Announcement of Six Million Three Hundred Thousand US Dollars Loan to Guatemala for Education on November 27, 1968

• 1818 H STREET, N.W., WASHINGTON D. C. 20433 TELEPHONE: EXECUTIVE 3-6360 Bank Press Release No. 68/64 Subject: $6.3 million loan to November 27, 1968 Guatemala for education Guatemala will receive a World Bank loan of $6.3 million for a project to improve and expand its secondary school system. The project will make a signi• ficant contribution toward meeting Guatemala's requ~rements for secondary school teachers, agricultural technicians and better qualified personnel for industry and business. Enrollment in secondary schools is now a~out 60,000. The target for 1980 is 115,000. The project being assisted by the Bank loan will provide 14,700 of the new places required and will be in accord with another objective of • equal importance -- an improvement in the quality of secondary education and its reorientation in line with economic and social needs. The loan will be used to construct and equip a secondary teacher training school at the national University of San Carlos in Guatemala City and 15 new general secondary schools throughout the nation, and an extension of the Tech- nical Institute of Agriculture at Villa Nueva. The loan, to be made to the Government of Guatemala, will be for a term of 25 years, including a 10-year grace period, with interest at 6-1/2%. In developing this project, which is part of a comprehensive education program, the World Bank has worked closely with other international and national financing agencies, as well as Guatemalan education authorities. It is closely meshed with complementary projects for improving primary and • higher education. Furthermore, the United Nations Educational, Scientific /more Bank No. 68/64-Guatemala-Education • - 2 - and Cultural Organization (Unesco) assisted Guatemalan authorities in the preparation of the project. Specialists from Unesco and from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations participated in its appraisal under the Unesco and FAO/Bank Cooperative Programs. The United Nations De- velopment Programme is considering giving technical assistance for a five- year period in setting up and operating the teacher training school. The teacher training school will accommodate 700 students, and training in science, mathematics and practical subjects will be stressed. By 1974, this school will provide about 85% of the country's estimated requirements for secondary teachers. New workshops, laboratories and dormitories, and the renovation of existing academic, administrative and communal facilities, will permit the Technical Institute of Agriculture to increase enrollment from 275 to 600. The annual output of junior technicians will be tripled and two-thirds of them will go on to a two-year post-secondary program to be initiated which • will give them specialization in natural resources, animal husbandry, crop production or agricultural mechanics. The graduates of this Institute will provide much-needed technicians for agriculture, a most promising field for economic development. The 15 general secondary schools to be built and equipped will have a diversified and modernized curriculum. They will be located in accordance with geographic distribution of the population and consistent with the Government's policy of making public secondary education more available in provincial areas and in heavily populated residential zone's of the capital city. The total cost of the project is estimated at the equivalent of $12.6 million. The Bank loan will cover half the total. The Government of Guatemala will finance the remaining capital costs as well as annual re- current costs estimated at the equivalent of $3.4 million. Procurement of goods and services will be on the basis of international competitive bidding both for building construction and the purchase of equipment. - 0 - •