Announcement of World Bank Approves Credit for Community School Support Project in Nepal on June 30, 2003

Nepal: World Bank Approves Credit for Community School Support Project Media Contacts: In Katmandu: Rajib Upadhya (9771) 226-792 E-mail: rupadhya@worldbank.org In Washington: Karina Manasseh (202) 473-1729 E-mail: kmanasseh@worldbank.org WASHINGTON, June 30, 2003 – The World Bank approved a US$5 million credit to support Nepal's efforts at demonstrating that community management will contribute to enhancing participation, quality, efficiency, and accountability of schools. The Community School Support Project will assist the Government of Nepal in scaling up the transfer of management of public schools to communities. Prior to nationalization of schools in 1972, Nepal relied almost exclusively on community-owned schools for school education. These schools, established through community initiatives, were funded through tuition fees and block grants from the government. The government nationalized schools to improve the quality of education through assured funding and technical support and to expand access to education to the population. Notwithstanding sizeable government investments since then, the improvement in quality and efficiency of school education did not match the expectations of the government or the public. Borne out of this realization, Nepal enacted amendments to the Education Act in 2001, in an effort to bring back the positive elements of community management. Nepal has a wealth of experience in the management of schools by communities. Prior to 1972, there were about 4,000 community-managed schools. Over the years, however, the higher income sections of the population that traditionally patronized community schools have shifted toward private schools. Presently there is an obvious segregation in the provision of education along the lines of income status, with a large gap in the quality between the private schools catering to richer sections of the population and public schools catering to the poorer sections. “Given that Nepal's sociopolitical landscape has undergone significant transformation since 1972, the simple concept of reverting to proven traditions of community management and tapping into past experience will require attention to details, particularly if the ongoing transfer is to benefit poor parents and their children," says Rajendra Dhoj Joshi, the World Bank Task Manager for the project. Building on the government's policy of providing incentive grants to communities taking over the management of public schools, the Community School Support Project will support incentive grants to about 1,500 schools. Of these schools, 250 schools will also receive block, performance, supplementary, and other grants, as well as grants for scholarships and technical assistance for capacity building. · The School Grants Component will provide incentive grants for communities that take over management of public schools from the government. Block grants for lower secondary and secondary schools funded entirely by the communities of primary schools transferred to community management will also be provided. This component also includes performance grants for improvement of access to primary education and improvement of promotion rates, supplementary grants to community schools expanding enrollment to cover additional costs, and other grants for additional support to marginalized communities. In addition, the project will encourage the piloting of innovative approaches such as bilingual education, teaching Nepali as a second language, and employment of female teachers and teachers from disadvantaged communities. · The Scholarship Component will provide scholarships to out-of-school children in the first year and maintenance scholarships in the later years of primary school. The maintenance scholarship will be provided to all children from poor households. The scholarship will be a demonstration of the government’s commitment to ensure the sustainability of the program to bring children into the school system. This inclusive approach is likely to transform the social fabric of communities and make the school a focal point for inclusion. · The Capacity Building component will provide training to nongovernmental organizations to manage schools. It will also provide training for teachers in instructional planning and delivery, enhanced public relations with the community, and orientation for civil servants, local government officials and social workers. In addition, this component will help inform people about the government’s policy for transferring schools to community management. · The Monitoring and Evaluation component will assist in the development of a monitoring and evaluation system for the project in coordination with the existing monitoring and evaluation system within the Ministry of Education and Sports. It will also strengthen the capacity of officials and communities responsible for monitoring and evaluation. "The transfer of schools to community management represents much more than reforms in the education sector," says Ken Ohashi, World Bank Country Director for Nepal. "It represents a new way of thinking in Nepal's development administration about creative processes that put recipients at the center, empowering them to manage their own resources and allowing them to define their own future." The implementing agency for the project will be the Department of Education (DOE), under the Ministry of Education and Sports. The credit, a Learning and Innovation Loan, is provided by the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank's concessionary lending affiliate, on standard IDA terms with a 40-year maturity and 10-year grace period. For more information on the World Bank’s activities in Nepal, visit: http://www.worldbank.org/np For more information on this project, visit: http://www4.worldbank.org/sprojects/Project.asp?pid=P082646