PR No. 69 PAKISTAN IS READY TO FACE THE CHALLENGE OF INTERNATIONAL ASSESSMENTS ROAD TO BETTER EDUCATED PAKISTAN IS THE WAY TO BETTER EDUCATED WORLD Islamabad: September 9, 2016

Minister of State for Federal Education and Professional Training Engr. Muhammad Baligh ur Rehman has said that the present government is taking all possible steps to improve the quality of education in the country and assessment is yet another step in this direction. He was speaking on the occasion of a ceremony organized in connection with signing of agreement for participating in TIMSS: Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, a Netherlands based international study where more than 60 countries of the world participate after every four years. “Participation in TIMSS in 2015 was decided in Education Policy 2009, but it could not happen then. After assuming power, this government took many steps to revive the educational assessment in the country by reviving the National Education Assessment System; NEAS and participating in TIMSS-2019”, the minister said.

Mr. Baligh-uer-Rehman expressed his pleasure over the fact that Government has provided all necessary funds for not only this international assessment but also for the national assessments scheduled after every two years. He congratulated NEAS team, led by Dr. Kamal for their efforts towards strong educational assessment that is guarantee to better quality education.

Earlier, the Executive Director, International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) Netherlands, Dr. Dirk Hastedt, informed about his organization and the assessments offered by IEA. He congratulated Pakistan for becoming the member of a league of more than 60 countries of world who learn from each other’s experiences and expertise. “On the basis of findings, collected through TIMSS, many countries took revolutionary steps for attaining the goal of quality education and we believe that Pakistan could be one such country,” Dr. Dirk said.

Joint Secretary, Ministry of Federal Education Mr. Abdul Hafeez welcomed the audience and informed them about the steps being taken by the ministry to make informed decisions based on valid data. “International assessment will provide us the exact diagnosis of the strengths and weaknesses of our education system” Mr. Hafeez said. He congratulated NEAS team for making efforts to realize the dream of participation in this international assessment.

Dr. S. Kamal ud Din, Director NEAS, in his presentation, informed the audience about the scope of TIMSS and value addition it may bring to education in Pakistan. It is worth mentioning here that TIMSS is the most prestigious international educational assessment where countries from all parts of world participate after every four years.

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