The US Consul General Grace Shelton and Sindh Minister of Education Jam Mehtab Dahar Tuesday witnessed the agreement signing between School Education & Literacy Department and private organizations to manage government schools built under United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded Sindh Basic Education Program (SBEP). Also attending the event were USAID Deputy Mission Director Oghale Oddo, and Sindh Secretary of Education Iqbal Durrani.
"We are proud to partner with the Government of Sindh in this important initiative," Consul General Shelton stated. She added: "Sindh Basic Education Program is helping improve the quality of teaching and increase equitable access to safe learning opportunities for children, especially girls. These children in Sindh who will receive free quality education will grow up to become the next generation of engineers, doctors, teachers, and entrepreneurs."
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 under the Education Management Organization (EMO) policy.
Under these agreements, Indus Resource Centre (IRC), Charter for Compassion (CFC), Health & Nutrition Society (HANDS), and Sindh Rural Support Organization (SRSO) will manage a total of 14 newly constructed schools built under SBEP. These schools are part of the 106 large state-of-the-art school buildings being reconstructed in northern Sindh and Karachi under SBEP, which is a $155 million initiative that aims to increase and sustain student enrollment in primary, middle, and secondary public schools. Nine other schools completed earlier are already operating under similar agreements.-PR