout the pilot training and implementation of the Teachers’ Training sessions.

AEF's Teachers' Training use post-monitoring and track sheets for improvisation - In several cases, despite competitive programs being introduced to teachers, it is difficult to measure the impact of such programs on students. To ensure students are directly impacted due to Teachers’ Training, AEF has organized several postmonitoring classes across all Agami- sponsored schools. The post-monitoring classes help to evaluate the effectiveness of the teachers’ method of teaching to the students’ ability to learn. This is critical to synchronizing AEF’s Teachers' Training goals to individual student goals.

AEF's Teachers’ Training is a multi-dimensional product - Further, like the underprivileged students, teachers at underprivileged schools are deprived of resources to learn and teach effectively. Poor salary and lack of training make teachers limited to textbook teaching. To enhance the textbook-teaching process to a more holistic approach, AEF in Dhaka has been conducting a number of teachers' training courses and sessions and preparing study manuals in accordance with the guidelines of National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB). These self-study manuals are a step further to retain learning experiences for teachers who receive training. AEF recently distributed its first self-made manual Interactive Science Training with a few sample lessons to help Agami-sponsored schools and their teachers to contribute fully to their students’ achievement.

In a nutshell, Agami believes that well-qualified teachers and high-quality teaching can minimize the achievement gap between economically disadvantaged students and their more affluent peers.

Farhana Zaman
Centreville, Virginia