Model school empowers creativity

Education ministry launches multiple initiatives to nurture skills among students

ISLAMABAD:

In several initiatives taken by the Ministry of Education, a pot painting workshop was held at Model School, Sector G-9/3, Islamabad to enhance the female students’ creative skills.

The workshop is part of a series of creative skill sessions, which will become a regular feature at the school. The workshops cover sessions in furniture painting, mirror painting, calligraphy, candle making, and many other skills which can empower young girls to begin their self-made journey.

Special measures are also underway to implement extracurricular activities in schools. Yoga classes have already been introduced for both boys and girls. In this regard, school principal, Raqia Parveen, told The Express Tribune, “Apart from their academics, students also want to excel in sports.”

Digital training programme

On the other hand, the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training (MoFEPT) has partnered with the LUMS School of Education (SOE) to revolutionise teacher training by creating a cutting-edge, LUMS-approved digital teacher certification program.

Currently working and aspiring teachers will be able to access the certification digitally, taking a world-class online course and assessments developed with the support of LUMS SOE. In addition, teachers will also have access to animated content and assessments that can be shared with students to measure learning.

The whole process will be supervised and supported by faculty and staff from LUMS SOE. The renowned university will be collaborating with the digital education platform, Taleemabad, to create a national digital platform called the National Institute of Excellence in Teacher Education (NIETE), where the material for the training programme will be uploaded.

Teacher’s performance and in-class execution will be tracked before the certification is issued, ensuring that teachers move upward on certification levels only when in-class delivery and student performance have improved.

The programme has hired 55 ‘teacher-coaches’ who will work in a mission control centre which would support all teachers and students across the ICT district 24/7. Secretary MoFE&PT, Mohiyuddin Wani said, “I welcome the involvement of LUMS School of Education and Taleemabad. This is a huge step forward in opening the way for a scalable method to train existing teachers and induct new teachers to confront Pakistan’s upcoming teacher shortage. Eventually, we aim to make this program available to all provinces across Pakistan.”

Published in The Express Tribune, May 8^th, 2024.