GROUP PHOTO: Speakers and guests at the conclusion of the seminar.
TNG marks Teachers’ Day with a seminar titled ‘Empowering
Teachers, Building sustainable societies.’ By Umer Nangiana
The Next Generation School (TNG) marked the Teachers’ Day by organising a seminar titled ‘Empowering Teachers, Building sustainable societies.’
The speakers discussed the evolving role of teachers in today’s fast-paced world besides analysing the overall standard of teaching, suggesting ways how it can be improved.
“In our times of education, children dreamt of becoming a teacher but today unfortunately the challenge is to [get people to] choose teaching as a profession. A school with state-of-the-art technology but unqualified teachers cannot achieve the goals,” said Dr Saif Ali al-Hajari, Founder and Chairman of Friends of the Environment Centre, while addressing an audience of teachers, students and people from different walks of life in Qatar.
Dr al-Hajri said the responsibility of a teacher is not just to transfer knowledge but to make the way the knowledge is transferred. “I am proud of you and the leaders who are trying to find solutions, new ideas and promoting women to become good teachers. Teaching should just not be a career but a passion that yields better human beings,” said the expert.
In his presentation on characteristics of better teachers and how it could be achieved, Badar Sohail Khan, a Human Resources management expert, said a teacher’s effectiveness has more impact on student learning than any other factor under the control of school systems.
“Student taught by better teachers produce better results. The education community has not focused sufficiently on improving teacher effectiveness by way of recruitment, evaluation, development, placement, and retention of highly effective teachers,” said Khan.
He suggested that education systems should develop meaningful measures to assess teachers’ effectiveness, which include but are not limited to students’ achievements and growth over time. He also suggested to providing increased pay and greater roles and responsibilities to teachers who earn their tenures.
With a successful track record of more than 23 years in heading human resource departments in the oil and gas as well as hospitality sectors, Khan has led the HR function of highly reputed organisations like The Aga Khan University Hospital, British Petroleum (formerly Union Texas Petroleum), Qatar Liquefied Gas Company and Dubai Healthcare City. He is currently working as Programs Advisor in Ashghal.
Ahmed Hussain, a prominent member of Pakistan Welfare Forum Qatar, said that Teachers’ Day should be a day “when we personally assess where we stand in terms of quality of teachers and if there are any shortfalls, we should work to fix them.”
Human Khan, Vice-Principal of TNG, said, “For me it was a career by choice. It has been my childhood dream and since I was in my pre-teens, I had dreamed of becoming a teacher.” Recollecting how in the same grade her creative writing teacher and Maths teacher would inspire her differently, thus inspiring her to become one.
“For the past 15 years, I have been in the education sector and it is extremely rewarding. Someone said that teaching produces more professions. So my students from various walks of like would approach and tell me that we are what we are today because of that small thing that you did. I did not make them that big person but I helped them become that person,” said the vice-principal. She said the more you are rewarded as a teacher, the more motivated you become.
Sheeba Aslam, co-ordinator of TNG Wakrah campus, has been associated with the profession of teaching for almost a decade. For her, every day is teachers’ day. “If the students respect you, every day is your day. And If you own your students, they will love you,” said the teacher who has been teaching Mathematics to grade 7-9 students for more than 8 years.
Dilnaz Khan, co-ordinator of TNG Ain Khaled campus, said teaching is the best job for her. “When I go back home, I wait for the next day to come back to the school.”
TNG Executive Director Riaz Ahmed Bakali said teachers are the most important component in the education square. Acknowledging that it is difficult to find teachers who fulfil all the criteria of having a passion, experience, and educational background required for teaching, Bakali said at his school they regularly train teachers in both communication skills and skills related to their respective subject matter.
The chief guest at the seminar was Rashid Nizam, the Cultural Attache of Pakistan Embassy and dignitaries from Qatar government were also present.
