PESHAWAR, Sept 22: The MMA government in the NWFP has sought the World Bank’s technical assistance for devising a college sector development plan, according to officials.

A World Bank mission which visited Peshawar last week to review the provincial reform programme (PRP-II), held a series of deliberations with senior government officials to explore the possibility of its cooperation for the proposed plan, officials at the Finance Department told Dawn.

The mission besides local financial managers also had interaction with staff and students of two government colleges and finalised schedule for preparing the plan in three stages in collaboration with the Higher Education Department.

Officials explained that the proposed plan would include both public and private colleges and would take into account discussion with education agencies concerned, including schools and universities.

The plan will be designed with due regard to regulatory requirements and needs of perceived labour force.

The first stage of the plan will involve preparatory work for the detailed plan, including preparing baseline data, identifying key issues and exploring options for the future.

The government will set up a think-tank for this purpose to undertake all these activities.

The think-tank will submit its report to the Minister for Education by end of November 2007.

The second phase of the plan would focus on development work for examining policy options and formulate recommendations to guide preparation of college sector development plan.

For this phase, the government will set up a task force comprising members of think-tank and representatives of other interested parties. This task force will present its report to the Minister for Education by mid January 2008.

First draft of the proposed plan will be completed by end of March 2008.

It will be presented before the government for its further inclusion in the next budget.

Officials informed that the World Bank had agreed to provide technical assistance at various times during the three stages.