Islamabad: Poor performance of students, especially in classes 3-5, as reflected in the recent annual exam results of Islamabad’s public schools and colleges, has sparked concerns among educators and parents, leading to criticism of the ineffective teacher training programme and flawed promotion policy.
According to teachers, the Taleemabad organisation conducted training sessions for elementary school educators throughout the last academic year. However, the sessions, led by inexperienced trainers, failed to provide meaningful support.
They complained that the trainers, mostly young individuals without formal education degrees, lacked the necessary understanding of child psychology, class management and real classroom dynamics.
“The training was more about operating mobile phone apps rather than practical teaching strategies,” said an educator from Islamabad Model College for Girls I-10/1.
She insisted that the trainers themselves were confused, and their lack of experience left teachers struggling with conflicting teaching methods—one based on digital modules and the other on traditional textbook learning.
Teachers also said that the mobile phone training burdened them unnecessarily as they had to manage mobile-based modules alongside their usual textbook-based teaching.
They added that the dichotomy resulted in confusion and inefficiency throughout the academic year.
“The training was inconsistent and boring,” said a teacher from IMCG, G-10/2.
She said the exercise failed to equip teachers with practical skills and instead caused disparities in the quality of education, ultimately affecting student performance.
In addition to the ineffective training, the regulator FDE’s promotion policy was another major factor contributing to the poor results, according to educators.
Under the policy, marks from two bimonthly exams and a midterm exam were included in the final assessment.
If a student missed these exams due to illness or any other reason, their annual result was negatively impacted, leading to an unfair number of failures.
“Many students who had passed their annual exams were later declared failed due to this flawed policy,” a teacher said. Parents, too, have expressed dissatisfaction. Ayesha Khan, a parent of a third-grade student, said children should not be treated like experimental subjects.
“Teachers remained confused the whole year, which negatively impacted my son’s learning, and he got low marks. The authorities should strengthen textbook-based learning and practical classroom teaching instead of relying on mobile phone modules,” she said.
Similarly, Fahad Ahmad was upset at his child being declared “failed” despite passing all annual papers.
“It’s simply ridiculous that his son failed even after passing his final exams. When I approached the headmistress, she argued that my son didn’t take the bimonthly exams. I told her we were out of town for a family event, but she insisted that FDE policy does not allow exceptions,” he said.
Shagufta, a mother of three, said the whole academic year, she had to teach her children at home after school hours.
“My son failed despite his best efforts, while my daughters barely passed. This has caused psychological distress for my son as many of his classmates moved ahead,” she said.
Published in News Daily on 03-April-2025.
