ISLAMABAD, May 4: Performance-based audit of teachers is being introduced to maintain transparency and accountability in the education system, sources in the education ministry told this reporter.

As part of this new audit system, they said, suitable rewards and accountability schemes were being introduced at the national level. They said one of the key strategies of the education sector reforms was sector-wide reforms based on efficiency and equity.

The ministry, they said, planned to bring about improvement in the quality of education through better teachers, reformed curriculum and efficient examination system. The delivery of quality education at all levels is essential for improving the quality of social capital, they added.

This, they stated, would be achieved through a comprehensive, logical and integrated approach.

“Under the new scheme, expertise, transparency and honesty in planning and implementation would be rewarded,” they added.

Other initiatives that would accompany this programme include providing access to improved teacher-training programmes, curriculum reforms, multiple textbooks and other innovative projects, the sources said.

Examination boards, they disclosed, were being strengthened to conduct quality audit for recognized standards, and value of certification would be regularized for global equivalence.

Referring to the monitoring of private schools and colleges, they said, professional private sector groups would conduct private sector regulation and monitoring.

Most of the teachers enter this profession without any prior training. There are presently four provincial institutes for teacher education, nine colleges for education, 74 colleges for elementary education, 11 institutes for education and research/department of education in universities and 10 private sector teacher-training institutions. — Zahra Syed