Teachers fault summer training initiatives for lack of impact

Islamabad : Recent summer vacation training programmes have come under severe criticism from teachers in Islamabad's government schools, who insist that these sessions are ineffective and a waste of their time.

They have voiced concerns about the quality and relevance of the online training organised by the private company Taleemabad, arguing that the content is neither practical nor valuable. Teachers are particularly frustrated with the "poorly-designed" training modules, which, they feel, offer less practical benefit compared to current student textbooks. There are also allegations of administrative pressure to suppress criticism of Taleemabad's programmes, leading to suspicions that the education ministry is preferring the training provider's interests to meaningful improvements.

Another criticised initiative is the Continuous Professional Development programme, which has been labelled a ‘farce’ by many educators. They insisted that the programme, which involved teachers training each other in staff rooms, was unprofessional and a waste of resources. According to them, junior teachers were tasked with training their more experienced colleagues in a manner that seemed more like idle gossip than effective professional development.

A teacher from the Islamabad Model School for Girls in sector G-9 criticised the Taleemabad modules for their significant ambiguity and numerous errors, arguing that the content was poorly constructed and did not address practical needs.

They also described the CPD programme as a waste of time, claiming that having junior teachers train senior staff undermines the purpose of professional development and appears to be a mere box-ticking exercise by the ministry rather than a genuine effort to improve education quality.

A principal expressed dissatisfaction with the current state of the education system, which, he insisted, seemed to be failing its teachers and, by extension, its students.

"The disconnect between administrative decisions and teachers' actual needs underscores the urgent need for a re-evaluation of policies to improve education quality in the capital city,” he said. Teachers argue that the focus on these ineffective training programmes diverts attention from essential academic advancements.