The Sindh Education Foundation, Government of Sindh, in collaboration with the Reform Support Unit and the World Bank launched the ‘Promoting Private Schooling in Rural Sindh (PPRS) Project’ in 2008-09. The Project aims to establish 1,000 new private schools across 10 districts of Sindh. The first 2 phases of the project saw the establishment of 300 new private schools. Assistance to 185 new schools was announced during a ceremony held in Karachi on October 29, 2011. The event was attended by around 300 participants comprising newly selected school entrepreneurs, representatives from non-governmental organizations, school administrators, government officials, media, educationists, corporate sector personnel and members of civil society organizations.
Dr. Mohammad Memon (Head, Aga Khan University – Institute for Educational Development) chaired the event as Chief Guest. Dr. Momon lauded the vision and extensive efforts of SEF under the dynamic leadership of Prof. Anita Ghulam Ali. He commended the PPRS Project model for not only bringing education to the more distant parts of Sindh but also in galvanizing the much needed private sector involvement in improving educational facilities in the province. He added that the success of the project was evident in the results shown by the impact evaluation carried out by the World Bank.
Prof. Anita Ghulam Ali (MD,SEF) highlighted the PPRS Project as one of SEF’s successful public private partnership initiatives supported by the Government of Sindh that has extended access to quality education facilities for the marginalized children and communities of Sindh. She congratulated the 185 newly selected school owners and invited their support in the unified efforts for education. Prof. Anita stated that the PPRS Project is an unprecedented initiative in SEF’s history as far as financial magnitude, outreach and beneficiaries are concerned. She added further that the idea is not to simply open a school but to initiate a sustainable educational center which is conducive to learning; a permanent place where the process of knowledge sharing can continue.
Ms. Ambreena Ahmed (Senior Manager, SEF) provided an overview of the Sindh Education Foundation introducing the interventions undertaken in the public, private and community schooling sectors and highlighted the Foundation’s progress spanning over two decades with the support of the Government of Sindh as well as other national and international institutions.
PPRS Project Coordinator, Ms. Sadaf Bhojani, presented a detailed overview of the Project and key intervention details. She stated that the PPRS Project provides per-student subsidies to private entrepreneurs to set up and operate coeducational primary schools in underserved rural communities in 10 disadvantaged districts of Sindh. The schools also receive technical assistance in the form of teacher training, textbooks, and learning materials. She announced that the third phase of the Project will add 700 additional schools to the PPRS portfolio and out of these 185 applications have been selected in Round 1 and announced at this event.
Mr. Dushaynt Raju (Senior Economist, The World Bank) praised the PPRS Project and the efforts of Sindh Education Foundation. He stated that the Project was one of the most innovative initiatives present today in the developing world. He stated that the success of the earlier phases of PPRS has been remarkable both in terms of increasing the outreach and enhancing the quality of the education imparted to the marginalized children. Mr. Raju also praised the cost effectiveness of the Project model and said it was an achievement to be proud of. He added further that the PPRS Project shows great promise in improving the quality and outreach of education in the Sindh province and that the World Bank looks forward to supporting the initiative.
Ms. Mariam Adil (Impact Evaluation Manager, The World Bank) congratulated the newly selected entrepreneurs and the SEF for yet another milestone step towards furthering education to underserved communities. She said that a recent and rigorous evaluation by the World Bank establishes the success of the PPRS Project model in cost-effectiveness and improved students’ achievement levels when compared to other developing world models. Initiated at the request of the Government of Sindh, the evaluation was carried out in early 2011 by a team of researchers from the World Bank, Columbia University, and the RAND Graduate School. Ms. Adil indicated that results have shown that PPRS schools have drawn nearly all young children in the respective vicinity into schools increasing the share of children that go to school by 29 percentage points. Moreover the cost-effectiveness of the PPRS Project in increasing school participation is one of the highest amongst all rigorously evaluated programs in the developing world. Importantly, the Project has produced large gains in child achievements especially in learning of Mathematics and local language. She added that students from PPRS Project schools out-performed not only the out-of-school children but also the students enrolled in other local schools in the vicinity when tested.
An informal question answer session was held between the audience and the SEF management after which the 185 selected school localities were awarded their offer letters.
