Independent Monitoring Unit (IMU) Elementary and Secondary education department Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

The key challenges to education in K-P, like in the other provinces and regions of the country, are access, quality, equity and governance. To improve these areas of the education sector, the government of K-P took substantive measures through policy and sector reforms.

Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has developed and approved Education Sector Plan and Roadmap to achieve the objectives of quality education in the Province. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Education Sector Programme (KESP) and Reform Roadmap covers critical areas of interventions and require independent monitoring on monthly basis to track progress on each of the key performance indicators and communicate findings to the Department enabling it take corrective measures at all levels. Independence of the Unit is of prime importance as the success of the KESP and Roadmap depend on objective,

independent, and timely reporting on all indicators covering 28,583 government schools in the Province. The Elementary and Secondary Education Department of K-P, is evidently determined to increase access to quality education. The rolling out of enrolment campaigns, assessment of teachers’ capacities, rationalization of the teaching staff, provision of the missing facilities in government schools and initiation of students’ assessment mechanisms, are a few of the critical steps taken to provide a better education environment for the community at large.

The objectives of the project are directly related with the overall objectives of the education sector plan and the roadmap already approved by the chief minister. It aims to put in place a robust monitoring mechanism that would support and ensure improvement in access, quality and particularly governance in the education sector. It is being implemented by elementary and secondary education department. The monitoring mechanism is required to look at dynamic data sets which regulate the performance of the education system at district and subsequently at the provincial level.

Sources in the Independent Monitoring Unit (IMU) of education department said that the project proved useful in provision of timely and accurate data to the directorate and secretariat of education for corrective measures.

The key objectives are as follows:

Provide Elementary & Secondary Education Department and its development partners with a viable means of ensuring that education sector reforms are efficiently developed and effectively implemented

1.    Support the establishment of performance monitoring mechanisms

2.    Deliver objective information on a monthly, quarterly and annual basis to donors, civil society, parents and other stakeholder for reviewing the performance of government and its officials

3.    Increase public awareness of the status of school facilities and infrastructure and the level of education service delivery in the province, district and the school level

4.    Provide access to information on key indicators to increase social accountability

5.    Increase social accountability to improve governance, service delivery outcomes, planning and resource allocations to the sector

Specific tasks relating to IMU:

1.    IMU is responsible for ensuring that data for all key performance indicators are collected regularly on monthly basis and uploaded using Smartphone

2.    Once collected data will be analyzed for the purpose of performance evaluation

3.    Next, the data is presented, in an agreed format, to all relevant offices of the education department

4.    IMU will be responsible for ensuring accuracy and timely provision of data. It will also be required to randomly select a sample of schools to visit across various Districts in order to ensure accuracy of data. It will develop reports on remedial measures for data inconsistency, etc

It is important to note that K-P has fared well on these indicators, despite the volatile security situation, which is not as challenging in other provinces and once that is also improved, K-P will shine further in its educational achievements.