Tag: (AKU)

Karachi, June 08, 2022 (PPI-OT):‘The state of a country’s education system is directly reflective of its quality of teaching’ – a thought echoed by all speakers at the ceremony presenting a whitepaper on the need for introducing teaching licenses in Pakistan.

“We need teaching licenses, not only in name but to actually increase professionalism in our teachers, thereby elevating their status! Licensed teachers will become a ray of hope for improving student learning outcomes for our generations to come,” said Dr Sajid Ali, Amir Sultan Chinoy Associate Professor at AKU-IED, who along with Afaq Ahmed, is primarily responsible for the development of the whitepaper.

Organised by the Aga Khan University Institute for Educational Development (AKU-IED), in collaboration with Sindh Teachers Education Development Authority (STEDA) and Durbeen, the whitepaper was unveiled in the presence of Sindh Minister for Education Syed Sardar Ali Shah at the AKU auditorium in Karachi. Stakeholders from academia including many teachers, and public and private sector representatives attended the event.

Addressing the gathering, Mr Shah said: “I am convinced that teaching licenses can help us improve the quality of education. Teaching should have a license just as other professions like medicine, law, nursing, and engineering do. This will also improve the status of teachers.”

Co-founder Durbeen, founder Zindagi Trust, and panellist, Mr Shehzad Roy, said: “We are aiming for structured reforms, because teaching is a science. We want teaching to be treated with the same respect as any other profession. Just as you would not want a mediocre doctor treating a loved one, you cannot possibly hold a mediocre teacher responsible for your child’s brain development. It just cannot be done.”

Other esteemed panellists included Director of Training and Assessment, Sindh Education Foundation, Government of Sindh (GoS), Ms Shahpara Rizvi; and Chairman National Accreditation Council for Teacher Education, Dr Muhammad Memon. They discussed how teaching licenses can help improve preparation, recruitment and retention of quality teachers.

In his concluding remarks, AKU-IED Dean, Professor Farid Panjwani highlighted the role of teaching licenses in determining what constitutes good teaching practice that results in the best learning experience for our students.

AKU-IED, over the past three decades, has been preparing professionals for leadership roles in education. Informing education policies and practices and improving schools in under-served and hard-to-access areas. It aims at making valuable and relevant contributions to improving the quality of education in Pakistan.

GoS’ STEDA was established to oversee and regulate teacher education activities and to maintain the standards of the training and training providers. Working hand in hand with the Sindh government, Durbeen is a non-profit organisation working to improve public schools in Pakistan through developing par-excellence teachers for public schools. This whitepaper, AKU-IED, STEDA and Durbeen hope, will bring Pakistan one step closer to elevating the status of teachers through countrywide licensing.

For more information, contact:

Media Executive

Department of Public Affairs

Aga Khan University (AKU)

Stadium Road, Karachi

Tel: +92-21-34930051

Fax: +92-21-34934294, +92-21-34932095

Cell: +92-301-8258028

Email: rasool.sarang@aku.edu, public.affairs@aku.edu​

Website: www.aku.edu

Karachi, May 21, 2022 (PPI-OT):Professor Zulfiqar Bhutta of the Aga Khan University (AKU) has been ranked among the top 100 medicine scientists in the first edition of top scientists ranking for medicine published by Research.com, one of the major knowledge centres for medicine research.

The ranking is based on criteria that considers h-index, which indicates how productive and influential a researcher is, publications and citations. The ranking team examined 166,880 scientists on Google Scholar and Microsoft Academic Graph, and over 65,743 profiles for the discipline of medicine. Professor Bhutta is the only scientist from Pakistan and the low- and middle-income countries who made it to the top 100.

“As is the case for other recent recognitions, though a personal recognition, this ranking reflects the achievements of scores of young researchers and faculty members across the world who have worked with me on problems of the most marginalized and impoverished women and children in poor communities,” commented Professor Bhutta, who is the founding director of the Centre of Excellence in Women and Child Health and the Institute for Global Health and Development at AKU; and Co-Director of the SickKids Centre for Global Child Health, Robert Harding Chair in Global Child Health and Policy, and a Senior Scientist in the Child Health Evaluative Sciences programme at The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto.

“Congratulations to Professor Bhutta and his team for this great achievement. Their relevant research at AKU has changed lives not only in the countries where we seek to serve but also globally,” said AKU President Sulaiman Shahabuddin. Professor Bhutta is one of the original members of AKU’s faculty since the establishment of the University. Having begun his career at AKU in 1986, the University provided a foundation for the development of an illustrious career in which he built research programmes on maternal and child health and nutrition with national and global impact, despite the challenges of political turmoil and economic insecurity in Pakistan.

Between 1996 and 2002, Professor Bhutta and his team at the University undertook extensive community outreach and research programme in an urban slum of Karachi and several rural areas of Pakistan, which then expanded to many regions and provinces of Pakistan as well as other low- and middle-income countries. Over the last two decades, he has closely collaborated with the government of Pakistan to assess effectiveness of health care approaches and innovations in real-world settings through partnering with public sector community health workers.

Many of these large community-based cluster randomized trials led by Professor Bhutta have generated findings that changed global policy, most notably the finding that using chlorhexidine for cord care among home births was associated with significant reduction in the risk of neonatal sepsis and death, and that public sector community health workers could successfully work with communities to reach those at greatest risk and reduce perinatal mortality as well as maternal morbidities.

His work has been the foundation of multiple international guidelines, including changing World Health Organization policy on the treatment of persistent diarrhoea and malnutrition along with establishing lady health workers (LHW) as foundational members of community-based interventions in Pakistan, South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. His team in Pakistan and Canada has extensively worked on strategies to improve maternal and child health and nutrition in conflict settings and emergencies. Notably his team works with community volunteers and health workers in tribal areas of Pakistan to improve polio and routine immunization coverage.

At AKU, Professor Bhutta holds the title of Distinguished University Professor – the highest faculty rank the University can confer – as well as an Award of Distinction and Award of Excellence in Research. He has received several international awards and recognition. Recently, he received the Roux Prize for turning evidence into health impact and the John Dirks Canada Gairdner Global Health Award for outstanding achievements in global health research.

For more information, contact:
Media Executive
Department of Public Affairs
Aga Khan University (AKU)
Stadium Road, Karachi
Tel: +92-21-34930051
Fax: +92-21-34934294, +92-21-34932095
Cell: +92-301-8258028
Email: rasool.sarang@aku.edu, public.affairs@aku.edu​
Website: www.aku.edu