In order to maintain the vision of The Kaghan Memorial Trust, to establish a school which provides education of a high standard, it is vital that, in addition to excellent teachers, an appropriate curriculum is implemented and suitable teaching methods are used. Special consideration needs to be taken with the selection of curricula for use at KMS considering the unique situation of the students of KMS: coming from deprived backgrounds, living with parents with little or no education, having no knowledge of, or exposure to English (the language used for teaching), and with little access to objects common in the modern world (e.g. televisions, computers, even toys).

Previous efforts to develop a curriculum for the Kaghan Memorial School were incomplete. The Trustees decided that as a first step towards finalizing the curricula for Kindergarten, Grade 1 and Grade 2, a ‘Curriculum Selection Week’, would be conducted from August 6th to August 13th, 2009.

From August 5th, the teachers stayed in Islamabad conducting a study of the curricula and teaching methods used in leading schools and institutions around the area. The week ended with a workshop where the teaching faculty presented their findings and suggestions to the Trustees, Head Office staff and experts from the Education Department, the British Council and De Laas Gul, an NGO with over 20 years experience in the field of education. Their main suggestion was that the KMS Curricula should be an amalgamation of several different curricula with adaptations made according to the unique circumstances encountered at the Kaghan Memorial School. It was agreed by the participants that this was the most appropriate approach. Further details of this stage of the curriculum selection can be found in our 2009 Autumn newsletter.

Over the following few months, the teachers and teaching assistants worked hard to produce curricula and syllabi for all subjects for Kindergarten, Grade 1 and Grade 2. The final drafts were presented at a workshop held on January 2, 2010, again attended by Trustees, staff and education specialists.

While work still remains to be done before the curricula and syllabi for these grades are fully complete, a lot of progress has been made over the past year. In March 2010, classes will begin for the new school year. Throughout the coming year the teaching team will have a chance to implement this curricula and adapt it according to their experience in the classroom. They will also commence work in the development of a curricula and syllabi for Grade 3.