Kashf’s Education Finance initiative is a breakthrough in the current grim education environment of the country. The organization was awarded the 7th European Microfinance Award in 2016 for its effort to improve the quality of education in Pakistan. Kashf Education Finance Program caters to low cost private schools (LCPS) targeting underserved or marginalized communities located in peri urban and urban markets. The program offers LCPS access to finance as well as capacity building trainings for teachers and school owners, and a training of trainers on Financial Education for Youth curriculum. The design of the product clearly echoes the social objectives of improving the quality of low-cost private schools both in terms of the learning environment and the school facilities. Teachers’ and school management’s capacity building trainings aim to improve the teaching methodology, class-room management, understanding of child psychology, lesson planning and student assessments. Students also benefit directly from this initiative, as financial education trainings for youth are delivered to all grades, beginning from pre-nursery and all the way up to grade ten.
Since the inception of the program 2 years ago, it has catered to over 2,034 schools in the country, reaching out to 600,000 students. It has disbursed loans amounting to $2.5million. Impact assessment has revealed that 71% of schools have observed an increase in enrollment, with 67% schools observing an increase in female enrollment. 33% of the loans have been used to finance infrastructural improvements and an almost equal percentage of loans i.e. 32% have been used to purchase resource material for students. The data below showcases the impact of the initiative on the learning and school environment of LCPS:
The organization has set the following program goals for 2020:
- Reach out to 1,000,000 students in the country
- Expand program outreach to 4000 schools
- Train 17,000 teachers on KEFP’s teacher training module
- Train 6600 school management personnel on KEFP’s training module for school management
- Ensure delivery of KEFP’s Financial Education for Youth module to 1,000,000 students
Source: https://kashf.org/news-events/
