PESHAWAR, March 17: The NWFP government will provide technical assistance and funding amounting to Rs7.12 billion to 11 district governments under the National Education Sector Reforms Programme initiated with the help of the World Bank.

The provincial secretary for schools and literacy, Shafiullah Khan, and nazims of the 11 districts signed the terms of partnership of the aforesaid programme on Saturday at the Civil Secretariat, according to a handout.

Education Minister Maulana Fazle Ali Haqqani and representatives of the World Bank attended the meeting.

The programme will be implemented in Dera Ismail Khan, Buner, Hangu, Peshawar, Dir Upper, Charsadda, Swabi, Bannu, Tank, Shangla and Kohistan.

Under the programme, the performance of every district will be evaluated annually and future financing will be linked to achieving the targets.

The provincial government will transfer to the districts Rs7.12 billion as grant, for improvement of schools, besides extending them technical assistance for capacity-building.

District governments will ensure timely distribution of textbooks, timely disbursement of stipend to female students, creating facilities in schools and monitoring of parent-teacher associations.

The districts will be required to collate data in order to formulate performance indicators and performance targets and to develop a comprehensive district profile.