Turkey - Second Basic Education Project

Document of The World Bank Report No: 21831-TU PROJECT APPRAISAL DOCUMENT ONA PROPOSED LOAN IN THE AMOUNT OF US$300 MILLION TO THE REPUBLIC OF TURKEY FOR A SECOND BASIC EDUCATION PROJECT IN SUPPORT OF THE SECOND PHASE OF THE BASIC EDUCATION PROGRAM June 12, 2002 E[uman Development Sector Unit I urkey Country Unit E urope and Central Asia Region  CURRENCY EQUIVALENTS (Exchange Rate Effective as of March 10, 2002) Currency Unit = Turkish Lira (TRL) US$1 = TRL1,380,000 FISCAL YEAR January 1 - December 31 ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS APK - Research Planning and Coordination Council APL - Adaptable Program Loan BEP - Basic Education Project CAS - Country Assistance Strategy CQ - Consultant's Qualifications CY - Calendar Year DC - Direct Contracting EA - Enviromnental Assessment ECA - Europe and Central Asia EGITEK - General Directorate for Educational Technologies EMP - Environmental Management Plan ERDD - Education Research and Development Department EU - European Union FMS - Financial Management System GIS - Geographic Information System GNP - Gross National Product IALS - International Adult Literacy Study IBRD - International Bank for Reconstruction and Development ICB - International Competitive Bidding ICR - Implementation Completion Report ICT - Information Communication Technology IDA - Intemational Development Association IS - International Shopping MIS - Management Information System MOF - Ministry of Finance MONE - Ministry of National Education NCB - National Competitive Bidding NGO - Non-Govemmental Organization NS - National Shopping OECD - Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development PAD - Project Appraisal Document PCC - Project Coordination Center PISA - Programme for Intemational Student Assessment PIO - Primary Education Part-Time Boarding School PMR - Project Management Report PSR - Project Status Report QBS - Quality Based Selection  QCBS - Quality and Cost Based Selection QER - Quality Enhancement Review RFP - Request for Proposal SBD - Standard Bidding Document SIS - State Institute of Statistics SOE - Statement of Expenditures SPO - State Planning Organization YIBO - Primary Education Regional Boarding School Vice President: Johannes F. Linn Country Director: Ajay Chhibber Sector Director: Annette Dixon Acting Education Sector Manager: Emesto Cuadra Task Team Leaders: Marit Granheim/Paud Murphy   TURKEY SECOND BASIC EDUCATION PROJECT CONTENTS A. Program Purpose and Project Development Objective Page 1. Program purpose and program phasing 3 2. Project development objective 6 3. Key performance indicators 6 B. Strategic Context 1. Sector-related Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) goal supported by the project 8 2. Main sector issues end Government strategy 8 3. Sector issues to be addressed by the project and strategic choices 9 4. Program description and performance triggers for subsequent loans 10 C. Program and Project Description Summary 1. Project components 11 2. Key policy and institutional reforms supported by the project 14 3. Benefits and target population 15 4. Institutional and implementation arrangements 15 D. Project Rationale 1. Project alternatives considered and reasons for rejection 17 2. Major related projects financed by the Bank and other development agencies 18 3. Lessons learned and reflected in the project design 18 4. Indications of borrower commitment and ownership 19 5. Value added of Bank support in this project 1 9 E. Summary Project Analysis 1. Economic 20 2. Financial 20 3. Technical 21 4. Institutional 22 5. Environmental 23 6. Social 24 7. Safeguard Policies 26 F. Sustainability and Risks  1. Sustainability 26 2. Critical risks 26 3. Possible controversial aspects 28 G. Main Loan Conditions 1. Effectiveness Condition 28 2. OtherBoard 28 H. Readiness for Implementation 30 I. Compliance with Bank Policies 30 Annexes Annex 1: Project Design Summary 31 Annex 2: Detailed Project Description 40 Annex 3: Estimated Project Costs 48 Annex 4: Cost Benefit Analysis Summary, or Cost-Effectiveness Analysis Summary 49 Annex 5: Financial Summary for Revenue-Earning Project Entities, or Financial Summary 50 Annex 6: Procurement and Disbursement Arrangements 51 Annex 7: Project Processing Schedule 79 Annex 8: Documents in the Project File 80 Annex 9: Statement of Loans and Credits 81 Annex 10: Country at a Glance 84 Annex 11: Letter of Sector Policy 86 MAP(S) IBRD28849  TURKEY Second Basic Education Project Project Appraisal Document Europe and Central Asia Region ECSHD Date: June 12, 2002 Team Leader: Paud Murphy Counitry Director: Ajay Chhibber Sector Manager: Ernesto P. Cuadra Project ID: P059872 Sector(s): EP - Primary Education Lending Instrument: Adaptable Program Loan (APL) Theme(s): Education Poverty Targeted Intervention: Y IBRD Others Total Commitment Closing uS$ m % US$ m US$ m Date Date APL 1 300.00 3.0 9673.00 9973.00 06/23/1998 06/30/2003 Republic of Turkey APL 2 300.00 2.7 10896.00 11196.00 07/01/2002 02/28/2006 Republic of Turkey I.oanl Total 600.00 20569.00 21169.00 [XI Loan [ ] Credit [] Grant [] Guarantee [ Other: For Loans/Credits/Others: Loan Currency: United States Dollar Amount (US$m): 300 Borrower Rationale for Choice of Loan Terms Available on File: ER Yes Prolposed Terms (IBRD): Variable-Spread Currency Loan (VSL) Grace period (years): 5 Years to maturity: 15 Conimitment fee: 3/4 of 1% Front end fee (FEF) on Bank loan: 1.00% BOF'ROWER 55.50 1.34 56.85 IBR:) 112.90 187.10 300.00 Financing Gap 0.01 0.01 Tot29I: 168.41 188.44 356.86  Borrower: REPUBLIC OF TURKEY Responsible agency: MINISTRY OF NATIONAL EDUCATION Ministry of National Education Address: M.E.B. Miistesarlik, 06648 Bakanliklar, Ankara TURKEY Contact Person: Can Altan, Deputy Undersecretary Tel: (90-312) 418-4548 Fax: (90-312) 425-4531 Email: caltan@meb.gov.tr Estimated Disbursements ( Bank FY/US$m): Annual 3.1 187.74 72.14 8.41_ Cumulative 31.71 219.45 291.59 300.00 Project implementation period: September 1, 2002 to August 31, 2005 Expected effectiveness date: 09/01/2002 Expected closing date: 02/28/2006 AS PAD , RP-. M,Id,z -2-  A. Program Purpose and Project Development Objective 1. Program purpose and program phasing: As Turkey prepares for full participation in the global economy, the Government and the public recognize the need to raise the educational qualifications of the population (described in Section B.2, below). They also recognize that the most urgent priority is to increase the coverage of education at the base of the education pyramid. After several attempts to address this need earlier in the 1990s, in August 1997 Parliament approved a new Basic Education Law which extends the duration of compulsory schooling from five years to eight years and mandates improved quality and relevance of basic education. The law also mobilizes major new financing for the necessary investments to achieve these objectives. There has also been an outpouring of voluntary private donations of over US$350 million to support the Government Program. To support this initiative further, the Government requested large-scale support from the World Bank in November 1997. In June 1998, the Bank's Board approved the first phase of the US$600 million Adaptable Program Loan (Loan No. 4355-TU) to support the implementation of the Government's Basic Education Program. This Project Appraisal Document describes the World Bank's second phase of the APL for US$300 million. However, because the project is intended to be part of the Government's overall program of support for basic education over the next three years, that program is also described briefly here for context. In addition, because this project and the Government's program are each based on work cail-ed out over the past four years, the document also provides a summary of the Govemment's prograr oGf support for basic education to date and a description of the first Bank APL in support of that program. Basic Education Program: Progress to date. The Basic Education Program comprises a broad range of actions, financed largely by the Government, but also by major private contributions. The Government-financed portion of the Program involves expenditures of over US$2 billion per year, including both actions financed under the investment budget (such as construction of new schools, refurbishment of existing schools, and provision of improved educational equipment and materials), and actions financed under the recurrent budget (largely comprised of payment of salaries of teachers and other educational staff, and recruitment and training of additional teachers and educational staff to expand school capacity). Total annual expenditures for the Basic Education Program to date -- including all investment and recurrent costs which directly support basic education - are estimated at over US$3 billion annually. There has been major progress in implementing the Basic Education Program and achieving its objectives. Although total basic education enrollments had declined during the six years prior to the Program, enrollments in basic education have increased by 1.5 million since the start of the Program, raising the net enrollment ratio for eight-year basic education from 75.8 percent to 95 percent. Girls' enrollments in rural areas made the most rapid progress. Girls' enrollments in grade six in rural areas increased by 162 percent in the first year of the Program, and have continued to make sharp gains since. There are few cases in the history of any national education system which can compare with these initial achievements of the Basic Education Program. Other actions implemented to date under the Basic Education Program include the following: School Construction and Rehabilitation. Through a combination of Government resources and private contributions, the Ministry of National Education (MONE) constructed 103,983 new basic education classrooms during the five years 1997 - 2001, bringing the total stock to 264,776 basic education classrooms. These actions created additional capacity for more than 3 million basic education students. Enhanced allocation of flmds for capital investment in combination with new -3 -  contracting procedures made this vastly scaled-up school building program possible. In addition, the Program has supported the renovation of 300 large rural and central village schools, 1,300 small rural schools, 13 regional boarding and pension schools, and is funding the rehabilitation and extension of 44 schools in low-income areas around large cities (gecekondu areas). Support to Students from low-income families. The Program has provided a complete set of free textbooks to 796,000 needy basic education students in 36 provinces. Free school meals are being provided to 635,000 basic education students in the school bussing program, to over 80,000 basic education students in boarding schools, and to 100,000 students in the Marmara earthquake area. In addition, the Program is supporting daily bussing for 600,000 students from villages without a school offering grades 6 to 8 to larger population centers which have such a school. Teacher Recruitment and Training. Over 50,000 additional basic education teachers have been recruited. In addition, four annual cycles of in-service training have been provided to basic education teachers, principals, inspectors, and provincial education staff. Introducing Information and Communication Technologies aCT). The Ministry introduced computers in secondary schooling under the earlier Bank-financed National Education Development Project (Loan 3192-TU). The Basic Education Program is extending this initiative to basic education, starting with grade four. In addition to developing teacher and student computer literacy, it is integrating ICT into other subjects in basic education, starting with grade four. The First Phase of the APL. The first phase of the APL (Basic Education Project, Loan 4355-TU) financed a subset of the Government's Basic Education Program. The US$300 million provided under the first APL is supporting the following activities: a) refurbishment and enlargement of 300 rural basic education schools; b) provision of educational materials to all 22,268 rural schools in Turkey; c) introduction of ICT classes in almost 3,000 basic education schools throughout the country; d) in-service training for basic education teachers and school inspectors; e) monitoring and evaluation, and f) reconstruction of earthquake-damaged schools and other earthquake recovery actions. Project activities a and c, above, are completed. Activities b, e, and f are in progress. Following the August, 1999 Marmara earthquake, the first phase of the APL was amended at the Government's request to incorporate school reconstruction and other actions to support the resumption of education in the earthquake area. The project was further amended in November, 2000 to remove some earthquake activities that were financed by other sources, and to enlarge and refurbish 44 schools in Ankara province. The first phase of the APL was scheduled to close at the end of the 2000/01 school year, in June, 2001 but has been extended and is now expected to close in June 2003. Refurbishment of Rural Schools. Loan funds financed the refurbishment of 199 small rural basic education schools and teacher housing in five provinces in the East and Southeast with the lowest school attendance and educational performance. Those schools are back in operation, under vastly improved teaching and learning conditions. In addition, 121 central village schools and 13 regional boarding schools were rehabilitated. The loan also financed the civil and installation works for ICT classrooms at 2,802 schools. The rehabilitation of 1,300 small rural schools is well underway. The loan is further financing the ongoing rehabilitation and extensions of 44 schools in low-income areas around large cities (gecekondu areas), and 28 additional regional boarding and pension schools. Finally, the loan is funding the reconstruction and upgrading of 4 earthquake damaged schools. All ongoing civil works under funding from the first APL is expected to be completed before December 2002. -4 -  Providing Educational Materials to Rural Schools. Procurement is in progress for educational materials which are being provided to all 22,268 rural basic education schools, and to 3 million children in those schools. This action will make a major contribution to reducing the educational handicap of rural schools. Together with the preceding activity, it is also expected to improve school attendance, since feedback from monitoring and evaluation indicates that the cost of providing educational materials, student uniforms, and school lunches is a key factor that prevents some parents from sending their children to school. Introducing ICT. The first phase of the APL is financing the establishment of ICT classrooms in 2,802 existing basic education schools throughout the country - at least two schools in each of the 921 subprovinces of Turkey. All of these schools have been prepared and equipped, and are now in operation. In-service teacher education. The first phase of the APL financed training for 330,000 basic education teachers and 2,850 basic education inspectors in improved pedagogical matters. Additionally, 2,250 ICT classroom coordinators and 35,000 basic education teachers received training in the use of computers in basic education. Basic Education Program: the next three years. Despite the major progress achieved in meeting the objectives of the Basic Education Program to date, there are still about half a million children of basic education age who are not in school. For the most part, these children live in rural areas, where there is generally sufficient school capacity in grades one through five. But many village primary schools require investments to upgrade facilities, provide better educational materials, and train teachers in order to become fully effective and to attract children who are not currently attending school. For grades six through eight, the situation is different. At this level, there are important remaining investment needs throughout the country for expanded capacity. In view of the dispersion of the rural population, there are also recurrent budget needs to bus students to central schools in the upper grades of basic education and to operate boarding schools for students from very remote villages. Some urban basic education schools and few rural schools are severely overcrowded, and investments in expanded capacity are needed in order to reduce crowding. Further investments are also needed to extend the effort of equipping all basic education schools with facilities for ICT. Over the three years, 2002/03 - 2004/05 inclusive, the Basic Education Program will address these needs by continuing the efforts to expand basic education school capacity, to improve the quality of basic education, and to make rural schools and schools in low-income areas around large cities ( gecekondu areas) more attractive to the populations they are meant to serve. The overall level of financing needs for implementation of the Program during these three years is projected to be US$11.2 billion. While, the economic crisis of late:2000 resulted in an 9.4 percent reduction in GNP, and this affected Government's ability to finance all of the expenditures needed, Government's commitment to maintaining the share of education at 4.25 percent of GNP will protect the education budget. The second phase of the APL. This proposed Project -- financed by a second phase of the APL of US$300 million - will support implementation of the Government's Basic Education Program over the three years 2002/03 - 2004/05 inclusive by extending the actions supported under the first APL, by supporting the development of preschool education as an integral part of basic education, and special needs education. As it was during the first APL, new basic school construction will be financed entirely by Government budget resources and private donations. The second phase of the APL will help finance the following subset of the Government's Program: a) ICT hardware, software for approximately 3,000 additional basic education schools throughout Turkey and the establishment of an education portal; b) refurbishment of about 550 rural schools, bussing schools and regional boarding and part-time boarding schools, as well as renovation and extension of 550 bussing schools and schools in low-income areas -5 -  around large cities (gecekondu areas), which is a key requirement for closing the enrollment gap; c) provision of educational materials to about 4,000 additional basic education schools; d) further in-service training of basic education teachers and inspectors; e) construction and furniture for 300 new preschool classrooms at existing basic education schools, educational materials and training to develop preschool education as an integral part of basic education, as well as training and educational materials to support nonformal education for mothers of young children; f) rehabilitation, extension and furnishing of 60 schools for children with special needs, as well as educational materials and training to develop education for children with special needs;and to integrate it more within basic education; g) continued support for Program implementation and h) continued monitoring and evaluation of the Program. These activities are described more fully in Section C, below. By the end of 2004/05, the Government's.Basic Education Program is expected to,have: a) created additional capacity for two million basic education students - enough to accommodate the entire basic education age group and to reduce the most severe cases of classroom overcrowding; b) made a very important contribution to filling the enrollment gap in rural areas by upgrading and expanding school facilities, by providing better teaching and learning materials to all rural schools, and by supporting community partnerships with basic education schools; and c) made a major contribution to improved basic education quality by providing six annual cycles of training to teachers, principals, and school inspectors, by providing a basic set of educational materials to all rural schools and to needy urban schools, and by introducing ICT in approximately 6,000 basic education schools throughout the country. Although the Basic Education Program is making very good progress toward its primary goal of universal coverage in basic education, full achievement of this and other Program objectives - including equipping all basic education schools with ICT classrooms, reducing classroom overcrowding, and eliminating the multiple-shift use of schools -- will take at least a decade to achieve. Program implementation beyond 2004/05 will be financed largely by the Govermment and by continued private contributions. The Government has requested further Bank financing for implementation of the Program beyond 2004/05. Further Bank financing for subsequent stages of imnplementation could be considered in the future, depending upon Government priorities, available fiscal resources, and the implementation experience of the second phase of the APL. 2. Project development objective: (see Annex 1) The objective of the second phase of the APL is very similar to the objective of the first phase of the APL: to promote progress in coverage of eight-year basic education and improved basic education quality by supporting the implementation of the Basic Education Program. The second phase of the APL will support the Basic Education Program during the three-year period 2002/03 - 2004/05. In particular, activities supported through the second phase of the APL will concentrate on increasing coverage and improving quality among the children of low-income families and children with special needs. The project will also continue to extend opportuniity to a greater number of children to have access to ICT in basic education schools across the country. The project will comprise the same actions that were supported under the first APL, as well as the development of nonfonnal early childhood programs and the development of preschool education and education of children with special needs as integral parts of basic education. 3. Key performance indicators: (see Annex 1) -6 -  Government Goals for the Basic Education Program The Government of Turkey has adopted the following main goals for its Basic Education Program and is establishing an annual review to look at progress on the quantitative aspects. They will conduct a separate annual review to look at selected qualitative aspects of these goals: * All eligible children (including educable children with special needs) enrolled in and completing basic education * School enrollment for eligible children at the age of pre-school education approaches 25 percent * Student performance for all students in basic education improves * 40 percent of all children in basic education utilize ICT for learning Key performance indicators for the Second Basic Education Project (Second Phase of the APL) The Second Basic Education Project (Second phase of APL) is supporting the achievement of these Govermment Goals and has based it's Project Goals and performance indicators on the goals for the Basic Education Program. Accordingly, the Project has established the following perfornance indicators for measuring progress on the project: * More than 350,000 students benefit as a result of renovated or new education facilities: - 9,800 students in rural schools - 185,300 students in schools in low-income areas around large cities (gecekondu areas) - 83,200 students in regional Basic Education Boarding Schools and Part-boarding Schools - 70,800 students in Bussing schools - 12,000 students in pre-schooling - 4,800 students with special needs * More than 3.5 million students enabled to improve their performance as a result of provision of new educational materials provided to: - 3,430,000 students in schools in low-income areas around large cities (gecekondu areas) - 32,000 students in pre-schooling - 36,000 students with special needs * More that 35,000 students with special needs improve their performance as a result of 4,225 teachers and administrators attending special needs in-service training * Over 150,000 pre-school students improve their school readiness as a result of 4,500 teachers attending pre-school in-service training