US Agency for International Development (USAID) Mission Director John Groarke, Chairman of the Higher Education Commission Dr Muktar Ahmed and State Minister of Federal Education and Training Dr Balig ur Rehman inaugurated the new $1.5 million ‘faculty of education’ building at Fatima Jinnah Women’s University (FJWU), constructed by USAID to attract the brightest young Pakistani women to the teaching profession.
“Our shared goal is to invest in the next generation of doctors, teachers, entrepreneurs and leaders,” Groarke said in his remarks. “Women are a proven development multiplier and their full participation in all levels of society helps build resilient communities.”
In addition to the new faculty of education building, USAID has provided scholarships to FJWU students, including many training to become teachers. The US embassy partners with FJWU on numerous projects that promote women’s education and empowerment. From 2012-2016, the US embassy supported a partnership between FJWU and the University of Texas at Austin to strengthen women’s education in the behavioural sciences, gender studies, and communication/media studies.
In her remarks, FJWU Vice Chancellor Samina Amin Qadir said, “The construction of the faculty of education by USAID is an attempt to further facilitate the talented and academically high performing students coming from across the region, to have access to higher education and help them realise their potential.”
Through USAID, the US government has provided $47.5 million for the construction and rehabilitation of 17 faculties of education buildings across Pakistan, which together can support more than 5,000 student teachers and 200 faculty members total per year. USAID has also provided in-service training to approximately 14,000 educators and more than 3,100 scholarships to enable students to earn their bachelor’s or associates degrees in education.
Mission Director Groarke added, “Within these classrooms and learning spaces, Fatima Jinnah Women’s University faculty will train thousands of future educators to teach children the foundational skills of literacy and numeracy, create classroom settings where children’s creativity and passion for learning are allowed to flourish, and ensure students develop market-relevant skills that will enable them to thrive in a rapidly changing twenty-first century global economy”.
