Educational standards can only be improved by trained teachers: experts

Country’s education standards can only be improved by using trained and qualified teachers, said leading educationists and field experts while addressing a dialogue session held here Friday to discuss the findings of this year’s Annual Status of Education Report.

This year, the theme of the ASER Policy dialogue was “Improving Learning Outcome – Teacher effectiveness and its impact on student achievements”. The data from the 6th edition of the annual status of education report was indeed encouraging with enrolment rates increasing in nearly all provinces. However, a great deal still needs to be done especially when it comes to learning levels. The aim of this Policy dialogue was to build a narrative as to what measures must be undertaken to ensure quality education for all in Pakistan. Teachers lie at the heart of the learning enterprise and quality education for all cannot be possible without teacher effectiveness.

The policy dialogue was attended by provincial education ministry representatives, education experts, teachers and parents as stakeholders of the educational sector and with the interest to contribute insights to the upcoming policy for 2016.

The event was divided into two sessions. The first session talked about the financial, technical and political barriers to teacher effectiveness where Advisor PAIS, Jamil Najam said, as a panelist: “Compulsory education has no campaigns, no protests”.

This session was chaired by Dr. Shahid Siddiqui, VC AIOU who concluded the session by saying: “today we did not just talk about problems but also initiatives that are working”.

The second session, moderated by Ms. Baela Raza Jamil, was based on the National Education Policies and whether they serve as triggers for effective teaching and learning. Dr Sajid Ali from the Agha Khan University, IED said: “Policies can influence teacher effectiveness on a global scale”.

Also in attendance was Ms. Nargis Sultana from the Open Society Foundation who shed light on teacher’s capabilities and their immediate needs to be addressed at higher levels. She said that only a trained and qualified teacher can enhance the students’ learning standards.

The Deputy Secretary Elementary and Secondary Education Department, KPK, Mr. Abid Ullah Kakakhel stated that “We plan to recruit 25,000 more teachers on merit, through an independent agency for schools in KP.”

Overall recommendations were given by Ms. Baela, it was concluded that policy reform is essential to ensure teacher effectiveness as quality teachers form the basis of any viable and sustainable education systems. Article 25A and Pakistan’s commitment to SDG 4 cannot be realized without well rounded and trained teachers.