Promoting Private Schools in Rural Sindh (PPRS) Program
Promoting Private Schooling in Rural Sindh (PPRS) program is an initiative of the Sindh Education Foundation under the Public-Private Partnership component of the Sindh Education Reform Program-II 2013-14. Initially launched under SERP-I in 2008-2009, the program continues as part of SERP-II. The program has been designed by the SEF in collaboration with the Reform Support Unit (Govt. of Sindh) and the World Bank. The PPRS interventions support establishment and management of private schools in the underserved localities in 18 districts of Sindh that rank poorly along three indicators: the size of the out-of-school children population (6-10 years), distance to the nearest primary school, and gender disparity in primary school participation. The focus of the program is to provide “access to quality education facilities in far flung areas of Sindh” through local entrepreneurship” with an overall goal of “establishing public private partnerships for increasing access to and improving the quality of educational services provided to the children in marginalized areas of the Sindh province with support of private sector.”
Objectives
- Promoting long-term public-private partnerships through providing per child subsidy to private schools in order to create greater access to education in marginalized areas of Sindh
- Enhancing quality of education and educational practices within classrooms thereby increasing student learning and achievement
- Reducing gender disparity in education
Current Intervention
- Upgrading of primary schools into elementary level
- Providing support in establishment of Audio Visual room in selected schools
- Providing technical support by establishment of computer labs for elementary schools
- Awarding 700 contracts to new partners under Phase VI
- Raising subsidy rate for both primary and elementary level schools
- Introducing IT based teaching Infrastructural Reforms
Support Extended to Schools:
- Providing subsidy of PKR 500 per child per month,
- Providing Oxford University Press (OUP) books to school children,
- Capacity building of teachers/schools operators through trainings and workshops.
Quality Measures by SEF
- Revised contract aptly necessitating operators to invest in improving learning environment and enhancing quality.
- Annual Students’ Assessment to gauge students learning outcomes
- Teachers' Assessment for evaluating the performance of the teachers
- Regular monitoring of schools