EVALUATION OF NEW PRIMARY TEACHERS ORIENTATION COURSE PROJECT LAUNCHED THROUGH ALLAMA IQBAL OPEN UNIVERSITY, ISLAMABAD PAKISTAN

Primary Education is an important stage in the education system of any country. Every developed and developing nation is keen to develop and improve its primary education. In service training of the primary school teachers is a major factor in improving primary education. In Pakistan efforts have been made from the very beginning to improve the primary education especially in the late seventy’s. Different Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs), Donors Agencies and Institutions had been involved in taking different initiatives for the improvement of the quality of primary education. New Primary Teachers Orientation Course (N-PTOC) was a similar effort of the Norwegian Agency for Development Co-operation (NORAD) in joint collaboration of Allama Iqbal Open University, Islamabad (AIOU). The major objective of the project was to improve the teaching of primary school teachers through selected microteaching skills, lesson planning, use of teaching kit and AV aids. This project was started in 1991-92 and completed in the year, 1999. Different studies were conducted which indicated that the project has an impact on the performance of the trained teachers. The present study aimed for evaluation of the N-PTOC project launched through Allama Iqbal Open University, Islamabad. The study is based on the documentary analysis. All the existing record of the project including different reports, documents etc. were consulted for the purpose. It was concluded that the project achieved its trainee teacher’s targets up to 70% and training of tutors and senior tutors up to 100%. Moreover the project produced a model teachers training module for the in-service training of the primary school teachers. There were some problems and challenges in its implementation including; late release of funds, shifting of targets to next semester and its non continuation by the AIOU