Three Letter Sound Box

Government Primary School Khot is located in the remote and mountainous village of Khot in Upper Chitral, a region that experiences extremely cold weather and geographical isolation, making access to resources and facilities very challenging. The school serves approximately 150 households from the surrounding community, with 125 students currently enrolled. Most families depend on small-scale farming and livestock for their livelihood, and many men work abroad to support their families financially.

The literacy rate among parents is low, and many community members do not fully understand the importance of education, particularly in the early years. Due to economic hardship and limited awareness, children often struggle to complete their secondary education — realities that directly affect students’ learning outcomes and parental involvement in school.

The school has been facing a significant shortage of human resources. With only three teachers currently working, each manages 12–13 classes daily, making it extremely difficult to provide individualised attention or deliver high-quality instruction. Compounding this, weak home-school connection due to parental illiteracy has further affected students’ motivation and progress.

Academically, students have been particularly weak in English reading — struggling to read simple words, showing little interest in lessons, and often not completing homework. Through HCD training and careful observation, the root cause became clear: students lacked a foundational understanding of letter sounds. Without phonics, blending and reading words remained out of reach, despite phonics not being explicitly emphasised in the syllabus.

To address this, Ata-e-Rahman designed and implemented a low-cost, hands-on teaching tool: the Three-Letter Sound Box. Made from leftover pieces of wood, the box allows students to physically arrange and rearrange letters to form three-letter words — learning through their hands that words are made of individual sounds, and that changing the order of letters creates new words.

Alongside the box, the classroom was transformed into a print-rich environment, with charts, flashcards, tricky words, high-frequency words, and posters displayed throughout, and a dedicated reading corner to encourage independent learning. Letter sounds were introduced using Jolly Phonics on a tablet, making early sessions more engaging. Activities were carefully planned to avoid rote learning: students worked in groups to encourage peer learning, and tasks were differentiated so every child could participate at their own level. Parent meetings were also held to raise awareness of the importance of early reading and to encourage families to support practice at home.

The Three-Letter Sound Box has had a significant positive impact on students’ learning. Students are now able to recognise phonemes and graphemes, blend and segment sounds confidently, manipulate letters to form new words, identify rhyming words, and read with greater fluency and vocabulary. Where previously students were dependent on passive learning methods and struggling to engage, they can now read unfamiliar words with confidence — signboards, textbooks, newspapers, and other written materials in their surroundings. Their hesitation has reduced, and their motivation to learn has increased remarkably.

Download this as a PDF.