Background
The UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) has contracted Cambridge Education working in partnership with Delivery Associates (DA), to provide technical assistance for the final eighteen months of the Punjab Education Support Programme, (PESP2) September 2018- March 2020. PESP is led by the School Education Department (SED).
Punjab is Pakistan’s biggest province and home to over 100 million people – around 56% of the country’s population. As a result of its size, Punjab has the highest number of out of school children (OOSC)1 (Boys: 4.8 million and girls: 5 million) out of the total 22.6 million OOSC in Pakistan. There is an acute need to address the challenges arising from multiple forms of social exclusion, particularly in eleven districts, mainly located in rural southern Punjab. While there has been progress on gender equality in education in other parts of the province, girls remain markedly disadvantaged in these districts, as do the poorest children and those with disabilities. Public sector enrolment figures stand at 23.6 million for Pakistan while for Punjab it is 11.8 million (boys: 5.8 million and girls: 5.3 million). The Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) for Punjab is 74.4% (boys: 83% and girls: 77.6%), which shows that access to education for girls is a challenge in some areas.
The quality of education in Punjab, while showing signs of improvement, remains as big an issue as access. Learning levels are low and equity of outcomes is poor, with considerable variation in school effectiveness across the province. The Government of Punjab (GoPb) has dedicated significant resources to improving the quantity and quality of education inputs. Evidence from learning assessments indicates that this is leading to improved learning but there is still much to do to raise standards. School efficiency has improved across the province with high levels of teacher and student attendance. However, there remains a need for more and better teachers who can deliver learning gains for children and better school leaders and administrators who can improve the effectiveness of schools by making use of the increased range of performance data and resources that are now available. This is particularly important following the creation of District Education Authorities (DEAs).
Please find detailed TOR's in attached file.