The World Bank (WB) has expressed satisfaction over on going education sector reform programme of Punjab Government and stated the Bank could consider a longer commitment as long as there continued to be well documented and sustained improvements in sustained outcomes in the province.
According to official sources, to address these fiscal and institutional challenges, the Punjab Government is implementing a three-year education sector reform programme to enhance access and improve quality of education and improve gender parity in Punjab.
KEY PILLARS OF THE PUNJAB EDUCATION SECTOR REFORM PROGRAMME (PESRP) ARE:
(A) public finance reforms to increase public spending for education (and other pro-poor, services) and to ensure fiscal sustainability
(B) (B) reforms that strengthen devolution and improve the fiduciary environment and governance, and
(C) (C) education sector reforms to improve quality, access, sector governance, and public/ private partnerships.
The Punjab province is in its third year of pursuing an education sector reform programme assisted by development policy lending (DPL) from the Bank in the form of IDA credits.
The programme is showing significant early gains. A stipend programme is targeting girls in grades six to eight in 15 low-literacy districts of Punjab. Free textbooks are being delivered on time to approximately nine million primary school students.
A monitoring system has been established and is capturing data on the public education system that is regularly validated by third parties. Within one year of its inception, enrolment in government primary schools increased by 13 per cent (compared to the previous trend of less than two per cent increase per year).
Girls' enrolment in grades six to eight in the low-literacy districts receiving the stipends increased by 23 per cent.
Initial household survey data showed net primary enrolment rates increased from 45 per cent in 2001 to 58 per cent in 2004-05.
Commenting over the "Education Sector Adjustment for the Government of Punjab Province Project", the WB sources stated ratings for the Education Sector Adjustment for the Government of Punjab Province were the following:
-- the outcome was satisfactory,
-- the sustainability was likely,
-- the institutional development impact was satisfactory,
-- and the Bank and borrower performances were both satisfactory.
The reform programme has already fostered broad changes such as increased financial resources devoted to the education sector, a new cadre of contract teachers being introduced, improvements in school infrastructure, and restructuring of the data monitoring system to inform credible policy dialogue.
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