ISLAMABAD, July 24: The US and Pakistan signed a $62.7 million agreement to improve primary and higher education in Pakistan in 2006. Out of the total amount, $40 million will be spent on support for basic education focusing on school administrator and teacher training, school improvement through parental and community involvement and school construction in FATA.

Over $22 million was supporting Fulbright Scholarships for postgraduate studies by Pakistani students in the United States and need-based scholarships to 11 universities throughout the country.

The bilateral agreement was signed at the Federal Government Girls School, National Health Colony Chak Shahzad by US Agency for International Development (USAID) Director Jonathan Addleton. Khalid Saeed, Secretary of Economic Affairs Division, had previously signed the agreement.

US Ambassador to Pakistan Ryan C. Crocker and Sajid Hassan, Secretary, Ministry of Education, both witnessed the signing.

Ambassador Crocker addressed the audience of officials, teachers, parents and students at the school, stating, “the high level of support the American people provide for USAID’s education programme shows our commitment to quality education for all Pakistanis and our hopes for a bright future. In education lies opportunity and we are helping Pakistanis create and seize opportunities.”

He added that “the main goal of our education assistance is to make education an issue of personal commitment among all Pakistanis.

We aim to involve parents and communities in the quality of their children’s education and we aim to make classrooms active places where teachers and students are closely engaged with one another.”