USAID Teacher Education Project – Quarterly Progress Report (Oct-Dec, 2012)

(Hons.)) programs. By the end of the reporting period, 76 colleges and 14 universities were offering the degree programs. A significant achievement was the graduation of the first batch of 49 ADE students from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. During the quarter, a total of 79 trainings were organized, with 1805 participants, including 671 females and 1134 males. The project provided technical support to provincial and regional departments of education for developing their respective Teacher Education Strategies (TES) 2018. Consultative and taskforce meetings were held in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, and Gilgit-Baltistan. The project also organized six strategic planning workshops, attended by 60 participants from four universities. The university strategic plans are currently being copyedited for publication and dissemination with stakeholders. The universities have reviewed the plans, and formal approval is awaited from their competent authorities. Technical assistance was provided for infrastructure projects, including the construction of a new Faculty of Education at Hazara University. The first groundbreaking ceremony for the project was held during the quarter, attended by senior officials from USAID and the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. USAID also approved the 611 (e) for all the projects during the reporting period, ensuring the capabilities of the universities to maintain and utilize the new Faculty of Education buildings. College Improvement Plans (CIPs) for Cohort III colleges were initiated, with four CIP workshops attended by 100 faculty members from 32 colleges. An international consultant with extensive experience in teacher licensing visited Pakistan and worked closely with government officials from AJK and Sindh to support the development of plans and activities for teacher licensing. The project organized four meetings during the quarter on teacher certification and licensing. The project also partnered with the Agha Khan University Institute for Education Development (AKU-IED) to successfully complete the summer institute on education leadership and management for college principals in Karachi. A total of 27 principals and faculty members from government colleges from across the country participated in the summer institute. The Executive Director of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) signed the foreword of the updated Scheme of Studies for the ADE and first two years of the B.Ed. (Hons.) program. The Scheme of Studies 2012 comprised syllabi and a description of the review process by the National Curriculum Review Committee (NCRC) and was subsequently uploaded to the HEC and USAID Teacher Education Project websites. Course development for the ADE and B.Ed. (Hons.) programs continued, with the completion of Windows on Practice manuals for five courses and the beginning of course development for the remaining seven courses. The project also supported professional development for faculty members in 40 colleges and eight universities, with a total of 335 faculty members participating in nine Foundation Module-1 (FM-1) workshops and 394 faculty members participating in 17 FM-2 workshops.