A championed cause, but has the adopt-a-school policy really worked for Sindh?

Karachi
Even though there has been an unprecedented rise in the number and popularity of private schools and their reported, but under-researched, learning outcomes for children, there can be no argument over the fact that the state still remains the largest provider and facilitator of education for the masses.
How wise and practical is it then for the state to abdicate its role as the largest education provider to private entities and expect them to deliver results while the capacity of government mechanism rusts, but with the satisfaction that external change agents will be able bring about miracles?
Researchers, experts and government officials sat together at a consultation held a few days earlier to explore the efficacy of the Sindh government’s championed Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode of education management organisation (EMO) model.
To everyone’s surprise, and maybe a little dismay, researchers established that the adopt-a-school model of the Sindh government under its PPP policy had not been the great success it was perceived to be.
Dr Rabea Malik, fellow at the Institute of Development and Economic Alternatives (IDEAS), presented the preliminary findings of a research conducted to judge the efficacy of partnerships for management in schools in Sindh, by comparing 200 adopted and un-adopted schools, each, in the province.
According to her, there may be pockets where partnerships for management may be working but, on the whole, the method had failed to bring any significant change in the overall quality and services of education offered in schools.
“Even though the adopt-a-school model has been in place for more than 15 years in Sindh, there are only between 500 and 600 adopted schools of the total of more than 45,000 government schools in the province,” she said.
Malik explained that though, in adopted schools, modest improvements were observed in enrolment and infrastructure, the overall learning outcomes remained the same as government schools. The performances of children in English, Math and Urdu in the 400 adopted and un-adopted schools, according to her research, had stayed the same. Moreover, there was also no significant impact on the presence of teachers.
However, she added, the school management committees, teachers and staff of adopted schools tend to be more active and mobilised than those working in facilities managed by the government, unclear and undefined targets and roles of the state and the external organisation made it hard to institutionalise the positive trend and give it any direction.
Setting the context
The PPP model is a sign of the government’s desperation, remarked Sadiqa Salahuddin, the executive director of Indus Resource Centre.
According to her, under the MoUs signed for the PPP and partnership-for-management model, all the terms were dictated by the adopters who brought in their own infrastructure and resources, and then took it away with them when they left.
“If this model was scalable, we wouldn’t be stuck at 500 adopted schools,” she said, “There is no accountability or assessment of the success or failure of the adopters and their work.”
The call for accountability was also echoed by lead researcher of the Institute of Social Policy and Sciences, Ahmad Ali, who said there was no definitive proof, besides hearsay, that private schools did indeed provide a better quality of education.
He cited the national education policy of 2009 which states that public and private streams of education were creating “inequitable social divides”.
In the potpourri of PPP in education, including a number of different schemes offered by various agencies, the government had failed to effectively regulate and synergise its resources and efforts with the executing organisations.
Ali emphasised on filling the gaps in information about private schools and the quality of education being offered by rigorous independent research. The only way the PPP mode in education could move further, according to him, was by setting common goals for both partners — government and the private agency — and effective regulation of both by vigilant accountability. The problem pertaining to the lack of credible information was also pointed out by education consultant Ghulam Nabi, who revealed that even the Sindh Directorate of Private Education had data of only about 5,000 schools.
He said the government’s own initiative of free and compulsory education had become a liability in the absence of a workable mechanism to dictate how it should be brought about.
“The government framework is applicable only on private schools,” he said, “There is no strategy to synergise both sectors which have, so far, not been able to work in tandem.”

New paradigms
On the other hand, the director of the PPP mode of the Sindh government’s education department, Tauseef Lateef, highlighted the changes made in the new EMO model.
According to him, the old adopt-a-school model relied on philanthropy of the adopters who were invited to take over the management of schools, but the new EMO setup aimed to empower the education department both, administratively and financially.
“It is a win-win situation,” he said, “The education department will provide teachers and school staff to help increase their capacity as well. However, the adopters will have control over their performance reports.”
Under the new model which is currently being piloted in 120 flood-affected schools of the province, he said, the government also provided a budget line, for which separate funds were earmarked.
“The contracts we are issuing now are service-management contracts based on key performance indicators for government and external parties, to drive both of them to work better,” said Lateef.
“We are also bringing in independent auditors who will judge qualitative and financial aspects of their performance.”
He said the main aim of EMO was to eventually also improve the capacity and resources of the government while it worked with the private sector. However, he did not clarify whether the government had also devised an exit strategy for when it wanted to take back stock of its own educational facilities.
It also remains to be seen what the government does to mobilise its internal change agents— teachers — who are currently alienated due to a number of labels pertaining to unprofessionalism and corruption.
“If the internal change agents are not mobilised and their capacity building is ignored, then all these measures will just prove to be cosmetic solutions,” said Dr Sajid Ali, a research fellow at the Aga Khan University’s Institute of Educational Development.