PESHAWAR: The elementary and secondary education department has decided to do away with the condition of having degrees and certificates in education for applying for the posts of teachers in government schools.

The decision was made during a high-level meeting chaired by E&SE secretary Shahzad Bangash, said a statement issued here.

Earlier, only those with the degrees of Master in Education (MEd), Bachelor in Education (BEd) and different certificates in education could apply for the posts of teachers in schools.

Now after the decision, anyone with the master`s degrees can apply for the posts of teachers. The newly-recruited schoolteachers will assume duty after undergoing a six months training.

The statement said the decision would help increase the quality of teaching at the primary education level.

`This will bring more competitiveness to the recruitment process for teachers. Those having professional degrees in education will be eligible to apply but they have to go through the six months training programme,` it said.

The statement said in a teacher`s assessment report, which the education department was privy to, some teachers were unable to conceptually grasp the material they were tasked with teaching young students.

It added that the decision came at a time when provinces had the responsibility to drive own education reforms and that prioritising that sector, KP had opted to implement that student-centric measure.

Previously, there was a focus on supply-driven decisions.

`Our priority is the children of KP. We are answerable to future generations,` said Shehzad Bangash.

He said the expectation from that policy shift was that the quality of teachers was going to rise.

The secretary said to ensure that each teacher was wellequipped with the right pedagogical skills, both in terms of classroom management and content, the department would have mandatory induction training for them.

He said potential teachers must complete the induction training before entering any school system. `This training could last around six months. This will make thousands of highly qualified individuals enter the teaching services market in KP and simultaneously raise the level of subject knowledge for young students,` he said.