ADB Loan To Pakistan To Improve Science Education

A new national science curriculum will be introduced in Pakistan’s secondary schools through an Asian Development Bank concessional loan of US$40 million approved today. The schools currently have science programs but lack facilities.
The Second Science Education Sector Project will provide science laboratories and equipment, textbooks, computers and teacher training to 2,000 schools in Balochistan, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, North West Frontier Province and Punjab. In addition, the project will strengthen the capacity of existing support institutions.
About 184 secondary schools will be designated special science high schools in various districts to provide science outreach to nearby schools. Mathematics and computer skills needed for science learning will also be strengthened.
The new science curriculum will emphasize health and the environment. The project will also focus on improving science programs at girls' schools since the education of girls provides particularly high social returns and because girls' education has been relatively neglected.
Due to a lack of investment in education and health, Pakistan's social indicators are among the lowest in the world. The general illiteracy rate is 60 per cent and rises to 75 per cent for women. This means Pakistan is deprived of a significant amount of its human capital needed to sustain economic growth.
The project will benefit nearly three million students a year, a third of them girls, by the time it is fully implemented. Project completion is scheduled for the end of 2003.
The total cost of the project is US$75 million. The Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund is expected to provide US$20 million and the government will provide US$15 million. The ADB loan will be from the Bank's Special Funds resources which means it is interest-free, carries a service charge of 1 percent per annum and is repayable over 35 years, including a 10-year grace period.
The executing agencies for the project will be the Ministry of Education and the provincial education departments.