'Education sector reforms in Punjab very successful'

Naveed Saleh Siddique, Team Leader, PESP-2, Technical Assistance Management Organisation (TAMO) said on Monday that education sector reforms in Punjab have been very successful resulting in 1.6 million more children in public schools since 2012.
He was addressing the event organized by Adam Smith International under the Punjab Education Sector Programme 2 (PESP-2) to mark the successful completion of their contract with DFID.
The event was widely attended by government officials, academia, civil society, donor community and a director of Adam Smith International (ASI) Ben Fetton who had specially flown from London to attend this event. Adam Hall, Pakistan Country Head, ASI, also attended the event.
He also said that 1.85 million more children have also been enrolled through the various Punjab Education Foundation Programs.
The budget of education sector has increased by over hundred percent since 2010. There is 99 percent reduction in severe multi-grading.
Over the years, Rs 37 billion have been provided to schools as school specific non-salary budget to enable them to meet their operational costs.
He said that infrastructure shortcomings in schools have largely been overcome and 96.5 percent schools now have electricity, 99.8 percent have drinking water, 99.5 percent have toilets and 97.9 percent schools have a boundary wall.
Through persistent efforts and multifarious interventions, the School Education Department has been successful in increasing the participation rate of 5 to 9 years old children from 84.8 percent in 2011 to 90.4 percent in March 2017.
It is estimated that the current participation rate is between 91 to 93 percent. Student performance in basic literacy now stands at 77 percent, exceeding the government's target of 75 percent.
Speaking on the occasion, ASI's Country Head Adam Hall, welcomed the participants, and conveyed that ASI is proud and happy to be associated with the Punjab Education Sector Programme, which is the Department for International Development's (DFID's) largest education sector investment in the world. He also praised the reform efforts of the Government of Punjab and the DFID team.
He noted that the success of the programme is in part due to a very effective and meaningful partnership that was forged between ASI and McKinsey & Co for implementation of this program.