15 May 2004	Saturday	24 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1425

ISLAMABAD, May 14: The quality of teaching and teachers' training institutions in the country is far from being satisfactory mainly due to lack of adequately trained teachers , Joint Education Adviser of the federal education ministry Dr Haroona Jatoi said on Friday.

She was speaking at a seeing-off ceremony held for a group of 26 teachers leaving for the US on a USAID-funded training programme. The project is being implemented by the Academy of Education (AED) in the country.

The US ambassador to Pakistan, Nancy Powell, was also present on the occasion.

"We have about 250 teacher training institutions in the country. In addition to this, there are 300 decentralized teacher-training outposts and resource centres," the adviser said.

This is where the bulk of teachers are produced. In rural areas, even the private schools tend to look towards these institutions and hire teachers trained from there. "But except for few of these training institutions, as you go further in remote districts, teacher training is a mere ritual to obtain a certification/diploma rather than meaningful learning that prepares them as genuine teachers," she observed.

The hardware part, though not perfect, is in a reasonably good shape there. But what is missing, is the software part of it - the quality of training.

Hence, the Pakistan Teachers Education And Professional Development Programme (PTEPDP), a USAID-funded project is all about software, whereby about 300 teachers will be sent to the US for training, Dr Jatoi said.

"This is a sincere effort to strengthen the role of these institutions for quality primary education in the country," she said. It (PTEPDP) will also help the government achieve its objectives which it has set under Education Sector Reforms, she added.

It will develop a strong group of 300 professionals and competent master trainers; a core group of teachers that will have a substantial impact on teacher training and certification in the country, Dr Jatoi said.

She asked the teachers selected for training in the US to behave like ambassadors of the country. "You are not only going abroad to attend the training course, but you will also act as image builders, hence whatever you want to do there, just keep one thing in your mind that you are representing your country," she said.

Congratulating the teachers on their selection for the course, the US ambassador asked them to make best use of the training programme for their capacity building.

She also encouraged the participants to learn about the American culture and people. "Please take time out from your busy schedules to meet and talk to the Americans around you. You will find them welcoming and curious to learn about you and your culture as much as you want to learn about them," she said.