Improving Low Performing Schools: Implementing a Performance Management Tool for Education in North West Frontier Province, Pakistan

The program utilizes a Performance Management Tool (PMT) to identify key performance indicators and develop district and school action plans. The PMT involves conducting situational analyses, selecting key performance indicators, and ranking schools to identify low-performing schools. The program has shown significant results in decreasing repetition rates, improving facilities, and activating Parent Teacher Councils. In Abbotabad, for example, the repetition rate decreased by 67 percent, schools without electricity decreased by 56 percent, and schools without drinking water decreased by 78 percent. Similar improvements were observed in other districts, including Lower Dir, Battagram, Mansehra, Charsadda, Nowshera, Chitral, Mardan, Haripur, Swabi, and Mardan. The expansion of the PMT across all 17 districts in the North West Frontier Province has demonstrated the value of the program. After one year of implementing and monitoring district and school action plans, the program resulted in a reduction in the number of low-performing schools from 261 to 29, an 89 percent improvement. Additionally, 70 percent of district action plans were realized, and improvements were made in school infrastructure, with 66 percent of low-performing schools now having electricity, 72 percent getting water, and 67 percent having a boundary wall. The program also activated the Parent-Teacher Council in 92 percent of low-performing schools.