ISLAMABAD, Sept 21: The United States may increase its assistance for education sector in Pakistan next year, the Education Officer USAID in Pakistan, Thomas P. Crehan, said here on Wednesday. He was talking to newsmen after distribution of School Improvement Grants (SIGs) and Student-Teacher Appreciation and Recognition Token (START) kits to the federal government primary schools in Bhara Kahu.

The cheques of the grants were presented to the presidents of Parents-Teachers Associations (PTAs) from 35 schools in Bhara Kahu under the USAID-funded Education Sector Reform Assistance (ESRA) Programme.

Mr Crehan said through USAID alone, the US was providing more than $1.5 billion in assistance to Pakistan adding that the US government’s assistance in the education sector in Pakistan this year was approximately $68 million.

Earlier, addressing the ceremony, he said ESRA was the largest US-funded project in Pakistan at $71.5 million and was working in 12 districts of Sindh and Baluchistan as well as here in Bhara Kahu. He said he was impressed with the interventions being made by the programme to support and complement the education reform efforts of the government.

He said the programme had adopted novel approaches to harness the potential of youth through initiatives such as Interactive Instruction for Teaching of English Language. He observed that information technology had assumed immense significance in the present era and impacted upon the teaching and learning processes like never before.

He said the ESRA Plus role in assisting the Ministry of Education in developing a National Information and Communication Technology (ICT) strategy was truly commendable. “I keenly look forward to the finalisation of the strategy following its endorsement by the Federal Ministry of Education,” he remarked.

Thomas Crehan said the award of school improvement grants - a gift of the American people - to 65 primary schools’ PTAs will bring significant changes in these schools. He said each of these grants totalled $1500 per school and $97,500 for the 65 schools, of which 30 had already received grant.

He said the grant the PTAs were receiving was a recognition of their proactive role and participation in school improvement.

Chairperson National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Education Begum Tehmina Dasti urged ESRA not to confine its activities to Islamabad, but also go to other neglected parts of Pakistan.

She asked the teachers to encourage the students to go to libraries and acquire more and more knowledge keeping in view the demands of the present age of technological revolution.

Students from two schools of Bhara Kahu clad in traditional regional dresses presented a table on the theme “Unity in Diversity”.