KARACHI:Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that when a person adopts the teaching profession, he/she has to take classes for at least the next 30 years – which means he/she has to prepare their students keeping in view their future and the future of the country.
“I am sure the lecturers who are being given offer orders today would take it their utmost responsibility to enhance the respect of their profession [teaching] by generating properly educated, well-behaved, and responsible youth.”
This he said on Monday while speaking at the Distribution of Offer Letters to the newly selected lecturers here at CM House. The program was organized by Minister of Education Syed Sardar Shah.
Mr. Shah said that it was an easy task to opt for the teaching profession, but it was quite difficult to come up with all its responsibilities as it was the profession of the prophets of Allah. He added that teaching is passion and a commitment to yourself, your student, and with society, and the country.
The CM said, “A great teacher takes a hand, opens a mind, and touches a heart,” and quoted a quote “Good teachers are costly, but bad teachers cost more,” and we are paying both.
The CM said that it was the heaviest commission (SPCS exam) in which over 100,000 candidates appeared for 1500 posts. After a lengthy process, the SPSC selected the 1500 best minds for the task to be given to them to prepare the future of the country. “Inshallah, these 1500 teachers selected through a competitive process would turn up in their classes in August (after summer vacation) and would demonstrate their teaching skills.
Murad Ali Shah said that on the directives of Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari the process of the recruitment of 50,000 teachers through a third party and the commission has been completed and now more than 1600 positions, teaching and non-teaching, being created to meet the requirement of teachers.
The chief minister said that on the recommendation of the Minister of Education Sardar Shah 1200 positions of M.Phil. and Ph.D. teachers have been sent to Sindh Public Service Commission for selection. He said that he was trying to strengthen and improve the education system by introducing modern teaching methods and recruiting qualified teachers so that the province and country could flourish. “It is education that enables you to compete in the world and Inshallah we will do,” he vowed.
Mr. Shah said that the education minister has told him that the attendance of the students and the teachers in colleges has been digitized. “We want the teachers to demonstrate professional teaching skills and the students to get them engaged in the learning process, this is why the attendance of the teachers and students is being emphasized,” he said.
The CM disclosed that 28 libraries in the colleges have been digitized and the number of digital libraries would reach 58 by the end of the current financial year. “This is a digital age, the college course, lectures, and books are available online, and with the establishment of digital libraries in colleges the students would be able to listen to the lectures being uploaded d in the system and use books they need and make notes,” he said.
Murad Ali Shah said that now his government with the help of Aga Khan and other leading educational institutions was launching a teacher licenses process to improve the quality of education.
Minister Education Syed Sardar Shah speaking on the occasion said that with the commitment of the chief minister and chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari the provincial government has appointed teachers purely on merit. He added that now well-educated teachers selected through a competitive process have been brought into our education system and it was producing results.
Sardar Shah said that the education department was focusing on teachers training to enhance their teaching capacity and skills. AS trend teachers would be able to teach properly, he said.
The education minister urged society to give ownership to the schools and colleges to run them in the larger interest of their children and their education. He urged the teachers not to hesitate to go to rural areas and vowed that from the next academic year he would ensure that every school has teachers.
Distribution of offer letters: The chief minister and minister of education distributed 100 offer letters to the male and female candidates who have qualified for the SPSC examination for lectureship. The offer letters were given to those candidates who have placed distinction in their commission exam/test.
The remaining 400 offer letters have already been dispatched to the candidates at their postal addresses. The program was attended by provincial ministers, secretaries of education – school and college sides, families of the newly selected lecturers, and leading educations. The chief minister and minister of education congratulated the newly selected lecturers and extended their good wishes for their careers.