Higher education: English teaching degree not thought fit for teachers

Students worried about jobs after Punjab Public Service Commission rejects MA ELTL qualifications for lecturers.

LAHORE: Students and recent graduates with MA English language teaching and linguistics (ELTL) degrees have voiced concern about their job prospects after the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) confirmed that it could not hire them as college lecturers.

Several students told The Express Tribune that when they had applied for the post of English lecturer in BPS-17, a position available to people with MA English literature degrees, they were told that they were not eligible to apply. Their MA degree, in language teaching, was not considered equivalent to an MA degree in English literature, for the purpose of teaching language.

None of the institutions and departments concerned – the PPSC, Higher Education Department, and the Punjab University, which churns out the most ELTL graduates – accepted responsibility for the situation.

Zahid Hussain, PPSC deputy secretary, told The Express Tribune that the MA ELTL degree had not been approved by a Qualification Equivalence Committee (QEC). He said once the Higher Education Commission (HEC) recognised a degree, it had to be approved by the QEC of the department concerned.

He said that the QEC was supposed to be chaired by the secretary of the department concerned (in this case the Higher Education Department), a member of the PPSC, a representative of the HEC, a representative of the regulation wing, and a representative from the institution concerned.

Officials in the Higher Education Department said that the institutions offering MA ELTL degrees should approach the department to initiate the QEC process.

PU Dean of Education Hafiz Muhammad Iqbal said that he was surprised that so many MA ELTL students were applying to be lecturers.

He said that he had discussed the status of the degree with the secretary of the School Education Department, Cap (r) Zahid Saeed, in 2006.

“I pressed upon the secretary the need for MA ELTL graduates  to be hired for the teaching of the English language in schools and he agreed,” Iqbal said. He added that he would now take up the issue with the Higher Education Department to get the ELTL degree recognised as equivalent to MA English literature.

Punjab University started its MA ELTL programme in 2004 and it was recognised by the Higher Education Commission, Iqbal said. He said that ELTL students study the modern form of the English language.

Each year, around 100 students graduate with MA ELTL degrees from the Punjab University Institute of Education and Research, and dozens from the University of Management and Technology and from the National University of Modern Languages.

Muhammad Shahid, who got his MA ELTL in 2006, teaches English at a private school. “I have applied to be an English lecturer in the PPSC several times but been refused. I remember asking one of my teachers about this but he paid not attention,” he said.

Muhammad Asif, an English lecturer at a public college who has an MA literature degree, agreed that it was unfair that his colleagues with degrees in English language teaching were not considered equivalent. “It is an injustice and one the government should resolve as soon as possible,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 3^rd, 2011.