Reading and instructional materials are particularly important to ensure children have hands on practice with the foundational skills of reading, comprehend what they are reading, and improve fluency. Yet most Pakistani classrooms are not equipped with educational materials that promote reading – textbooks alone do not teach reading skills, and there are no supplemental reading materials available to complement a structured reading program. To fill this gap, PRP is developing student materials specially aimed at supporting reading. All materials developed by PRP will align the project’s overall learning to read approach, ensuring that learning/teaching materials, teacher skills strengthening, and teacher support strategies mutually reinforce one another to improve student reading skills.

Material Review Committees (MRCs) have been formed in each province, comprised of representatives from apex institutions, bureaus of curriculum, and textbook boards, to ensure all learning and teaching materials are specifically designed to provide practice in the component skills of reading, align with teacher in-service training modules, and are developed with Pakistani teachers and students in mind. While the emphasis is on Urdu materials creation, PRP is also developing materials to accompany mother tongue interventions in Sindhi and Pashto.

All PRP-developed materials demonstrate IRC’s Healing Classrooms approach, which emphasizes academic learning, gender equality, social and emotional wellbeing, and resilience.