83,000 primary teachers to be trained in English

BOOST FOR EDUCATION: 480 would become master trainers

PESHAWAR: The elementary and secondary education department has planned to train 83,000 primary school teachers to use English as the medium of instruction.

The relevant officials said on Wednesday that scores of primary schoolteachers had been struggling to do duty since the medium of instruction was changed from Urdu to English two years ago. They said the training would cost Rs 568.4 million.

The officials said of the total cost, Rs 398.4 million would be provided by the education department and the rest by the British Council.

They said the training would be imparted in different phases spanning three years. The officials said teachers would be trained for grade 3 in the ongoing financial year and for grade 4 and grade 5 in the next two years.

They said the education department had already provided names of 1500 teachers most of them with English Literature degree to the British Council for training.

The officials said the British Council would select 480 from among them through written test and interview.

They said the selected 480 teachers would go through the extensive 70 days training to become master trainers.

The officials said master trainers would train teachers at district level and that the selected master trainers would be tested after the training and would be graded and certified by the British Council.

A memorandum of understanding was signed between the British Council Pakistan and E and SE department in this respect here on Wednesday.

E and SE secretary Dr Shahzad Bangash and country director of the British Council Jim Booth signed the MoU. Education minister Mohammad Atif Khan, E and SE officials including director Rafique Khattak and special secretary Qaisar Alam were also in attendance, British Council director (English) Pakistan Arzu Daniel and head of English Pakistan Bilal Ahmad also attended the ceremony.

On the occasion, the minister said those training programmes should be highly professional and teachers should receive certification, according to the statement. He said the programme would bring value addition to the teaching skills of teachers in the province.

“We hope that British Council will continue such projects in the future,” he said. Meanwhile, a senior official in education department said that the need for the training of teachers to use English as medium of instruction was felt when the PTI-led provincial government changed the medium of instruction two years ago.

He said many among the current primary teachers couldn’t teach to their students using English as medium of instruction. The official said imparting English training was a good initiative of the government but despite that thousands of teachers appointed in 1990s would not enable them to use English as medium of instruction for having only matriculation qualification. ISLAMABAD:: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) would start campaign to include the names of new Computerised National Identity Card (CNIC) holders in Electoral Rolls from August 1st across the country.

During the campaign, voters who have become disqualified (deaths/ cancelled CNICs) will also be excluded from the rolls after their door-to-door verification process, said spokesman of the Commission.

According to him, door-to-door verification shall be carried out from August 1st to August 15, 2016 which shall be followed by 21 days of display process starting from August, 21, he said.

For the said purpose verifying officials shall visit the permanent addresses of the new CNIC holders for their verification, the spokesman added.

Simultaneously, door-to-door verification of all the deceased voters shall also be carried out for deletion of said voters. After door-to-door verification the said lists shall be displayed at designated display centres, offices of District Election Commissioners, Registration Officers and Assistant Registration Officers for public inspection, he added.

List of display centres with contact details shall be shared with media and published of ECP’s official website soon.

A mass media campaign has been planned for the event where general public. — Internews