KARACHI: “Who has the time for any kind of teachers’ training? I’m only here because my organisation nominated me. Hopefully, you won’t make me stay for the entire morning and afternoon. I have no desire to waste my time here,” grumbled a primary school teacher (PST) sent to attend the Teachers’ Resource Centre’s (TRC) Master Trainers’ Training Programme. But she was informed that she was to observe strict timings throughout the duration of the training.

At the conclusion of training, that very teacher was singing a different tune, asking her instructors to include her in group photos and requesting them to sign her up for any other teachers’ training workshop that they may plan for next time.

It was very surprising to notice the teacher’s 180 degrees turn but that was how it had been for many teachers joining the programme as had been shown through an interesting skit played out by Farzana Kausar and Seemi Yasmin of the TRC at a seminar held to celebrate the completion of the Master Trainers’ Training Programme under the Thinking Classroom Project organised by the TRC in collaboration with the Open Society Foundation at a local hotel here on Tuesday.

Sharing their experiences, teachers, who had trained to encourage critical thinking in the classroom, spoke about the lessons learnt and the challenges they still faced and the way forward.

“Earlier, we were imposing our views on our students. Today we teach as well as learn from the children,” said Javed Hussain Khattak, a teacher from SITE Town.

Saveeta from Keamari said that she always wanted to teach differently but was afraid, wondering what the headmistress would say. “Now after receiving the training not only do I know how to go about teaching my students, I can also say that I am right because the TRC also thinks on the same lines,” she said.

During a panel discussion moderated by Nighat Hasan and Naushin Khan master trainers and focal persons shared their experiences. Asiya Nazeer shared how she transferred her training to 200 other teachers in New Karachi. Abdullah Al Mujahid from Orangi said that he taught others to understand their potential. Mubarra Abdullah from Nawabshah wanted the training incorporated into the curriculum. Rukhsana Bangash from Quetta said that she taught 36 female teachers in Quetta who were reintroduced to the child within themselves first. Rakhshanda Almas from Azad Jammu & Kashmir said that the training changed her thinking that teachers knew more than their students.

All the teachers and teacher trainers agreed that the training was not one which you attend for the sake of earning a certificate in the end and forget about it. Uzma Rauf, a part of TRC’s training and development team shared the framework of the project. “The critical thinking mindset cannot be developed overnight,” she said while informing about their national review committee to keep a check on their teaching tools including radio messages, methods, lesson plans, their working group, research team, etc.

TRC director Ambreena Ahmed spoke about their work with teachers for over 30 years now despite having meagre resources. Nargis Sultana of the Open Society Foundation also spoke on the occasion about the need of the programmes in the 21st century.

Published in Dawn, March 16th, 2016