A statement of US Consulate said here on Saturday that the Consul General Grace Shelton and Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah  witnessed the signing between Sindh School Education Department and Beaconhouse, IBA-Sukkur, and Indus Resource Centre and Charter for Compassion on the management and construction of five new schools  in Khairpur and Sukkur districts.

Included in the Sindh Basic Education Program (SBEP), these five schools are part of the 106 large state-of-the-art school buildings being reconstructed in northern Sindh and Karachi.

Also attending the event at the Chief Minister’s House was USAID Provincial Director Denise Herbol, Minister of Education Jam Mehtab Dahar, and Secretary Dr. Fazlullah Pechuho.

"We are proud to partner with the Government of Sindh in this important initiative," Consul General Shelton stated. She added, "the SBEP will help improve the quality of teaching and increase equitable access to safe learning opportunities for children, especially girls. These children in Sindh who will receive a free education will grow up to be the next generation of engineers, doctors, teachers, and entrepreneurs.

SBEP is a US government five-year, $155 million initiative that aims to increase and sustain student enrollment in primary, middle, and secondary public schools in selected areas of Sindh.

The Government of Sindh is the first province to implement this innovative Public-Private Partnership by awarding concession agreements for a period of up to ten years to private sector organizations to improve the operations of public schools and enhance student achievement, the US Consulate statement added.

Copyright APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), 2016