Author Topic: Call to involve teachers in policy-making  (Read 574 times)

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Call to involve teachers in policy-making
« on: October 08, 2013, 08:04:05 AM »
Call to involve teachers in policy-making
Lahore :October 08: SPEAKERS at an event held in connection with the World Teachers Day stressed the need of teachers’ involvement in policy-making and offering them respect and trust to enable them to become true agent of change in society.
According to a Press release, Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi (ITA) organised the event at a local hotel on Monday in connection with the World Teachers Day observed with the theme “A Call for Teachers”.
Dr Arifa Syeda Zehra, professor at Forman Christian College in her keynote address said the society needed to free teachers from a state of fear and offer them due respect, trust as well as protection to enable them become agents of society transformation. She stressed that teachers should also continue enhancing their knowledge to initiate a dialogue in classrooms and become the voice of society’s conscience.
Punjab Minister for Education Rana Mashhood Ahmed Khan said teachers were the pulse of the society stressing that they should implement the Punjab government’s vision by imparting quality education to their pupils. He said the Punjab government had constituted a committee of educationists to advise the government on important education matters. He, however, expressed his surprise that why teachers were protesting against the setting up of District Education Authorities (DEAs) saying the same would eventually de-centralise powers. ITA Director Programmes Dr Baela Raza Jamil said the teachers unions were very important platforms and stressed that the government should take these stakeholders into confidence before introducing new policies. Dr Baela Raza Jamil said substandard teaching was often cited as being at the forefront of poor schooling quality in the developing world. She said the ASER Pakistan surveys in 2010, 2011 and 2012 had consistently shown that a vast majority of pupils aged between 5-16 years had not even achieved what was expected of a Grade-II student in language and mathematics. She added teachers and students’ attendance had greatly improved in Punjab but learning levels had not shown significant improvement.

 

She regretted that the Right to Education Bill was ready with the government but it had neither been shared with the public nor tabled in the Punjab Assembly. Dr Shahid Siddiqui said education was not only transmission of knowledge from one generation to another but transformation of students and the society in terms of education, skills and attitudes.

 

Headmasters Association Punjab president Rasheed Ahmad Bhatti alleged that the government was involving politics into education through the setting up of DEAs. He regretted that a large number of schools in Punjab did not have required number of teachers and many schools were functioning without head teachers.
Meanwhile Pakistan Association for Continuing and Adult Education (PACADE) also organised a ceremony in connection with World Teachers Day on Monday.
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