Workshops aren’t enough

Education reform is increasingly being reduced to a cycle of workshops, seminars and short-term training sessions. While professional development is necessary, the growing dependence on event-based reform risks mistaking activity for measurable progress.

Teachers are frequently called away from classrooms to attend orientations on new assessment tools, reporting mechanisms or digital platforms. In many schools, particularly in rural districts, this disrupts instructional continuity. Substitute arrangements are limited, multi-grade classrooms are left unmanaged and students lose valuable learning time. The academic calendar becomes fragmented, while the promised follow-up support or classroom mentoring rarely materialises. 

Workshops are visible and easy to document, making them attractive indicators of reform. Attendance sheets and certificates create the appearance of movement. Yet deeper structural challenges — uneven teacher deployment, overcrowded classrooms, resource shortages and limited supervisory capacity — require sustained administrative attention rather than periodic sessions. 

Professional development must move beyond presentations toward embedded mentoring, stable staffing and realistic workload expectations. Without addressing systemic weaknesses, the culture of constant training risks is becoming an end in itself. Reform should strengthen classrooms, not simply expand calendars. 

MANZAR HASSAN

PESHAWAR