The 9th Board of Governors (BoGs) Meeting of Sindh Education Foundation (SEF), Government of Sindh (GoS) was held under the Chairmanship of the Chief Minister Sindh at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat on May 4, 2018 at 11 a.m. The meeting was attended by the Minister Education & Literacy Department/Vice Chairman SEF, BoGs; the Chief Secretary Sindh; Chairman P&D Board; Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister; Special Secretary School Education and Literacy Dept.; Special Secretary Finance Dept.; Non-official Board members namely: Dr. Qazi Masood, Dr. Muhammad Memon; Mr. Hasnain Qamar Shah, Deputy Managing Director, Directors, Sindh Education Foundation and others.
Ms. Naheed Shah Durrani, MD SEF; briefing the Board, stated that the Foundation in last few years has made efforts to supplement the efforts of School Education and Literacy Dept. The Foundation has not only expanded the outreach to over 555,943 students through a network of 2,314 schools but also undertaken quality reforms including the introduction of ICT based teaching and learning in SEF assisted schools. Some major milestones have been i) enhancing the post primary school portfolio; ii) introducing Adolescent and Ault learning and training program; iii) undertaking intensive teacher trainings and iv) instituting students Assessments through third party.
The Chief Minister appreciated Foundation’s efforts of undertaking survey of 941 closed Government schools of Thatta, Badin, Jamshoro, Dadu and Sujawal and putting forward a detailed plan to operationalize 168 of these closed schools which have been found to be viable on the basis of demography where over 35,000 students can have access to education in these deepest rural pockets. He also acknowledged a similar survey being conducted by the Foundation in Mirpurkhas; Tando Mohammad Khan and Tando Allahyar to open closed Government schools in order to get over 25,000 out of school children enrolled in schools. This strategy of identifying and operationalizing the closed viable SE&LD schools will bring in a large cohort of out of school children back to schools.
The SEF Board discussed and approved the following for:
- Partnership with Sindh Rural Support Organization (SRSO) and The Citizen Foundation (TCF)
- Taking over the earlier OMV managed schools for the provision of quality education in the desert areas of Ghotki, Saleh pat and Nara on sustained basis.
- The introduction of ICT and STEM i.e. “Science, Technology Engineering & Mathematics”, integrated curriculum in Government of Sindh and SEF Secondary /High schools through SEF and issued instructions that necessary financing may be secured for such an important intervention. He agreed with the proposal that the students studying in SEF-assisted and SE&LD run schools should gradually be acquainted with the concepts of ICT-based integrated curriculum. He vowed to recommend the concept to the interim government for swift and immediate implementation.
- The “School Education Scholarship Program” for award of scholarship to 1300 meritorious students of SEF assisted and SE&LD run schools who perform well in SEF and Government administered Assessments for getting post primary (Grade 6 to 12 level) education in the quality institutions like Sukkur IBA University Community Colleges/ Public Schools across Sindh.
- The Collaboration with UNDP for education, employment and empowerment of youth through dedicated intervention targeting approx. 15,000 youth.
- The Revised Estimates for the FY 2017-18 and Budget Estimates for the FY 2018-19.
The Chief Minister reiterated that Education is central to development and in this regard, Foundation has visibly put in commendable efforts. These efforts need to continue in the overall interest of our communities and for the overall development of the province.