ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) and UNESCO agreed on Friday of bilateral cooperation to promote non-formal education in the country, particularly to achieve 2025’s millennium goals of sustainable development.
Under a formal agreement, UNESCO will extend financial support to AIOU for launching post-graduate diploma and certificate courses of non-formal teachers’ training programme.
The agreement was signed by the AIOU’s Registrar Dr Muhammad Naeem Qureshi and the UNESCO’s representative in Pakistan Vibeke Jensen in Islamabad in presence of the Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Shahid Siddiqui.
Dr Shahid reiterated on the occasion that university will exploit all possible avenues to fight out illiteracy and promote teachers’ training, through distance learning system.
The agreement was aimed at introducing academically accredited teachers’ training courses in non-formal education. It will provide academic-related support to stake-holders, who were working under non-formal system.
The project was also shared with Ministry of Education and Professional Development and other stake-holders to achieve the desired goals.
Dr Shahid Siddiqui said that there was non-availability of certified training courses for the teachers engaged in non-formal education.
Through this initiative, he said the university will fill the gap by producing trained teachers as per the requirements of distance learning system.
The AIOU has the dedicated department of distance, non-formal and continuing education that has been given the task of producing trained teachers through certified courses, he added.
The Vice Chancellor thanked the UNESCO for its support in addressing the new challenges in the education sector, particularly to provide education to drop-out female students.
The UNESCO’s representative Vibeke Jensen assured that they will work with the University for achieving its target of enhancing accessibility of quality education in the country through non-formal system.
Earlier, the Chairman of the University’s distance and non-formal department Dr Muhammad Ajmal highlighted the significant of the agreement and said it will help to eradicate illiteracy and promote quality education, through well-trained teachers.
