K-P drops education degree, certificate requirements for schoolteachers

Officials say move in line with national policies, would expand recruitment pool

PESHAWAR: In a surprising move, the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government has decided to eliminate a requirement for professional certifications or relevant degrees when recruiting school teachers in the province.

The decision came in the wake of a recent Inter-Provincial Education Ministers Conference (IPEMC).

According to the new rules, primary and secondary school teachers hired in K-P would no longer be required to have completed a Bachelors of Education (BEd), or a Master of Education (MEd) degree along with a Practising Teacher Criteria (PTC) certificate.



The new rules were determined by senior officials of the K-P Finance Department, Establishment Department and Education Department who met at the K-P Education Department on Monday.

Even though the government has decided to do away with the educational qualifications, new teachers would be required to undergo a six-month-long teachers’ training programme.

K-P Elementary and Secondary Education Secretary Dr Shehzad Bangash, in a statement released on Monday, said that the new rules were in line with the National Education Policy 2009 and the National Qualification Framework 2015.



“Under the new policy, the minimum requirement for primary school teachers would now be a 14-year-bachelor’s degree, while it previously used to be FA, FSC,” he said, noting that this way the provincial government was, in fact, extending teaching opportunities to those who are graduates but not in education.

He confirmed that the decision had been taken just before the department goes on to hire 15,000 new teachers for schools across the province.

Dr Bangash added that new education programmes would be delivered through a specially designed mobile phone application and tablet computers.



Meanwhile, K-P Elementary and Secondary Education Advisor Najiullah Khattak told The Express Tribune that a large number of talented people in the province could not be employed in the department since they did not have the requisite PTC certificates or education degrees.

Moreover, he said that a number of private institutions were engaged in profiteering by offering people professional certificates at steep prices.

Khattak contended that even though these private institutions charge heavy fees, the training or courses they offer do not enhance the capacity of teachers.

When asked what would those completing their BEd and MEd courses, the education advisor said that the degrees, obtained from government-certified institution would not be ‘wasted’ since those completing the degrees may be exempted from the mandatory training.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 25^th, 2017.