ISLAMABAD – A UK-Pakistan education partnership with the governments of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has helped more than 200,000 children improve their access to schooling and strengthen basic reading, numeracy and life skills, the British High Commission said here on Monday.
The partnership has also helped more than 35,000 out-of-school children return to education through interventions targeting foundational learning in the two provinces.
The British High Commission said the programme has produced significant gains in children’s learning outcomes, with Urdu reading proficiency rising from 15 per cent to 78 per cent, English reading from 15 per cent to 45 per cent and subtraction skills from 37 per cent to 67 per cent.
The initiative has used learning-level assessments, targeted instruction, teacher coaching and regular monitoring of students’ progress to help children who had fallen behind in their studies catch up with their peers.
The programme has reached more than 500 public schools and supported the return of over 35,000 out-of-school children to formal education. It has also provided remedial education to 48,000 learners, while strengthening teaching capacity through the training of more than 5,500 educators and 250 Master Trainers. Facilities at 400 schools were also improved under the partnership.
British High Commissioner Jane Marriott said teachers remained at the heart of efforts to improve learning outcomes, adding that the ultimate measure of success was whether educators found the approaches useful enough to continue applying them.
“ Teachers are at the heart of improving learning outcomes for children, and the most important measure of success is whether they find these approaches valuable enough to continue using them,” she said.
Marriott said feedback on the programme had been “extremely encouraging”, adding that bringing governments, schools and communities together had helped transform learning opportunities for children.
“Children who previously could not read a simple sentence are now reading independently,” she said.
Muhammad Musa Ali Bokhari, CEO of the Punjab Education Curriculum Training and Assessment Authority (PECTAA), said every child in Punjab should have the opportunity to acquire basic literacy and numeracy skills before progressing beyond primary education.
“UK support has helped move the conversation on foundational learning from theory to demonstrated practice, here in Punjab,” he said.
Masood Ahmed, Special Secretary, Elementary and Secondary Education, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, said the results demonstrated that focused investment in foundational learning could deliver meaningful improvements for children and communities.
“The achievements of this UK-supported programme show that focused investments in foundational learning can produce meaningful results for children and communities,” he said.
He said the provincial government remained committed to building on the progress and ensuring that children developed the literacy and numeracy skills needed for lifelong learning.
The British High Commission said the partnership’s experience highlighted the importance of evidence-based teaching, continuous assessment and support for teachers in addressing learning gaps and improving educational outcomes.
