SEF and EFS join hands to educate out-of-school children in Sindh

Karachi

The Sindh Education Foundation (SEF), part of the Sindh government, and the Education Fund for Sindh (EFS), a non-profit company, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Friday to provide access to quality education to out-of-school children in Sindh.

According to an official, both the organisations will combine their resources under a joint steering committee to provide support to the EFS intermediary partners, which will enable the implementing partner to scale their scope of activities with special focus on improving the educational landscape in rural Sindh. 

"The Sindh government, [the] SEF and [the] EFS share a common vision of providing access to quality, cost-effective education for every child in the province and indeed for every child in the country," said Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, education and literacy minister, while speaking at the occasion.

He said the provincial government was committed to the provision of universal education as outlined under the 18th constitutional amendment.

“The SEF has by now reached out to over 250,000 students and majority of these are in some of the most under-developed regions of the province,” the minister said. 

Dr Fazlullah Pechuho, the secretary of the Sindh education and literacy department, said that with the assistance of USAID, other than rehabilitation and reconstruction of 120 schools, the Sindh Reading Programme and the Sindh Community Mobilisation Programme were under advanced stages of implementation.

He said that under the Sindh Teachers Elementary Training Programme - funded by the Canadian International Development Agency- the department had provided training to over 4,400 teachers.

"I am certain that both our teachers and students will reap enormous benefits from these initiatives."

Chairman EFS Kamran Mirza said the government was making commendable efforts to improve access and quality of education for the children in the province and the EFS would endeavour to extend its full cooperation and support to the government.

"The EFS is confident that this collaboration will set the model for an effective public-private partnership to address the education emergency. 

SEF Managing Director Naheed S Durrani said the Sindh Education Foundation realised that it could play a vital role in aiding the government in its efforts to improve schooling in the province, especially for marginalised populations.

“The foundation has recently committed itself to enrolling nearly 100,000 out-of-school children under its various programmes, including the Promoting Private Schooling in Rural Sindh  and the SEF Assisted Schools."