KARACHI – After utilisation of more than 4.5 billion rupees for upgrading 6,226 schools in 23 districts of the province, the Sindh Education Sector Reform Programme (SERP) received an additional financing of $ 50 million last week from the World Bank for preparation of school-specific non-salary budgets; teacher rationalisation across schools; allocation of teaching posts to schools; and expansion of district education management reforms.
According to the World Bank, significant gains have been made in primary education in Pakistan during the past decade with net national enrolment percentage jumping from 42 to 56 percent between 2001 and 2007 with enrolment in Sindh increasing by 10 percentage points. Despite these improvements, however, young Pakistanis are still the least likely to attend schools in South Asia with wide boy-girl and rural-urban disparities.
Regarding the utilisation of funds under the SERP by October 2010, the SERP has disclosed that out of the 23 districts in Sindh, 15 have 90 to 100 percent progress level while 7 districts falling in the 70 to 89 percent progress category. Under the programme, total 9,213 schools were supported in different schemes like under scheme B, 582 schools were provided sheltering facilities; under scheme C, 1,355 schools were provided with additional classrooms; and under scheme D, total 7,276 schools were provided the required facilities.
The Sindh government, for improving the general condition and the environment of schools, has initiated a programme under the SERP supported by World Bank and European Union under which school-rehabilitation grant, SMCs grant, stipends for female students and free text books are provided.
The school rehabilitation grant is being provided to the existing schools to provide shelter, add classrooms and provide basic facilities in schools. The Sindh Finance Department directly transfers the funds to the district governments and so far more than Rs 4.5 billion have been provided to 23 district governments in two phases. In the first phase, Rs 2.3 billion grant was transferred by the finance department vide letter number FD/B&E-XII/SERP-BGP(6)/2005-06 dated February 28, 2007 and in second stage, Rs 2.254 billion were transferred vide letter number DB/B&E-XII/SERP-BGP(6) /2008-09 dated November, 12 2008.
Under the project, funds are transferred to Account-IV of the district governments with the district coordination officer (DCO) as the principal accounting officer. The District Development Committee (DDC) is the competent forum to approve PC-I of the schemes with the Jacobabad DCO as the chairman of the DCC. The District Education Works Department is the executing agency for capital works and District Education Department the executing agency for revenue budget. A third-party engineering firm is responsible for validating the schools’ needs and provides technical input and supervision during the design and the construction phase.
The SERP activities are regulated by an agreement through which district governments are mandated to utilise the provincial grant while following all codal formalities and ensuring due diligence. The districts also share monthly utilisation reports with the provincial government.
The Reform Support Unit (RSU) has received utilisation reports worth Rs 1.289 billion from the districts with Larkana and Kambar-Shahdadkot on top with more than 95 percent utilisation.
A similar report was also received from the Jacobabad Education Works District Officer in his letter dated November 10, 2010 informing that Rs 50 million were consumed up to October 2010.
The districts that have been covered under this programme include Thatta, Khairpur, Badin, Tando Muhammad Khan, Larkana, Ghotki, Matiyari, Hyderabad, Tando Allah Yar, Dadu, Sanghar, Noshero Feroze, Kashmore, Jacobabad, Tharparkar, Mirpurkhas, Umerkot, Jamshoro, Benazirabad, Sukkur, Shikarpur, Karachi, and Kambar-Shahdadkot.
