The Hon’ble Minister for Education and Literacy Govt. of Sindh, Syed Sardar Ali Shah accompanied by Secretary School Education and Literacy Department, Ms. Alia Shahid visited the Sindh Education Foundation on August 31, 2018. They were welcomed by the Managing Director, Sindh Education Foundation and the Foundation’s officers.
The Managing Director, SEF briefed the Minister Education about the Foundation’s work, it’s institutional set-up and the future targets. The Hon’ble Minister was briefed about PPP modality, with emphasis on low cost per child subsidy model with public private partnership as its bedrock.
The Managing Director, SEF presented the initial development interventions that the Foundation implemented to reach out to deprived communities; and how they served as lessons for subsequent thematic interventions focusing on early learning to secondary and non-formal education that enabled the Foundation to expand its portfolio phenomenally in the last three years to 555,943 students through a network of 2,372 schools and learning centers. The reforms under taken in last three years which have led to a growth of 112% in enrollment which is a significant expansion given the fact that large part of Foundation schools are located in under privileged areas of Sindh. Moreover, the Foundation is increasingly focusing on Post-Primary portfolio. It plans to increase the Elementary/ Secondary schools with an in wearing focus on students’ outcome.
The Minister was briefed about current initiatives pertaining to innovative education methods undertaken by SEF such as Introducing Smart Teaching and Learning (INSTAL), provision of tablets and Android based e-learning software, provision of grants for setting up computer labs, audio visual rooms etc. details were given about the new initiative relating to School Scholarship Program under which approximately 1,000 students would be selected from Government of Sindh’s Schools and SEF Assisted Schools. there students would be selected on the basis of Students Assessment Test (SAT) and SEF Assessments administered through a third Party, for provision of Scholarship for post-primary education in reputable public institutions; such as University of IBA Sukkur Community Colleges and Public Schools across Sindh. Such collaborative programs will be of great benefit for public sector schools, students and communities and shall also be an incentive for meritorious students.
Syed Sardar Ali Shah appreciated the Foundation’s work in the education sector both in terms of outreach and quality attainments. He emphasized that Government is fully committed towards quality education and it is a high-priority area for sustainable human development in the province.