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in 2004/05, and less than half of those who enroll actually complete Grade 5. Enrollment at elementary
and high school levels is extremely disproportionate to primary school rates. Gender, inter-provincial,
regional and urban/rural discrepancies are glaring in all education indicators. With sustained focus on the
reform agenda, the outlook is promising, but Pakistan still has a long way to go before meeting the MDGs
relating to achieving universal primary enrollment and gender parity in education.
Punjab, like other provinces, has shown improvements in key education indicators over the past
few years. At the time of the launch of the Punjab Education Sector Reform Program (PESRP) in 2003,
Punjab had been witnessing insignificant improvements in the education sector with net primary
enrollments rates stagnating at only 45% over a decade long period. Since the start of PESRP, several
improvements have been achieved in expanding access (public sector enrollments have increased during
the past three years by over 2.4 million, up from 8.8 million to 11.25 million; primary net enrollment has
increased from 45% to 58% between 2002 and 2005). With a population of 80 million, the Punjab
province comprises almost 60% of the total population of Pakistan. Therefore, any changes in Punjab are
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likely to have substantial impact on the national indicators. During this same period, Punjab also put into
place institutional changes to address quality issues and to support the large low-cost private sector.
These reforms were accompanied by fiscal reforms to enhance the education sector budget (which has
seen a sustained increase), and fiduciary reforms to improve financial management and procurement
practices.
Despite these initial improvements, several challenges continue to confront the education sector in
Punjab. These include: (a) access (keeping in view that about 40% of Punjab’s primary school-aged
children are still out of school) – sustaining the growth in enrollments; improving retention and reducing
drop outs; responding to supply side constraints for all levels of education in light of the enrollment
growth; and reducing gender and regional disparities; (b) quality: the institutional changes are yet to be
transferred at the school and classroom level, and have yet to translate into improved learning outcomes;
there has been an absence of a comprehensive strategy for improving learning outcomes; and a lack of
systematic measures to evaluate the impact of interventions on improving student learning; and (c)
governance and management to make districts and schools more effective.
2. Operation Objectives
The proposed Fourth Punjab Education Sector Development Policy Credit (PEDPC IV) would be the first
operation of a series of three development policy credits designed to support the on-going Punjab
Education Sector Reform Program (PESRP) which is entering its second phase. This proposed Credit
would provide continued support to PESRP after the successful completion of Phase I reforms from 2003-
2006 (which were supported by a successfully completed series of DPCs from FY04-06), and would
support the Phase II PESRP (FY07-FY09). The objectives of Phase II PESRP are to continue with the
fiscal and fiduciary reforms, to further improve access, deepen the quality reforms, and improve the
management and monitoring of the education sector. The proposed operation is based on reform
program’s three pillars: a) enhance fiscal sustainability and improve the fiduciary environment; b)
increase equitable access to education and improve the quality and relevance of education; c) improve
public education sector governance and management.
By providing continued financing for the Government’s medium term sector reforms, this proposed
operation will assist the province to sustain the reforms initiated in the first three-year PESRP.
Specifically, Bank’s continued involvement will help to increase access to and improve quality of
education from primary to secondary levels. It will contribute to Pakistan’s goal of moving closer to
meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) related to achievement of universal primary
enrollment, improvements in primary completion rates, and improvements in gender parity. This
proposed credit will contribute to improving student learning outcomes by focusing on quality of teaching
and school performance. It will assist Government in the establishment of systems to undertake
evaluations to measure the impact of the program interventions on learning outcomes. Support to this
program will help the Bank to transfer lessons of implementation and results to other provinces where the
Bank is also supporting system-wide education reforms.
4. Financing
Source: ($m)
BORROWER/RECIPIENT 900
INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION 100
Total 1000
Risks: The proposed operation will provide continued support to an ongoing reform program that has
demonstrated a good track record in performance and government commitment. This provides an
assurance of reduced risks. However the following are the major risks:
• Loss of credibility and public support if the government cannot keep pace with rising public
expectations and is unable to deliver on the quality side.
• The program has become a flagship program of the current government. There could be a risk that
successive governments may not give it the same attention due to shifting priorities.
• Change of status quo through deeper sector reforms could affect several interest groups. There is
always an inherent risk that the system may not be able to sustain such reforms due to external
pressures.
• Finally, budget support operations require a strong national macroeconomic framework. Any
weakening of the macroeconomic framework, due to rising fiscal and trade deficits, could pose a risk
to this or any other budget support operation.
8. Contact point
Contact: Tahseen Sayed Khan
Title: Lead Education Specialist
Tel: 5722+166
Fax: (92-51) 2822396
Email: tsayed@worldbank.org
Location: Islamabad, Pakistan (IBRD)