The Sindh government signed an agreement with Sukkur Institute of Business Administration (IBA) and The Citizens Foundation (TCF) on Wednesday, handing over the management of 20 government schools constructed under the USAID Sindh Basic Education Programme (SBEP), for a period of 10 years through the public-private partnership (PPP) model.
Under this agreement, Sukkur IBA will manage nine newly-constructed schools in Sukkur and Larkana, while TCF will manage 11 schools in Dadu and Qamber-Shahdadkot.
The signing ceremony was held at the Chief Minister House and was attended by senior officials from the US government, education department, SBEP partners and representatives from civil society organisations.
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said that the US government, through USAID, was contributing USD159.2 million whereas the Sindh government was also providing USD10m to the SBEP.
He added that the project was aimed at increasing and sustaining student enrolment in primary, middle, and secondary public schools in selected areas of the province, with a special focus on bringing back girls who have dropped out of schools.
Shah said that in addition to constructing schools, SBEP would also support the government’s reforms in education, school consolidation, merging and upgrading, community mobilisation, public-private partnerships and improving reading competencies of students in schools.
TCF volunteers at IBA bring less-privileged students to mainstream educational institutes
USAID Deputy Mission Director for Sindh and Balochistan, John Smith-Sreen, stressed on the USA’s commitment to support education in Pakistan. The CM expressed appreciation for USAID-SBEP and the US government’s strong support in modernising education in Sindh.
He added that the Sindh government was a pioneer in launching PPP reforms by outsourcing the operations and management of public sector schools for a period of 10 years to education management organisations (EMOs) under concession agreements.
Under SBEP, up to 118 modern school buildings are to be constructed in nine districts of northern Sindh. The areas include Dadu, Jacobabad, Qamber-Shahdadkot, Kashmore, Khairpur, Larkana, Sukkur, Shikarpur and Ghotki and five towns of Karachi namely, Bin Qasim, Gadap, Keamari, Lyari, and Orangi.
Currently, construction of 47 schools has been completed out of which 23 schools have already been handed over to six EMOs. The construction of remaining schools is in process and at various stages of completion.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 31st, 2019.
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