Teachers should be given due respect in society

Islamabad
The government should realise the modern day changes in education sector and new education policy being devised shall be knowledge-oriented while teachers should not only be given their due respect in society but also modern training be the priority, said education experts and the representatives of different organisations and civil society while addressing the final discussion forum regarding new education policy.
After the announcement by the Federal Ministry of Education and Professional Training and all provincial members of the Inter-Provincial Education Ministerial (IPEM) conference, to revise the National Education Policy 2009, Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi (ITA) agreed to take this initiative forward to the broader groups of
citizens/stakeholders and particularly youth groups (teachers/students/CSOs/entrepreneurs etc.).
ITA, committed to citizen led countrywide initiatives such as ASER and Right to Education, extended its services to the Federal Ministry of Education and Professional Training (MoE&PT) Govt. of Pakistan and all provincial School Education and Departments of Education and Literacy to host a series of consultations in different locations across the provinces (13 consultations).
After 12 successful consultation sessions across Pakistan including in Punjab, Sindh, Baluchistan, KP and AJK, the ITA team held its 13thoverall (and 2ndin Islamabad) session in the Islamabad Capital Territory. The session was attended by a group of specialized educationists and expert from the sector as well as youth. In attendance were principals and head masters, as well as experts from the civil society and government organizations such as NCHD, FDE and CAD.
The session was initiated by the Manager Policy, Research and Action of ITA, Izzah Meyer, who gave an overview of the NEP 2009, highlighting the structure of the previous policy along with its outcomes and remaining challenges and pointed out the need to match and upgrade the National Education Policy in light of the 18th amendment, article 25-A, and the upcoming Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
In a very engaging debate, the participants discussed important issues all education sub-sectors in Pakistan are faced with and presented inputs as well as practical recommendations. Some of the recommendations are as follows: The policy should include not only compulsory primary enrollment, but also compulsory ECE enrollment, Teaching at ECE level should be very hands-on and a “learning by doing” methods should be adopted.
It must also be ensure that ECE students have access to relevant toolkits (books, learning materials etc), Teacher recruitment all across the education sector should be done only on the basis of merit with no political interference, All teachers must be specialized and highly trained, Eliminate parallel systems of education and introduce a uniform system that is equitable in quality matters as well as facilities, Ensure that life skills based education is included in the curriculum and teacher education/training, There should be community based vocational centers so that members of the community are getting the most relevant trainings. Furthermore vocational centers should be linked with private organizations so not only are organizations getting skilled labor but the skilled labor is also getting jobs, Youth and adults must be engaged and informed of the opportunities to increase enrollments in such programs of alternative learning at primary and post primary level and also programs of life skills, ICTs or technology enabled life skills must be introduced for these target groups and Madrassas must be mainstreamed and should have the same level of rigorous hiring process as the other schools and teachers’ qualification must be vetted before hiring. The minimum criteria of qualification should be graduate level.
HabibUllah Khan, National Programme Coordinator of NCHD thanked ITA for conducting this consultation session and applauded their effort to engage stakeholders in the policy review process. He said “we have to ensure that not only are all our children enrolled in schools but are receiving quality education. That is the only way we can empower them” He also emphasized the importance of hiring specialized and well trained teachers, saying that “starting from ECE level if we can build a solid base, and instill a love of learning in our children, we will not have to face issues such as high dropout rates.”
Adding to HabibUllah Khan’s point, Dr. Aziz Principal of IMSB said: “We have to give equal attention to all education sub-sectors. Secondary education should be made universal as well.”
Student from QAU M. Usman said “Pakistan has one of the largest youth populations. We must use that to our advantage and mobilize the youth if we want to achieve our education goals.”