New School Program

Overview and Objective

Punjab Education Foundation initiated NEW SCHOOL PROGRAM (NSP) in 2007 for opening new schools in the poor, under privileged and far-flung areas of Punjab that are devoid of education opportunities and despite bearing a sizeable population, school going children do not have access to a school. A school under NSP has two significant criterion, the population size of the community has to be minimum of 350 households and there be no Govt. or PEF affiliated school within a kilometer radius, thus the uniqueness of NSP stems from its peculiarity to address the access gap in provision of educational facilities.

NEW SCHOOL PROGRAM (NSP) was launched in 2007 with outreach to only 5 tehsils in 5 districts of Punjab and now NSP network is spread all across Punjab. NSP is the public sector’s foot print in the Cholistan Desert with 111 Community Schools and 31 Mobile Schools. 16 schools have been established for Brick Kiln community and 12 NSP schools have been modelled as per government schools with tripartite agreement mode under Model Village School (MVS) initiative. Furthermore, NSP has also entered into partnership with 11 NGOs/CSOs.

Continuation of NSP partnership is dependent upon passing of Annual QAT which is conducted every year by PEF-Quality Assurance and Improvement (QAI). If school does not qualify two consecutive annual QATs, payment to schools is reduced to 50% till passing next/upcoming QAT. In-case school does not qualify next chance, partnership with partner school is cancelled.

PEF also provides;

• Guidelines to meet minimum required standards in stipulated time
• Capacity building of school management and teaching staff (training), especially targeting weak areas by PEF-Quality Assurance and Improvement Department
• Guidelines for maintenance of students/teachers record in school record as well as in Students Information System (SIS)
• District Coordination Meetings are carried out once a year or as per directions of management to review/discuss the difficulties in person with all NSP Partners so that understanding of PEF rules may be elaborated.
• Free PITB Books to students enrolled in PEF-NSP Schools also given.

Schools are monitored by PEF M&E Dept and on irregularities reported partner schools are penalized as per BoD approved penalization framework. Below are some indicators;

• Money Charging
• Corporal Punishment
• Unsafe/dangerous school building
• Maintaining residence in school
• Non installation of PEF-Board
• Electric wiring unsafe
• Utilization of students for personal purpose

Site Identification, Selection & School Selection Criteria

Below are steps for Site Identification, selection and schools selection criteria;

a.Identification of new sites (Potential sites referred to NSP by School Education Department and other Govt. Departments, Public Representatives and Local Community.)
b.Field Verification visit
  i.Population size of the community has to be minimum of 350 households
  ii.No Govt. or PEF affiliated school within a kilometer radius
c.Shortlisting of identified sites
d.Advertisement Publishing
Below is the major criterion for individual entrepreneur (applicant).
  i.Minimum intermediate qualification level
  ii.Resident of same Tehsil/site
  iii.Age bracket = 25-60 years
  iv.Applicant should not be in any Govt. Job (Permanent/ contract) Further, NSP department publishes an elaborated eligibility criteria for potential applicants along with the advertisement of relevant phases.
e.Application receiving as per prescribed format
f.Field Verification Visit in-case of application received against Functional Schools
g.Shortlisting of applicants/schools
h.Result announcement
i.Document verification
j.Signing of partnership agreement with shortlisted applicants.

Level-Wise Monthly Fee Per Child

Financial assistance as per rates approved by the BODs of PEF is provided to the NSP Partner after signing of agreement with PEF under NSP. After verification through NADRA & Monitoring, payment is made as per verified enrolment to partners through online transfer system of Bank of Punjab (BoP). The partner is required to submit online monthly enrolment updates to the department so that timely release of payment as per verified enrolment is ensured. Level-wise per student financial assistance in NSP is as below:

Sr. No	Level of Classes	Amount per Student
1	Primary classes	Rs. 550/-
2	Elementary classes	Rs. 600/-
3	Secondary Arts classes	Rs. 900/-
4	Secondary Science classes	Rs. 1100/-
5	Higher Secondary Arts classes	Rs. 1200/-
6	Higher Secondary Science classes	Rs. 1500/-

Redressal of Complaints

In order to redress grievances of its partner schools and public at large, below are the windows available for redressal of complaints;

• Students Information System (SIS)
• Pakistan Citizen Portal (PCP)
• NSP direct WhatsApp #

Complaints received through these fora are taken up by NSP staff and remedial measures are taken. SIS portal & NSP WhatsApp # is entirely managed by NSP staff while for PCP, complaints are closed/settled on PCP portal by CCC (settlement in portal by Centralized Complaint Cell (CCC) at Monitoring & Evaluation Department (M&E), however documents for operations/ activities regarding the complaints are dealt by NSP department.