Sindh govt criticised for failing to take concrete steps for teachers’ training

SMTTI’s first batch of trained teachers awarded diplomas

Karachi

This is so unfortunate that the provincial government is not initiating any concrete steps for the training and development of the teaching community and that is why the standards of teaching in public sector educational institutions, mainly schools have fallen rapidly. 

This was stated by Director Sun Montessori Teachers Training Institute (SMTTI) Rafia Khan on Saturday.

Talking to The News during a diploma distribution ceremony held at the Sun Academy, she said the ruling party had enjoyed powers over the years in Sindh but the schooling system was still in a poor state, many schools had broken infrastructure and a numbers of them had not infrastructure as it had vanished due to the non-maintenance of those buildings.

The remaining government-run schools were not offering standard education and dropout cases were also remained on high side, she said, adding that this was why her institute decided to offer teachers a chance to learn and excel in their profession.

The SMTTI’s first batch of trained teachers passed out from the institute after completing six months of training. The course was offered in collaboration with the Sindh Board of Technical Education (SBTE).

As per SBTE instructions, the course of six months could be completed in Rs8,000 only while only a class of three hours every Saturday was another benefit. Also, housewives, working women, widows and those who the breadwinners of their families were getting interested in this course, she mentioned.

Rafia Khan has been associated with the teaching profession for the last 36 years and over the last decade her focus has been on the improvement of teaching standards in government-run schools. 

“The SMTTI is the brainchild of the Sun Academy where we ordinary people try to do extraordinary things.” 

Talking about the need for launching a teachers’ training programme, she said that when teachers came to school to apply for teaching, we found that they did not have sufficient training and background necessary to properly interact with young children.

Although some of them had got training from well-established and popular institutions but they lacked in several basic components which were required for the teaching profession and that was why the SMTTI had been formed, she further said.

She noted that the first batch was enrolled in March 2015 with 18 candidates but 12 of them completed the course while the second batch had 24 candidates and 10 people in the third batch were taking their classes as per schedule.

She claimed that the majority of people in Karachi could not afford to go abroad and learn advance teaching methods or other professions and they could also not mix up in the society of posh localities as their ascent was not up to their standards, but “we work in this regard also so that our trained teachers could proudly work anywhere in country and outside it”.

Managing Director SMTTI Engineer M Ahson Khan said that the school’s building was acquired on a 99-year lease from then city Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal. 

“When we took over the possession of the building, back in 2010, it had almost turned into dust. The school’s infrastructure was rebuilt and classes were started with only 120 students in KG-I and now it has a strength of over 800 pupils in different classes.”

The Sun Academy SUN Academy is sponsored by The Society for Unwell and Needy (SUN), a highly organised UK-based charity working for the service of humanity since 1996.

Engineer Khan, who is also a trustee of Sun Charity International (UK), mentioned that the aim of the school was to provide a better chance to underprivileged students and their families and “we believe we are going in the right direction”.

Earlier, we provided free books, lunch, transport facilities, uniforms and other benefits and just took Rs500 per month so that parents did not feel uncomfortable. When we encountered financial issues, we introduced a self-finance scheme around two years ago, besides planning to initiate evening coaching classes for students, Khan said.

“The Sun Academy is interested in taking at least 10 more schools in remote areas of the city.”

According to him, the SMTTI is also in the process of starting an on-hand teachers’ training programme for students who have passed their matriculation and intermediate exams.  During a yearlong project, they would assist teachers in a classroom and learn how to interact with children and how to teach them.

There were so many people who could not get a chance to study more due to their financial issues at home and “we believe this project will facilitate them a lot,” he further said.