Over 200,000 children benefit from UK-backed education initiatives in Punjab, K-P: BHC

The United Kingdom's (UK's) collaboration with the Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) provincial governments helped over 200,000 children improve their access to schooling, basic reading, numeracy, and life skills, the British High Commission (BHC) said on Monday.

"UK collaboration with provincial governments has helped more than 200,000 children in Punjab and K-P improve their access to schooling, basic reading, numeracy, and life skills. Urdu reading levels rose from 15 per cent to 78 per cent, English reading from 15 per cent to 45 per cent, and subtraction skills from 37 per cent to 67 per cent," said a statement from BHC.

According to BHC, support through the UK-Pakistan partnership used learning-level assessments, targeted instruction, teacher coaching, and regular progress tracking to help children catch up. The programme reached over 500 public schools and enabled over 35,000 out-of-school children to return to education.

It said that the programme also "supported 48,000 learners through remedial education, strengthened teaching capacity through the training of more than 5,500 educators and 250 Master Trainers, and improved facilities in 400 schools."

Further, the statement by BNC revealed that, due to the initiatives, Urdu reading levels rose from 15% to 78%, while English reading levels rose from 15% to 45%, and subtraction skills rose from 37% to 67%.

British High Commissioner Jane Marriott said that teachers were at the heart of improving learning outcomes for children, and the most important measure of success was whether they find these approaches valuable enough to continue using them.

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Marriott noted that the feedback received thus far had been "extremely encouraging." She added that by bringing together governments, schools and communities, "children who previously could not read a simple sentence are now reading independently."

Meanwhile, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Punjab Education Curriculum Training and Assessment Authority (PECTAA) Muhammad Musa Ali Bokhari, highlighted the importance of education for children. “Every child in Punjab deserves the chance to read, write, and count with confidence before they move beyond primary school," he said.

The CEO also lauded the UK's help in bringing positive momentum for change, saying, "UK support has helped move the conversation on foundational learning from theory to demonstrated practice here in Punjab.”

Separately, K-P's Special Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education Masood Ahmed noted that the achievements of the UK-supported programme had shown that "focused investments in foundational learning can produce meaningful results for children and communities."

Ahmed also noted the provincial government's commitment "to building on this progress and ensuring that every child has the opportunity to develop the literacy and numeracy skills that are essential for lifelong learning.”