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Teachers not being paid enough
National Education Policy Review Team has suggested enhancements in teachers'
salaries to attract seasoned professionals in the education sector.
The
team prepared a report on the state of education in Pakistan, in which it said
that the public sector had around 1 million teachers.
It said that almost
90 percent of the education budget is used for the payment of teachers' salaries
but that the salaries are still too low to attract the most talented
professionals, adding there is a global fall in teachers' salaries.
"The
inability of the system to attract or retain quality human resources in teaching
and the dearth of good teachers' training facilities are the major drawbacks,"
it said.
"Any system for hiring and retaining good teachers needs to
ensure their career growth, build their capacity and offer them a reasonable pay
structure. Pressure for access to education has increased the demand for
teachers," the report said.
It said the schoolteachers' salaries were
equal to those of clerics and college teachers' salaries to that of officers,
but that in both cases their career growth was slow and uncertain. The social
status of teachers has declined over the years and now educated youth,
especially men, are not attracted to the profession, said the report.
The
report said that the minimum qualification for schoolteachers was not up to the
mark and that this was worsening educational standards. It said the initial
qualification for primary teachers in most areas of the country was
matriculation plus a Primary Teaching Certificate (PTC), while for lower
secondary classes, it was an intermediate plus a Certificate of Teaching (CT),
and for secondary level teachers, it was an intermediate plus a Bachelors degree
in Education (BEd). It added that the qualification for higher secondary level
teachers depended on whether the classes were being held in a college or a
higher secondary school. It added that Punjab had raised the minimum
qualifications for a primary level teacher from PTC to BEd.
The report
said that government colleges of elementary training offered pre-service and
education colleges, and in-service teachers' training. The Allama Iqbal Open
University (AIOU) also holds BEd classes, considered to be a form of in-service
training, the report said, adding that the Department for Staff Development
arranged courses for teachers' in-service training in Punjab.
The report
said that in-service training facilities had not been modernised. It added that
a good training system should train teachers in for instance good pedagogical
skills, the ability to assess students and sensitivity to cultural nuances
etc.
The team also noted in its report that most training activities
depended on donors, so the training process was not continuous and
politicisation played a negative role in the quality of teaching. Teachers
unions, their appointments as returning officers during elections and their
tendency to remain absent for long periods are also negative factors in
education, said the report.
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| Education News | | Updated: 08 Feb, 2012 |
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