PESHAWAR: The elementary and secondary education department has launched a six-month intensive professional training programme for all the newly recruited teachers in the province.

According to a stamen, under the Teachers’ Induction Programme, 15,000 pre-loaded tablets will be provided to all the teachers during the training. A contract of Rs424 million has been signed between the education department and a supplier for the purpose.

The tablets will contain training videos, modules and contents through a specially designed learning management system. These sessions will be facilitated by subject experts from the Provincial Institute for Teachers Training (PITE).

It is worth mentioning that education department has completed its six months intensive professional development programme for 13,274 newly recruited teachers in the first phase.

In the first phase of the programme, 70 lead master trainers have been trained by Provincial Institute for Teachers Education and Directorate of Curricula and Teachers Education to further cascade training to 1,440 subject experts.

The master trainers have been selected from Provincial Institute for Teacher Education (PITE), Directorate of Curriculum and Teacher Education (DCTE), Regional Institute for Teacher Education (RITEs) and high and higher secondary schools.

Similarly, around 600 high schools have been designated as centres for the training of 15,000 teachers. Separate centres for primary and secondary and male and female teachers have been designated. There will be 260 centres for secondary schoolteachers and 330 for primary schoolteachers.

The induction programme will enhance teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge and their skills in the subjects of English, mathematics and science.

The programme is being enforced through an intensive blended learning model in accordance with the 21st century teaching methodology.

Published in Dawn, April 4th, 2019