Teachers trained to deal with issues related to militancy

120 teachers participate in four-day training.

SWAT:

A total of 120 teachers were trained to deal with militancy-related issues over a four-day period in Swat.

Zohra, a female teacher, said, “We have learnt a lot from this training, the teaching approaches are new for us. Especially the lesson plan taught here is very simple and easy.”

She recalled the Taliban rule, when first they were threatened from going to schools. Then the Taliban started living in the school building, before blowing it up on May 29, 2009.

Nighat Seema, a teacher of Government High School Kwarey, Matta, said, “Though there is peace now and we can move to schools freely, all us teachers need refresher courses as militancy has badly curbed our mental ability.”

Shahnaz, another teacher who was actively involved in the training, told The Express Tribune, “We were taught some very useful modern techniques. The modern approaches and teaching methodologies taught to us here are complete opposite of conventional teaching. We will handle the militancy-affected children easily now.”

District EDO Education Sultan Mahmood, said, “The training to our teachers in this environment is really a positive step for their development. It is the responsibility of the teachers now to implement the same methodologies which they learnt here, in the class.”

The training was organised by the Sarhad Rural Support Programme (SRSP) with funding from Department For International Development DFID UK.

The SRSP is also installing 40 schools of pre-fabricated structure.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 27^th, 2011.