On 7th March PAL Network held its first Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Nairobi, Kenya. The meeting approved the annual narrative report and audited financial statements for the year ended 31st December 2018. Members also endorsed the appointment of two more board directors Ariel Fiszbein and Fernanda Farinha. The PAL board now stands at seven with representation from Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
PAL Network develops its 2020-2023 strategy
The current PAL strategy elapses in 2019. To develop the new strategy, the Outcome Harvesting methodology was employed as the structured format for reflecting on the past. The PAL board, staff and advisory group members have been guided through two formal sessions, in December 2018 and February 2019 to understand the past as a fast step to planning the future. The process resulted in a concept note on the proposed future focus which was deliberated upon by members on March 7. The direction emerging is that the four pillars of assessment, action, advocacy and research need to be strengthened.
PAL Network back to the drawing board for 2019 Conference
Regretfully, the PAL 2019 Conference titled; Ensuring All Children Learn: Lessons on Inclusion and Equity that was scheduled for March 5th-6th in Islamabad, Pakistan, had to be postponed to a later date due to geopolitical tensions in the region. Consultations are ongoing on the new conference dates which shall soon be communicated to you, and amplified via our website and social media pages.
Global South pool effort to measure children’s learning
The PAL Network has embarked on a new and exciting phase, to develop a common assessment in numeracy and conduct a multi-country study in at least 10 of its member countries. In February 2019, the PAL Advisory group made the bold decision to deviate from the previous proposal of developing common metrics to attempting a common assessment. This will not replace the existing citizen led assessments. However, it will provide comparable data. Look out for more developments in future editions of this newsletter!
PAL Membership now stands at 14
At the beginning of the year, the PAL board officially approved the applications for membership from ABACOenRED Nicaragua, ASER Nepal and ziziAfrique Kenya. Membership now stands at 14 with nine members from Africa, three from Asia and two from Central-America.
2018 Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) India launched
On 15th January 2019, ASER India released its latest findings, wherein 546,527 children, 354,944 households, 17,730 villages were surveyed across 596 districts. The 13th ASER report revealed that the proportion of children (age 6-14) who are not enrolled in school has fallen below 3% for the first time and stands at 2.8% in 2018. Also, the percentage of all children in grade 3 who can read at grade 2 level has increased from 25.1% in 2016 to 27.2% in 2018.
ASER Pakistan launches the 2018 report
The 2018 ASER Pakistan report was launched in Islamabad in February 2019. The eighth round of the survey covered 154 districts, 21 urban centers, 4,527 villages, 89,966 households, and 260,069 children. The report shows progress in access where in 2018, 83% of children aged 6-16 years were enrolled in schools as compared to 81% in 2016. ASER Pakistan also collected information on disability prevalence and strikingly, its tools for the first time are being adopted in Pakistan Sign Language (PSL).
Jàngandoo Senegal commences the 2019 barometer
In March 2019, Jàngandoo, which is conducted by The Research Laboratory on Economic and Social Transformations of IFAN (LARTES-IFAN) launched its 2019 citizen led assessment in Dakar, Senegal. The assessment will assess children aged between 6 and 19 years in Reading, Mathematics, and General Knowledge in the 45 departments of Senegal using French and Arabic languages based on child’s choice. The 2019 Jàngandoo will reach 16,000 households. The results will be published next June.
Network-Wide Communication Strategy developed
Between the 21st and 22nd January, communication officers from the network met for two days in Nairobi, Kenya, to develop a network-wide Communications and Advocacy Strategy. PAL is currently developing the network-wide communications materials.
Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) Workshop
A ten-day Do It Yourself (DIYS) workshop was held in Bungoma, Kenya between 18th February and 1st March where participants were introduced to TaRL numeracy activities in both theory and practical sessions with children in schools. Participants who had been trained in May 2018, and had implemented TaRL joined the Pratham lead team to co-facilitate the sessions. We applaud the growth shown by these members and friends from TPC Mozambique, LEARNigeria and Building Tomorrow Uganda.More
TaRL training in Dodoma, Tanzania On 4th and 5th April, Uwezo at Twaweza Tanzania hosted an induction of organizations under the Regional Education Learning Initiative (RELI) to the Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) approach. The induction was facilitated by the PAL Network.
MIA Mexico introduces my Aventura (My adventure) with mathematics
MIA has developed a Mathematics Club dubbed “My adventure with mathematics”, framed within the Mexican education curriculum. This is as a result of the successful implementation of Literacy Club that helped high school students acquire literacy skills. The club aims to create learning conditions that help high school students to develop arithmetic skills.
PAL Network @ CIES 2019
Representatives from the PAL Network will make seven presentations in various sessions in the upcoming 2019 Comparative and International Education Society (CIES) Conference scheduled for 14th-18th April in San Francisco, USA. Join us in promoting the PAL Network participation at CIES 2019 by downloading the social media banner here.
The East and Southern Africa hub Meeting
The East and Southern Africa (ESA) hub of the PAL Network that brings together members from Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Mozambique, and Botswana shall hold its second hub meeting on 26th April 2018 in Nampula, Mozambique. The meeting will review past events and plan for joint activities in 2019.
SDG 4 Data Digest 2018: Data to Nurture Learning In the report: “The report presents the wide range of national and cross-national learning assessments currently underway and the assessment experiences of practitioners in the field.”
