AN INVESTIGATION INTO PRIMARY SCHOOL DRAWING EDUCATION IN PAKISTAN

Research shows that drawing promotes concentration, improves hand-eye coordination, and encourages
creative thinking. This inquiry investigated the current drawing curriculum and its modes of delivery in
two primary schools, one government, and one from the private sector in the Sindh region of Pakistan.
The project adopted a mixed-methods research design. The first stage of the project sought to identify
and assess the existing curriculum and delivery methods. Archival research enabled the researcher to
locate and analyze current curricula and policy in relation to drawing education. A questionnaire was
sent to eight primary school teachers, five of whom responded, and five semi-structured interviews
drawing subject experts were conducted. Three classroom observations and on-site discussions with
four teachers in the workshop were also conducted. Analysis of the data enabled the researcher to
identify a set of problems and issues with the current delivery of drawing education in Pakistan, namely
issues, untrained teachers using old classroom drawing exercise, which have affected negatively the
children’s creative growth, lacks of modern approaches for drawing, unavailability of train teachers. In
the second stage of the project, the researcher developed a set of teaching and learning strategies to
address these problems and piloted this through a five-day creative workshop involving sixteen primary
school students and four primary school teachers. These strategies were based upon focused and
emphasize, playful exploration, conversation, drawing from life, and drawing collaboratively. Drawing
can be a very good creative tool for kids, based on the researcher's own experience. Analysis of the
workshop's results demonstrated the effectiveness of the approach taken. Students' levels of
concentration/ enjoyment/ participation increased their motor skills, students valued their work more
with greater interest in the subject, and the work enabled greater interaction between students and
teachers. In conclusion, the researcher argues that modifying the instruction and learning of drawing in
Pakistani primary schools in the light of the workshop, would have beneficial results for the development
of creativity.