With millions not in school, and in school, besieged by extremism, refugees displacements, terrorism, subjected to rote learning & tests- PLF is a response with stories, theatre, music, bookmaking, STEM, innovations & children’s/teachers voices and empathy. PLF is more than festivals, including search for young authors, digital stories, incredible libraries, publications (130) fostering EdTech.
PLF is an empathetic learning experience at scale, non-ticketed, with concurrent multiple learning strands for large interactive audiences (3-18 years) and teachers in public sector facilities. It iteratively wraps learning and application with a positive attitude. PLF is demand-led responding to government, schools, and districts across Pakistan; a hybrid financing model supporting a social movement by govt., industry, CSOs & development partners. Mapped to curriculum, 1000s of participating schools sign a pledge to replicate 2-3 elements. Polls and evaluations are conducted regularly revealing 85%+ think PLF is a replicable inclusive learning opportunity “we learn in 1 day what we do not in 365 days!”. PLF curated events are shared on YouTube, open public goods. It generates content for language, EdTech, STEM, life skills packaged as SEL enabling young and old to feel, heal and communicate across generations as co-creators with agency.
The social movement has relentlessly picked pace during COVID-19; but PLF multiplied with many nascent programs: publications, young author awards, read aloud on largest TV TeleSchools reaching millions; incredible libraries (mobile/trunk with books/tablets/cinema). PLFinitiatives must be adopted in every high/elementary classroom of the country and beyond with open-source learning options for personalized and open expression, feeling and lifeskills. We seek to make its ever-growing diverse content digitally accessible for all inclusively a) as an Open School PLF Academy b) a strong PLF App providing online training sessions/lesson plans/guides for all types of school systems in multiple languages and c) create PLF fellows who can replicate it at scale and across geographies.
Get in touch with PLF Academy; will provide customized rapid training on PLF Toolkit with all materials/ tools/ compliance needs to be adapted to local context in any part of the world. Every PLF in Pakistan is adapted to local heritage/language (60%) to ensure relevance, resonating emotionally, cognitively with cultural layers connecting 5C’s and Climate Change. For details: maria.mahmood@itacec.
