Ms Constance Jones, Cultural Attache, US Embassy and Mr Zaeem Chaudhry, Joint Educational advisor from Ministry Of Education and Dr. Haroona Jatoi Director General Academy of Education Planning & Management (AEPAM) along with all panelists present, distributed orientation kits and air tickets to the 20 successful participants who will be departing for a four weeks training program at the Plymouth State University , NH USA on June 28th. , 2008.
A day long Pre-departure Orientation Session was organized for 20 secondary level educators from FATA, NWFP, AJK, Punjab, ICT, and Sindh, on June 23rd at the Margalla Hotel, Islamabad. The Pakistan Education Leadership Institute (PELI) program is a summer professional development program developed in collaboration between Plymouth State University, USA and Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi and its School Improvement Network Pakistan. The program has been funded by the United States Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, Office of Citizen Exchange since 2004. ITA has been facilitating the Summer Institute since 2004 for subject specialist teachers, educational managers, researchers and administrators from Pakistan.
Altogether 100 secondary level teachers/educators from across all locations in Pakistan FATA and AJ&K have participated in this modest professional development program targeted at secondary level educators. The positive outcomes of the Institutes convinced the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational & Cultural Affairs, to extend the program with a new grant entitled “Active and responsible citizenship through education in cultural heritage preservation and environmental stewardship”. These areas of focus will be embedded in the subjects of language, science and environment which are extremely pertinent for the educational and democratic challenges faced by Pakistan at present The 2008 program entails both out of country training and in-country application of the skills learnt during the post training phase in Pakistan .
The speakers including Professor Hafiz Mohd. Iqbal, Chairman of IER Punjab University, Professor Zafar Iqbal Dean Education at AIOU and Professor Khurshid Talat principal Federal College of Education stressed the importance of cultural diversity and heritage for Pakistan as it enters into a new phase of people’s democracy in which students need to learn skills of active citizenship. The teachers are going to be the most critical change agents who will help students to value heritage, the layers of civilizations that the land of Pakistan is home too and the appreciate the value of cross cultural exchange across continents and countries. Mr. Zaeem Chaudhry, on behalf of the Ministry of Education thanked ITA for helping the Government of Pakistan to achieve its goals for quality education in these challenging times.
Baela Raza Jamil, Chairperson ITA acknowledged all panelists and successful candidates present as well as the PSU team led by Blake Allen for making this program successful. She highlighted Plymouth State University’s responsiveness in supporting alumni and partner institutions recommendations and policy/curriculum alignments for each summer institute. Baela acknowledged that without the partner institutions in Pakistan, their vision and commitment the impact of PELI would not have been so phenomenal, reaching out to 115,000 trainees through merely 65 alumni since 2004! This is a collective milestone.
Beena Raza Coordinator SINP and PELI thanked all the participants for their collaboration and commitment to Quality Education For All and becoming ambassadors of change and dynamic members of a movement of teachers without frontiers for Pakistan |
Ms Constance Jones
Cultural Attache,
US Embassy
Mr Zaeem Chaudhry
J. Educational advisor
Ministry of Education
Islamabad
Mr Talat Khursheed
Director
Federal Colleges of Education
Islamabad
Prof. Dr. Zafar Iqbal
Dean Education
Allama Iqbal Open University
Dr. Hafiz Muhammad Iqbal
Director
Institute of Education & Research
Punjab University
Lahore
Dr. Haroona Hashmi
Director General
AEPM, Ministry of Education
Ms Rashida Saleemi
Dy. Director
Training & Colleges,
Federal Directorate of Education
Islamabad
Ms. Rubina Tariq
Member Board of Trustees
ITA Pakistan
Baela Raza Jamil
Chairperson
Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi (ITA)
Project coordinator
Beena Raza and Saima Hasrat
Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi(ITA) |
