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LAHORE - The School Education Department, which claims it has achieved enrolment targets, is all set to outsource more public sector schools.
There is no answer to this question: Is outsourcing of government schools failure of the public education system?
Adviser to the chief minister Michael Barber said at a meeting that enrolment in primary public schools had increased from 7.3 million in May 2016 to 8 million in May 2017. At a high-level meeting the Punjab chief minister chaired the other day, the participants had an overview of the education department. Punjab School Support Programme (PSSP) head Ali Jan Khan, who is also secretary of the Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department, informed the meeting that schools were being outsourced on merit and there was a need for institutional capacity building.
The chief minister directed the officials to expand the programme to 10,000 schools. The Punjab government has already privatised about 5,000 schools. Ali Jan will give a thorough plan in this regard.
A large number of schools has already been handed over to well-known education providers and NGOs like Care, Akhuwat, NRSP, The Citizen Foundation and PRSP. So far, the private sector is operating 4,300 government schools.
The meeting was informed that the Punjab Education Foundation (PEF) was striving hard to achieve 2017-18 targets. It was also claimed that 2.5 million students were enrolled in PEF programmes. The PEF chairman demanded that stipend for girl students should be expanded to foundation schools as well. However, the chief minister ordered third-party validation or audit of PEF programmes.
PITB Chairman Dr Umar Saif said the board was working to keep a check on financial affairs of the PEF.
Adviser Barber informed the chief minister that this partnership between the public and private sector in the case of PSSP schools was an unprecedented intervention in global education systems. He said that other countries took years to enact such partnerships. He highlighted the challenges of enrolment and progress on construction of classrooms as well as recruitment of teachers.
The chief minister owned the outsourcing plan and said that it was implemented despite opposition from many circles, including teachers. He said this plan was a step in the right direction.
Official sources said the government had plans to outsource a large number of schools to the private sector. School Department Secretary Dr Allah Bakhsh Malik was not available for comments. However, a senior SED officer said the department was forced to privatise schools because donors wanted this. He said that many more reforms were in the pipeline to materialise the privatisation plan. The new seat of a special secretary for reforms is being created to further the initiative, he said.
Requesting anonymity, a vice chancellor said the concept of outsourcing was based on the belief that someone else could do better for you. A majority of government teachers want to deliver, while contractors have no stakes in a child’s success other than financial benefits, he said. The state should not shirk its responsibility even if it costs more money, he said. There is an urgency to improve the public sector schooling. Focus on education, curriculum and better management is the solution to problems involving the education sector, he concluded.
http://nation.com.pk/lahore/02-Jul-2017/govt-to-outsource-thousands-of-schools
There is no answer to this question: Is outsourcing of government schools failure of the public education system?
Adviser to the chief minister Michael Barber said at a meeting that enrolment in primary public schools had increased from 7.3 million in May 2016 to 8 million in May 2017. At a high-level meeting the Punjab chief minister chaired the other day, the participants had an overview of the education department. Punjab School Support Programme (PSSP) head Ali Jan Khan, who is also secretary of the Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department, informed the meeting that schools were being outsourced on merit and there was a need for institutional capacity building.
The chief minister directed the officials to expand the programme to 10,000 schools. The Punjab government has already privatised about 5,000 schools. Ali Jan will give a thorough plan in this regard.
A large number of schools has already been handed over to well-known education providers and NGOs like Care, Akhuwat, NRSP, The Citizen Foundation and PRSP. So far, the private sector is operating 4,300 government schools.
The meeting was informed that the Punjab Education Foundation (PEF) was striving hard to achieve 2017-18 targets. It was also claimed that 2.5 million students were enrolled in PEF programmes. The PEF chairman demanded that stipend for girl students should be expanded to foundation schools as well. However, the chief minister ordered third-party validation or audit of PEF programmes.
PITB Chairman Dr Umar Saif said the board was working to keep a check on financial affairs of the PEF.
Adviser Barber informed the chief minister that this partnership between the public and private sector in the case of PSSP schools was an unprecedented intervention in global education systems. He said that other countries took years to enact such partnerships. He highlighted the challenges of enrolment and progress on construction of classrooms as well as recruitment of teachers.
The chief minister owned the outsourcing plan and said that it was implemented despite opposition from many circles, including teachers. He said this plan was a step in the right direction.
Official sources said the government had plans to outsource a large number of schools to the private sector. School Department Secretary Dr Allah Bakhsh Malik was not available for comments. However, a senior SED officer said the department was forced to privatise schools because donors wanted this. He said that many more reforms were in the pipeline to materialise the privatisation plan. The new seat of a special secretary for reforms is being created to further the initiative, he said.
Requesting anonymity, a vice chancellor said the concept of outsourcing was based on the belief that someone else could do better for you. A majority of government teachers want to deliver, while contractors have no stakes in a child’s success other than financial benefits, he said. The state should not shirk its responsibility even if it costs more money, he said. There is an urgency to improve the public sector schooling. Focus on education, curriculum and better management is the solution to problems involving the education sector, he concluded.
http://nation.com.pk/lahore/02-Jul-2017/govt-to-outsource-thousands-of-schools
