Teachers from the Sindh Development Areas communities participated in the 5-day training. Through interactive sessions, the participants acquired conceptual clarity on various issues.

This was followed by exercises on class room practices in which participants could relate issues to their work. The trainings would continue for all DAs. A resource team of trainers is being identified for each DA during these workshops so that the trainings continue as an on-going process at the grass roots level.

Actionaid sees education as a fundamental human right, the responsibility of the state and a core element of a development policy committed to social justice. Our vision for education is that all children will have free access to quality education within an equitable system. We want to see schools where children's rights, especially those of girls, are respected, injustices are challenged and children's lives could be transformed.

While we continue to lobby for securing access to school for excluded children, we do not see it as the end point. For us, it is only the start. We need to ensure that schools are the places where all rights are respected and reinforced and that the education imparted is empowering and liberating, celebrates cultural diversity and, crucially, is free from indoctrination. Schools should be the places where childrens minds are opened and not closed, where prejudices and discrimination are challenged and where democratic principles are practiced as well as preached.

Working on this aspect of quality, we have been working consistently on improving teachers trainings. Recognizing the need to have trainings with a clear human rights focus, we have started a series of trainings with specific sessions on human rights, peace and gender for teachers from our DA communities.