Our Focus
Building capacity to inspire change
For over three decades, the Institute along with its Professional Development Centres (PDCs) has built the capacity of over 54,000 educators through its degree and non-degree programmes. Through these programmes, we have been developing teachers, teacher educators, researchers and educational leaders as agents of change, ready to transform instruction and school management and promote equal access to education.
Our graduates working in schools are known for changing the culture of rote memorisation and passive learning by using student-centred techniques and inquiry-based learning methods. Their impact is not just confined to the classroom. Graduates working as teacher educators in teacher education institutions have trained scores of new teachers, thereby impacting the education of several thousand students. Much the same can be said of those who serve as founders, directors, chief executive officers, principals, department heads, managers, researchers and advisors in educational institutions.
Our PDCs in Gilgit, Chitral and Karachi have been at the forefront in offering short-term non-degree professional education programmes for teachers, school leaders, administrators and researchers. These tailored programmes have provided thousands of educators an opportunity to refresh their skills and qualify and requalify themselves to constantly improve their competence.
Generating knowledge to influence educational policies and practices
Research is an integral part of our work. The Research and Policy Studies (RAPS) Unit strengthens our role in promoting high-quality research and policy analysis to influence educational practices and policies and to create opportunities for comprehensive dialogue on pertinent educational issues in the developing world. Collaborating with some of the renowned national and international universities, our faculty and students engage in research that explores and tests innovative approaches and practices to shape teaching and learning in diverse educational contexts. Our research focuses on issues of access and quality of education, curriculum relevance, innovative pedagogies, changing profile of learners and responsive educational governance.
Modelling educational reforms to make education accessible for all
The Professional Development Centres work as the extended arms of the Institute to exemplify educational development and reforms in the under-served areas of Pakistan. Our educational development projects, a suite of holistic reform strategies, have helped enhance access and equity and improve the quality and relevance of education in schools in the underserved areas of Sindh, Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan and Chitral. Through these projects, we have been able to reach out to hard-to-access areas where teachers have very limited opportunities to further their education and schools lack the support and resources to improve their performance.