Basic Education Improvement Programme (BEIP) NWEP

In December 2003 the Norwegian Government signed an agreement with North Western Frontier Province in Pakistan to support the Basic Education Improvement Project (BEIP) with a grant of NOK 72,7 million over a period of 5 years. The BEIP was then defined as a ""gap-filling project"" to the Institutional Reforms Programme (IRP), funded by the World Bank.

The overall goal of the BEIP project is to contribute to Quality Education for All. The initial agreement stated six objectives, with the following areas of contribution for the project: training of school managers, establishment of Local Circle Offices (LCOs)/Local Teachers Resource Centres, training of Primary School Teachers as Mentor Support Teachers, improvement of teachers guides (maths and languages), support to reforms of Parent Teacher Associations, and initiation of the process for mainstreaming Madrassah education.

Interesting Findings

• The implementation in all components has been slow. After nearly finishing four
out of five years of operation BEIP has only utilised 23.3% of the funding.
• Trainings have been given to cadres in the educational system, nearly 60% of allocated funds has been utilised.
• Teachers' guides for Katchi and Pakki classes have been produced and distributed according to training progress.
• Concepts from the training has been observed in rhetoric form, but not observed implemented in the classroom as teaching and learning praxis to any extent.
• The Mentor Program has great potential if handled properly.
• The potential impact of the Local Circle Offices is a strength of the project. The building of the LCOs will give potential for organising in-service training, sub cluster training and meetings. If properly used, the centres could become the focal point for learning, practice and collaborative support.
• The establishing and training of PTAs of each school can be greatly instrumental in
enhancing quality of education, such as monitoring absentees of teachers as well as students and working as a buffer between the school and the parents.
• The provision of support for the improvement of learning environment and introduction of regular primary education in Madaris will perhaps be the one most sustainable component as they are already committed to upkeep of the facilities as well as continuing the education once offered.

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