IRM Smart School

To bring street children from disadvantaged families back to school and to mainstream them through the provision of better primary education. In poor households, parents often had to leave their children in the streets or homes when they went to work. Recognizing this challenge, IRM sensitized and mobilized these parents, emphasizing that enrolling their children in smart schools would provide a secure and nurturing environment for their well-being.

IRM has established 111 SMART Schools with a total enrollment of more than 4,125 out of school street children (52% Girls & 48% Boys) in Punjab, Sindh, KP and ICT.

We have established SMART Schools at brick kilns, for waste paper picker children and in red light area Lahore, which is the most neglected area for children’s education and we have enrolled children belonging to sex workers and musician families.

SALIENT FEATURES:

• Smart schools are located in a neighborhood which is not served by a government school, i.e. it is not within the 3 km radius.
• Smart schools provide primary education to approximately 30 out-of-school students per teacher in a multi-grade classroom setting.
• Smart schools follow the curriculum based on government syllabus and students are prepared for the board exam held at the end of 5^th grade.
• Both girls and boys are equally considered to enroll in Smart Schools. Moreover, children physical disabilities are also encouraged.
• Teacher’s responsibility is to build up an ethical & healthy social behavior among students.
• IRM provides teachers training on multi-grade teaching methodology.
• IRM also provides uniform, stationary and per diem to these students.

With the alarming stats of Out-Of-School-Children (OOSC) expected sustainable development goals cannot be achieved. The OOSC rate is increased day by day and it will become worse if nothing will be done about it. Therefore, we believe it our rightful duty to focus on one of the most alarming problem of Pakistan.