Burkina Faso - Education IV Project

 ICRR 10437 Report Number : ICRR10437 ICR Review Operations Evaluation Department 1. Project Data : OEDID : OEDID: C2244 Project ID : P000282 Project Name : Burkina Faso Education IV Project Country : Burkina Faso Sector : Primary Education L/C Number : C2244 Partners involved : EEC, Kingdom of Norway, Kingdom of Belgium Prepared by : Angela Ransom, OEDST Reviewed by : Linda Ankrah Dove Group Manager : Gregory K. Ingram Date Posted : 08/18/1999 2. Project Objectives, Financing, Costs and Components : Goals Increase the level of basic education in Burkina Faso Improve girls' access to education Promote social and economic development through the integration of population, health, nutrition, and environmental education in school programs Increase both public and private sector resources devoted to education Increase the efficiency in the use of education resources Objectives Increase the access and improve the quality of primary education Increase the quality of general secondary education Strengthen institutional development and the allocation and management of sector investments Components Increase the access and improve the quality of primary education Increase the number of primary school classrooms Promote female participation in education Improve students' health and nutritional status Upgrade the quality of teaching Increase the availability of textbooks and materials Improve the quality of general secondary education Upgrade teacher skills and school inspection Increase the supply of low-cost textbooks and teaching materials Strengthen institutional development and the management of sector investments Strengthen key sector institutions Improve the allocation of sector resources Increase the efficiency in the use of educational resources Promote private initiatives in the provision of education Finance Appraisal Estimate: IDA: US$24.0 M; Govt: 0.8 M; Local Particip: 1.8 M; Norway: 3.8 M; EEC: 7.3 M; CIDA: 8.7 M; Belgium: 0.0 M Actual/Latest: IDA: US$26.0 M; Govt: 0.2 M; Local Participation: 0.5 M; Norway: 3.4 M; EEC: 3.7 M; CIDA: 0.0 M; Belgium: 5.8 M Cost Appraisal Estimate: US$46.4 M Actual/Latest: US$39.6 M 3. Achievement of Relevant Objectives : Quantitative targets were achieved for access and quality objectives . One noteworthy example is that the proportion of qualified teachers increased from a national average of 18.6 percent to 67.7 percent (54.5  percent in rural areas; 80.8 percent in urban areas). The project objectives to develop low -cost strategies for school construction, teacher upgrading, and textbook and materials provision were successful . Small enterprises and local community and laborers were used for the construction and rehabilitation of primary school classrooms . SAR targets were exceeded and more than a third of the new classrooms were built using the local community approach . Teams of pedagogical advisors were created to conduct decentralized inservice training for primary school teachers in networks of schools . National competitive bidding to select private authors reduced the preparation time of manuscripts which combined with international competitive bidding to select private publishers to increase the supply and quality of low-cost textbooks and teaching materials . Sufficient time devoted to consensus building within government and in the education community on sensitive policy issues before and during project implementation contributed to successful outcomes of policy measures to increase budgetary allocations for primary education and reduce student subsidies in secondary and higher education. At the same time, the share of the primary education budget devoted to teacher salaries decreased, the amount allocated to materials and equipment increased, and the shortage of primary school teachers declined. The ICR reports that pupil/teacher ratios have declined from 57:1 to 47:1 during the project period. The ICR indicates that the government introduced incentives measures to promote private provision of education such as deregulation of fees, easier access to land for school construction, and government provision of inservice training for private school teachers . As a result, enrollment in private schools doubled during the project period, although the proportion of girls did not increase . 4. Significant Achievements : According to the ICR, the construction and rehabilitation of primary schools together with the adoption of double-shift and multi-grade teaching contributed to the successful achievement of the enrollment objectives of the project. The ICR assesses the achievement of enrollment objectives for females as mixed . Although the share of girls enrolled rose from 31 to 39 percent in the public school system during the project period, the overall share of girls enrolled only increased from 37 to 40 percent and stagnated in private schools . In OED's view, this may indicate the reluctance of even parents who can afford to pay for their children's education to invest in the education of girls . The ICR reports that the use of competitive bidding to select private authors and publishers not only reduced the costs of textbooks 65 percent, but resulted in the project's publishing program being completed ahead of schedule and producing better quality textbooks . OED notes that the ICR does not assess actual book use in the classroom or the ratio of textbooks per pupil which would provide greater indications of the impact of textbook availability. According to the evidence provided, the project did contribute to the overall development of in-country capacity to procure, develop, produce, and distribute textbooks more efficiently and effectively . The ICR and the Borrower's contribution to the ICR provide data which indicate that internal efficiency for primary education improved during the project period . The proportion of pupils finishing primary school rose over 15 percent between 1985 and 1997. During the same period, the number of years to produce a primary school graduate decreased from 26 to 12 years. The success rate on the primary school certificate examination doubled while repetition rates decreased slightly . Progressive reduction of student subsidies in secondary and higher education supported under the project, was accompanied by the development of criteria for allocating scholarships which give priority to females and/or students in scientific fields . This will likely contribute to greater female participation in secondary and higher education, graduates with more relevant skills . The ICR indicates that cost-recovery in the form of fees have been introduced in secondary and higher education. For secondary education schools are able to use 75 percent of the fee amount to finance pedagogical inputs. OED views this as a small step toward greater flexibility and decision -making at the school level. OED concurs with the ICR assessment that the development of a draft Ten -year Basic Education Program and the integration of education issues into the country assistance strategy as evidence of the success of project activities to improve the policy analysis capacity within the Ministry of Basic Education . 5. Significant Shortcomings : Although government commitment and consensus on key policy issues appear strong, OED agrees with the ICR assessment that high levels of poverty and insufficient demand for education, especially in rural areas will  be an obstacle to sustained local financing . External financing will be critical to sustain project achievements . OED finds that weak donor coordination at the design and preparation stages had a negative impact on the project objective to introduce cost -sharing by local communities in the rehabilitation and construction of schools. The local community questioned the rationale for cost -sharing in the IDA-financed project when it was not required in other donor -support activities in the same area . In this regard, the ICR noted that the mid-term review was the catalyst for donor coordination . In OED's view donor coordination occurred too late, considering their role in co-financing the project. The performance of the project sub -component to improve educational evaluation and the examination system was not assessed in the main body of the ICR, although it is presented in the table on indicators of project implementation. It is unclear to OED why the performance of this component did not receive deeper analysis since one of the key lessons of the ICR is the need for standardized assessment of student learning and better mechanisms to monitor educational access and quality . The Region indicated that an evaluation of student achievement was carried out under the project, by the Conference of National Education Ministers, but an in-country mechanism for carrying out evaluation and assessment activities is not in place . 6. Ratings : ICR OED Review Reason for Disagreement /Comments Outcome : Satisfactory Satisfactory Institutional Dev .: Partial Modest Sustainability : Likely Likely With continued external assistance . Bank Performance : Satisfactory Satisfactory Borrower Perf .: Satisfactory Satisfactory Quality of ICR : Satisfactory 7. Lessons of Broad Applicability : OED agrees with the ICR lessons on the need for : a coherent and comprehensive framework for donor coordination and collaboration; greater emphasis on stimulating demand for education in poor and rural areas; and more attention to monitoring education access and quality, as well as evaluating student achievement . OED finds that the success of the project's policy objectives underscores the importance of using IDA funds to leverage policy impact, especially for difficult and sensitive policy reforms . At the design and appraisal stages, IDA strengthened the likelihood of successful implementation of policy measures to increase budgetary allocations for primary education and reduce student subsidies in secondary and higher education by making them conditions of tranche release in the first SAC . The ICR does not spell out whether this was a sector or a structural adjustment credit; whether it originated in the Bank or IMF; and whether the condition was enforced . OED received clarification from the Region that the operation was a World Bank Structural Adjustment Credit and that the conditions for tranche release were enforced . Project experience indicates the need for flexibility when introducing innovative measures such as the textbook rental scheme. At mid-term the project was able to adjust the scheme, which was originally limited to book rental, to meet the needs of beneficiaries with different abilities to pay : free book rental for those who could not afford to pay, rental fees for those who could afford them; and the sale of books to students who could afford to buy them. 8. Audit Recommended? Yes No Why? If done as a sector development, cluster audit . 9. Comments on Quality of ICR : The ICR was thorough and its arguments convincing . It went beyond the cataloguing of quantitative achievements and outcomes and tried to provide an indication of broader impacts on the performance of the sector .