Superhands December 2020 News
Nobody could have anticipated the challenges schools and students across the globe have faced over the course of 2020. For our four schools, operating in some of the poorest and most vulnerable communities, the difficulties have been acute. But since the first Covid-19-enforced lockdown in March, we have been working to ensure all our students continue to learn, whether at home or at school.
Since the first school closures, Superhands staff have striven to find ways to stay connected with all our families as we transitioned to remote learning – bearing in mind most of our students have little or no computer or internet access. Our teachers began distributing and collecting textbooks and notebooks to students’ homes, keeping parents informed of their children’s schoolwork using WhatsApp groups. Where lockdown rules would allow, teachers made home visits. By introducing these basic measures, we’ve managed to keep in touch with our school communities and to let our students know they are not forgotten.
Our schools operate in poor communities where our students have little or no computer or internet access.
We were very happy to finally re-open three of our schools on 23rd September. Students in Middle school classes 6, 7, and 8 were the first to return to their classrooms as part of a staggered return to school, followed by Pre-school and primary classes. We are proud of how ready our students have been to adjust to the changes, including temperature checks and wearing masks. Sadly, a new lockdown came into effect in mid-November, requiring our schools to close again.
The vast majority of our students have re-enrolled.
Of course, the past few months have been a particularly difficult time for many of our students and their families. The national lockdown has led to widespread loss of daily earnings, causing severe hardship for already struggling families.
The country as a whole is facing a sharp increase in school dropouts as a result of the school closures. Almost a million children are not expected to return to school. According to the World Bank, “Pakistan is globally the country where we expect the highest dropouts due to the COVID crisis in relative terms.” In the face of this unprecedented crisis, we are doing, and will continue to do, our very best to ensure that all Superhands students return to school, and make up their lost learning as soon as possible. Our efforts to reach out to all our families have been very encouraging: the vast majority of our students have re-enrolled and we look forward to welcoming them back to their classrooms in January 2021.
In the meantime, thank you for standing by our students in these difficult months. With your continued support, we look forward to seeing all our students return to school, and their enthusiasm for learning, next month.
