By 2018, Sindh aims to increase literacy rate to 70pc

Karachi
The Reform Support Unit (RSU) of the Sindh Education & Literacy Department as well as the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) is organising a four-day Joint Education Sector Review (JESR) to assess the progress of implementation of the Sindh Education Sector Plan (SESP) 2014-18.
The review process, which involves group work discussions as well as field visits, would end on Friday.
On Wednesday the participants were divided into technical working groups (TWGs) and held detailed deliberations on specific reform areas.
On Thursday the TWGs will visit schools, field offices, early childhood education (ECE) centres, non-formal education centres, teacher training institutes and public and private schools to get a sense of the real situation on the ground.
The proposed visit sites are in Jamshoro, Hyderabad and Karachi. On Friday a wrap-up session will be conducted and it will be chaired by Education Minister Nisar Khuhro.
Based on discussions and field visits, the TWGs will be expected to make recommendations for further improvement in the education sector.
On the first day of the JESR, Education Special Secretary Aliya Shahid had told the audience about the introduction of a management cadre at taluka level, school consolidation activities and the fourth round of teacher recruitment. She said the government was serious about integrity and proficiency.
Dr Euphrates Gobina, Unicef chief of education, acknowledged the efforts of the Sindh Education Department and assured full support in providing equitable access and quality learning.
She noted that the JESR was an opportunity to re-evaluate key issues in education in the province.
Dr Robert Prouty, former chief of Global Partnership for Education and consultant for the JESR, informed the audience about the objectives of the review, encompassing three areas: performance, implementation and action. He suggested that the JESR be held annually from now on.
RSU Senior Programme Manager Ghulam Nabi spoke about key interventions undertaken under the SESP, including ECE.
He informed the gathering that enrolment in early childhood education would be increased from 32 to 45 percent by 2018, with increases also targeted in other areas, including primary enrolment from 59 to 77 percent, middle from 34 to 50 percent, secondary from 23 to 35 percent and higher secondary from 19 to 30 percent; the target for overall literacy is to increase the literacy rate from 59 percent to 70 percent by 2018.
The SESP covers all levels of education from ECE to higher secondary education and defines policies, strategies and programme priorities for the next five years in a number of key areas, including governance and accountability, non-formal education, teacher education, curriculum and assessment, school infrastructure and financing issues.
Sadiqa Salahuddin, executive director of Indus Resource Centre, said the SESP recognised the rights of the children of Sindh.
She emphasised the importance of political commitment and accountability to implement the plan. She also stressed the need to keep teachers informed about reform activities.