Thirty-two students from the Peshawar Regional Institute for Teacher Education (RITE Male) received Associate’s Degrees in Education (ADE), a modern teacher education programme developed with US support.
At the same time, 252 talented students enrolled in the ADE and Bachelor of Education (BEd) programmes in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA received US-funded merit-based scholarships worth Rs 5.14 million. The ceremony took place on Monday at the University of Peshawar, revealed a press release.
The ADE programme is one of the two teacher education programmes that were recently developed and introduced countrywide with support from the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
These two programmes – the two-year ADE programme and the four-year Bed programme – provide future teachers with an opportunity to learn modern teaching methods.
More than 2,600 students are currently enrolled in the two programmes. Almost 1,000 of these students are recipients of USAID scholarships designed to support these programmes.
USAID works with the federal and provincial governments, the Higher Education Commission, provincial departments of education, 15 universities, and 75 teacher colleges to help upgrade the education of future teachers as well as support ongoing training for specialists already working at schools.
“On behalf of the US government and the American people, I would like to thank the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the Higher Education Commission, and all our other partners for working so tirelessly to ensure that teachers in Pakistan have the very best training and qualifications,” said USAID education specialist Fazal Rabbi, addressing participants of the ceremony.
Qazi Asad, minister of higher education of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, thanked USAID for helping Pakistani colleges and universities adopt the ADE and BEd programmes.
Teachers play a central role in education, and the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has taken many bold steps to make progress in education in general and teacher education in particular.
Qazi Asad
