India - Third District Primary Education Project

Report No. PIC4590 Project Name India-Third District Primary Education Project Region South Asia Sector Primary Education Project ID INPA38021 Borrower Government of India Implementing Agency Department of Education Ministry of Human Resource Development Room 110, Shastri Bhawan New Delhi, 110001, India Contact: Mr. R. S. Pandey Joint Secretary Telex: 316 336 Appraisal Date September 1997 Date Prepared December 11, 1996 Projected Board Date March 1998 Project Objectives: Capitalizing on the experience gained by the ongoing District Primary Education Project (DPEP) I (Credit 2661-IN), DPEP II (Credit 2876-IN), the Uttar Pradesh Basic Education Project (Credit 09-IN) and the current program of the Economic and Sector Work, the proposed Credit would support district and sub-district-based activities in the state of Bihar aimed at: (i) improving access to primary education; (ii) reducing dropout; and (iii) increasing learning achievement, with special emphasis on interventions that would target working children, children with mild to moderate disabilities, females and scheduled caste (SC) and scheduled tribe (ST) students. Key indicators of project performance would be: (i) trends in enrolent and dropout rates in Project districts, especially of the above-mentioned targeted group of children; and (ii) achievement scores with respect to reading and mathematics by state, gender and with respect to SC/ST students. Project Description: The proposed project will have three components: (a) Building and Strengthening State, District and Sub-district Institutional Capacity to: (i) appraise and supervise the implementation of district and sub-district-level programs designed to enhance access to and improve the quality and efficiency of primary education; and (ii) provide technical support for program management, improved textbook and instructional materials development, enhanced teaching, strengthened educational planning and management and research and evaluation; (b) Expanding Access to Primary Education by: (i) constructing new classrooms and water and sanitation facilities and rehabilitating existing schools; (ii) providing targeted interventions and carrying-out awareness campaigns focused particularly on girls, scheduled caste (SC) and scheduled tribe (ST) students, children with mild to moderate learning disabilities and working children; (iii) strengthening of School/Community Organizations; and (iv) providing non-formal education for isolated small communities and for working children and supporting the design and trial of other alternative schooling modalities, such as  Ashram (residential) schools, escort teacher services and peripatetic teachers; and (c) Improving the Quality of and Reducing the Dropout from Primary Education by: (i) establishing block and cluster resource centers; (ii) providing in-service teacher training; (iii) providing improved textbooks and instructional materials; (iv) establishing a selected expansion of early childhood education; and (v) carrying-out periodic primary student learning assessments. Project Implementation: The proposed project will be implemented in 17 educationally disadvantaged districts of Bihar. These districts, with the exception of one, comply with the female literacy criteria set up in the DPEP Guidelines. The female literacy rate in the selected districts ranges from 14 to 46 percent and averages 22 percent. The average scheduled caste (SC) and scheduled tribe (ST) population in the districts is 15 and 11 percent, respectively. Some of these districts have a female gross primary enrolent rate of less than 50 percent and a total dropout rate in the first five grades of primary education of about 60 percent. All the 17 district and state proposals would be appraised by the DPEP Bureau through its Technical Support Group. IDA would review the integrated state and district appraisal reports and a sample of district appraisal reports. Districts seeking appraisal of their investment proposals must: (i) comply with the DPEP Guidelines; and (ii) implement the baseline survey of student achievement, social assessment study and participation report. In addition, the state would be required to have completed the education finance study with terms of reference acceptable to IDA. Negotiations with IDA would proceed based on the results of the appraisal of state and district investment proposals. Project implementation would be coordinated by the DPEP Bureau at the Department of Education (DOE) of the Ministry of Human Resource Development of the Government of India (GOI). Actual implementation of the proposed project would be delegated to the Government of Bihar (GOB) through the State Implementation Society (SIS) established in 1991 to manage the UNICEF-financed Bihar Basic Education Project. The yearly release of funding to the SIS by the GOI would be based on the review by the DPEP Bureau of the State and District Annual Working Plans and Budgets (AWPBs). The review criteria to assess AWPBs for the subsequent year against progress and supervision reports prepared by the DPEP Bureau and program donors comprise: (i) good project implementation performance at the state and district levels, including the rate of utilization of previously released funds; (ii) state compliance with the annual payment of the 15 percent contribution to the ongoing DPEP program; and (iii) evidence of state compliance with the additionality of DPEP investments compared to 1995/96 state elementary education expenditure levels. The first year of DPEP III implementation would be primarily focused on developmental activities, including: (a) capacity building in the state and districts; and (b) establishment of the basic professional and physical infrastructure for improved learning in participating districts. The proposed project would be supervised twice a year following the joint supervision scheme devised for DPEP I and II. Local research institutions and NGOs would be involved in project design and execution -2 -  in a variety of ways, including innovative activities, effective multi- grade teaching, work with women+s groups and the carrying out of non- formal education programs and alternative schooling modalities. While supervision will begin following the DPEP supervision model, IDA will be working closely with GOI to assess whether or not additional supervision will be required. Project Cost and Financing: The estimated total project cost of US$182 million equivalent would be financed by an IDA Credit of US$144.7 million equivalent. UNICEF has confirmed its interest in supporting this proposed operation with a Grant of about US$10 million. GOB would finance the remaining costs of US$27.3 million equivalent, including all taxes. Environmental and Social Aspects: No environmental impacts are anticipated. The special needs of girls, working children, children with mild to moderate learning disabilities, SC and ST students will be addressed on the basis of specific social assessment studies carried out as part of project preparation. Social assessment studies would be required as part of the documentation to be provided to confirm district eligibility for support under DPEP III. The social assessment studies would help define state strategies for improving the quality of and access to primary education of female students, working children and scheduled tribe students, together with implementation plans and corresponding annual budgets. Fined-tuned research and design derived from the lessons learned in DPEP I and DPEP II is being applied in the 17 DPEP III districts. In addition to research, the DPEP Guidelines call for widespread stakeholder and beneficiary participation in the design of district strategies. The districts would carry out their project in accordance with tribal strategies meeting criteria agreed with IDA. Contact Point: Public Information Center The World Bank 1818 H Street N.W. Washington D.C. 20433 Telephone No.: (202)458-5454 Fax No.: (202)522-1500 Note: This is information on an evolving project. Certain components may not necessarily be included in the final project. Processed by the Public Information Center week ending December 27, 1996. - 3 -