Bolivia - Education sector : a proposed strategy for sector development and international assistance

Report No. 12042-BO Bolivia Education Sector: A Proposed Strategy for Sector Development and International Assistance November 8, 1993 Country Department Ill Human Resourcen Operations Division Latin An.arica and the Caribbean Region FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY MICROGRAPHICS Report No: 12042 BO Type: SEC Document of the World Bank This document has a restricted distribution and may be used by recipients only in the performance of their official duties. Its contents may not otherwise be disclosed without World Bank authorization.  CURRENCY EQUIVALENTS Currency Unit = Boliviano (1s) Bs 1.00 = US$0.25 US$1.00 = Bs 4.00 FISCAL YEAR January 1 - December 31 ACADEMIC YEAR February 8 - (Etober 31 PRINCIPAL ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS USED CONAPSO Consejo Nacional de Poiftica Social (National Social Policy Council) EMSO Economic Management Strengthening C,peration ESF Emergency Social Fund ETARE Equipo Tecnico de Apoyo a la Reforma Educativa (Technical Support Team for Education Reform) IDB Inter-American Development Bank INE Instituto Nacional de Estadisticas (National Institute of Statistics) MEC Ministry of Education and Culture (former) MPC Ministerio de Planeamiento y Coordinaci6n (Ministry of Planning and Coordination) MPSSP Ministerio de Salud Piblica (Ministry of Public Health) NEP New Economic Policy NGO Non-Governmental Organization PPF Project Preparation Facility SENALEP National Literacy and Popular Education Service SENET National Technical Education Service SIF Social Investment Fund SNE Secretarfa Nacional de Educaci6n (National Secretariat of Education) UDAPE Unidad de Anglisis de Polftica Econ6mica (Economic Policy Analysis Unit) UDAPSO Unidad de Anllisis de Polftica Social (Social Policy Analysis Unit) UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization UNICEF United Nations Children's Fund USAID United States Agency for International Developmen  FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY This report was prepared by Constance Corbett and is based on the findings of a series of missions that visited Bolivia from August 1991 through July 1993. The missions were led by Constance Corbett: one or more missions comprised the following staff members and consultants, whose written contributions form part of the background materials for the paper: Carlos Rojas (EDIHR), Tarina Garcia-Concheso, Marta Helena Maldonado (LA3HR), Scott Quehl (LA3C1), Jean Paul Faguet (Resident Mission), Marfa Elena Anderson, Henry Forero, Armando Godinez, Severiano Herrera, ingrid Jung, Felipe Morris, Nico van Niekerk, Oscar Oszlak, Fernando Reimers, Jorge Sabato, Margarita Salinas, Alfredo Sarmiento, Jorge Enrique Vargas, Protase Woodford (Consultants). The following representatives of international and bilateral agencies also participated in, or conducted joint missions with, one or more missions and provided oral or written comments that contributed to the development of the strategy: Olivier Berthoud (Switzerland), Hanke Koopman (the Netherlands), Britt Sj6stedt (Sweden), Betty Rice, Xavier Comas, Stephen Doherty, and Mario Loterszpil (anter-American Development Bank). Patricia Rodrfguez coordinated production of the report, and Marta Cervantes helped produce the graphs. The education reform strategy presented in the paper was developed by the Bolivian Technical Support Team for Education Reform (ETARE), which also produced a number of background papers. In addition, Amalia Anaya, Enrique Ipifia, and Luis Enrique L6pez provided helpful comments on earlier drafts of the paper. This document has a restricted distribution and may be used by recipients only in the perfor' ar.ce of their official duties. Its contents may not otherwise be disclosed without World Bank autho i  BOLIVIA EDUCATION SECTOR A PROPOSED STRATEGY FOR SECTOR DEVELOPMENT AND INERNATIONAL ASSISTANCE TABLE OF CONTENTS BASIC DATA, E ............................................... i EXECUTIVE SUA RY ........................................... v 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................... 1 2. THE EDUCATION SECTOR ....................................... 4 Ovetview .................................................... 4 Performance ............................................... 4 Organizaion ............................................... 6 Selected Isues in Educadon ...................... 7 Weak seor management ....................................... 8 Sector fimaing ................................................... 10 Problems of access and quality . ................................... 13 Inappropriatecontent .............. ......................... 13 Baers to acces to education for girls ............................ 15 ndequate teaher trang .......................... ........ 16 Deficient infrastructure . ..................................... 18 3. THE GOVERNMENT'S STRATEGY FOR EDUCATION .................... 18 Development Objecives ............................................ 18 Requirements ........................ 19 Strategy Framework .................. 20 Key reform measures ........................ 20 Institutional framework ........................ 21 Community participation ......................... 21 Fbinancal rationalization plan ........................ 23 Educational quality .................. 23 Access, equity, and efficiency .................. 23 4. PHASE I OF THE REFORM: ACTION PLAN ............ ............... 24 Objectives ................................................ 24 ActionPLn .................................... 25 Trnsforing and Strenheng the System ..................... 26 improving pedagogical quality ......... .......................... 29 Supportig the reform process .................................... 32 S. POTENTIAL ROLE OF EXTERNAL DONORS AND LENDERS ..... .......... 32 Proposed Assistance Strategy ........................................ 32 IDA Assistance ................................................ 33  - ii- Other Extenal Supp .................... 33 6. BENEFiTS AND PISKS . 34 Benefits 34 Difficulties and isks.34 ANNEX .37 SELECTED REFERENCES ................... ... 45  - iii - BASIC DATA SEET A. General Coury Data Year Source 1. Population Estimt (milions) 7.3 1991 b 2. Popuation Projection (millions) 10 2000 a 3. GNP per Capita (USS) 650 1991 b 4. GNP per Capita - Red Grwth Rat (%) -2.0 1980-91 b 5. Urban P laon (as % of Totd) 51 1990 a .Social Indicator 1. Crude bitth riat (per 1,000) ,36 1990 a 2. Crude death rate (per 1,000) 10 1990 a 3. Averge Anual Rote of Popuon Gwth () 2.5 1980-91 b 4. Total Fertily Rate (birhs per woman) 4.8 1991 b 5. Ifant Mortality Rate (per 1,000 live births) 92 1990 a 6. Mateml Morty Rate (per 100,000 live births) 480 1980 a 7. Life Expectancy at Birth (years) 60 1990 a 8. Female Labor Fore (% of total) 26 1991 a C. Education Data 1. Grow Elroument Rates (% of age group enrolled) Primary 80 1992 e Secondaty 30 1992 e Highe 24 1982 f 2. Distribution of age group enrolled, urbarual (S) Prnmary Urban 61 1990 c Rund 39 1990 c Urbn 94 1990 c Rura 6 1990 c 3. Effiienc Data Stdent/Teacer Ratio (Prima) 16:1 1993 e Dropout Rates (% per year) Primay 5.4 1990 c Secondary 7.9 1990 c/d Repeiton Rates Primary 2.5 1990 d Secondary 12.1 1990 d iteaty Rates Female 29 1990 a Total 23 1990 a 4. Expeditu Data Total Public Education Spending as a % of GNP 4.2 1992 e Total Public Educaton Spending as a % of Central Govt. budget 20.6 1992 e Shares of Public Education Expenditurs (including earmaked taxes) Preschool 2.8 1992 e Primary 41.2 1992 e Seconday 8.9 1992 e Higher 30.1 1992 e Ote 18.0 1992 e Sourc: a World DevWop.mtRepon, 1M b Mm World Ada, 1992 c Educadv hkar Socai, Ahuto Nsonl de EdWica, Dic. 1992 d Raadtadca ,! -.-, MOilm, y AsociadO, 1992. a BrAE f UDAPSO  v - EXECT "VE SUMARY L. The high level of functional illiteracy (55 percent) and low average level of schooling (4 years) indicate that Bolivia's education system fails to provide basic education to most of its population. This failure is a primary constraint on Bolivia's economic development and is one of the principal causes of the country's deep-seated structural poverty. A strong consensus has emerged over the past two years concerning the need for reform of the country's education system, and the new Govermnent that took office in A-agust 1993 has placed such reform at the top of its agenda. The strategy preEented in this paper reflects the proposal developed by the Government's Education Reform Technical Support Team (ETARE) with support from IDA and other agencies; the new Government has adopted the proposal. ii. Underlying problems. The poor coverage and quaity of Bolivia's education system stem partly from relatively low levels of speading on educaton over several decades (averaging 2.7 ercent of GDP between 1986 and 1991). Several other factors are also important in explaining its failings: (a) alienation and exclusion of the primary beneficiaries-children, their parents, and the society as a whole-from participating in the decision-making process and from the right to scrutinize operations and results; (b) weak administration of the system; (c) inappropriate and inefficient management of sector financing, including insufficient aRocation of resources to primary education; (d) various barriers to access and obstacles to educational attainment, including inappropriate or irrelevant content, inadequate provision of textbooks and instructional materials, inadequate teacher training, inattention to the needs of non-Spmish-speaking populations, and deficient infrastructure, which particularly affect girls and rural populations. iii. Longerm obecthves. Ihe Government's overriding goal for the education sector is to raise the average education level of the population sufficiently to transform it from a principal constraint to economic growth into one of the driving forces of Bolivia's economic development, in an increasingly competitive and technot3gically demanding inteaonal environment. For this to happen, the system must, in the next 20 to 30 years, achieve full coverage at primary and secondary levels and reach internationally competitive levels of quality and performance for all levels of the system. Accomplishing these objectives will clearly require major changes in the level, efficiency, and effectiveness of spending and service delivery, including: an improved institutional framework with participation of local communities in the education process; rationalization of sector fnancing; improvement of the professional level of the teaching force; incorporation of elements of cultural diversity in the education process; encouragement of private sector prticipation, especilly at higher levels; upgrading of primary and secondary education infrastructure and provision of new infrastructure to permit achievement of full-coverage targets at primary and secondary level:. iv. At current fertility rates, the school-age population is expected to grow by nearly 50 percent in 20 years. Full coverage of this projected populatan, with provision for quality improvement, will require substantial investment over at least 20 years in infrastructure, equipment, fuiniture, library resources, and teacher in-service training, as well as strong increases in recurrent spending. Taken together, the requirements for attaining the objectives outlined above represent an average of 6 percent of projected annual GDP for the next 20 years. v. To accomplish its long-term objectives, the Government has defined a phased development strategy. The first phase, to be carried out over five to seven years, would establish the policy framework for the reform and implement key reform measures, introduce quality improvements, and initiate the long-term process of transforming the curriculum and the pedagogical and  -vi - institutional capacity. Subsequent phases would cotiWnue to strengthen institutional capacity, especially at regional and local levels, while placing increased emphasis or providing direct inputs to strengthen quality and expand the coverage of the system. vi. Fist phase of the reform. In line with the overall strategy, measures to be undertaken in the first phase of the reform focus on two broad areas: system transformation and improvement in pedagogical quality. W'hile improvements to the institutional framework would directy benefit all non-university levels, quality im'nrovement interventions during the first five years would focus exclusively on the primary level. vii. System asformation vnuld include the introduction of structura changes to reorganize, deconcentrate, and strengthen the pre-university education system. Reorganization would consist of: * restructring the new National Secretariat of Education (SNE); * establishing a decentralized organizational framework for the pre-university education system; and intoducing a system of community consultation and oversight of the education process through establishment of councils with specific attributes and responsibilities at all levels. The new organizational framework will be strengthened and transformed by: * ntegratng technical, professional, and administrative personnel at the central and departmental level into the Civil Service Program; * taining and providing technical assistance for technical and administrative personnel at central and deconcentrated levels; * disseminating informatin and providing technical assistance for community and parent orgaizations; and * establishing an information system to support curriculum development, education assessment, teacher training, provision of textbooks and materials, and investment planning. Establishing a new framework for management of the teaching force will include the introduction of new criteria and systems for teacher certification, hiring, promotion, assignment, and benefits, and systems for management information and payment of teachers. Viii. Improvement of pedagogical quality would include a program of short-term quality enhancement through provision of school equipment and materials, including basic didactic materials, teaching guides and other pedagogic aids, and in-service teacher training programs. Support for long-term pedagogical transformation would consist of: * development of a core curriculum beginning with grades 1 through 8; * development and provision of textbooks, materis, and teachers' guides;  I vii - * expansion of a teisted bilingua education program; * development and application of pre-service and inservice teacher training programs; * development of training pre.grams for school administrators and pedagogical supervisors; and * development of an education assessment program. ix. Support for the reform process would involve the establishment of a team under the SNE to manage, monitor, and provide technical support for the reform process. A program of information dissemination and promotion of public dialogue would aim toward building consensus on the reform. The first phase of the reform could include technical assistance projects aimed at tackling aspects of sector development that will not receive explicit focus in the first support operation, such as plans to improve the efficiency and quality of the universities. x. International support wil be essential to implementation of the proposed education reform program because of both its sheer magnitude and the technical support it will require. - Close coordination of international assistance will be essential, particularly XN the first phase of the strategy when the demands of establishing institutional capacity will leave little implementation capacity for additional unrelated activities. Costs of first-phase programs requiring international financing include: - technical assistance and training costs; * acauisition and distribution of instructional materials and textbooks; * infrastructure rehabilitation and remodeling; 3 installation of an educational management information system, including related training and technical assistance; * development of an education assessment program; and * logistical support for information dissemination and community traiing. xi. There is unanimous agreement in Bolivia that the education system is failing and that reform is needed. Nevertheless, the education reform strategy under consideration is ambitious and difficult; it must be envisioned as a process, involving not only a complex set of actions, but also the participation of -nany diverse groups. Managing the reform process will require firm commitment and strong leadership by the Government over several Administrations, as well as sustained support from the international community. It will be helpful to start the reform program in the early days of the new government, especially to ensure continuity of strong leadership during the critical first years of the program.  BOLIVIA EDUCATION SECIrOR A PROPOSED STRATEGY FOR SECITOR DEVELOPMENT AND INTEPRN4TIONAL ASSISTANCE 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Bolivia was one of the first countries in Latin America during fte 1980s to adopt a far- reaching economic program aimed at restoring price stability and restructuring Lte economy. The country has reduced inflation (to about 12 percent in 1992) and regained modest real growth (about 4 percent in 1991 and 3.4 percent in 1992) through a program of tight fiscal and monwtay policies coupled with structural reform and complemented by reduction of the debt and debt service burden. The structural reforms were designed to reduce state participation in the economy, to improve public sector finances, to foster private investment, and to enhance productivity and competitiveness. Nevertheless, Bolivia's economy remains fragile: prices for its major exports are in decline, it is vulnerable to adverse developments for a small number of markets and commodities, and it is heavily dependent on external aid. Moreover, the rmodest economic growth achieved in the past five years has not afforded much reduction in poverty. Government estimates suggest that over half the population is poor; the effects of poverty are felt especially by vulnerable and marginalized groups--women, children, indigenous and mral groups. Athough social indicators show some improvement compared to levels of 10 years ago, they remain among the worst in the western hemisphere. 1.2 At present, the low level of basic education is a primary constraint on Bolivia's economic development, and the poor coverage and quality of education are among the principal causes of Bolivia's deep-seated structural poverty. As shown by ample experience elswhere (See Box 1.1), raising the education level of the population is essential to advancing economic development and reversing the country's deep and enduring poverty. Over the past 12 to 18 months, the importance of addressing these serious problems has grown in public awareness. A pragmatic consensus has emerged among the major political parties concerning the need to reduce and rationalize the role of the state and to move the social agenda forward. Reform of the country's education system is a central part of this agenda. 1.3 Ihis paper reviews the current condition of the education sector. It identfies the objectives and provides global cost estdmates for achieving the twin goals of long-term sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction. It then outlines a strategy for achieving the proposed sector development, including concrete measures tc be taken during the first five to seven years of the reform process, and discusses the potential role for the international community in supporting the realization of the strategy. The strategy presented was developed by the Government's Education Reform Technical Support Team (ETARE) with support from IDA and other agencies. The new Government that took office in August 1993 has declared its full commitment to education reform and has adopted the ETARE proposal.  - - Box 1.1: The Secret to Creatng Virtuous Cycles Recent Bolivian Goverments have placed proity on achieving rapid, susaiable growth with gnrter l equity, improved standards of living, and reduction of poverty. A numbor of East Asian ecmomies have achieved remwkable success i attaining these goals, stimulatng analysis to find the keys to their extraordinary performance.I One of the main conclusions of this analysis is tbat improvements in the level of educational atainment of the population (both in quantity and quaity) is one of the strongest factors explair.ing their success in breaking out of poverty's vicious cycle. More specificaly, the following observations emerge: * Expaon of primry education is the largest single predictor of the East Asian economies' high growth rates. More geneHally, statistical analysis of 113 economim shows that an increase of 10 percentage points in the primary enrollmnt rate raises per capita income growth by 0.3 percent.2 * Public spending concentrated on primry and secondary education, wbile demand for teriaryl education was largely abaorbed by a self-financed private system. Allocating public resources to primary and secondary educaton was the major determining factor in East Asia's successful education strategies, resulting in universal primaiy and widely available secondary education. * Average edational at_nment is higher than in other middle-income economies. * In spite of cultural norm that often discouraged education of girls, the differences in enrolment rates for males and females were reduced faster in high-perforning Asian econonnes than in other developing countries. * Because of the emphasis on pnrmay and secondary levels, publie funds for edaion are more likely to benefit children of low-income families who might otherwise ha e difficulty remiiMng in school. This has contributed to a more equitable distribution of income in these countries, which, in turn, is associated with growing demand for education at all levels and a growig interest and abiity among families to invest private resources in thelr children's education-setng up a viros cycle in which higher educational attainment, economic growth, poverty reduction and improvement of social indicators are mutually reinforcing and self-perptuating. The graphs in Figure 1.1 illustrate that Bolivia falls far short of achieving the effective coverage at prmary and secondary levels achieved by high-performing East Asian economies 20 yeas ago. Yet Bolivia spends only slightly less of its GNP on education thin these economies but much less of its education budget on basic education. (Among developing counries, only Costa Rica, Venaezuela and Jordan-all three of which have virtually full coverage at pnmary and secondaty levels and reatively high capacity for financing education in general-dedicate a greater share of public resources to higher education). Left unchanged, this pattern will slow efforts to raise average levels of educational attainment in Bolivia, making the achievement of economic sucess elusive. 1. 'he Est Asian Miiacle: Economic Growth and Public Policy,' Wodld Bank Policy Rseatch Repoa, Discusson Daft, July 1993. 2. Ibid, p.47. ---~- i_ .- , -- . _ .... _==  -3 - MFg. 1.1: Spending on education as a percentage of GNP and allocation of budget to higher versus basic education: Bolivia compared with high-performing East Asian economics and others. A. Enrollment and Completon Rates S. Percentage of Stdents who at Primauy and Secondary Levels Complete Secondary Educaton 100@ 1 70 40 a ~~~~~~~~~~~~~40. 80 0Ma olbMa Maysla Korea (women) (men *t HItinWil lVrominft 1 3Pd [I s y(women) (my an) C. Percentage of Labor Forme who D. Public Spending on Educaton Completed Secondary Education as a Percentage of GOP 10 8 1 ~~~~~~~~~4 i 10~~~~~~fv* Val 197 I" n n c1078 60W191S Hcr4Ka Kore. 1970 1878 1980 160 1t6 NPES-W&e fo 4 NgWpemafaV Ead AbI Source: Woodd Bank UNESCO: Statstloe Ysabook, UDAPSO 0ew HOanQ4 8w . S. am. Mut* Graphs A through C developed by USAID. Allocation of Education Budgets Publi