SINDH – MEDIUM TERM SECTOR FRAMEWORK
FOR SCHOOL LEVEL EDUCATION 

 

Government of Sindh has initiated an integrated vision of Reforms for primary and secondary schools under its “School Education Reform Program” (SERP).

            SERP provides for a three years plan of action to achieve following targets:-

            i) Net enrollment rates in primary, middle and secondary education are expected to increase from 48%, 18% and 12% in 2004-05 to 59%, 22% and 14% respectively in 2009-10.

            ii) The share of girls in primary and in middle schools in rural areas is expected to increase from 36% and 28% to 40% and 31% respectively between 2005-06 and 2009-10.

            iii) The transition rate for rural girls between primary and middle school is expected to increase from 47% to 50% between 2005-06 and 2009-10; and

            iv) Completion rates and learning outcomes will be regularly monitored.

            The Reform agenda is based on following pillars.

Improving Fiscal Sustainability and the Effectiveness of Public Expenditure including in education, through fiscal reforms to enable increases in education and other pro-poor expenditures, to improve budgetary processes and the composition of expenditures; as well as financial management and procurement reforms to increase credibility, transparency and accountability in the use of public resources.

Improving Education Sector Management through reforms to strengthen the functioning, capacity and accountability of provincial and district education management in line with devolution objectives, to provide incentives to district government to improve service delivery, and to strengthen the role of school management committees in school development and monitoring.

Improving Access to Quality Schooling, with a particular focus on rural areas and girls, through reforms to improve the quality and utilization of physical infrastructure in schools, to address implementation bottlenecks and improve the effectiveness of incentives programs (free textbooks and girls’ stipends), and to launch partnerships with the non-government/ private sector to increase access and quality.

Improving the Quality of Teaching and Learning, through instituting merit based recruitment and improved accountability of teachers, establishing a competency based system of teacher education and continuous professional development, and through strengthening the assessment of student achievement in the provincial education system.

To implement the Reform Program, a sector-wide “Education Sector Strategy” has been prepared.  A complementing financing plan provides a three year vision of progressively increasing the Education Budget in order to effectively implement the program.