Islamabad, The Higher Education Commission's ongoing English language programme for improving university faculties holds an uncertain future as the Planning Commission believes it is just waste of money, it has been learnt.

Sources in the universities, who have benefited from the project, said the English Language Teaching Reform (ELTR) programme's phase-II was an important continuing learning and research project aimed at training English language faculty as well as upgrading the English language proficiency of faculty of other humanities and social sciences disciplines through training programmes.

Highlighting the success factors of the phase-I, the sources said through the ELTR project, so far, the HEC had trained 1,504 teachers through programmes focusing on faculty development, curriculum and material development, computer assisted language learning (Call), research and publication, testing and evaluation, and reorganisation of departments/centres of English language.

The sources said one of the ELT faculty members was awarded a PhD and two teachers were given MS-level international scholarships and were currently pursuing their degrees in the UK.

"Hundred and twenty-four indigenous fellowships have been given to ELT teachers across Pakistan for training in MS applied linguistics, two-year master's in TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language), TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) and Linguistics, one-year postgraduate diploma in TEFL, TESL and ICELT (In-service Certificate in English Language Teaching)," the sources added.

Under the Call, the first-ever computer-based Self Access Centre was established with an initial cost of Rs2 million at the Allama Iqbal Open University and another one at the Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan.

Through the project, the HEC has also extended an amount of Rs430,000 for organising national and international seminars and research projects across the country.

Sources said: "The ELTR project phase-I will conclude this month. It has been successful in uplifting the English language standards across Pakistan."

However, the Planning Commission's Departmental Development Working Party meeting on November 4 had deferred the ELTR project's Rs53.67 million phase-II, declaring it as "waste of money."