ISLAMABAD, Nov 16: The education ministry has sought technical and financial support from the World Bank (WB) for the resource-strapped education sector reforms (ESR) programme, ministry officials said on Friday.

This year, the government has allocated Rs1.574 billion for the programme, they said. The request was made in a meeting between the federal education minister, Zobaida Jalal, and a World Bank delegation, led by the bank’s vice-president, Meiko Nishimizo.

The minister also requested assistance for introduction of technical stream at secondary and higher education level, research, teachers’ training programmes and upgradation of science and technical laboratories at educational institutions.

The ministry officials said the delegation expressed intention to sponsor various ESR programmes.

These will include the district-based components aimed at capacity building, planning, budgeting, quality monitoring and restructuring of the education system upto higher secondary level.

The minister apprised the delegates about the scarcity of resources, which was hindering the implementation of the various proposed reforms.

She suggested that in future all the WB assistance for the country’s education sector should be within the ambit of the ESR.

The financing for the ESR, Ms Jalal added, was being shared by all provinces according to a formula. The reforms are being implemented by the steering committees formed at the provincial and federal level.— Zahra Syed