ISLAMABAD: The government is seeking a loan of $200 million from the World Bank for ‘national equitable education project’ which would help reduce the socioeconomic impacts of Covid-19, and support continued learning with the aim of restoring human capital formation and welfare in the medium and long term.

The project will strengthen federal and provincial governments’ institutions, policies and coordination for reducing the impact of external shocks on the education system; and increasing access to quality education in disadvantaged districts of the country.

A document released by the World Bank says the project would support the government programme through three areas: response, recovery and resilience: enhanced and targeted Covid-19 education response; improved opportunities for learning for out-of-school children and at-risk students; and stronger federal-provincial coordination and management.

The project would specifically target areas with lagging outcomes in learning, gender equity, and number of out-of-school children, socio-economic factors, and negative effects of coronavirus on the demographic population.

Published in Dawn, April 30th, 2020