ISLAMABAD: The World Bank signed on Wednesday four loan agreements worth $650 million with Pakistan to support projects in areas of education, health, water and disaster mitigation in all the four provinces.

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar witnessed the signing ceremony of agreements, with Secretary Economic Affairs Division Tariq Bajwa and World Bank Country Director Patchamathu Illangovan signing the agreements on behalf of their respective sides.

Representatives of the governments of Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan inked the project agreements on behalf of their provinces.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Illangovan highlighted progress in economic reform and stabilisation, especially over the last three years.

The third Punjab Education Sector Project will receive $300m whose objective is to support Punjab to improve school participation, completion and teaching-learning practices with a particular focus on low-performing districts. It hopes to cover one million out-of-school children in Punjab over the period of 2016-17 to 2021-22.

The project is expected to benefit 420,000 students from poor households through vouchers to attend low-cost private schools; 900,000 students from poor households through support to public-private partnerships that cover the students’ tuition costs; 450,000 female secondary school students through stipends to attend a government school; and 210,000 pre-school students through improved quality of early childhood education.

Also to get benefit will be 2.3m primary students and 90,000 primary teachers in government schools through the strengthening of in-service professional support; and all 10.9m students and 321,000 teachers in government schools through the strengthening of education assessments, the reinforcement and expansion from primary to secondary of non-salary budget allocations, and improved human resources and data-based system management.

The Balochistan’s integrated water resource management and development project will get World Bank’s financing of $200 million.

Published in Dawn September 1st, 2016