Naseebullah Khan
Like many other sectors of secondary education in Balochistan, the issues in teaching have been providing fuel to the already dwindling situation of schooling in the province. On one side, if the teachers have been facing problems of the pay scale, non-inclusion in policy matters, and dearth of service structure___ on the flip side, they have failed to provide qualitative learning, adopt effective teaching methods in classrooms, having lack of qualification, poor working conditions, incapability of the PITE on the part of providing in__service training to teachers, absenteeism of the teachers and bad governance.
A major issue of the teachers has been the lack of capability of the teachers. The majority of the teachers have a paucity of context knowledge where owing to which, a teacher specialized in a field, and teaches other subjects. That further creates a context knowledge gap which affects the educational growth, ability, and learning of the students. The situation becomes more gloomy in private schools except for some institutions where a teacher teaches many subjects. For instance, a science teacher at a time teaches physics, chemistry, biology, and even mathematics. The shortage of subject specialists has been a huge obstacle in the learning process.
The students of Balochistan lack of development of critical analytical development owing to the curriculum as well as putrid teaching methods of teachers. The outdated learning designs are still prevalent in secondary schooling. The mentors focus on rote learning yet and do not prepare students to analyze topics and encourage them to use how and why types of questions. This situation further leads to the endemic of cheating in the students.
Another issue for teachers in Balochistan is pre-service training which the teachers have been deprived of. This is due to the
Weak capacity of the PITE which is the responsible department for teacher’s training. The government of Balochistan’s education sector plan 2020-25 accepts that any of the individuals posted in PITE are working teachers and have not been selected based on any filtration process. In 2014, along with other organizations, a capacity development plan was prepared for PITE also. It has not been implemented. I personally know numerous teachers who have been appointed for a decade but they have not been provided in-service training yet. How can a teacher without training be equipped with new developments? In addition, teachers in the province do not have any inclination towards training too as a matter of fact it is not linked with their career and future promotions.
Another impediment in schooling that is related to teachers’ performance is the non-Inclusion of teachers in the decision-making process during policy formation. They have not been asked in textbooks about preparations, examinations procedure, school conditions, and critical areas that have direct bearings on them. This non__ inclusion further stops improvements of systems alongside the morale and performance of mentors.
How can a positive outcome in schooling be possible when teachers have indulged in acute absenteeism? Balochistan education sector plan 2020_25 admits that despite some work on monitoring, about 20% of teachers, s absenteeism continues. This acceptance on the part of the government reflects how bad governance has engulfed this sector. The sorry state of affairs does not stop with absenteeism only. It is common in schools where alternate teachers have been doing the teaching jobs of real teachers.
Teachers’ qualifications and effectiveness are more obstacles that have been hampering the system. Not to talk of private school teachers where the majority of teachers have just passed their Matriculum. The scenario in the government is dismal too.
In such a scenario, the performance and effectiveness of the teachers suffer that further negatively devastating the growth of the students. Technically, effectiveness and performance do not mean merely their availability in the classrooms or completion of courses rather learning outcomes of the students must be concerned.
Poor working conditions in schools affect schooling. A teacher has to battle many physical as well as psychological problems. According to the EMIS 2016_17 report, Shalterless Schools in the province are 14 percent, whereas Electricity is available in only 20.6 percent, boundary walls are available in 43.2 percent of schools, and 71 percent of Schools are without Toilet facilities. The ex_secretary of the Secondary education department. Mr. Naeem Bazai said that despite repeated announcements, still, 11,795 schools are without drinking water facilities, 7,998 are without boundary walls, 1942 are without buildings, and 12,258 have no power supply. More than 50% have a single teacher. In this piteous situation how learning outcomes could be possible and how a teacher can deliver performance?
Lack of opportunities has also led to the nonseriousness of teachers. Currently, there is no performance rewarding mechanism and promotional structures or professional progress where teachers can expect that their ability is being recognized and utilized. Such kind of situation has further resulted in a dearth of motivation among teachers. In addition, teachers in the province have been facing a huge issue of future insecurity in the shape of the pay scale and promotional progress. At current, there is no promotional mechanism an SST who is appointed by the public service commission of Balochistan remains an SST after serving 25 years and retires on the same scale. This kind of inequality leads to their bad performance.
Teachers are the jugular vein of the schooling system upon which the very fundamentals of the system depend. Regrettably, the teachers in the secondary education system are short of international standards in terms of quality education, learning designs, qualifications, their participation in policy matters and feedback, dearth of their in-service training and paucity of provision of facilities to the teachers, their low pay scale, no service structure and uncertainty of their future. There is a need if complete revamping of matters related to teachers for which the provincial government must show saneness and the education sector plan of 2020_25 could be decisively provided that it is implemented with true spirit.
