Contents

Sindh Basic Education Program (SBEP) / 03
Key Highlights of the Month / 04 - 06
Section-1: / PMIU Activities / 07
Section-2: / Progress on Construction of Schools / 08
Section-3: / SBEP Logical Framework Status with Key Activities Performed / 09-17
Section-4: / Success Stories / 18
Every Girl Deserves a Better Future / 18
Amid Restrictions, Student Yearns To Learn / 19
Reforming Education Practices / 20
Picking Up From Where He Left Off; Re-Entering The Mainstream / 21
Section-5: / Pictures Gallery / 22-23
Annexure (School Wise Construction Status) / 24-25

Sindh Basic Education Program-SBEP

The Sindh Basic Education Program (SBEP) is a five-year program of School Education Department, Government of Sindh and funded by the USAID-Pak. The overall purpose of SBEP, as defined in the Planning Commission Form 1 (PC-1) and activity agreement, is “Increased and sustained student enrollment in primary, middle and secondary schools in targeted geographic locations in Sindh.” USAID and the GoS intend to accomplish this goal through seven components.

Component / Engagement / Implementing Partner / Indicator wise progress & details (Page No.)
Component 1:Construction of schools affected by 2010 floods / Government to Government / Government of Sindh, School Education Department / 8-9 and
24-25 (Annex-A)
Component 2:Support to Government of Sindh policy reforms to merge, consolidate and upgrade schools through the construction of schools / Government to Government / Government of Sindh, School Education Department
Component 3:Improvement in early grade reading in primary schools / Sindh Reading Program / Chemonics International / 10 & 11
Component 4:Community mobilization, with a focus on increasing girls’ enrollment and improving the nutritional status of children / Sindh Community Mobilization Program / International Relief & Development / 12-15
Component 5:Technical assistance to the Department of School Education / Sindh Capacity Development Project / Deloitte Yousuf Adil, Chartered Accountants / 16 & 17
Component 6:Monitoring and Evaluation / Sindh Capacity Development Project / Deloitte Yousuf Adil, Chartered Accountants
Component 7:Architect and Engineering (A&E) Services / A&E Services Contract Milestone Monitoring Contract / Halcrow
NESPAK / 8-9 and
24-25 (Annex-A)

Key Highlights of the Month

Program Management & Implementation Unit

·  The Sindh Basic Education Program inaugurated another modern school building of Government High School Bedil Bekas Rohri, District Sukkur on November 16, 2016. The US Consul General Ms. Grace Shelton, and the Sindh Education Minister Jam Mehtab Hussain Dahar inaugurated the school building. The inaugural ceremony was also attended by Syed Nasir Hussain Shah, Transport Minister, Mr. Asralan Islam Shaikh, City Mayor Sukkur, and Program Director-SBEP, Mr. Akram Ali Khowaja along with all the SBEP partners, concerned government officials, community members, students, teachers, parents and media persons. Of the 106 to be constructed, this is the 6th school inaugurated under the Sindh Basic Education Program.

·  Dr. Christopher Steel, newly designated Education Office Director, USAID visited the Program Management & Implementation Unit (PMIU), Sindh Basic Education Program. He was briefed about the program scope and achievements by the Program Director, Mr. Akram Ali Khowaja. The USAID Senior Policy Advisor, Dr. Randy Hatfield and representatives from SRP, CMP and SCDP also attended the meeting.

·  Mr Akram Ali Khowaja joined as the new Program Director, SBEP on November 03, 2016. Before this posting, he was Director General, Monitoring & Evaluation, School Education Department. Prior to that Mr. Khowaja has also served as Deputy Program Director, SBEP.

SBEP Partners

·  The Community Mobilization Program, in all program districts, initiated “School based nutrition screening of 5-10 years of students”. The screening focused on current nutritional status of 5-10 years children in CMP focused schools. This process will allow CMP to identify malnourished children and refer them to nearby healthcare facilities for comprehensive diagnosis and treatment. The CMP field teams from Jacobabad, Khairpur, Qamber Shahdadkot and Sukkur along with students and mentors participated in “Intel National Science Fair” where they showcased 10 science projects prepared by SBEP schools. Three out of these 10 projects were awarded in the best project category in the Intel National Science Fair, Lahore. In honor of children and their mentors who participated in Intel Provincial Science Fair the Deputy Commissioner, District Qamber Shahdadkot arranged a reception ceremony.

·  The CMP organized “World Nutrition Day” in Dadu, Jacobabad, Karachi, Larkana and Qamber Shahdadkot. The main purpose of the event was to raise awareness about locally available nutritious food and encourage the community to initiate kitchen gardening to produce fresh vegetables. Also “Universal Children Day” in SBEP focused schools was organized. The main purpose of the event was to raise awareness about the rights of children amongst parents, government officials and community at large.

·  The CMP organized “Gender audit workshop” with CMP and sub-contractor’s staff. The purpose of the workshop was to enable staff for self-assessment and tap into their ideas in formulation of action plan to address gender issues and ensure gender mainstreaming. Also a refresher workshop was conducted for district managers and sub-contractors field team regarding SMC sub-committees to streamline grass-root level decision making and facilitation.

·  The validation and approval for TLMs has been delayed by almost three months and further delays are expected. To avoid its implications on Cohort 2 on-the-job (OTJ) field activities, the SRP decided to print Pilot Edition of TLMs so that it could be timely distributed to schools for Cohort 2 interventions. The pilot edition is the latest BoC reviewed version.

·  The SRP received approval from the office of the Secretary SED to engage 20 Field Mentors, 400 Guide Teachers and 4,000 Teachers during the implementation of Cohort-II model. A training guide has been drafted in three different languages (English, Sindhi and Urdu).

·  SRP successfully completed the training of enumerators and supervisors responsible for data collection in the EGRA midline study. The training was divided into two cohorts, where the training of districts Dadu, Larkana, Kamber and Karachi was conducted in from October 5-10, 2016. Whereas the training of districts Sukkur, Jacobabad, Kashmore and Khairpur was held in Sukkur. A total of 160 Enumerators, 24 Supervisors and 8 Logistic Managers were trained on EGRA midline tools, processes and protocols. SRP’s midline data collection started on October 18, 2016 and continued till November 5, 2016. A two-day orientation for Master Trainers and a six-day Induction Training of Field Mentors was also held in Sukkur in November 2016. Fifty eight SED officials from the Provincial Institute of Teacher Education, Directorate School Education and SRP attended the training.

·  The sixth hub school library, Bedil Bakus, was furnished in the month of November in Sukkur. SRP provided over 300 books to this school in Sindhi, Urdu and English languages through direct purchasing and donations by its partner Rotary Literacy Mission Pakistan (RPLM). Besides this, SRP has recently partnered with Taskeen Mental Health Awareness Project. Taskeen hosted an awareness session at the Lyari Text Book Library on November 5th, 2016. This was done in coordination with the Administrator of District Municipal Corporation – South.

·  Following the successful completion of Package-A, the SRP, with the technical support of JICA conducted a three day master trainers’ training package- B for NFE from November 7- 9, 2016 in Sukkur. After the conclusion of Training of Trainers, district-based trainings were conducted in Jacababad, Kandhkot and Dadu. Trainings were held in parallel throughout the three districts from November 14-18, 2016. A total of 96 teachers has been trained in three districts, including 71 females and 25 males.

·  During the reporting month, the program achieved a monumental milestone when the School Education Department, GoS launched the Non-Formal Basic Education Curriculum for Sindh on November 29, 2016. The development of the curriculum was a year-long process, formally initiated in September of 2015, when the program partnered with JICA to develop the Sindh NFE curriculum.

·  The NFE learners’ achievement test was conducted in October for all three subjects of package A. Summaries have been prepared for each center, covering the achievement test results using three tools which were used in baseline and midline survey. During step one, Learners' Basic Information was collected from teachers or parents. In step two, the information was collected directly from the learners. And in step three, learners’ were interviewed for future plans. Out of 3000 learners, nearly 83% participated in the achievement test. The data summaries will be shared with JICA for further analysis and a joint report will be prepared by JICA and SRP on the learning outcome on Package A.

·  Guide schools were finalized in all districts in consultation with District Education Officers and Taluka Education Officers along with their nominated resource persons. Extensive consultations were held and consent sought from relevant SED officials for completing this exercise to make sure that Guide schools and cluster formation processes meet the set criteria. In spite of having a set criterion for the nomination of Guide Teachers as per On the Job concept note, the Education Directors suggested to select Guide Teachers through conducting interviews in the districts. Interviews committees were formed consisting of members from SED and SRP team. Over 700 interviews were conducted to select 406 Guide Teachers at cluster, taluka and district level across Eight SBEP Districts.As Guide Teachers have a pivotal role in coaching Grade 1 and Grade 2 teachers, maximum efforts were made by field teams to bring more qualified and energetic individuals.

·  The Sindh Capacity Development Project SCDP) received comments from USAID on the Internal Audit Department Charter, Audit Committee Charter and Internal Audit Manual of PMIU, SCDP team is now resolving USAID comments on these documents. A series of consultations has been undertaken with Internal Audit and Finance department of PMIU to draw action points on AGP audit observations.

·  The SCDP conducted third Quarterly Monitoring visit with PMIU in selected schools of Jacobabad, Kashmore and Larkana and two towns of Karachi (Keamari and Lyari) in November 2016. Annual Progress Report of SBEP has been prepared and 1st draft is ready for sharing with USAID for feedback. MS Access database developed for SCDP and all indicator-wise beneficiary data updated on it. Annual work plan exercise for 2016-2017 was finalized.

·  The SCDP awarded the Study on Public Private Partnership. Meeting of Research Consultative Group was held on November 14, 2016, followed by an orientation workshop on activation of the Research & Development Unit of School Education Department held on November 17, 2016.

·  The SCDP supported efforts for progress on rental of office for PPP Node and personnel hiring. The EMO accounts were made functional and the first tranche of funds transferred to the EMOs already on board. The process for filling the vacant positions of Adviser – PPP, Project Associate – PPP and ALP Specialist was expedited. As a result, appointments for these positions were finalized joining in December 2016. For the 3rd batch of Tier-1 at Harvard Kennedy School- Harvard University, USA; a pre –departure orientation was held for Mr. Waseem Mohamad ACS-P&D Sindh who successfully completed his course at HKS Harvard University and returned to Pakistan on November 22, 2016 – a formal debriefing of all 5 officials of Tier 3 is planned in December 2016.

·  TNA is underway for the Secretary, Finance, PD-PMIU and Minister Education & Literacy Sindh for the common selected course at HKS scheduled from February 12-17, 2017. An other TNA was completed by Tier II and Tier III Officials of School Education Department (SED) for regional and inter-provincial study visits –the report was shared on November 30, 2016 by the consultant.

·  Two ICT Training programs of Level-2, and three ICT training programs each for Level-3 and Level-4 were arranged simultaneously from November 9 to 21, 2016.ICTs kits finalized were shared with USAID senior team members along with ACS P&D Waseem Mohammad and Special Secretary Schools, Alia Shahid on November 10, 2016.

·  Final draft of NFE/ALP Policy completed and printed prior to the upcoming conference, “Moving Forward towards Sindh NFE – ALP Policy” on Dec 7, 2016. Sessions were held with 3 Members of Standing Committee on School Education of the Sindh Assembly in preparation for the NFE & ALP Policy conference in Assembly chambers.


Section-1: PMIU Activities

During the reporting period, the following meetings and activities were conducted by Program Management & Implementation Unit (PMIU):


The US Consul General, Ms. Grace Shelton, and Minister for Education, Jam Mehtab Hussain Dahar, visited the SBEP partners’ stalls at Government High School Bedil Bekas Rohri, District Sukkur. /
The US Consul General, Ms. Grace Shelton, and Minister for Education, Jam Mehtab Hussain Dahar, inaugurated school building of Government High School Bedil Bekas Rohri, District Sukkur.

Dr. Christopher Steel, Education Office Director, USAID and Mr. Akram Ali Khowaja, Program Director, SBEP in meeting at PMIU /
The US Consul General, Ms. Grace Shelton, with community women in Sukkur.

Section-02: Progress on Construction of Schools

Indicator / Target / Achievement till November 2016
Sub-Obj-1.1-a-Number of schools built
or repaired with USG assistance (MSF 4.1.1-a) / 106 / 09*

106 schools are being constructed in 15 packages. Out of 106 schools, 71 schools in 11 packages encompassing 5 districts and Karachi are in different stages of construction. Remaining schools in two districts and Karachi are in advanced stage of planning and procurement.

Out of completed 9 schools, Four schools have already been completed and handed over to the School Education Department, Government of Sindh. Another batch of 5 schools will be ready for handing over by December 2016. The progress varies across different packages. The following graph depicts the status of ongoing packages 1 to 10 as of 30th November, 2016. The details of all packages are provided in Annex-A.

* Nine schools are complete, 4 schools are handed over to the School Education Department,

Government of Sindh.

1 | SBEP-Monthly Progress Report-November 2016 www.sbep.gos.pk

Section-03: SBEP Logical Framework Status with Key Activities Performed

S No / Indicator / Baseline / LOP Target / Progress till / Progress % / Key Activities Performed by component during the Quarter
Aug
2016 / Sept 2016 / Oct
2016 / Nov
2016
Program Management and Implementation Unit-(PMIU)