Today the public education system in Pakistan is facing a state of near collapse. Historically recognized for its reasonable academic achievements, the public education sector has suffered a drastic fall in the quality of education being imparted, the direct consequence of which has been the fundamental lack of credibility and utility in the eyes of common people. It is hardly surprising therefore that the participation rates of boys and girls at the primary level in Sindh are 50% and 35% respectively. Secondary school statistics are considerably worse, with participation rates of 20% and 16% for boys and girls respectively.

In response to the dismal performance of the public education sector, there has been an exponential growth of schools and educational institutes in the private sector. During the last 15 years numerously diverse forms of private education have mushroomed around the country. These schools range from high-cost elitist western style institutions to NGO/CBO run non-profit basic education providing entities. A conservative estimate of the number of such schools, registered and unregistered, more than ten thousand.

Given the ever increasing involvement of the private sector in delivering education and the institutional challenges faced by private schools, it is imperative to provide institutional support to such institutions as part of a wider school improvement strategy in the private sector. In this regard, the Support to Private Education Institution Programme will primarily serve to strengthen institutional and managerial capacities and competence at all levels of the school through a sustained investment of substantial hum financial and technical recourses. The program will aim to do this through the provision of systematic staff development programs, an increase in professional opportunities and incentives, clearly defined roles and responsibilities, and establishment of strong assessment systems for performance.

Objectives

To pioneer a new culture of viable organizational vision and institutional development for good quality innovative learning and general improvement of educational practices in private schools and non profit NGO’s schools.

To forge long term public private partnership by including sizable number of private schools as beneficiaries of the program.

To devise mechanisms among private schools and districts for training support.

To design a meticulous framework for process support, quality improvement and continuous accountability of private and religious education providers.

To provide subsidy to the NGOs on the basis of its efforts towards attracting more children for education; and to provide teachers salary on the basis of teachers performance and their personal initiatives.

To launch meaningful research projects to build the models for low cost and high quality institutions of learning.