Guest: Sir Lenny
Host: Bilal Khan
Date of interview: 19 January 2019
Education and Professional Experience
Mr. Lenny Farnon is an educationist, who has done double Masters in English Literature and in English linguistics. Further, he has done B8 and some international courses related to Teachers Training and recently he has submitted his thesis for MPhil program (Iqra University, main campus Karachi). From the beginning, he is engaged in the profession of teaching and has taught at all levels (Primary, middle-school, high school, at University level as well). He has also taught IELTS students and has provided training facilities to several teachers and developing their English language skills related to their teaching profession. He is currently working in Beacon House School System, Karachi regional office and there he is responsible for training teachers to develop their language skills in order to enhance their teaching skills.
Compromising quality against Cost
During this short interview, Mr. Lenny has discussed some important aspects of our education system in Pakistan. I want to discuss a few of the most important one. Mr. Lenny quoted:
“ Schools and other institutions are cutting cost and are paying less to the teachers, as these days the pressure is on the institutions to reduce the fee. In real the institutions are compromising the quality education by reducing their fee in order to make children’s’ parents happy “
There is no doubt that due to the economic conditions, many parents are facing difficulties in paying off their children’s fee, and institutions should charge a reasonable amount of fee. But it seems that nowadays parents want that fee should be minimal and the quality of the education should be best. In reality, this is not possible as there are several costs that need to take into consideration in order to provide students with an environment where they have opportunities of not only getting a good education but also access to the updated and useful technologies (refer next paragraph also) that are necessary for their grooming and to complete their studies with ease. Another important drawback of cutting cost is that the institutions are reluctant to hire teachers that are trained, as they demand higher salaries and also they do not provide training to their current teachers in order to polish their teaching skills.
Importance of technology in education
As Mr. Lenny said:
“ Technology is vital in providing good quality of education and plays a vital role in indulging the students in a specific topic and making lectures interesting to the students in order to avoid any distraction in the classroom ”
I truly agree with his thought, as more or less everything is being done by using the latest technologies, in the form of laptops, tablets, cell phones, iPad, etc. Introducing technology into our education system, especially in schools, will facilitate both teachers and students. Teachers will feel comfortable in delivering the lectures and students will have a better opportunity to understand each topic with a wider perspective as they will have access to the pool of knowledge through the internet.
Opting teaching profession because you are jobless (taking for granted)
One thing that I really want to mention here and this is what I have been observing since my childhood and Mr. Lenny has also highlighted in his discussion. He said:
“ People who are jobless and who couldn’t find any job, they start teaching ”
Well, that is true! For many years people have been misusing the opportunities that have been provided by this profession. People should realise and should have a sense of responsibility that the teachers’ role is not just to stand and talk about any topic but the teacher has a lot more to do. It is the teacher’s responsibility to groom the personality of his/her students and to provide guidance that helps students
to make sound decisions with respect to their careers.
Little advice
To conclude, my advice for the parents and institutions is that the parents should consider the costs that are related to providing quality education and institutions should consider providing training to their teachers and should hire only trained professionals so that they should not compromise the quality of education. In this way, quality education can be provided to our generation while putting less burden on the shoulders of parents.
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