Acknowledgment

Being part of the process to develop the Balochistan Education Sector Plan 2020-25 has been an honor and a journey of learning. The strong leadership provided by the Department of Education and Policy Planning and Implementation Unit (PPIU) made it possible to complete the task with involvement of all critical stakeholders. The final product owes to everyone who participated in the consultations: students, teachers, community members, officials in the districts, deputy commissioners, members of academia, madrassah, civil society, officers of various attached departments of the Department of Education (Schools), Balochistan Technical and Vocational Education and Training, National Vocational and Technical Education and Training Commission (NAVTCC), Department of Social Welfare (especially the Directorates of Non Formal Education and Special Education) and the Local Education Group (LEG).
Policy Planning and Implementation Unit (PPIU) was led ably by Mr. Dawood Khilji, Additional Secretary (Dev) and focal person, PPIU. He not only strengthened the PPIU but also helped the PPIU function as an effective team and ensured active inclusion of officials of PPIU, other organizations and stakeholders. A solid education sector plan rooted in addressing pertinent issues in the education sector is pivotal to education sector reforms in the province. Mr. Dawood Khilji’s strong leadership proved to be exemplary which helped in paving ways for the sector plan development. He ensured the teamwork and rigorous consultative process by motivating and engaging all the officials and stakeholders. Officers of Policy Planning and Implementation Unit (PPIU) led all consultations and were part of the comprehensive discussions on the evolving drafts PPIU. Their robust participation and contribution not only enabled a quality product but will also ensure stronger implementation.
The leadership role of than Secretary, Secondary Educatioon Department, Government of Balochistan Mr. Tayyab Lehri remained admirable while empowering the PPIU to take lead in development of the BESP.
The role of the High Level Committee for the sector plan was extremely critical in advising the process. The support from Secretary Education to the autonomy of the process was extremely helpful to an objective analysis and development of a realistic set of recommendations.
The critical and analytical evaluation and guidance by the Technical Committee Lead by Mr. Ghulam Ali Baloch, and its members including Mr. Abdul Saboor Kakar, Mr. Azziz Jamali, Mr. Rashid Razzaq has helped the BESP document to become the assest for the province.
Heads and teams of Directorate of Education (DoE), Bureau of Curriculum and Extension Center (BOC&EC), Balochistan Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BBISE), Balochistan Textbook Board (BTBB), Balochistan Assessment and Examination Commission (BAEC) and Provincial Institute of Teacher Education (PITE).
Support and inputs from the UNICEF Country Office and Provincial team were invaluable to successful completion of the task and improvements in the final product.
We are also grateful to the Balochistan team of the USAID funded Pakistan Reading Project, Provincial Polio office, United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), Peoples Primary Healthcare Initiative (PPHI), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and UNESCO for their inputs into their areas of expertise as well as general feedback on various drafts.
We want to give a special thanks to Mariela Buonomo Zabletta, International Institute of Education Planning (IIEP), UNESCO for her efforts in not only building requisite capacity within key government institutions but also her tireless efforts in ensuring the quality of the sector plan. Her inputs were invaluable.
Finally, the team of consultants from SCSPEB who worked tirelessly with their counterparts from PPIU and other government organizations.
We wish the Government of Balochistan all the best in successful implementation of BESP 2020-25.

Abdus Sami Sadozai,
Lead Consultant, Consultative Team, SCSPEB

Irfan Ahmed Awan,
Managing Director, SCSPEB