Scope and Limits of Public Private Partnerships in Pakistan- the Political Economy of Education International HRD Congress 1-2 October 2004, Islamabad Attacking Poverty thru Public Private Partnerships

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Scope and Limits of Public Private Partnerships
in Pakistan- the Political Economy of
EducationInternational HRD Congress 1-2
October 2004, IslamabadAttacking Poverty thru
Public Private Partnerships

• By Baela Raza Jamil
• Chairperson
• Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi (ITA)

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Quotable Quotesfood for thought

• "There is in our time no well educated literate
  population that is poor, there is no illiterate
  population that is other than poor."
• John Kenneth Galbraith
• "Public-private partnership models are a
  critical component for sustainable
  development."2002 World Summit on Sustainable
  Development,Johannesburg,

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Section 1 Historical Patterns. The Political
Economy of Education

• Private Partnerships are an old tested public
  policy instrument since 1854 in an Imperial
  setting Grants in Aid as conditional cash
  transfers(CTT) to educational enterprise in urban
  and rural areas ..
• Up to 1972 in the post colonial phase grants in
  aid continued
• 1972-1977 Nationalization..seduction of the
  common citizen, constituency building.
  Equalizing education opportunities for all..
  Islamic Socialism. Excluding partnerships through
  national state intervention. An unsustainable
  proposition in education
• 1979-1989 Economic burden of poor quality
  nationalized education, dissatisfied polity.
  Invoking the private sector for secular and
  non-secular options . Legitimizing the praetorian
  state
• 1989-1999 1990 Jomtien Education for All
  commitments . .state experiments in Education
  Foundations and Civil Society Innovations..
  Private sector mushrooms lassez faire in
  education.. Experimentations with democracy and
  multiple partners
• Post-1999 Governance Crises and Poverty
  Challenge. Dakar 2000 EFA Goals and MDGs
  Multiple macro-level responses including ESR and
  emergence of PPP Solutions .. Globalization,
  markets and partnerships (developing and
  developed countries) seeking the valued added
  from Govt, CSOs, Philanthropy and Corporate
  Social Responsibility (CSR) and in Pakistan
  legitimacy for a managed democracy ..

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The New State and Education Options

• Three Roles of the New State

Financier
As a provider for public non-state options
An emerging role
Facilitator
Regulator
For Policies, Implementation of Incentives for
PPPbut uneven capacities
Negotiating Asymmetries between Equity and
Privatization/private sector solutions through
PPP Options and within Decentralized setting
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Education Sector Reforms Action Plan
2001/2-2004/5

• PPPs are seen as an underpinning and thrust area
  in ESR.
• Measurable targets of PPPs, for example,
• - Raising the number of PPPs from 200
  institutions in 2000, to 16,000 in 2005.
• Restructuring the Education Foundations into more
  autonomous institutions to promote PPP

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ESR Access to Quality, Improved Service Delivery

• Targets 2001-2005
• Provision of incentive package for the private
  sector
• Involvement of the private sector in the
  management of under-utilized public sector
  institutions
• Provision of grants and soft loans through
  restructured Education Foundations
• Adopt School Program replicated across the
  country
• Community Participation Project (CPP) for school
  up-gradation in afternoon shifts from primary to
  middle and middle to secondary and higher
  secondary levels.
• Introduction of IT courses in schools / college
  through private sector under PPP
• Access to public funds 25 utilization of funds
  at district level through CCBs and PTAs
• PPPs today in over 7000 public sector schools.
  The number is growing.
• Government options for education provision
  through non-elite CSOs is growing and needs to be
  tapped more efficiently with higher returns to
  investment.

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Existing Educational Incentives for PPP and
Private Sector in Education

• Income Tax Exemption for teaching faculty and
  researchers
• Income Tax incentives for Charitable Donations
• Exemption of custom duties and other taxes on
  import of education equipment
• Provision of land free or on concessional rates
  in rural areas. Zoning in urban areas, zoning
• Electricity (an gas) shall be provided on lowest
  domestic tariffs
• Provision of concessional financing for
  establishing rural schools through respective
  Education Foundations and credit through DFIs for
  social safety nets
• Access to district development budgets through
  CCBs
• (ESR 2004)
• Limited Knowledge dissemination. District
  Governments not aware about them and do not
  always facilitate implementation.

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Defining PPP

• PPP is a collaboration of government,
  communities, NGOs, individuals and private
  sector, in the funding, management and operations
  to support education development in Pakistan.
• A complementary role of all partners that enables
  them to maintain their identities and to draw out
  their respective comparative advantage.
• Collaboration may be at
• a) government learning sites /institutions,
• b) community sites, and
• c) private sector sites

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Section III Instruments of PPP

• There are Legal Instruments Formal MoUs of many
  types
• District Governments their Education
  Departments
• Corporate Sector Philanthropists
• NGOs- CSOs for intermediary support
• Adopted schools
• IT programmes
• CPP or upgradation in Afternoon Shifts
• Fellowship Schools
• Community Supported Schools

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Types of PPPs in education in Pakistan

• Initiated by the Government Fellowship
  Schools, Community Supported Schools, CPP school
  upgradation in afternoon shifts
• Setting up of Education Foundations
• Initiated by autonomous bodies Education
  Foundations National Commission for Human
  Development, Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy
  (PCP)
• Adopt A School, Community Supported Schools,
  Feeder Schools, School Improvement of Public and
  Private Schools
• Initiated by CSOs
• Home Schools
• Adopt A School
• (2) Community Learning / Literacy Centers (using
  school premises / facilities)
• (3) Education Extension and Enrichment Programs
• (4) Creation of District Education Plans (DEPs)
• (5) District Agreements between District
  Governments and NGOs. Agreements for
  partnerships to cover capacity building, service
  delivery and planning/budgeting is a post
  devolution phenomenon.
• Initiated by the Corporate Sector
• School Improvement Programs through NGOs,
  themselves (other social sectors too),
• Scholarship merit programs for girls/women/disadva
  ntaged (schools/colleges/universities),
• Art competitions and support
• Public service messages, special programs ..etc
  

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Types of PPPs elsewhere

• Charter Schools Leasing out govt. schools to
  nonprofit organizations ation/groups or as a
  cooperative. .core support contd. by public
  sector
• Magnet Schools Excellence in Public Sector
  schools through PPPs .. Mobilizing funds from
  private sector
• Vouchers for education.. Business, govt. and
  Development Partners funded to promote choice and
  quality
• Ombudsman Educational Services's Alternative
  Education Programs for high school drop outs to
  prevent high social costs by disaffected youth
• Learning solutions for public sector/private
  sector through university, experts, schools and
  corporate sector partnerships.
• Contracting services to private sector in
  construction, procurements, etc.

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Section IV Emerging Critiques

• Pseudo Legal Agreements govt. and political
  leaders win, civil society and private sector
  loose out in the event of violations..litigation
  is not feasible or desirable
• Govt. becomes inertia ridden giving up on
  responsibility, seen as retreat of the state
• Management is restricted under PPP for civil
  society partners
• Education a devolved subject and policy/ program
  implementation depends upon the capacity and
  comprehension of the District Govts. On PPP
  Policy and Departments of Education regarding
  PPPs.
• Low Institutional capacity for PPP and support
  for innovations by public sector
• PPP and devolution Local politics
  political-bureaucratic tensions particularly
  in City Districts and elsewhere makes PPP
  difficult
• PPP exacerbates inequities as it tends to be more
  focused in well-off districts .. There are
  exceptions.. Thatta Tharparkar (UNILEVER etc)
• Union pressures on PPPs as usurping rights of
  teachers

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Critique Contd

• PPPs are Inputs vs. outputs driven .. Adhoc and
  low Accountability for performance
• PPPs are being over-interpreted and implemented
  in programs in the absence of commensurate
  capacity and systems
• Corporate sector intentions and citizens
  interest Why the corporate sector wants to
  invest in people and poverty reduction to more
  serious levels in term of clash of interest. As
  is well known sometimes PPP is a cover for
  corporate priorities which are anti-social or
  anti poor,
• Limited informed research to iteratively
  influence policies on PPP for poverty reduction.
• PPP on government sites and with district
  governments is a tough challenge in which three
  different cultures of government, CSOs and
  private sector need to accommodate change

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Section V Conclusions Options for the Future

• Public sector provision may continue to operate
  sub-optimally, drifting towards privatization
  withdrawing from public responsibility of quality
  education to disadvantaged groups however
  examples of public sector effort such as PESRP in
  Punjab are emerging models of reversing this
  trend where government seeks to improve public
  sector service delivery. This province wide
  sector effort may be replicated
• Major push for Capacity Building is needed to
  manage Public Private Partnerships
  Dissemination of policy, tools and specific
  skills in interpreting PPP policy, instruments,
  role of partners, conflict resolution skills,
  etc.
• Single Point of Contact / Department in the
  Government to Implement PPP..
• Corporate Sector, CSOs and Philanthropy have to
  date provided win-win solutions barring a few
  exceptions. All indicators on enrolment, teachers
  presence, achievements show improvements as well
  as quality
• Exploring PPP school improvement programs more
  holistically and innovatively through area based
  or UC based options for a larger impact
  regenerating schools regenerating communities as
  learning communities
• Resumption of Grant-in-Aid (GIA) a necessity
  today targeted towards the poor and
  under-provisioned areas
• Creation of an Oversight Committee to Supervise
  the Implementation of the ESRs PPP Initiative

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Contd

• Contracting out selective services including
  capacity building and management solutions to
  private sector/CSOs
• Exploring innovative partnerships between
  industry, education and universities for improved
  learning solutions to both public and non-elite
  private sector.
• Linking PPPs especially in highly intensive
  special zones, industry and agriculture with
  focus on partnerships for school improvement,
  provision, technical training and placements of
  youth in local industry
• Better Cost-Sharing for CSOs who implement PPP
  supported more procatively through access to
  mainstream budgets and CCB grants.
• Informed practice through systematic research and
  evaluation of impact of PPPs in poverty reduction
  programs. Resources to be put aside for this area
  of work under PRSP and also sector specific
  budgets at government level and also private
  sector
• Role of Development Partners to be responsive,
  consistent, facilitating learning across
  countries for best practices

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PPP From constraints to possibilities

• Transformation of the school system under
  decentralised conditions (ALL FORMS INCLUDING
  PPP) may be an important way of improving rather
  than abandoning the public education system and
  addressing the rights of the poorest for quality
  education through innovative means.
• Re-concepualization of PPPs, as abdication of the
  state to buffers for improved service delivery
  The messy early phases of devolution with loosely
  coupled systems in public, political, and private
  spheres adjusting to new devolved realities, are
  neutralized by partnerships for poverty
  reduction. Public sector options must be fixed
  simultaneously for improving the quality of a
  public good.
• "There is no magic bullet to achieve this there
  is no alternative to relying on the
  time-consuming and trouble-torn democratic
  practices of mobilisation, organisation,
  advocacy, debate, protest and demand - in short,
  the assertion of citizenship rights."
• Manabi Majumdar, 2004 Fellow, Centre for Studies
  in Social Sciences, Kolkata.

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Introduction to Baela R.Jamil

• Baela Raza Jamil educated in education with
  public policy, quality education management
  specialisms and economic history at the
  Institute of Education, SOAS, University of
  London, Georgia State University, and Harvard
  University (HIID) is based in Pakistan.
• She is currently working in multiple capacities
  as Chairperson of Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi (ITA or
  Centre for Education and Consciousness),
  Coordinator Alliance for Education Development
  and is adviser to several major district based
  education programs in Pakistan. She is the
  facilitator and co-designer of Pakistans
  Education Sector Reforms Action (ESR) Plan
  2001-2005/6 and the EFA Plan, embedded in a
  sector wide approach, multi-level financing
  strategies through enabling partnerships. ESR and
  EFA are firmly integrated within the countrys
  PRSP.
• Baela served earlier as Technical Adviser to the
  Ministry of Education. She has successfully
  advocated and facilitated policy shifts in public
  sector. These range from District-based
  education planning, to whole school improvement
  programs in under-performing government schools,
  extending their optimum use as ICT-based
  community learning centres in the afternoon,
  mobilizing local communities for addressing
  rights based education and lifelong learning
  needs. Altogether a thinker and practitioner, she
  is actively contributing to education public
  policy and practice on multiple fronts.