Islamabad, August 7, 2009 - The United States is assisting Pakistan with a $2.1 million program that has helped the Government of Pakistan to establish national standards for the accreditation of teacher education. The Government of Pakistan launched these standards Thursday, with support from the U.S. government through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). These standards are the product of coordinated efforts over the past several years. USAID Associate Mission Director for Economic Growth and Education Mr. Jim Barnhart along with Ms. Shahnaz Wazir Ali, Advisor to the Prime Minister on Social Sector and Chairperson for the Higher Education Commission officially launched the program.

These standards are part of a larger reform effort and developed in close coordination with the National Accreditation Council for Teacher Education (NACTE) through the Higher Education Commission (HEC) and USAID's STEP program (Strengthening Teacher Education in Pakistan). This $2.1 million program provided a policy framework and was a significant first step towards introducing quality assurance and a mechanism of accreditation for teacher education programs in Pakistan.

"The challenge now is to establish an enabling and supportive environment to meet these standards to help Pakistan to produce better teachers. To achieve this, we must look at the need for institutional development in areas such as capacity building of human resources, sufficient financial resources, and physical infrastructure," said Mr. Barnhart.

Introduction of teacher accreditation standards builds the Government of Pakistan's capacity to systematically improve quality of teacher education programs in Pakistan. Mr. Jim Barnhart also noted that "these standards will set parameters for teacher education institutions, which include universities and other centers of higher education in the country."

Since 2002, the US Government has provided more than $3.4 billion to Pakistan for improvements in economic growth, education, health, governance, and assistance for earthquake reconstruction.