The Government of Sindh is set to implement a sweeping Multilingual Education Policy aimed at standardising language instruction, a major initiative backed by the British Council that will involve the professional development of 30,000 teachers and 1,000 mentors across the province.
According to an official statement on Monday, the decision was formalised during a high-level meeting between Sindh Minister for Education, Syed Sardar Ali Shah, and a British Council delegation led by its Regional Director for South Asia, Helen Silvester. Senior officials from the School Education and Literacy Department, including Secretary Zahid Ali Abbasi, were also in attendance.
Minister Shah stated that the new policy will establish a uniform methodology for teaching languages as subjects. He articulated that this systematic approach will enable students from diverse linguistic backgrounds to acquire fundamental reading and writing skills while also fluently speaking their mother tongue.
Seeking technical assistance from the British Council, the Minister emphasised that effective language instruction is impossible without professional competence and proper training. He clarified that while curricula in English, Urdu, and Sindhi are already in place, the policy will systematically guide the training of children in the four core skills of Speaking, Listening, Reading, and Writing, helping them learn better and express themselves with confidence.
Central to the collaboration is the second phase of the English as a Subject for Teachers and Educators (EaSTE-II) programme. It was shared that work on its training module, which will benefit thousands of educators, is already underway following the programme”s official launch.
The Minister described the professional development of newly recruited teachers as a key government priority, adding that the EaSTE-II module will be a significant milestone in improving English teaching skills. The meeting also addressed Sindh’s Cluster Policy, under which 1,794 clusters have been formed that will be run through a multi-layer leadership model.
Further discussions were held on expanding the scope of Early Childhood Education and Foundational Learning. The British delegation confirmed that the teacher training module will include components for these crucial areas to help enhance students’ early learning abilities.
The British Council delegation praised the Sindh Government’s educational reforms and assured their full cooperation. They expressed optimism that upon the completion of the EaSTE-II programme, a visible improvement in teaching standards will be evident across Sindh.