LAHORE, Aug 24: The Punjab government has created a Monitoring and Evaluation Cell having fresh postgraduate degree holders and ex-servicemen to conduct third-party validation of all education sector reforms being implemented in the province.

The fresh postgraduate degree holders have been appointed on a two-year contract as monitoring and evaluation officers (MEOs) at the former divisional level while 35 retired junior commissioned officers (JCOs) from the army, air force and navy have been appointed as monitoring and evaluation assistants (MEAs) at the district level.

The MEOs and MEAs will be paid Rs20,000 and Rs8,000 a month along with transport facilities, respectively. All the newly recruited officials have been given training by the resource persons from the C&W, P&D and education departments for monitoring and evaluation of the Punjab government's initiatives on education.

It is learnt that the MEC will start functioning in few days, as the government is currently in the process of purchasing jeeps and motorcycles for MEOs and MEAs, respectively. The MEOs will also be given one computer operator, an accounts and administration assistant, a driver and a watchman.

When contacted, a senior official concerned said the MEAs would start surveying schools physically as soon as they got their motorcycles. The MEAs will check the civil works, purchase of furniture, distribution of free textbooks, and stipend to girls students in the 15 selected districts.

The MEAs will provide their inspection reports to their MEOs, who will e-mail the consolidated divisional reports to the MEC headed by a deputy director (monitoring and evaluation) in Lahore for analysis and onward transmission to the steering committee.

It is pertinent to mention that the Punjab government has initiated a three-year Punjab Education Sector Reforms Programme (PESRP) involving Rs22 billion to provide missing facilities at all public-sector schools and colleges, and give free textbooks to students from Class-I to VIII and Rs200 stipend to each girl student in 15 districts.

The Punjab Monitoring and Implementation Unit is implementing the reforms and consolidating reports coming up from the education department's field officials and district governments.

As far as huge finances and success of the initiative is concerned, the Punjab chief minister had created a steering committee, headed by the chief secretary, to conduct third-party validation. The establishment has officials other than the education department's.

Under the supervision of the committee, the government had created MEC, headed by a deputy director (monitoring and evaluation). In the MEC set-up, the government has appointed eight fresh postgraduate degree holders and 35 JCOs at former divisional and district level, respectively. The Lahore district has been divided into two parts - Lahore Cantonment and City.

Punjab Education Minister Mian Imran Masood, when talked about the project, said the provincial government had created this cell to get a true picture of the utilization of extra funds provided to the respective district governments under the PESRP.

He said the rationale behind the appointment of fresh graduates and ex-servicemen was to engage those persons who could conduct inspections fairly and impartially. He said former servicemen were young compared to the retired civil service officials, disciplined and willing to work at places where they were posted.

Besides MEC, he said, the PMIU would also continue to monitor the implementation of education sector reforms. Similarly, the school councils would also come up to monitor the development works at the institutional level, he added.