Tall tales: Govt claims to have trained over 66,000 teachers

Opposition leader challenged these figures, says govt lacks capacity to execute plan

PESHAWAR: Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Elementary and Secondary Education Board has said 66,905 teachers have been trained in different subjects since 2013 and the government is committed towards training another 83,000 teachers over the next three years.

These details were shared on social media by Minister for Elementary and Secondary Education Muhammad Atif Khan on July 31.

False claims

PML-N MPA Amina Sardar criticised the figures shared, saying PTI members only use social media for their self-advertisement. She said so far the minister has not shared these figures on the assembly floor or any other forum that might question their veracity.

She insisted the data was false data. “The government has no capacity to train teachers,” she said. Sardar added teachers in government schools are still incompetent at their jobs and do not understand the new courses designed by this government.

“The government has converted schools to the English-medium format but the teachers lack the capacity to teach mathematics or other subjects in English,” Sardar added. However, All Primary Teachers Association Peshawar President Azizullah Khan said, “The government did arrange a three-day training for teachers two years ago but that is not a reasonable solution for the issue.”

He said the new d curriculum for government schools is particularly tough and it is difficult for old teachers to handle it.

“During trainings sessions, teachers were made aware about new methods of teaching,” he said. “However, old teachers need to understand the new English curriculum.”

Azizullah maintained that two or three days of training would never enhance the capacity of teachers. He suggested that a month-long extensive training campaign should be launched to improve their English.

Dissenting view

Centre for Governance and Public Accountability Programme Manager Malik Masood said training can provide teachers some basic classroom tools but it hardly improves their academic command on a subject, which is a big hurdle in the education sector as old teachers have to teach new syllabus. Khalid Shah, deputy director of the elementary and secondary education wing for teachers, said they have trained teachers under various programmes.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 2^nd, 2016.