CHITRAL: The speakers at a symposium said that role of teachers was indispensable in imparting 21st century skills to the students.

Arranged by Aga Khan University Institute for Educational Development’s Professional Development Centre, Chitral (PDCC), the symposium was titled ‘Teachers matter: How to develop teachers to improve classroom teaching’. The event was part of its silver jubilee celebrations.

“Classroom learning is a result of effective teaching and effective teaching is delivered by an effective teacher having intensive in-service training. In order to develop effective classroom teaching, mere emphasis on content and pedagogy might not suffice, but teachers’ training should be rooted in philosophical background,” said the speakers.

They said that key to effective teachers’ development was self-reflection to bring about a paradigm shift in their beliefs apart from the fact that the philosophical foundation between theory and practice was the missing link bridging which could enable better classroom teaching.

They said that PDCC, ever since its inception, had been a harbinger of change and induced creativity and innovation besides creating synergy within the educational institutions operating in Chitral.

The speakers said that the public benefits enabled by AKU could not be captured in numbers. They said that such public benefits accrued through encouraging excellence, partnering with government, empowering women, making higher education accessible, generating knowledge and making healthcare affordable.

They said that AKU was the first institution to introduce electronic testing and evaluation system, which was replicated by other institutes in the country. They said that AKU was the leader in introducing reforms and its best practices were adopted by other educational entities in the country.

The symposium was addressed by Prof Anjum Halai, Dr Sajid Ali, Abdul Haq Wahedna and Dr Riaz Hussain of AKU besides Additional Deputy Commissioner Minhasuddin.

The local academicians and educationists including Dr Inayatullah Faizi, retired Brig Khush Mohammad, Dr Tajudin Sharar and Mehmood Ghaznavi also presented their papers on the occasion.

Published in Dawn, May 8th, 2018