ISLAMABAD - Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi, in collaboration with Sightsavers and PAL Network hosted the in-country dissemination event of the pilot project for Inclusive Guidelines of the International Common Assessment of Numeracy (ICAN) for children with sensory impairment.
The event held marking the successful completion of the field trial pilots in Pakistan using the ICAN tool in 2023, which garnered the prestigious WISE Award.
Distinguished guests, including Mohyuddin Wani, Special Secretary, MoFE&PT, and Dr. Shahif Soroya, DG PIE, along with Zainab Iqbal, Education Specialist, FCDO and Noreen Hasan, Education Specialists at UNICEF, Izzah Farrakh from the World Bank, Sam Wilson, PD from MoFEPT, Greta Rollo from ASER, Abia Akram, CEO of the National Forum for Women with Disability, and key experts from the education and disability sectors in Pakistan graced the event.
The ICAN available in 11 languages, is a collaborative effort by member countries under the PAL Network to provide a comparable, low-cost, and simple-to-use assessment for measuring foundational numeracy. Tailored to the realities of the Global South, ICAN is an accessible tool designed to measure and monitor progress on SDG 4.1.1 (a) and aligns with the Global Proficiency Framework.
Mohyuddin Wani, Special Secretary on behalf of the Federal Education Ministry, emphasized the need for all government institutions, including education, special education, EdTech, and reform units, to collaborate as a unified entity.
He suggested that they should collectively develop, test, and implement the recommendations and solutions of the ICAN assesment exercise. He ensured full support from Federal Directorate of Education.
During the event, ground-level stories were shared, shedding light on critical topics such as strengthening the application of existing action frameworks, shared priorities and challenges of the project, and sharing existing knowledge and good practices. On the occasion, Munnaza Gillani, Country Director of Sightsavers, shared that children with hearing impairment enrolled in education, who participated in the ICAN piloting, tended to achieve lower scores compared to their visually impaired peers.
This suggests that their schools are facing challenges in addressing the specific needs of these children, not only in terms of teaching numeracy but also in terms of teaching literacy and communication skills.
She also requested that institutes working for people with disabilities should include individuals with disabilities or organizations working for people with disabilities in the planning phase.
Baela Raza Jamil, CEO of ITA, concluded the event by stating that since 2014, ITA has collaborated with organizations as part of the Pakistan Literacy Project, including Room To Read.
Deaf Reach has converted books into sign language, Sightsavers has transformed them into braille, and NBF has focused on dyslexia prepositions, preparing books for dyslexic children from Prep to Grade 8. However, there is a need for more child-friendly content, and efforts must be coordinated to generate it.
Itfaq Khaliq Khan, Senior Program Manager at Sightsavers, emphasized the call to action by stating, “It’s high time we invest in inclusive assessment to evaluate whether the efforts we are putting in are effectively improving learning levels or not.”