The US on Thursday assured the government of Pakistan that it would provide $334 million for the promotion of primary and higher education in far-flung areas of the country, United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Director of Education David Barth told the media on Thursday.

At a joint press conference after the session of Pak-US Strategic Dialogue on Education, Barth said $264 million would be given to Pakistan for basic education, while $70 million are allocated for the higher education sector, including Fulbright Scholarships for Pakistani students.

He said that many USAID projects have been initiated in Pakistan over the years for enhancing education facilities, as well as equipping teachers with modern teaching techniques. Focus: “Pakistan and the US have been enjoying long-term relations and the present government has extended its foreign policy to seek guidance from them in education sector,” Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Social Sector Shahnaz Wazir Ali said.

During the session, Shahnaz said the main focus of the discussion was on issues of primary, middle, and technical education.

“The schools in rural areas lack basic facilities which affect the learning of students… proper utilisation of funds for facilities including water, toilets and others were discussed during the dialogue,” she added.

It was discussed that the students, who do not have access to schools, would be given an education through distant learning programmes and modern and interactive technology will be used to educate them. However, working groups will be constituted with focus on different areas, while a separate group will work on early childhood education, she said. The younger ones will be taught skills, according to the market needs to provide them with better job opportunities in the future, she added.

To a question, Shahnaz said that Rs 15.7 billion allocated for the Higher Education Commission are though not sufficient to meet the required needs of this sector, but the government has decided to review the budget during September-October.