Education Management Organizations Program in Sindh, Pakistan: Public–Private Partnership Profile

Abstract

In 2013, the Government of Sindh (the government) passed the Sindh Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, in compliance with Article 25-A of the Constitution of Pakistan. This legislation placed renewed pressure on the government and its School Education and Literacy Department (SELD) to introduce measures to address the province’s weak education performance. Sindh’s poor performance on key education indicators, especially for girls and those in rural areas, prompted the province’s chief minister to declare an education emergency in 2016. The Sindh Education Sector Plan 2014–2018, which set out the government’s education vision and strategy, included the use of public–private partnerships (PPPs) to support the government’s efforts to address the significant educational challenges facing the province.1 Under one such PPP initiative, the education management organizations (EMO) program, the SELD contracts with private sector partners to operate public schools. The key features of the Sindh school education system are in Box 1.