RAWALPINDI, April 26: The prevailing teaching standard in the country is not up to the mark, adversely affecting education being imparted in schools and colleges, Punjab governor Lt-Gen Khalid Maqbool (retired) said on Saturday.

Speaking at the third convocation of Fatima Jinnah Women University (FJWU), the governor said improvement in the quality of teachers could not be possible without giving them respect, better pay structures and whatsoever else they deserved.

Besides, he said there was a need to concentrate on faculty training programmes.

“We do not have recognizable pre-service training and refresher module for our young teachers either,” he added.

About the issue of financing education, he said the government would have to provide funds to the education sector. He was of the view that those who could afford should pay for the cost of their education. He called for striking a balance between government financing and self-financing for better management of resources in the education sector.

The governor called for improving the examination system in education institutions. Schools and colleges should, instead of checking the memory and cramming potential of the students, test their learning capabilities and spirit of inquiry.

Gen Maqbool said educational institutions should work for improving earning capabilities of the students. The more the demand of the students of any institution in the job market, the more would it be successful, he said.

He said the ultimate objective of an educational institution should be to produce creative and independent individuals, competent enough to take decisions themselves and chart out the course of their life.

Mentioning government’s experiences in the education sector, he said despite certain successes in primary, secondary and higher education, on the whole it had not been a complete success.

“There are still grey areas like high dropout rate, absenteeism, lack of quality assurance, lack of motivation and atimes lack of vision that had obstructed our efforts,” he said.

Speaking on the occasion, Vice-Chancellor Dr Najma Najam said the university planned to start undergraduate programmes in English, economics, environmental sciences, fine arts and education from September this year. She said postgraduate programme in Gender and Development Studies was also expected to be launched from September.

She mentioned the transport problems being confronted by her students and asked the governor to direct the local administration to readjust transport routes to suit the students.

About 450 students were conferred postgraduate degrees in the disciplines of behavioural sciences, business administration, communication sciences, computer sciences, defence and diplomatic studies, economics, education, English, environmental sciences, fine arts, Islamic studies and public administration.

Speaking to reporters after the convocation, the Punjab governor said political parties ought to realize that political issues were not all too important for the people.

He said people were more interested in seeing their leaders address the real problems, which were unemployment, poverty, illiteracy and paucity of resources for development.

He urged politicians to strive for bringing about a meaningful change in the lives of people rather than indulging in futile debates. He said political debates like the current one on Legal Framework Order (LFO) was not a new phenomenon and had rather taken place after change of all governments in the country, whether it be Ziaul Haq’s government or that of Bhutto. “Things would soon settle down,” he added.