Karachi: Sindh has become the first province in Pakistan to introduce a licencing regime for schoolteachers as a compulsory professional qualification for them to excel in the field of education.
The latest meeting of the Sindh cabinet approved the policy of launching licencing system that will be initially introduced for 700 newly recruited teachers of the government-run schools who after obtaining the license will get the grade-16 teaching post.
Sindh Education Minister, Syed Sardar Ali Shah, informed media persons that a prospective schoolteacher had to pass an examination for getting a teaching licence that would remain valid for five years.
He said that there would be separate licences for teaching at the primary, elementary, and secondary classes of the school. He said the newly recruited schoolteachers should possess the licence for their further promotion in the teaching service and get other service-related privileges.
He told journalists that the Sindh Teachers’ Education Development Authority worked in partnership with the Institute for Educational Development of Aga Khan University and the non-profit organisation of the education sector, Durbeen, for adopting the licencing system for teachers.
Shah said the licencing regime in addition to meritorious recruitment of teachers and their constant learning and training systems would go a long way in improving the standard of the government-run schools.
He said that children spent a sizable portion of the day with the teachers at school, so qualified educators would contribute a lot to the overall development of the personality of students for making them productive members of society.
He urged other provinces to follow the example of Sindh and introduce a similar licencing system for the schoolteachers in their respective domains.
Shah said that in the next stage, the licencing regime would also be imposed for the teachers serving at the private schools.
He informed media persons that a recent teachers’ recruitment drive conducted by the Sindh government had helped it reopen over 5,000 non-functional schools and enrol around 400,000 out-of-school children in the province.
Also speaking on the occasion, noted singer and social activist, Shehzad Roy, said that it was imperative to improve the standard of government schools for resolving the issue of illiteracy in the country.
