The BISP executed Benazir Taleemi Wazifa (BTW) program steering Pakistan’s education landscape through monetary incentives warrants perspectives from spearheading officials for optimal impact.
This article summarizes crucial ground-level execution challenges and prospective policy refinements highlighted during a panel discussion with provincial programme coordinators managing field execution. Their insights on addressing gaps can enrich future interventions.
The Administrators Speak
Moderated interaction with five senior BTW District Heads from Islamabad, Punjab South, KPK, Balochistan North and Sindh enlightened major themes summarized below:
1. Expanding Access to Secondary Schools
Limited budget schools mean families fail enrolling children in Grade 6 due to infrastructure constraints.
–“We either need more middle-level public schools or fund private partnerships through vouchers.”
2. Upgrading Compliance Monitoring
While biometric attendance tracking helped, manual reports still foster discrepancy chances requiring technology overhaul.
–“Online integration with school databases for validating attendance digitally would plug data gaps.”
3. Refining Targeting Precision
High exclusion errors exist owing to dependence on outdated Census stats failing to capture inter-district migration flux.
–“Beyond BISP data, utilizing annual ID card mobility trackers and IMRB healthcare surveys would enhance eligibility.”
4. Supplementing Cash Incentives
Though enrollment spiked, focus must elevate from admission driven metrics to retention plus learning outcomes.
–“Government must integrate remedial coaching, device access etc. to aid weak students instead of pure financial motivation.”
5. Mainstreaming Madrassas
Millions of seminaries continue remaining outside BTW coverage despite huge out-of-school children studying thereby requiring inclusion.
–“After regulatory reforms recognizing Madrassas, access can dramatically expand via customized conditionalities aligned to their system.”
6. Universalization Tradeoffs
In the urgency to scale up nationally, quality assurance protocols got compromised especially in remote areas warranting priority.
–“Strengthening field capacities with adequate supervisors besides restoring monitoring viability is crucial before further expansion.”
Insights into Optimization Potential
Analyzing administrator perspectives exposes crucial improvement areas across operations, targeting, incentives and controls towards attaining sustainable excellence:
1. Process Improvements
Issues like attendance validation, targeting and database robustness offer scope for maximizing technological aids by learning global best practices.
2. Outcome Centricity
With enrollment goals largely achieved, re-directing focus on retention, mainstreaming and education quality is vital through complementary interventions.
3. Incentive Enrichment
Rethinking cohort specific customization around secondary access, remedial support and madrassa integration can boost equity.
4. Strengthening Social Mobilization
Renewed emphasis on community engagement addressing cultural barriers and knowledge gaps can steady transformation beyond financial aids.
Way Forward
Constructive feedback from ground executors always provide invaluable insights on refining public interventions. As BISP prepares for the next phase of BTW, factoring genuine field level challenges shared here can hugely optimize impact. Our children deserve nothing less and these unsung heroes deserve all credit for silently shaping nation’s future.
Nauman is an education policy analyst associated with BISP as senior program consultant for the Benazir Taleemi Wazaif conditional cash transfer initiative. He heads portfolio management for the program including planning, budgeting and performance monitoring. Nauman has over 10 years experience in the social impact space. He completed his MPhil in Economics from Government College University Lahore, focusing his research on financial inclusion for literacy and skills development.