KARACHI: Sindh Education Minister, Syed Sardar Ali Shah and U.S. Consul General Mark Stroh Tuesday inaugurated a new high school building in Karachi constructed through the
United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded Sindh Basic Education Program (SBEP).
The newly constructed Government High School Sindhi Jamaat Cooperative Housing Society, Bin Qasim Town in Malir, the 77th new school constructed under the program, offers students and faculty state-of-the-art classrooms, computer and science labs, a health room, and a library.
The USAID Deputy Mission Director, David Young, Secretary School Education and Literacy Department-Sindh, Ghulam Akbar Laghari, USAID Director for Sindh and Balochistan Andrew Rebold, Special Assistant to CM Javed Nayab Laghari and a large number of the community residents attended the inaugurating ceremony.
Sardar Ali Shah expressed his happiness on the inauguration of Government High School Sindhi Jamat that has been reconstructed under the Sindh Basic Education Program as a state of art child-friendly School. He said that this School demonstrates the efforts undertaken by the Government of Sindh with the support of USAID.
Shah expressed his appreciation for the U.S. Government’s support in modernizing education in Sindh through the province’s ongoing partnership with USAID.
Through SBEP, USAID has invested $159.2 million (PKR 25 billion) in school construction in Sindh. SBEP reconstructs schools damaged by the 2010 floods and newly constructs other schools to support the Government of Sindh’s policy of merging, consolidating, and upgrading existing schools. Upon its completion, SBEP will have constructed 106 state-of-the-art schools in the following ten Sindh districts: Dadu, Jacobabad, Karachi-Malir, Karachi-South, Karachi-East, Kashmore, Khairpur, Larkana, Qambar-Shahdadkot, and Sukkur.
On the occasion, Consul General Mark Stroh said, “We believe that true and lasting development, for countries as well as individuals, starts with education.”
“The United States and Pakistan are committed to expand our cooperation in education – from primary to post-graduate levels – to cement this common goal, ” he said.
According to the details, USAID Sindh Basic Education Program (SBEP) is a $159.2 million award that aims to improve quality of public school education by constructing 106 schools across 10 districts in Sindh in partnership with the government of Sindh.
The Government of Sindh’s School Education and Literacy Department (SELD) contributes $10 million as a cost-share. SBEP also mobilizes communities to increase girls’ enrolment, improve the learning environment and early grade reading, and offer technical assistance to the Government of Sindh.
Operation of these schools is being led by private sector Education Management Organizations (EMOs).
Public-private partnership agreements between the Government of Sindh and 10 EMOs have been signed, whereby these 10 EMOs will manage 171 public schools, of which 81 are USAID-funded.