CM wants students from poor communities to be enrolled in schools run under PPP mode

Sindh Caretaker Chief Minister Justice (retired) Maqbool Baqar has asked the officials concerned to make sure that students from deprived communities should get a fair opportunity of getting quality education through admissions to the government-constructed schools in the province handed over to the non-governmental organsations under the public-private partnership mode.

He issued directives to this effect on Saturday while chairing the 43rd meeting of the Public-Private Partnership Policy Board of the Sindh government here at the CM House on Saturday.

He said the NGOs involved in operations of the schools constructed by the Sindh government under the PPP mode should adhere to the provisions of the agreement they had signed with the provincial authorities for maintaining the standard of education being imparted at these educational institutions.

The director-general of the PPP Unit of the Sindh government, Asad Zaman, told the meeting that the Japan International Cooperation Agency in 2012 had launched a project to build additional facilities at 54 government-run primary schools in rural areas to upgrade them. These upgraded schools were handed to the Sindh government’s School Education Department in 2017 and these educational institutions are now being run by the relevant district administration.

The PPP Board in 2022 approved the proposal to conduct a feasibility study to operate these schools in the public-private partnership mode. These schools will be launched under the PPP mode in three phases. Repair and construction work is being carried out at nine of these schools and they would be launched after restoration.

The interim CM was briefed about the salient features of the proposed agreement for a 10-year period, which could be signed with prospective NGOs for operating these schools under the PPP mode.