ISLAMABAD, March 4: US First Lady Laura Bush on Saturday stressed the need for promotion of education in Pakistan, with focus on advanced skill training for teachers. “Education is an issue of concern worldwide,...and we (the United States) want Pakistan to shift from simple qualifications to advanced methodology in the educational field. This can help people to lead life with success,” she said in a roundtable with the representatives of the UNESCO, Federal Directorate of Education, Children Resource International (CRI) and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) at US embassy here.
Mrs Bush said the US and Pakistan were partners in education as the former was running several literacy projects under the umbrella of the USAID and UNESCO in the country.
She emphasized on direct involvement of parents and teachers in educational activities of a child. “Children need parents and teachers to help them prepare for success in school and in life. Once in classrooms, our children deserve excellent teachers and high-quality education.”
A graduate of Education and a former school teacher, Mrs Bush said she believed teachers’ training was a must to update them with advanced methodology.
She said President Bush’s commitment for promotion of education continues from the time he was governor of Texas and played an active role on focussing research on teaching methodology.
Regional Director-General, UNESCO, Jorge Sequeira, briefing Mrs Bush, said Pakistan was lagging behind in regional educational perspective with 48.7 per cent literacy rate as compared to Sri Lanka with 90.4 per cent and India with 61 per cent.
He said in Pakistan there was a need to overcome educational disparity as the ratio of child literacy was 58 per cent, while focus was being laid on ensuring that all boys and girls complete primary education by 2,015.
Director-General, Federal Directorate of Education, Brig (retd) Maqsood-ul-Hassan said the government was successfully using US ‘interactive child-centred methodology’ through the CRI in its 150 schools in Islamabad.
He said under the project specialized courses for teachers were being conducted, besides introducing interactive methodology in 40 universities in the country.
Chief Executive, CRI, Mehnaz Aziz, said the aim of the project was to link the local youth with global reality through advanced educational means.
Later, the US first lady distributed gifts among a group of school children who amused her by presenting self-created tales in a playful manner. —APP
