Punjab Education Development Program

Results achieved as of the end of the project (June 2012): 9.5 of the program's ten targets were achieved including teacher performance incentive program timely provision of free textbooks to public schools the girls stipend program the public private partnership program through the Punjab Education Foundation the School Councils funds and the provision of missing facilities. A total of 972 schools were upgraded from primary to middle against a target of 1400 and 578 were upgraded from middle to high against a target of 400. The project demonstrated a strong gender focus with the provision of a stipend in every quarter for 300 000 girls enrolled in classes 6 to 10 (age group 10-14) in 15 low literacy districts to encourage retention. An independent impact evaluation of the stipend program found that girls in stipend districts are 3 to 6% points more likely to complete middle school. To make the schools more gender sensitive basic facilities such a separate toilets for girls and boys and boundary walls in the schools were provided. By the end of February 2012 a total of 1 715 schemes were completed in 36 districts ensuring that every school had access to clean water and sanitation boundary wall and electricity and toilets. The teacher absenteeism rate has shown an improvement from 15.1% to 13.37% as a result of enhanced monitoring.