Empowering Punjab’s Education Benefit for 5 Million Children & Enhancing Learning

The project is expected to directly benefit approximately 5 million children, 7,000 head teachers, 165,000 teachers, and more than 3,000 teacher mentors in public schools as well as Punjab Education Foundation schools.

Punjab has more than 7 million out-of-school children. GRADES will help the government of Punjab substantially reduce this number and, in parallel, improve foundational learning outcomes for boys and girls who are already in school said Najy Benhassine, World Bank Country Director for Pakistan.

This will be done through scaling up and strengthening public-private partnerships, improving school preparedness among young children, enhancing the quality and use of teaching and learning materials and assessments, and improving the learning environment in schools.

The project will prioritize reconstruction of schools damaged during the 2022 floods, especially girls’ schools, overcrowded schools, and schools in locations with high numbers of out-of-school children.

The World Bank and the government of Punjab have a strong history of collaboration on education reform, said Izza Farrakh, Task Team Leader for the Project.

GRADES will leverage this partnership for further innovation, such as climate-resilient classrooms and integrating climate change education into the curriculum. Reforms such as these will help ensure a safe and conducive learning environment and at the same time prepare the next generation to be more resilient to climate shocks and natural disasters.

Pakistan has been a member of the World Bank since 1950. Since then, the World Bank has provided over $46 billion in assistance. The current portfolio has 55 projects and a total commitment of $14.7 billion.