Training the trainers

Sindh needs a result-oriented training system using technology

Farid Hanfi, Pakistan’s leading curriculum specialist and academic consultant, talks to Bol News in his exclusive interview with Bolnews

Having been associated with the education sector for over 2 decades, Farid Hanfi, the founder and director of the National Institute for Educational Support and Training, is one of the leading curriculum specialists and academic consultants in Pakistan. Being a master trainer in the field of primary and secondary education, Farid Hanfi is associated with the Sindh Leadership Schools as its board member and has also served various national and international organisations, both in the public and corporate sectors.

He has developed several books for early childhood education and primary education for various research-based publications such as Tiflee Education and many others. He has conducted over one thousand education workshops and trained more than 30,000 schoolteachers across Pakistan. Farid Hanfi has also been associated with the US Consulate Karachi and has taught and coached trainers for the Government of Pakistan, the National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

What is the primary reason behind the falling standards of education, particularly in the Sindh province?

There is a litany of reasons for the rapidly declining education standards in Sindh. Among the leading contributing factors, the Government of Sindh must be blamed first for its absolute apathy and sheer lack of concern towards the education sector. First and foremost, the provincial government apparatus, plagued by a feudal mindset, applies itself to defy any possibility of forming a truly educated and learned society in Sindh, chiefly because of a latent fear of being rejected and disapproved by enlightened voter participation.

Comparatively speaking, the state of education in the rest of the provinces is not that grim and we can see them faring much better than Sindh. In Gilgit–Baltistan, for instance, both primary and secondary schools adhere to high educational standards and so do educational institutions operating in the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In terms of schooling and teaching standards, even Balochistan is a whole lot better than Sindh, mainly on account of the smooth functioning of their educational facilities unencumbered by any political pressure or bureaucratic hindrances which may preclude the region from aiming for high education standards.

Among the other chief reasons behind the poor state of education in Sindh are, but not excluded to, teachers’ appointments based on their political affinities and ethnic backdrop in place of open merit, no proper training of teachers or any monitoring system in place and poor curriculum standards as well as more emphasis paid to constructing and revamping school buildings than improving an exceedingly battered education system.

As things currently stand, there are about 3,036 schools run under the supervision of the provincial government, however, it has yet to establish a single training department for teaching staff serving these schools across Sindh. The Sindh government has no plan whatsoever to execute an early childhood education programme despite its huge significance for children’s overall academic growth and development.

And to make matters worse, the primary and secondary level students in Sindh, both in public and private schools, are below average in their academic performance owing to substandard education.

What measures should be taken to improve the quality of teachers and student learning outcomes eventually?

To upgrade teachers’ skills, qualifications and pedagogical competencies, we drastically need a proper, sustainable and result-oriented training system in place along with modern teaching methods and technological tools. Schoolteachers must be capable of using the latest technology and utilising modern educational equipment and applications in the classroom through machine-assisted demonstrations and multimedia presentations.

How do you compare the quality of teaching in public schools with private ones?

Speaking from a personal perspective, teachers in private schools are way better than their public counterparts. I have seen a proper mechanism for teachers’ training and professional development functioning in some private schools, making the most of advanced training workshops and competency-based curricula to impart skill-based education. However, it does not imply the fact that the rest of the private schools in Sindh are also providing quality education, since most private institutions are mercenary from the word go and are more focused on revenue generation without delivering anything in return.

What is the role of the Sindh Teachers Education Development Authority?

On the face of it, the role of the Sindh Teachers Education Development Authority is primary and of huge significance. However, similar to the rest of the departments operating under the provincial directorates, the good-for-nothing Teachers Education Development Authority fits poorly in its assigned role, playing almost no part in the training and professional development of schoolteachers.

Has the authority been able to execute any results-driven changes in the quality of schoolteachers in Sindh?

I don’t think so. If it had done anything concrete, things would have been quite different today. The same goes for the Sindh Government Teacher Training Institutions, another provincial organisation which has not been able to perform a noteworthy role in the capacity building of schoolteachers. These provincial entities are supposed to regularly organize training workshops, refresher courses, short courses and advanced courses for teachers and school administration, but in practice, they are doing nothing in this regard and are only good at documentation and setting standards.

What about the Sindh Education Foundation (SEF)?

Ruled by nepotism and favouritism on ethnic lines, the Sindh Education Foundation (SEF) is another white elephant out of many which have no contribution to the basic task they are assigned, other than employing people without merit in almost all ranks and positions – from regular staff to director level employee – just because of their ethnic and lingual affiliations. When Professor Anita Ghulam Ali was heading the Sindh Education Foundation, I once happened to visit her office near Boat Basin, Clifton, and found her sincere with education but with limited vision. We planned to launch some literacy centres in collaboration with the SEF and for that purpose, we even visited Mubarak Village to evaluate the location available. However, all our efforts went in vain and no literacy centre was established with the help of the SEF.

There is another interesting experience I have had with them. When I was heading the Karachi chapter of the Literate Pakistan Foundation, I was invited by the SEF to conduct a teachers’ training workshop in their vocational centre near Maripur, for which a date, duration and time were mutually agreed upon. However, when I reached the SEF office on that day at about 8:30 a.m., I was surprised to see that they had forgotten about the training workshop and were even surprised to see them arriving there to conduct the workshop. This says a lot about the way the cookies crumble at the Sindh Education Foundation.

What problems and hindrances do the teachers’ trainers face?

In most cases, teachers are unwilling to attend any training workshop organised by their school administration, especially in private schools. An old dog learns no tricks, as goes the proverb and rightly so because one cannot teach those people who have any desire to learn, a harsh reality that often comes with being a teacher’s trainer. Also, it is more than a formidable task to travel and teach, especially in those rural areas without electricity, which is often the case across Sindh. Organising and conducting training workshops in rural areas is also not easy since most teachers in those areas do not welcome trainers speaking the Urdu language or coming from urban areas. In this connection, I and my colleagues have had so many unpleasant experiences that I cannot even recall numbers. Poor accommodation is another great concern as I myself had to spend many a night in the basement of a mosque with no electricity amidst the sound of crickets and hordes of mosquitoes with darkness surrounding all over the place.

Why do the Sindh Education Department compromise on the selection criteria for the appointment of schoolteachers?

Just because of politics and nothing else. Above all, the infamous quota system must be blamed for the ongoing disaster as hundreds and thousands of competent teachers, who can raise the educational standards, are being exploited in private schools, day in and day out.

How qualified and devoted teachers can be encouraged to join government schools?

As mentioned earlier, removing the quota system may help encourage professionally qualified teachers to join government schools.

How much increase in the education budget is required to bring meaningful changes in the education sector?

The education budget should be more than the budget allocated for health both on the provincial and federal levels. Since quality education raises people’s overall ability and productivity, improves creative thinking competencies and innovation as well as boosts the entire socio-economic growth and development, it must be given priority over other sectors.