LAKKI MARWAT: The government should ensure free transport facility for female teachers to if it wants to improve their attendance at schools and enhance students’ enrollment, said a participant at a certificate distribution ceremony here on Saturday.

The National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) had organised the ceremony at the district headquarters complex, Tajazai, to award appreciation certificates to the best male and female teachers.

District education officer Nazir Khan, NCHD acting general manager Shaheen Badshah, district programme manager Alaf Gul, SDEO Ikramullah Khan, ADO sports Nisar Mohammad, ADO establishment Shagufta Ameen and other ESED officials were in attendance.

ADO establishment Shagufta Ameen said that female teachers faced hardships to reach their respective schools in remote areas in time.

She added that free pick and drop facility would help improve attendance of female teachers in schools, thus improving enrollment and achieving the goal of quality education.

She also urged the need for arranging capacity building trainings for female teachers to enable them to impart quality education to students. She said participation in in-service trainings should be declared mandatory for all teachers.

She said that trainings should be held in summer vacations and their duration should be for one month.

Another speaker said that the main objective of setting up a school should be to impart education to children instead of appeasing an influential person with a class four post.

He said that government had introduced independent monitoring unit to identify shortcomings in the performance of education and health departments.

Altaf Gul of NCHD said that the provincial government had fixed the target of enrolling 2.6 million out of school children, and asked teachers to help achieve the target.

He reiterated that NCHD would extend full support to the education department to ensure 100 per cent primary enrollment and improve quality of education.

DEO Mr Khattak called upon teachers to perform their professional obligations honestly and launch campaigns in their respective localities for children’s enrollment. He promised to ensure just distribution of resources and fulfilling genuine needs of government schools.

Later, the participants also held a walk on the premises of the district headquarters complex to create awareness among people about the importance of education.

Published in Dawn, September 14th, 2014