RECORDER REPORT

PESHAWAR: KP government has decided to not limit recruitment of teachers to only those with professional teaching degrees, and widen its pool to include all academic degrees.

The decision was taken during a meeting chaired by Provincial Education Secretary Dr Shahzad Khan Bangesh at the Elementary and Secondary Education Department (ESED), here on Tuesday.

The meeting was told that the decision will particularly result in increasing teaching quality at the primary education level, as well as bring in more competitiveness to the recruitment process for teachers. Now, it was said that subject matter experts will also be able to compete for teaching position, this policy change is set to result in long-term benefits for the province.

Given the earlier policy of recruiting teachers with only a bachelor’s or master’s degree in education, the meeting said that many schools remained understaffed, especially in rural districts of KP. The meeting also observed the old recruitment practices was another reason of that.

The participants said there was a tendency to leave out more qualified candidates and thereby adversely affect student enrolment.

“Our priority is the children of KP and we are answerable to the future generations,” said Dr Shahzad Khan Bangesh, while addressing at the meeting.

He said to ensure that each teacher is well-equipped with the right pedagogical skills, both in terms of classroom management and content, the department will have mandatory induction training for them.