Papua New Guinea - Primary Education Project

Docunent of The World Bank FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Report No.8968 PROJECT COMPLETION REPORT PAPUA NEW GUINEA PRIMARY EDUC.XTION PROJECT (CREDIT 1087-PNG/LOAN 1934-PNG) AUGUST 21, 1990 Population and Human Resources Division Technical Department Asia Region This document bas a restricted distribution and may be used by recipients only in the perfonnance of their offcial duties. Its contents may not otherwise be disclosed without World Bank authorization.  CURRENCY EQUIVALENTS Currency Unit - Kina (K) At Appraisal 1980 K 1.00 - US$1.50 US$1.00 = K 0.67 US$1.00 = SDR 0.78 Annual Average 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 Kina 0.86 0.87 0.94 1.00 0.98 0.89 0.87 FISCAL YEAR OF BORROWER January - December ABBREVIATIONS CDC - Curriculum Development Centre CDD - Curriculum Development Division DESP - Diploma in Educational Studies (Planning) Ed I - Education I, First Education Project (Credit 661-PNG) Ed II - Education II, Primary Education Project (Credit 1087-PNG/ Loan 1934-PNG) Ed III - Education III, Secondary Education Project (Loan 2395-PNG) ERC - Education Research Center INNOTECH - Regional Center for Innovation and Technology (Manila, Philippines) INSET - Inservice training ISSEd - Inservice Bachelor of Education MPU - Management and Planning Unit MSU - Measurement Services Unit NDF - National Department of Finance NDOE - National Department of Education NGSE - National Grade Six Examinations NIEPA - National Institute of Planning and Administration (New Delhi, India) NPEP - National Public Expenditure Plan PCR - Project Completion Report PDOE - Provincial Division of Education PIP - Public Investment Program PMC - Project Management Committee PMSO - Provincial Materials and Supply Officer PNG - Papua New Guinea POMITC - Port Moresby In-Service Teachers College PPEF - Provincial Primary Education Fund REU - Research and Evaluation Unit RMS - Resource Management System RPA - Regional Planning Adviser SAR - Staff Appraisal Report SDU - Staff Development Unit SPA - Senior ProfpsRsonal Assistant SSCEP - Secondary Schools Curriculum Extension Project SSDO - Senior Staff Development Officer TA - Technical assistance UPE - Universal primary education  THE WORLD BANK Washigton. D.C. 20433 U.S.A. Ofice* of Dwetw-G.oha Opsitmi Ivlmti August 21, 1990 MEMORANDUM TO THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS AND THE PRESIDENT SUBJECT: Project Completion Report on Papua New Guinea Primary Education Project (credit 1087-PNG/Loan 1934-PNG) Attached, for information, ls a copy of a report entitled "Project Completion Report on Papua New Guinea Primary Education Project (Credit 1087-PNG/Loan 1934-PNG)" prepared by the Asia Regional Office with Part It of the report contributed by the Borrower. No audit of this project has been made by the Operations Evaluation Department at this time. Attacbment This document has a restricted distribution and may be used by recipients only in the performance of their oflcia duties. Its contents may not otherwis be disclosed without World Bank authoriation.  FOR OFFICaL USE ONLY PAPUA NEW GUINEA PRIMARY EDUCATION PROJECT (CREDIT 1087-PNGILOAN 1934-PNG) PROJECT COMPLETION REPORT Table of Contents Page No. PFACE . . . . ........ . . PROJECT EVALUATION SUMMARY .... . . . . . . . . . .. i 1. MAIN FINDINGS AND LESSONS LEARNED (BANK) . . . . . . . . .1 Project Identity .... . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . Project Background .... . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 1 Project Objectives and rescription . . . . . . . . . . . Project Design and Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Project Implementation . . . ........ .. 3 Project Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 6 Project Sustainability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Bank Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Borrower Performance .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Lessons Learned . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . l 2. MAIN FINDINGS AND LESSONS LEARNED (BORROWER) . . .13 Introduction .. . . . . . . . . . 13 General Project Preparation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Project Design and Organization . . . . . . . . . ... . . 18 Implementation ... .. . ... .... 23 Summary Statement . ......... . . . 29 3. 3.1 Related Bank Credits/Loans . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 3.2 Project Timetable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 3.3 Credit/Loan Disbursements . .34 3.4 Project Implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 3.5 Project Costs and Financing . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 3.6 Project Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 3.7 Status of Covenants .... . . ...... . . . . . 48 3.8 Use of Bank Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Tbis document has a restrikted distribution and may be used by recipients only in the performance of their official duties. Its contents may not otherwise be discbsed without World Bank authorization.  - i - PAPUA NEW GUINEA PRIMARY EDUCATION PROJECT (CREDIT 1087-PNG/LOAN 1934-PNG) PROJECT COMPLETION REPORT Preface This is a Project Completion Report (PCR) for the Primary Education Pr-oject in the Independent State of Papua New Guinea (PNG) which was financed by Credit 1087-PNG for SDR 9.4 million (US$12 million equivalent) and Loan 1934-PNG for US$6.0 million. The Project was substantially completed in June 1988 and the accounts closed December 31 of the same year with disbursements having been completed four months earlier. The PCR is based on the findings of a mission, comprising a General Educator (Ms. Anita H. Martin) from the UNESCO-World Bank Cooperative Program, who visited PNG from May 2-20, 1989, and on an earlier review of the World Bank's project files. The invaluable assistance and cooperation of the Government of PNG and World Bank Group staff are gratefully acknowledged.  - ii - PAPUA NEW GUINEA PRIMARY EDUCATION PROJECT (CREDIT 1087-PNG/LOAN 1934-PNG) PROJECT COMPLETION REPORT Project Evaluation Summary The Primary Education Project was the PNG Government's effort to bring the country nearer to its goal of universal primary education (UPE). It was designed to address the basic issues of stagnant enrollment, low teaching efficiency, low academic performance and shortages of trained staff. In terms of quantitative outcomes, the Project exceeded its targets for increased pupil enrollments and increased localization of staff in teacher training colleges. Substantial progress was also made in redressing enroll- ment disparities among provinces. It was able to produce textbooks and other instructional materials in record volumes. It did not, however address pro- blems of distribution of materials and also underestimated production com- plexities. It was responsible for the training of a substant._al number of personnel to staff various areas of educational development. Pupil achieve- ment scores are expected to grow once the full impact of the textbooks which were supplied under the Project to all primary schools is felt. The Project, however, has not been successful in improving pupil retention. As far as institution building is concerned, the Project's contribu- tions to the strengthening of curriculumitextbook development, educational examinations and project monitoring and evaluation have been firm and sustain- able, despite relatively low retention of staff trained under the Project in posts related to their training. In planning, however, its effects have been less far-reaching and can only be regarded as a first step in a long-term process of institutionalizing planning as an integral part of a well-articu- lated structure for education resource allocation. The Project was developed in the context of an agreed Bank- Government strategy to focus on improving education quality, starting with the base of the system and subsequently addressing issues in secondary education. In focusing on quality issues, the Primary Education Project recognized the need to tackle several inter-related inputs, many of which required institutional changes. The Project was therefore by definition complex, particularly as it was the first Bank-assisted sub-sector project implemented by the Department of Education. Given the risks, the Project was on the whole implemented well and left behind a number of institutional changes which are likely to be sustained. Nevertheless, there were weaknesses in both design and implementation. It was the intention to address outstanding or emerging issues through longer-term Bank involvement in a Second Primary Education Project. Continuity of Bank involvement was lost, however, with the Government's decision not to seek further Bank assistance for the primary education sub-sector.  - 1 - PAPUA NEW GUINEA PRIMARY EDUCATION PROJECT (CREDIT 1087-PNG/LOAN 1934-PNG) PROJECT COMPLETION REPORT PART I Main Findings and Lessons Learned (Bank) Project Identity Project Name Primary Education Project Credit/Loan Number Credit 1087-PNG/Loan 1934-PNG RVP Unit Asia Country Independent State of Papua New Guinea Sector Population and Human Resources Subsector Education Project Background 1.1 Significant progress was made prior to 1970 in expanding primary education in PNG, but the primary enrollment ratio stagnated in the seventies and serious problems developed. The problems of the subsector had four dimensions: management, where the policy of decentralization under the Organic Law of 1977 placed responsibility for the planning and management of primary and lower secondary education onto the provinces, where the personnel necessary to exercise this power was in short supply; quality, in which avail- able indicators showed educational performance to be low and falling; stagnant inequitable enrollment patterns, where the ratio of 552 of the primary edu- cation age group enrolled in school which was reached in 1970, had remained virtually stationary (in 1979, reaching only 582) and access was far from equitable with regard to geography, socio-economic class and sex; and finan- cial constraints, at both the national level (due largely to a Government policy of reducing PNG's dependence on external aid) and the provincial level (which had limited revenue-earning powers). The Primary Education Project's brief was to help address these problems. Project Objectives and Description 1.2 The Project was designed to (a) improve the management of educational resources, (b) assist the National Department of Education (NDOE) to improve the quality of primary education, and (c) help provinces (the Provincial Departments of Education or PDOEs) increase the quality of and access to primary education.  -2- 1.3 Its specific objectives were to assist in: (a) improving education resources management by training educational administrators, planners and teachers tot (i) make better use of human resources; (ii) help implement the Government's decentraliza- tion policy; (iii) accelerate the introduction of indigenous staff through appropriate training by increasing the proportion of local teachers in all primary education teacher training colleges from 282 to 50X; and (iv) retard the growth of recurrent costs through a 152 increase in actual class size and systematic school location planning; (b) quality improvement by reducing the dropout rate from the current 302 to 25Z! raising pupil learning achievements from a score of 40- 50X to about 60X; and improving teaching efficiency through a multi- faceted attack on low quality in primary education by: (i) strengthening the Curriculum Development Center (CDC), by adding a textbook development unit, an examinations unit and an audio-visual aids section; (ii) reinforcing the examination and evaluation process by provid- ing facilities and staff for contintuous educational evaluation; (iii) coordinating curricula with teacher training through relocation of the CDC to a site adjacent to the national center for inser- vice staff training; and (iv) improving facilities and staff quality at teacher training colleges to help upgrade their teaching programs and improve the performance of less qualified instructional staff; and (c) extending educational opportunities to hitherto underserved areas and expanding existing schools to keep pace with continued popula- tion growth by increasing the primary enrollment ratio from 582 to 68Z through the Provincial Primary Education Fund (PPEF), the Government's program for allocating resources to the provinces under its National Public Expenditure Plan (NPEP). 1.4 The project had the following components: administration; curricu- lum, textbooks, examinations and testing; teacher training; the PPEF; and project evaluation and management. Pro3ect Design and Organization 1.5 The project design is praiseworthy in several respects. Its defini- tion of the issues facing the educational system was comprehensive and the components identified for support were well-structured. The major strategies employed to address the issues stood on solid ground in terms of their tested effectiveness, i.e., providing textbooks and teacher education to improve the quality of education, and their attention to the administrative history of PNG, i.e., combining associateships, fellowships and expert services as criti- cal building blocks to institutionalizing management capacity. The blend of project and sector components was innovative and conformed to the dual thrust  -3- of the Project by assisting with national level responsibilities for quality improvements in primary cutriculum, textbooks, examinations and teacher train- ing, and at the provincial level in planning and managing the growth and development (access and efficiency) of the primary education sector. 1.6 The project design is equally noteworthy, however, for the many fronts it tried to cover which resulted in some mismatch between objectives and the resources provided under the Project to reach them. For example, responsibility for the provision of basic textbooks in the core subjects and supplementary materials such as posters, readers and kits, radio broadcasts and taped lessons, to improve the quality of primary education, were placed in the direct charge of the Curriculum Development Division (CDD) of the NDOE. As its name suggests, however, the CDD does curriculum work but lacked capa- city and managerial experience in the technically complex areas of book publishing and media education. In addition, CDD was also made responsible for distribution and utilization of the textbooks and materials, two well- identified bottlenecks in any book development system, without any clarifica- tion by the Project as to what infrastructure, planning, funding and monitor- ing systems should be provided to ensure that the books reached the schools and the teachers were trained in their use. Also as this was the first time that teachers and pupils in PNG's community schools would have textbooks, the Project's aim of producing a variety of materials for the initial effort was unrealistic vis-a-vis both the managerial and classroom teaching systems. 1.7 Another miscalculation was in the Project's provisions for the planning and administration component. The technical assistance (TA) compo- nent for the Regional Planning Advisors (RPAs), at four experts for eight staff-years to work in 20 provinces with 20 Senior Professional Assistants (SPAs), who were without any previous planning experience, was an understate- ment of the needs. To introduce planning to a bureaucratic culture where the rudiments for planning, such as having a reliable data base, were still in the fledgling stage, to backstop the provincial staff initially in the preparation of their five-year plans for community and lower secondary education and thereafter help them update and adjust the plans, to assist in the training of the provincial planners, to help prepare education budgets and write project proposals and to help manage and monitor the implementation of the plans made a formidable load for any one RPA especially as he had to service five provinces and an equal number of SPAs. 1.8 The major innovation in the Project, the PPEF, was new as a system for allocating resources within PNG and as a Bank strategy for sector-wide assistance to education. However, the Staff Appraisal Report (SAR) failed to draw attention to the critical role to be played by the provincial proposal review body or to the management and monitoring mechanisms needed to ensure the soundness of the proposals and their subsequent implementation. In addi- tion, no mechanism was specified for undertaking joint BanklGovernment reviews of the PPEF's achievements and problems. The concept of increased retention as a more efficient strategy for bringing the country closer to UPE, which was part of the design, was either inadequately understood or was difficult to implement, and therefore, did not enjoy a high Government funding priority.  -4- Project Implementation 1.9 The Project was substantially completed and was fully disbursed by the Closing Date. The Closing Date had been extended by 12 months from the date expected at appraisal due mainly to early delays in curriculum develop- ment, textbook production and fellowship availment, and, later, to financial constraints. Annual project disbursements for the most part ran ahead of appraisal estimates; the Cr:-dit and Loan proceeds were fully disbursed by August 1988. Due to the de_line in the purchasing power of the kina (down about 37? between 1982 and 1988 relative to the US dollar), local costs at project closing (minus the local communities' share for which no records are available) were 39Z higher than estimated at appraisal, while foreign costs were lower by 16? and total project costs 121 higher. The actual share of project costs which the Government financed increased from the 522 estimated at appraisal to 63Z, while that financed from the Loan/Credit decreased from 482 at appraisal to 372. 1.10 Expert Services. Overall TA provisions were 8? lower than the amount actually used (86 vs. 93.4 man-years). TA estimates for textbook writers, book production staff and the RPAs, in particular, were inadequate with about 5O0 more in staff-years consumed by experts in these areas than was allocated. In the RPAs' case, the additional staff-years still proved short of requirements and came too late to influence significantly the momentum and quality of work ensuing after the provincial plans had been prepared, namely in preparation of project proposals, the rolling forward of the plans and the implementation of the approved projects. 1.11 In the textbook component, serious oversights were the lack of provision for a publishing manager, a book distribution expert and a coordi- nator of teacher inservice training and book production. The absence of a publishing manager in a situation where books were being originated for the first time and where the institution being charged with the responsibility lacked experience in publishing, translated into difficulties in planning and scheduling of book production and in coordinating the work of the writers, designers and editors, and into the somewhat confused lines of distinction between curriculum and textbook development/writing. A good deal of the ener- gies of the major actors in the curriculum and textbook production process at the time of the Project, were engaged in defining roles and clarifying what established book publishing practices were, before consensus was reached on a 13-stage publication process. The recruitment of a single firm with a Chief Technical Advisor at its helm to provide the expertise needed in educational publishing work would have helped a fledgling publishing organization acquire a better understanding of the book development sy.item without going through the inefficient trial and error method that they did. Quality would also have varied less from one writing team to the next, and there would have been fewer coordination problems among the professionals involved. Moreover, given that in PrIG, experts are usually posted as staff or line personnel of the civil service, it would have been more efficient for a Chief Technical Advisor rather than the individual contract officers, to address common bureaucratic procedural and personnel concerns and problems. 1.12 The most difficult problem in any textbook project is that of seeing that the books, which are usually produced on schedule, are in the hands of teachers and pupils alike at the desired time and that the teachers have  received training in the use of the books prior to their being introduced to the pupils. These problems did not get the attention they deserved from either the project designers or its implementors. There is little systematic documentation available at the Materials Unit of the CDD to show how each book title made its way from the PDOE's materials offices to the schools. The length of time it has taken for these books to rea:h most schoo