Federal Minister for Education Engr Muhammad Baligh-Ur-Rehman on Tuesday claimed that around six million children were enrolled in schools during the last five years while number of school leaving children decreased significantly. "After the 18th Constitutional amendment, the education process in community based schools was hurt," said the minister while addressing the opening ceremony of Pakistan's first National Training Institute (NTI) for Literacy and Non-Formal Education (NFE) established by National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) for the training of community schools teachers.
The minister said non-formal education (NFE) is need of the hour and the best way to achieve maximum literacy rate across the country in present circumstances. The institute would help teachers in capacity building through training, development of teaching learning materials, research and development, assessments, certification, accreditation and data base.
Rehman said establishment of first National Training Institute for Literacy and Non-Formal Education will prove a milestone for literacy and non-formal education in the country. He further said, "It is very positive that we are moving towards betterment in the field of education."
Currently the training project has been initiated in a rented building with the cooperation of UNESCO and JICA. Sharing the success stories of students who studied through non-formal education system, he lauded the role of position holders and gold medallists of these community schools in socio-economic development of the country.
Highlighting the benefits of multi-grade/cross learning teaching system, the minister said the system is successful in community schools although it has some problems. He said under the Constitution of Pakistan, access to free education is the right of every citizen and every government is responsible for doing this but presently it is a major challenge among others. Therefore, he said that community school system is best solution to provide free and access to education.
Rehman said per student cost in formal education system is around three thousands per month while this cost in NCHD non-formal education centers is Rs 400 only. He emphasized the need for accelerated learning programs (ALP) centers, besides adult literacy centers. He urged the NCHD members to pay focus on the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in classrooms of community schools with an aim to check the attendance of teachers and introduce students with modern technologies.
By using modern techniques, the students of far-flung areas would be able to connect with the NCHD community schools to get education, he remarked. The federal minister also emphasized upon the need for establishing more adult literacy centers. The minister commended the efforts of NCHD chairperson and former Senator Razina Alam Khan and her team for their efforts to boost up the community school system across the country.
Razina Alam Khan said without training of the teachers of community schools, non-formal education system could not be succeeded. She appreciated the role of minister for education in establishing the first training institute for non-formal education. "We are looking for a donor for the construction of our own building," she added.
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