World donors show satisfaction on DSD teachers training project
Staff Report

ISLAMABAD—The world donors including World Bank, UNICEF, CIDA and DFID have expressed their satisfaction over the ongoing project of teachers training being conducted by the Directorate of Staff Development.
Representatives of these donors were attending a high-level briefing session held at the Development of Staff Directorate (DSD) on Tuesday (Dec. 5) with Dr. Rukhsana Zia, Director Programmes, DSD, in the chair. She briefed the participants about the DSD Action Plan 2007-09 to train 64,000 teachers along with introducing education reforms in Punjab. She also said that DSD in the first stage has imparted training to Lead Teacher Educators (LTEs) of 12 districts of Punjab. These LTEs have now started giving training to District Teacher Educators of their respective areas including Attock, Okara, Faisalabad, Gujrat, Kasur, Muzaffargargh, Mianwali, Mandi Bahauddin, Rahim Yar Khan, Rajanpur, Sargodha and Sheikhupura.
The DSD Director also said that in the continued process, a three-day refresher course for LTEs of these districts would conclude on December 6. These LTEs would impart training to 891 DTEs of their respective areas from December 7 to 20 by conducting training sessions. While in the final stage, the DTEs after their appointment at the Cluster Training & Support Centers, would impart modern professional training to 64,000 primary teachers of these 12 districts. The training process would continue for six days, Dr. Rukhsana Zia informed the session. On the occasion, Dr. Rukhsana also discussed with the representatives of these donors the potential of their assistance required at all levels to take forward the teachers training project launched in the province to reform the education sector on modern lines.
The participants of the session evaluated the performance of the DSD and said that the projects was going on the right direction and has potential yield positive results in a due course of time. Representatives, who attended the briefing, included World Bank Senior Social Sector Specialist Ms Tehsin Sayed, Ms Nilofar from Canadian High Commission, Dr. Fayyaz Shah from Canadian International Development Agency, Ms Shahida Khattak from GTZ, Mr. Steve from DFID, Head of South Asian Region, UNICEF, Ms Francis, Education Section Chief, UNECIF, UNICEF Punjab Chief Deepak Acharia, University of Education Vice Chancellor Dr. Munawwar Mirza, Director SAHE Dr. Fareeha Zafar.