Sindh govt entrusts 71 USAID schools to private sector to manage for 10 years

KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Mission Director Julie Koenen (virtually) and Minister for Education and Literacy Saeed Ghani witnessed the agreement signing between Sindh Government and Education Management Organizations (EMOs) to manage 71 USAID constructed schools for next 10 year.

The ceremony held here on Wednesday at CM House marked the handing over of management of the schools newly constructed under USAID Sindh Basic Education Program (SBEP) to the EMOs, said a statement.

The officials from USAID participated virtually while the Sindh Government and EMO representatives attended the ceremony in-person, observing social distancing protocols.

Secretary of Education, Ahmed Bakhsh Narejo and representatives from the two selected EMOs – Charter for Compassion (CFC) and Health and Nutrition Development Society (HANDS) – signed the agreements to manage these schools for a period of 10 years.

The HANDS and CFC signed four and one agreements, respectively.

Under these agreements, both organizations would manage 71 government schools, including 25 newly USAID constructed schools to improve quality of education in four districts of Sindh, Dadu, Qamber Shahdadkot, Karachi, and Larkana.

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah expressed appreciation for USAID-SBEP and the US government’s strong support in modernizing education in the province.

He added that the Sindh government was the pioneer in launching Public-Private Partnership reforms by outsourcing the operations and management of public-sector schools for a period of ten years to reputed EMOs under these agreements.

“We are proud to partner with the Government of Sindh in this important initiative,” said Mission Director, USAID/Pakistan Julie Koenen and added “the Sindh Basic Education Program is improving the quality of teaching and increasing equitable access to safe learning opportunities for children, especially girls.”

She emphasized the US government’s commitment to supporting Pakistan’s efforts in education.

It may be noted that the US government through USAID is contributing $159.2 million whereas the Sindh government is providing $10 million cost-share for SBEP.

The project aimed to increase and sustain student enrollment in primary, middle, and secondary public schools in selected areas of Sindh, with a special focus on bringing back girls who have dropped out of schools.

In addition to constructing schools, SBEP also supports the provincial government’s reforms in education, school consolidation, merging and upgrading, community mobilization, public-private partnerships and improving reading competencies of students in schools.

SBEP is constructing up to 106 modern school buildings in 10 districts, Dadu, Jacobabad, Qamber-Shahdadkot, Karachi-West, Karachi-Malir, Karachi-South, Kashmore, Khairpur, Larkana and Sukkur.

The chief minister said that currently, construction of 70 schools has been completed out of which 43 were previously handed over to seven EMOs. Construction of remaining schools is at various stages of completion, he said.