PUNJAB EDUCATION SECTOR REFORM PROGRAMMEDEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION, GOVT. OF PUNJAB, PAKISTAN |
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Mission Statement
Our mission is to support the Education Department and Government of Punjab (GoPb) by bridging the implementation gaps and delivery mechanisms. The PESRP embraces the principles of increased transparency, participation, and collaboration as More... |
PMIU Programs & Projects
CAPACITY BUILDING OF TEACHERSTeacher training is one of the major reform areas in Punjab. Directorate of Staff Development (DSD) was restructured in 2004 as the GoPb’s key department responsible for conceptualizing, structuring and delivering new methods of teacher training. Since 2005-06, DSD has concentrated on providing support and training to teachers under its Continuing Professional Development (CPD) program, which is based on international best practices in teacher training, and research on pedagogical methods.
CAPACITY BUILDING OF EDUCATION MANAGERSSince the responsibility for M&E, along with other management functions in the education sector lies with local government staff. It is therefore crucial to build managerial capacity at the district level, by providing necessary logistics as well as human resource development support. The Government of Punjab GoPb therefore developed a Rs. 694 million capacity building project for local governments in 2007, according to which district government education managers would be provided with logistical (in the form of vehicles), technical (in the form of computers) and managerial (in the form of managerial training in education management) support to help them enhance their performance. To achieve this goal; the contract for training of district education officials has been awarded to the Government College University (GCU), which has developed appropriate training modules for the purpose. The training consists in three levels of certification i.e. The course content is designed to strengthen The course also incorporates a module of the education sector reform program of the GoPb. In (2009-2010),325 (11 batches) of BS- 19 officers and 174 (6 batches) 0f BS-18 officers completed their advance level certification By the end of March 5th 2011, 487 officers of BS-18 & 19 have been trained under this capacity building program. TEXTBOOK REFORMThe Punjab Textbook Board (PTTB) is an autonomous institution whose patron in chief or Controlling Authority is the Governor of the province. The Board is entirely self-financed, but is responsible for ensuring that textbooks developed in the province broadly follow the approved guidelines of the Government of Punjab (GoPb), and are developed in accordance with the curriculum prepared by the Federal Government. A new curriculum was introduced by the Federal Government in 2007 to The issuance of the new textbook policy i.e. the National Textbook and Learning Materials Policy and Plan of Action, by the federal government has introduced the concept of public-private partnership in textbook development. The policy recommends a well regulated, competitive system of textbook development and publication. Accordingly, the PTTB has taken a quantum leap from an in-house writing and production process, to the one where contracts for textbook development and publication are awarded through a policy of open competition. The publishers are required by PTTB to Thus textbook development has ceased to be an in-house activity, with little public input, to the one where a broad range of stakeholders give feedback to the PTBB. PROVISION OF FREE TEXTBOOKSExpenditure on education has been judged as one the key grounds of low enrollment and high dropout rates. To address this issue the Government of Punjab (GoPb) allowed free provision of textbooks for all grades from Katchi (or nursery) to Grade 10. The activity began in 2004-05, with 12.2 million textbooks being distributed to primary school students across the province. In 2005-06, the program was extended to elementary school, with 20.9 million textbooks being distributed. In 2011-12, the GoPb distributed almost 40.08 million textbooks to just under 10597301 million students, covering all levels from Katchi to Grade 10. STIPENDS FOR GIRL STUDENTSSince the cost of education and dropout rate tends to be highest ever for girls particularly from grade 6-10 therefore the Government of Punjab (GoPb) instituted a stipend program for girl students of elementary schools in October 2003. The program beneficiaries are girl students from grades 6-10 in 15 low literacy districts. The stipend, of Rs. 200 per month, is paid quarterly through the postal service to assure the delivery of money orders in the name of the girl students at their homes. As of 2010-11 almost 375605 girl students were benefitted from the scheme. The stipend program is one of the most successful initiatives of the GoPb as it has raised the gross enrollment ratio for girls in middle schools from 43 to 53 percent over the period of three years (i.e. 2003 -2006) and in absolute terms enrolment has increased upto 60 percent. PROVISION OF MISSING FACILITIESThe Government of Punjab (GoPb) carried out a limited survey to assess the state of infrastructure in public schools in 2003 with the help of District Managers. The survey assessed The GoPb has now taken up the issue of provision of missing facilities with a more focused approach, using school-based data analysis as the basis for assessment of civil works needed, as well as estimated costs. According to this whole School approach; once a school is prioritized for provision of facilities, all missing infrastructure in the school would be provided in one go. The school is selected on the basis of highest enrollment. Process steps are as under RECRUITMENT OF TEACHERSTeacher absenteeism and lack of teachers in schools is one of the causes of low levels of learning achievement in the public sector institutions. The Government of Punjab (GoPb) is committed to ensure that the requisite posts for teachers in all schools are filled, and that teachers are trained in accordance with a program of continuous professional development. The PESRP brought about some immediate changes in the recruitment policy in 2003-04.To bring about conformity in the recruitment process; the GoPb issued a new recruitment policy for educators in August 2008 announcing the recruitment of 34,054 educators across the province for FY 2008-09. The more elaborated features of the policy are As identified in the new Recruitment Policy 2008-09 the process steps are as under PERFORMANCE BASED INCENTIVES FOR TEACHERSThe idea of awarding extra monetary rewards based on performance for the teachers is a major contributing factor in improving the quality, access and equity in public education. Moreover; it promotes the spirit of teamwork and coordination among the staff and management of the schools. Bearing it in mind the Government of Punjab (GoPb) decided to reward the teachers on the basis of the performance of the students in their final examination of terminal classes i.e. grade 5, 8, 10, 12. Two types of programs were designed to appreciate the teachers efforts of the public schools, that are The Chief Minister of Punjab approved the teachers performance based incentive- High Achiever Program in the financial year 2008-09.To conform the uniform and successful delivery of services the GoPb in consultation with PMIU-PESRP and World Bank made a few amendments in previous practice; the School Education Department notified very clearly Only the teachers of top 20% of the high performing schools are entitled for this performance based incentive. Eligible schools are selected on the basis of certain quantifiable features assigned different weightage to generate more transparent and fool-proof merit lists. These features are Schools are organized in four ranking lists The Selection and Appellate Committees reserve the power the remove any deficiency in calculation according to the formulas explicitly defined. Schools are finally notified by the EDO Education and the selection of this top 20% Schools has been kept gender blind. Selection and Appellate Committees: SCHOOL COUNCILSCommunity participation is quite essential to bring about much needed governance reform in education management. The SC policy makes it mandatory for all government schools to constitute a 7 to 15 member council comprising of parents, teachers and other members of the community who would be responsible for In addition to details of the role and responsibilities of the SCs, the policy specifies procedural details for the selection of members, financial procedures which the councils must follow, and monitoring mechanisms. Terms of Partnership signed between the GoPb and district governments allows the district governments to transfer the funds directly from their accounts to the commercial bank accounts of the SCs. CAPACITY BUILDING OF SCHOOL COUNCILSThe objective of empowering SCs such that they would contribute to the achievement of key PESRP goals, including increasing enrolment, checking the dropout rate in addition to facilitating the provision of key school infrastructure, a pilot project called the School Council Capacity Building Project (SCCBP) was initiated in six districts in 2005-06, with 400 schools participating from each district. The SCCBP was implemented with the help of two NGOs Two capacity building models were tested. An important activity in this regard was the development of School Based Action Plans (SBAPs) for each selected school by the respective SC. The RSPs organized 3-4 days training programs developed by the Institute of Rural Management (IRM) and the University of Education for at least 4 SC members, who were briefed on A year later, SCs began to finalize SBAPs, using the expertise of RSP engineers to estimate the costs of civil works.SBAPs were scrutinized by the EDO Education, the concerned RSP and the PMIU-PESRP under the guidelines of SCCBP.After the approval; funds for implementation of the SBAPs were transferred to the bank account of the respective SC. The funds release to SCs took place in two phases;according to the NRSP’s records, phase I of the program witnessed the release of approximately Rs. 288.75 million to 1641 schools, while in the second phase, Rs. 233.14 million were released to 1528 schools. The SCCBP pilot project matured in June 2008, but the RSPs have continued to remain engaged with the reorganized SCs through the community organizations functioning in the selected districts. Under the next phase of the SCCBP, 17,060 school councils received training in the current year, while another 20, 494 school councils would be trained in 2010-2011 and another 19,000 in 2011-2012 SCHOOL COUNCIL POLICYThe SC policy makes it mandatory for all government schools to constitute a 7 to 15 member council comprising of parents, teachers and other members of the community who would be responsible for ensuring teachers’ presence, increasing enrolment by motivating parents to send their children to school, conducting co-curricular activities, taking measures to safeguard teachers/students rights, providing support in the distribution of free textbooks and stipends in the school, and taking measures to protect school buildings. The Councils are required to hold meetings at least once a month, prepare a School Development Plan for the use of funds, and maintain certain records. In addition to details of the role and responsibilities of the SCs, the policy specifies procedural details for the selection of members, financial procedures which the councils must follow, and monitoring mechanisms. The policy also specifies that under the Terms of Partnership signed between the GoPb and district governments, district governments can transfer funds directly from their accounts to the commercial bank accounts of the SCs. In a move to encourage councils to undertake necessary small-scale projects without fear of excessive scrutiny, the expenditure made by SCs was taken out of the purview of Punjab Financial Rules, thereby barring audit of SC expenditure under the government rules. The funds release to SCs took place in two phases, with release based on the review of the respective SBAPs prepared by the SCs. According to the NRSP’s records, phase I of the program witnessed the release of approximately Rs. 288.75 million to 1641 schools, while in the second phase, Rs. 233.14 million were released to 1528 schools. The SCCBP pilot project matured in June 2008, but the RSPs have continued to remain engaged with the reorganized SCs through the community organizations functioning in the selected districts. Under the next phase of the SCCBP, 17,060 school councils received training in the current year, while another 20, 494 school councils would be trained in 2010-2011 and another 19,000 in 2011-2012. RESTRUCTURING OF THE PUNJAB EDUCATION FOUNDATION (PEF)The growth in the number of private sector educational institutions from the mid 1990s prompted a reconsideration of Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) for the education sector in Punjab, with the Government of the Punjab acknowledging that the two could complement each other, instead of operating as rivals. This realization prompted the establishment of the Punjab Education Foundation (PEF) in 1991. Initially, the PEF was constituted as a public sector entity, whose Board of Directors and Managing Director was appointed by the Government of the Punjab. The key responsibility of PEF was to provide loans and grants to non-profit entities wanting to set up educational institutions. From 1991 to 2004, PEF was working as a limited scope financial institution, and had not succeeded in energizing private sector investment in education. In 2004, the Government of the Punjab introduced legislation to reappoint the PEF as an autonomous body, with eight of its fifteen directors consisting of persons associated with NGOs, research institutions or private sector entities working in the education sector. The Chairperson of the Board is appointed from amongst the non-official Board members, and the Managing Director is now appointed by the Board. The restructured PEF was given the mandate of providing financial assistance to private schools catering to low income households, with the specific provision that 75 percent of its resources would be earmarked for the support of low-cost private schools in disadvantaged areas. PEF activities, since its restructuring, include the identification of Foundation Assisted Schools (FASs) where tuition fee is picked up by PEF, and students are required to maintain a specific level of achievement, measured through annually held Quality Assurance Tests (QATs). At present, the program is covering 2162 schools in 36 districts, with 10, 74,491 students benefiting from the intervention. Through its continuous professional development program (CPDP), PEF is providing cluster-based training in pedagogical skills to teachers of low-cost private schools. In another attempt to provide quality teaching resources to such schools, PEF has initiated a program for Subject Based Support Program (SBSP) in 24 selected districts. Under the SBSP, subject specialists are engaged at market based salaries, and deputed to teach in low-cost private school clusters in urban and rural areas. The SBSP is covering 166 schools and employs 83 subject specialists. PEF has also piloted an education voucher scheme in peri-urban and backward areas of Lahore, in which education vouchers for children aged 4 to 17 have been delivered to 1,40,000 deserving students of 235 selected slums in the province. The vouchers, which are redeemable against fee in educational institutions, enable households to send their children to a quality school of their choice. Lastly, PEF’s New School Program (NSP) offers assistance to entrepreneurs who wish to open low-cost private schools in areas where literacy rates are exceptionally low and the ratio of out-of-school children is very high. Under this scheme, PEF is funding 429 schools across the province. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE PUNJAB EXAMINATION COMMISSION (PEC)The PEC was established as an autonomous body in January 2006, and was mandated to conduct standardized examinations for Grade 5 and Grade 8 to enable education managers in the province to assess learning outcomes in general as well as to identify institutions which require particular attention. PEC is responsible for the entire cycle of assessment from registration of students to setting question papers, printing and dissemination of the question papers, conduct of examinations, marking, dissemination of results and analysis of results. The first set of examinations was conducted by PEC in 2006 and only covered Grade 5. Thereafter, examinations for both Grades 5 and 8 were conducted in 2007 and 2009. The initial establishment of PEC was done by administrative order. However, by October 2006, it had been decided that PEC would be constituted through appropriate legislation, so that the role and responsibilities of the Commission as well as its administrative structure would be clearly defined. In March 2008, the Governor promulgated the Punjab Examination Commission Ordinance, according to which the Commission was mandated to design, develop, implement, maintain, monitor and evaluate a system of examinations for elementary education; formulate policy for the conduct of such examinations; and build capacity of teachers and education management staff to improve systems of learning assessment. The Commission is still in a state of transition however, and continues to be dependent on Education Department resources, both financial and administrative, for conduct of examinations. The Commission is also short of technical and other staff. There is a need to provide a sound legislative basis for the Commission, through the approval of the PEC Ordinance by the Punjab Assembly. MONITORING AND EVALUATIONSince the monitoring and evaluation provides the only consolidated source of information showcasing project progress that contributes to transparency, accountability, retention and finally to the development of an institution. Bearing in mind The Government of Punjab (GoPb) instituted a comprehensive school monitoring system, the key components of which are 1. Annual school census 2. School Management Information System (SMIS) 3. Monthly monitoring system. At the apex of the M&E system is; the GoPb’s Program Monitoring and Implementation Unit (PMIU) that was established to oversee the implementation of the education sector reform programs. The PMIU works in conjunction with the Department of School Education, GoPb and acts as the policy and implementation wing of the Department. The PMIU’s key task with regard to monitoring is to regulate an effective data collection system at the district level. INSTITUTIONAL STRUCTURE 1. The lynchpin of the GoPb’s school monitoring system is the office of the District Monitoring Officer (DMO), based at district and reports to the PMIU.The DMOs in turn supervise a field staff of Monitoring and Evaluation Assistants (MEAs), who are responsible for undertaking regular field visits and collection of data on facilities. 2. The MEAs are recruited and their positions are funded by a province based entity, the Chief Minister’s Monitoring Force (CMMF) which was established to assist in the monitoring of all development schemes initiated in the province and reports directly to the Secretary School Education.CMMF headed by a Deputy Director (Monitoring) who is responsible for recruitment, HRM and Budgetary issues relating to MEAs. 3. The MEAs are almost all retired Junior Commissioned Officers (JCOs) retired from the armed forces, and hired on three-year contracts. Their performance is evaluated at the end of the contract period by the DMO. There are 929 sanctioned posts of MEAs, of which 839 are currently filled. Operational Stratagem: 1. MEAs are assigned “school circles” or areas in each district, such that they are able to visit at least 4 schools per day, and visit all the schools in their circle at least once a month. Thus in theory each district employs MEAs according to this proportion – ensuring that all schools in the district are covered at least once a month. 2. MEA’s circles are rotated every month, so each MEA is responsible for a different school circle in successive months. This prevents MEAs from forming personal relationships with school staff of a particular area, thus reducing the possibility of collusion. 3. MEAs are required to fill out a two page monthly monitoring form, which checks for the status of basic facilities, enrolment and teacher attendance among other things. Once a year, the MEAs also act as enumerators for the SMIS 4. The monthly monitoring data collected by the MEAs is entered into a program at the district level, and sent on to the PMIU for collation and analysis every month. 5. SMIS data is sent in raw form (as paper forms) to the PMIU, and is entered, cleaned (through a series of data validation checks developed by PMIU) and collated in Lahore Though these MEAs have been deputed to monitor the performance of facilities other than those of the education department in last two years, school level monitoring yet continues to be their prime responsibility. CROSS-CHECKING:In addition to the monthly monitoring forms and the SMIS, the PMIU has instituted cross-checks for the monitoring of delivery of stipends and free textbooks The key use of the monitoring data is the development of a composite index, which assigns weightage to different indicators in the monthly monitoring forms, and is then used to rank district performance. Teacher’s absenteeism, measured as a function of total teacher’s posts sanctioned, and teachers present in schools during monitoring visits, is the variable assigned the greatest weightage in the composite. Other variables include student enrollment and attendance gaps, the systematic provision of free textbooks, school cleanliness, visits by district education department officials etc. The composite index of district performance is prepared on In practice, the issue of teacher’s absenteeism has been the most frequently highlighted issue for all districts. The M&E system enables the identification of specific individuals whose attendance is irregular, and both the PMIU and DMOs have provided lists of such employees to the district governments for further action. In the bulk of cases, the district government uses the information to issue warnings to teachers, but in some cases, dismissals from service have been effected for repeat offenders. The other key use of monitoring data is the identification of schools where essential facilities are missing. The features are as under In addition to cross-checks across the two databases and triangulation of data, third party validation (TPV) exercises have been institutionalized in Punjab under the aegis of the PESRP. To date, seven TPVs have been carried out to test the validity of monthly monitoring data on enrolment, to assess the quality of civil works and supply of furniture being carried out under the program for up-gradation of missing facilities, to verify the actual receipt of stipends and of free textbooks |
