FDE teachers are angry upon Directorate’s pressure to register for irrelevant online courses

Teachers of different educational institutions in federal capital have expressed dissatisfaction and annoyance over direction from the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) to enroll themselves in the irrelevant and useless online certification program

FDE teachers are angry upon Directorate’s pressure to register for irrelevant online courses : Teachers of different educational institutions in federal capital have expressed dissatisfaction and annoyance over direction from the Federal Directorate of education (FDE) to enroll themselves in the irrelevant and useless online certification program.

According to an official source, FDE has asked all the teachers to enroll themselves in a mandatory online certification program designed by American board for Certification of Teacher Excellence (ABCTE) which is meant to somehow cater the needs of only secondary school teachers.

While the ABCTE does not offer courses in those subjects which are taught in Degree and Postgraduate Colleges of Islamabad like Arabic, urdu, Persian, Islamic Studies, Home Economics, Computer Science, Statistics, Economics, Political Science, Fine Arts, Pakistan Studies, Psychology, Civics, and Sociology etc.

Under the directions of FDE, college teachers have to choose two subject courses and one General course for training while there are no subject courses available for a large number of college teachers.

Moreover, ABCTE offers training in only eight subjects i.e. Elementary Education, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Mathematics, History, Science and English and the contents of the courses of these eight subjects are too generic and too basic which mostly of matriculation level while lecturers and Professors of colleges teach MA/M.Sc, BS, ADP and FA/F.Sc level classes, the source said.

Mehdi Hussain Assistant Professor of a Postgraduate College said, “I am teaching Psychology to the students of Bachelor and Intermediate classes. I could not find any course available with ABCTE which is related to my subject. Getting enrolled myself in the subject of Physics or Chemistry is, unfortunately, worthless.

Putting efforts and spending precious time into a useless activity is disappointing. “It is a waste of time”. This will not actually improve my teaching skills, he added.

A PhD Professor of Postgraduate College in the subject of Islamic Studies said, “I have been asked to get registration in two subject courses and one general course.

As my subject is missing in the list of offered subjects of ABCTE so I cannot choose any course in my subject. Moreover choosing any general course is irrelevant to my field of teaching. The relevant courses, provide value, and are irreplaceable but getting courses in any other subject is devastating. No teacher wants to attend irrelevant or unimportant courses”.

Ayesha, a female teacher of a College said, “I am a teacher of Physics and enrolled in a course of Physics but unfortunately it is very basic and cannot upgrade my knowledge to teach the higher classes. I am doing it because I am compelled to do it.” On the other hand among all the eight available courses, three are relatively relevant to primary sections but the teachers of junior sections of Model colleges are busy in taking online classes from Class-I to Class-V amid Covid19 pandemic. They cannot spare time to attend online courses.

A female teacher of junior section of Islamabad Model College for Girls I-8/4 said, ” it is not a right time to get enrolled in online courses as we are busy in online teaching activity. We, the teacher have generated whatsapp groups of various junior classes and spend half a day in teaching the kids and their mothers. Spending remaining half of the day in online courses is not something that teachers appreciate.

She termed this decision of FDE as an unplanned and unwise move.

An Associate Professor of a female college said, “Actually educationists are ignored while making any policy and programs. Effective policies and programs can have significant, positive impacts on the institution’s bottom line but poor decisions can be extremely counterproductive. This online program serves only secondary school teachers, not fulfill the requirements of College teachers or Primary teachers.

FDE should look into the matter and formulate effective training programs. There should be separate online programs for College teachers and Primary teachers,she added.

Originally Published at Urdupoint