ISLAMABAD: A decline in teacher absenteeism has been witnessed in Punjab and Sindh following the adoption of biometric monitoring at schools and unscheduled inspection visits, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said in a report published on Wednesday.

The report, ‘Strengthening School Teaching in Pakistan’, however, said further progress could be made by hiring locally based teachers and introducing penalties for tardiness and absenteeism.

These measures could include withholding or deducting from salary payments and the withdrawal of miscellaneous benefits. Evidence from several countries, including Brazil’s school-based teacher bonus programme, has shown that using performance-based financial incentives and tying performance outcomes to career advancement can improve teacher effectiveness.

While these measures have yielded improvements in teacher attendance in the country as a whole, some provinces still suffer from irregular and uncertain teacher presence. Findings from a survey of Pakistan Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) indicate overall teacher attendance of 87 per cent in surveyed government schools and 94 per cent in private schools in urban areas. For both public and private schools in rural areas, teacher attendance was reported at 89pc.

Bank’s report suggests local hiring and penalties for further improvement

An evaluation study of a pilot teacher performance pay programme in Punjab, which offered bonuses to primary public school teachers, revealed that the initiative enhanced student enrollment and examination participation rates but not examination scores, report says.

The current practice of promoting high-performing teachers to managerial or administrative positions could be discontinued. Lucrative advancement opportunities should be created for teachers within the field of teaching, ADB report recommends.

The performance appraisal mechanism for teachers needs to be strengthened and linked to career progression. Presently, schoolteachers are assessed using generic criteria set for all government employees under the Annual Confidential Reports system, which has little relevance to the role of a modern teacher.

Quality over quantity

Along with improvements in teacher recruitment and deployment, there is a need to strengthen the capacity of existing teachers and new teachers entering the system.

Teacher quality can be enhanced through improvements in teacher preparation programs, investments in institutions that provide pre-service and in-service teacher education and training, introduction of a continuous professional development model, and regulations and standards for in-service and pre-service training.

The government could stipulate and enforce uniform standards for public and private sector preservice teacher preparation institutes to ensure new teachers are well trained. Provincial governments could prioritise regular and sufficient funding for teacher preparation colleges and continually invest in attracting and retaining adequate numbers of well-qualified teacher educators, particularly for English, mathematics, and science.

The report recommended that the shortage of well-trained subject specialist teachers at middle and high school levels needs to be addressed as a priority to improve learning outcomes at higher school levels.

At the same time, the quality of English, science, and mathematics teachers in middle and secondary schools needs to be improved. The use of the latest technologies to enhance teaching and learning experiences should be expanded.

Despite recent teacher recruitment efforts, mathematics, science, and English language teacher shortages persist, with substantial demand-supply gaps in rural areas. In 2019, only 581 teachers out of a total of 133,076 teachers in Sindh were subject specialists.

Of these 581, only 189 were female teachers. The low representation of female teachers, especially in remote rural communities, is also problematic as it undermines the participation of girls at school and their ability to sustain their education.

The percentage of female teachers in public sector educational institutions across Pakistan increased from 41.3pc in 2014 to 44.9pc in 2017. In urban areas, the percentage of female teachers rose from 51.7pc to 54.4pc, while it increased from 37.9pc to 41.6pc in rural areas.

Published in Dawn, December 28th, 2023