ADB to invest for secondary education modernisation

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has agreed to invest Rs. 5,000 million on the second stage of the Education Ministry's Secondary education Modernisation program over the next five years upto 2010.

The success achieved during the first stage of the program from 2001 covering 2300 secondary schools throughout the country, has induced the ADB to assist the second stage of this program as well, an Education Ministry release said yesterday.

The secondary education modernisation project was launched by the Education Ministry to facilitate the new Education Reforms introduced in 1997. In 2001, the ADB awarded a five-year project valued at Rs. 8,000 million for the secondary education modernisation program. Under the second stage which became operative in April this year, it is hoped to develop another 1200 secondary schools which had not received any foreign aid earlier.

Improving the quality of secondary school education, facilitating educational development at the Zonal and Provincial level and strengthening administrative activities and strengthening the education reforms process are the main objectives of the secondary education modernisation program.