Performance check: Schools to be reviewed before PEF hand over

Schools with enrollment of less than 20 students or having PEC results of less than 25% will be handed over to the PEF

LAHORE: The Punjab School Education Department (SED) has constituted committees to review lists of schools to be handed over to the Punjab Education Foundation (PEF).

In an order sent to all Education executive district officers (EDOs) of the province, the officials have been directed to recheck the schools included in the list of Phase-II of the Public School Support Programme (PSSP).

The letter states that three-member committees will visit public schools in each tehsil that have been included in the list of schools to be handed over to the PEF.

According to the PSSP criteria, schools with enrollment of less than 20 students or having Punjab Examination Commission (PEC) results of less than 25 per cent will be handed over to the PEF.

They will function as part of the public-private partnership initiative of the government.

“The committee will ensure that schools, included in the list, fulfill the criteria of inclusion in the PSSP,” the order states.

According to the order, a member of the Punjab Teachers’ Union (PTU) from each tehsil will be included in the committee that will visit the schools.

The decision to review the list was taken at a EDOs conference. The meeting had directed alls EDOs to constitute committees for rechecking the lists.

Thousands of teachers had staged a sit-in outside the Punjab Assembly on May 14 and 15. The teachers protested against handing over of schools to the PEF. One of their demands was that the government reconsider its policy to hand over schools to the PEF.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 30^th, 2016.