Routine Activites
Education
Learning Process
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The teachers and facilitators at EQUIP have adopted a participatory approach to improve quality of education and make learning a joyful experience for the students. The whole process is aimed at improving academic results of the children in their respective schools, as well as providing them the scope to reflect upon their learning from the textbook and sustain their knowledge. At LEADS, the teachers follow specific lesson plans to teach the students. The main responsibility of the teachers is to ensure the students complete their school homework in time and correctly, and prepare the students for their school exams. Weekly tests are also taken at LEADS to see their improvements. Individual support is provided to each child, while special care is taken for the slow learners in the group. Regular attendance both at school and at LEADS is given high priority by the teachers. |
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Classroom Management |
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Teachers ensure participation by each student very carefully. Students are required to reach one-by-one and write everything in their copies. Questions are asked individually and not in groups to identify progress of each child. This approach also motivates the students to share their ideas and opinions freely in the classroom, which helps their learning process. However, any physical punishment is strictly prohibited in the classroom. |
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Assessment of Improvement |
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Teachers take weekly tests based on their school curriculum to be continuously updated about the status of their education and whether the children are being able to learn at school. Based on this, the teachers assess progress of the children and identify areas where they can support the children for improvement. Moreover, ABC (Assessment Based Competency) tests are also taken on a regular basis to see whether the children are achieving class-wise competencies as prescribed in the ELC (Essential Learning Continua). |
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Follow up visits to the Homes To know more about each child’s overall living condition and opinion of the parents regarding their child’s development, the EQUIP team irregularly visits homes of the children. During these visit, they also try to identify which factors are hindering the learning process of the weak students, and try to take measures to prevent and/or minimize those issues as much as possible. Besides these visits, parents are also welcome anytime to come and share their problems with the EQUIP team to help the education of their children. Follow up visits to the Schools Since the basic objective of LEADS is to help students perform better in their respective schools, the EQUIP team also makes regular visits to the schools of these children and discuss with relevant teachers regarding overall academic performance and behavioral changes of the children, and what additional measures can be undertaken for further improvement. |
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Follow-up meeting with Parents Follow-up meetings are arranged with parents on a regular basis both before and after academic examinations to inform them of their child’s needs, so that they can give the required support. The teachers share performance report of each child and areas where he/she needs to improve. The parents also share their views, opinions and suggestions that are carefully considered by LEADS, since these are important for the growth of the child. It was noticed that in most cases, only the mothers attended these meetings on a regular basis. To ensure involvement of both parents, LEADS now emphasizes on the attendance of the fathers as well. |
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HEALTH: Health Enrichment And Life Skills Training for Better Human
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Nutritious Diet |
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Most of the children at LEADS come from very poor backgrounds and are often suffering from malnutrition due to lack of proper food and healthcare facilities. This often results in the children dropping out from schools due to poor health. To meet the nutritional requirements of the children, LEADS everyday provides them a healthy diet comprising of rice, vegetables, meat, milk, eggs, seasonal fruits, bread, jelly etc. |
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Regular Health Checkups |
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It has been noted that poor living conditions, resulting in ill health, is the major reason for irregular attendance and poor performance at the schools, ultimately resulting in drop outs in many cases. To improve this situation, LEADS provides health-support to the children of EQUIP and their families through its HEALTH project. Medical check-ups of the children are done periodically by different doctors on a voluntary basis."I am Mohona. I gave my PSC (Primary School Certificate) in 2011 and got A Grade. I was in Class Two at Pragoti Primary School when I joined LEADS. My father is a laborer and my mother is a housewife. I was suffering from fever for a long time. I used to go to nearby pharmacies and take painkillers, instead of going to any doctor. When I joined LEADS and told them about my problem, they sent me to the Head of the Nephrology Department of Dhaka Medical College, who did the initial check-up. I was diagnosed with Kidney disease. I was under treatment for almost a year. LEADS provided full financial support for my treatment, and now I am completely cured. I am now a student of Grade 6 at Dhanmondi Girls High School and I still study at LEADS." |
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Prescribed Medicine |
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LEADS has been working on creating awareness among the children, specially their parents, not to take medicines without consulting with a doctor first. It is often seen that in case of any health problem, these people go to pharmacies instead of hospitals, and take medicines without any doctor’s advice. LEADS now sends children and their families to doctors/specialist at different hospitals and shares cost of the prescribed medicines. LEADS also does continuous follow-up to see if the condition of the patients are improved.
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Referral to Hospitals |
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In many cases, it has been seen that the parents not even aware of where to go in case of any disease or health problem, and even if they know, they do not go to a doctor unless the problem becomes acute. As such, LEADS sends children with serious health problems to different hospitals such as Dhaka Medical College, Shahid Shorawardy Hospital, Justice Amin Ahmed Charity Clinic etc. at its own expense. LEADS tries to get required pathological tests done for free or at lower costs from different government hospitals, whenever possible. However, when not possible, LEADS goes for a cost-sharing strategy and shares 60% of the expenses in case of children and their families who availed treatment through LEADS. |
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