Argentina - Third Secondary Education Project

Report No. PID5981 Project Name Argentina-Secondary Education III Region Latin America and the Caribbean Sector Human and Social Development Project ID ARPE50714 Borrower Government of Argentina Implementing agency Unidad Ejecutora Provincial, Direccion General de Cultura y Educacion, Provincia de Buenos Aires. Contact person: Ricardo Casal Address: Calle 57 877 ler piso, Departamento A, 1900 La Plata Phone/fax: (021) 24 03 35 / 24 08 63 / 24 15 63 Date this PID Prepared 01/15/98 Projected Appraisal date 03/02/98 Projected Board date 05/14/98 Country and Sector Background: Experiencing rapid economic changes, with a more open economy and a dominant service sector (approximately 75t of employment), Argentina requires more and better qualified workers. In this scenario, adequate education of the workforce is even more crucial to achieve higher employment rates and ensure the country's international competitiveness and continued growth. The Province of Buenos Aires, with more than 13 million habitants and producing about 35 W of the national GDP is particularly affected by the new market requirements. Based on a survey of private employers, a 1997 study concluded that prerequisites asked from the applicants have been substantially raised due to the new productive process and the growing competition in the labor market. The completion of secondary education is now a minimum requirement to enter formal employment. The main sector issues in the Province of Buenos Aires are: (i) To increase secondary level coverage, efficiency and equity; (ii) to improve the quality and relevance of education; and (iii) to make sector management more efficient. Project Objectives: The main objectives of the project are to: (1) Increase the completion rate of secondary level students. (2) Improve the learning process at the school level. (3) Improve the skills of secondary graduates in order to facilitate entrance in the labor market.  Project Description: The project will have two components: (1) Expansion of access: includes (i) increasing secondary education coverage and the transition rate between the third cycle of EGB (from 7th to 9th grade) and the new polimodal level (from 10th to 12th grade); and (ii) improving the capacity of polimodal schools to retain students by making the school more attractive to the youth. This will entail building 2,000 classrooms for the 9th grade of the new EGB3 (last cycle of basic education) and rehabilitating 227 targeted schools to accommodate the growing demand for polimodal and receive new educational resources. (2) Quality and Relevance Improvement: includes (i) assisting schools in their transition to the new curriculum; (ii) improving school management by supporting the development of school institutional plans (PEI) with an emphasis on educational objectives; (iii) providing in-service training and technical assistance for teachers and school administrators; (iv) bringing more resources to the school level by improving the efficiency of the sector administration; (vi) restructuring technical schools through the provision of educational resources and teacher in- service training that are up-to-date with market needs; and (vii) establishing school-based extracurricular programs for the youth. This component will be targeted to 250 unprivileged and educationally at-risk schools. Project Financing: Bank financing is US$ 120.4 million loan and counterpart financing is $ 51.0 million. Contact Point: The World Bank InfoShop 1818 H Street, N.W. Washington, D.C 20433 Telephone: (202) 458 5454 Fax: (202) 522 1500 Note: This is information on an evolving project. Certain activities and/or components may not necessarily be included in the final project. Processed by the World Bank InfoShop week endingFebruary 6, 1998. - 2 -