CHITRAL: The findings of the research conducted on child-to-child (C2C) model on early education system suggested that it offered a promising, evidence-based pathway to improving foundational literacy and numeracy, ultimately contributing to a more inclusive and equitable education system across Pakistan and the wider South Asian region.

In the Uptake Forum hosted by the Aga Khan University Institute for Educational Development, Professional Development Centre (AKU-IED PDC), Chitral, brought together nearly 200 participants including teachers, researchers, policymakers, development partners and members of the Scaling Inclusive play-based child-to-child approaches (SIPCA) research consortium from Pakistan, the Maldives and Sri Lanka.

The event held in a local hotel served as a strategic platform to share evidence from the SIPCA project and engage regional stakeholders in a dialogue on scaling the C2C model across diverse educational landscapes in South Asia.

The special secretary of the Elementary and Secondary Education Department , government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Muhammad Masood, chief guest of the event, in his, keynote address, lauded AKU-IED for its longstanding contributions to strengthening teacher education in Pakistan, particularly across its remote, mountainous regions.

Experts recommend wider adoption of the model in multi-grade classrooms

Reflecting on his four-day visit to Chitral and his engagements with various institutions of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), the special secretary reaffirmed the provincial government’s commitment to supporting integrated development initiatives led by AKDN and AKU and emphasised that investing in early childhood development is the core foundation required for improved long-term educational outcomes.

The forum commenced with welcome remarks fromDr. Riaz Hussain, head of AKU-IED PDC, Chitral, who highlighted the Centre’s strategic priorities, specialised programmes and ongoing efforts to elevate education quality in the region while identifying new avenues for public-private collaboration.

Representing the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) Pakistan, director of education Shakoor Khan acknowledged the SIPCA project’s role in generating robust evidence to strengthen foundational learning, announcing AKF’s intent to support for the scaling up of the C2C model through its upcoming education initiatives stated to begin in 2027.

The SIPCA Pakistan research team, led by principal investigatorDr.NasimaShakeel, co-principal investigator Mr. Abdul Wali Khan Yaftali and research specialist Ms. Rubina Nawab—presented the project’s key findings.

The empirical data provided strong evidence that the play-based child-to-child (PBC2C) model effectively improves school readiness and eases the transition from pre-primary to primary education.

Compared to a control group, children participating in the PBC2C intervention achieved drastically higher learning outcomes of English Literacy 112 percent gain, Numeracy 35.6 percent gain, Urdu Literacy 25.3 percent gain and Social and Emotional Learning 3.7 percent gain.

Dr. Sajid Ali, Professor, Director of Research and Publications at AKU-IED, highlighted the model’s immense potential for wider domestic adoption and noted that the C2C model offers a highly practical and contextually relevant strategy for multigrade classrooms, which are widely prevalent across Chitral and other underserved, resource-poor regions of Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, July 20th, 2026