Well trained and qualified teachers will make a lasting impact on the quality of education all across Pakistan, participants at a US-sponsored curriculum development workshop held this week agreed. The meeting chaired by Minister of State for Education Ghulam Farid Kathia, included education officials, in addition to the representatives from Pakistan's principal teacher training institutions and advocacy groups.
Over five days, stakeholders will develop recommendations to refine the teacher's certification process. The workshop is a part of USAID's Pre-Service Teachers Education Program (Pre-STEP), a five-year, $75 million program that supports faculties of 15 higher education institutions in Pakistan to improve curricula and 75 government colleges. Pre-STEP also sponsors more than 100 Pakistani scholars to study toward post-graduate degrees in the United States, and sponsors working groups advocating improved teaching skills and teacher welfare.
"The entire education system in Pakistan will benefit from improved teacher education," said Katie Donohoe, Deputy Director of Education for the US Agency for International Development (USAID). "This initiative will lead to greater numbers of better-trained teachers in Pakistani classrooms."
Participants will seek consensus among major teacher education partners, including curriculum officers in the Ministry of Education, the Higher Education Commission, and representatives of teacher training institutions on the content and structure of the Bachelor of Education honours curriculum, and how it should align with teacher education offered in the government colleges of elementary education.-PR