Introduction

The Sindh Education Foundation (SEF), was established under the Sindh Education Foundation Act, 1992 as a semi-autonomous organization with a mandate to support education in the province through multifarious interventions. The Act provides wide ranging powers to the Foundation to support education sector through a large number of instruments and support activities. Since its establishment in 1992, the Foundation has made serious efforts to increase access to quality education for the students across Sindh especially those in the remote and under developed regions of the province.

Initially, SEF’s modus operandi focused on providing grants and loans to educational institutes and organizations. Today, the Foundation provides the communities with access to quality education in partnership with individuals and/or organizations. The Foundation ensures provision of equitable quality education across its education related portfolio by way of extending professional development and capacity building services for the school partners and the teachers on a regular basis as a major input for enhancing the students’ overall development capacities. The Foundation has institutionalized student assessment system for monitoring the student achievements other than a school monitoring system which is in the process of being modernized further.

The Foundation’s overall portfolio has expanded with a reach out to over 491,555 beneficiaries through a network of 2,100 schools across Sindh making it one of the largest education Foundations in Pakistan with multipronged developmental interventions in the areas of primary, post-primary, higher secondary, and non-formal education. The number of schools; teachers and the learners have increased manifold in the last few years reflect the level of commitment the Foundation shares.