Today is World Teachers’ Day. A good school building matters, and so do books and equipment, but the quality of a child’s education depends most of all on the teacher in front of them. One well-trained teacher reaches class after class, and generation after generation, of pupils. That is why teacher training is at the heart of the work we support.
The Joan Atkinson College of Teacher Education
Our partner, the Kashmir Education Foundation (KEF), has trained teachers at Bassali since 2001, first at its Institute of Teacher Education and now at the college that bears Joan Atkinson’s name. The Joan Atkinson College of Teacher Education (JACTE) trains women from rural communities as primary teachers, through a Diploma in Primary Education.
JACTE shares a campus with Soan Valley Public School, so trainees gain classroom experience throughout their course. The campus also has a hostel for women trainees.
A modern approach to teaching
Teaching has often relied on rote memorisation, with pupils assessed on what they can recall rather than what they understand. The diploma takes a different approach. It aims to:
- encourage young women from rural communities to become primary teachers, in KEF’s schools and in schools in their own localities;
- develop interactive teaching that helps children understand and apply what they learn about the world around them;
- strengthen trainees’ spoken and written English, so they can use it confidently as a medium of teaching and learning.
After visiting in November 2018, our patron, Sir David Green, wrote that the college “is doing excellent work in training teachers at the primary school level”, praising its low-cost teaching aids and “highly participative learning methods”.
Why it multiplies
Training a teacher is an investment that keeps paying back. Each trained teacher brings better lessons to every class she teaches, year after year. Training women as teachers also opens professional careers for them in their own communities, and gives girls role models at the front of the classroom.
The college bears the name of Joan Atkinson, a teacher and headteacher who visited KEF’s institute at Bassali, then helped to establish Quest for Education as a consultant and worked closely with QEF and KEF. Read our tribute to Joan Atkinson.
How you can help
Many trainees come from village families who cannot meet the cost of fees and accommodation on their own, so donors’ support helps keep the course open to them. Your Sadaqah Jariyah or general donation helps train teachers and keep schools open, so every new class of children benefits from your gift.
Find out more about the college. If you are giving Zakat, please read how KEF applies Zakat and give through our Zakat-only checkouts.