Bangladesh Open University Project (Loan 1173-BAN[SF])

7/31/2019 Bangladesh Open University Project (Loan 1173-BAN[SF])

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CURRENCY EQUIVALENTS

Currency Unit taka (Tk)

At Appraisal At Project Completion At Operations Evaluation(December 1991) (March 2000) (March 2002)

Tk1.00 = $0.026 $0.020 $0.017$1.00 = Tk38.725 Tk51.00 Tk57.25

ABBREVIATIONS

ADB Asian Development BankBIDE Bangladesh Institute of Distance EducationBME benefit monitoring and evaluationBOU Bangladesh Open University

BR Bangladesh RadioBRM Bangladesh Resident MissionBTV Bangladesh TelevisionEIRR economic internal rate of returnFIRR financial internal rate of returnHSC Higher Secondary CertificateLC local centerMOE Ministry of EducationNAS needs assessment surveyOEM Operations Evaluation MissionPCR project completion reportPPAR project performance audit report

PPTA project preparatory technical assistanceRRC regional resource centerSSC Secondary School CertificateTC tutorial centerTV television

NOTES

(i) The fiscal year (FY) of the Government ends on 30 June.(ii) In this report, $ refers to US dollars.

OPERATIONS EVALUATION DEPARTMENT, PE-607


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CONTENTS

PageBASIC DATA iiiEXECUTIVE SUMMARY ivMAP vii

I. BACKGROUND 1

A. Rationale 1B. Formulation 1C. Purpose and Outputs 1D. Cost, Financing, and Executing Arrangements 1E. Completion and Self-Evaluation 2F. Operations Evaluation 2

II. PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTATION PERFORMANCE 2

A. Formulation and Design 2B. Achievement of Outputs 3C. Cost and Scheduling 3D. Procurement and Construction 4E. Organization and Management 4

III. ACHIEVEMENT OF PROJECT PURPOSE 5

A. Operational Performance 5B. Performance of the Operating Entity 9C. Sustainability 9D. Economic Reevaluation 9

IV. ACHIEVEMENT OF OTHER DEVELOPMENT IMPACTS 10

A. Socioeconomic Impact 10B. Environmental Impact 11C. Impact on Institutions and Policy 11

V. OVERALL ASSESSMENT 12

A. Relevance 12B. Efficacy 12C. Efficiency 12

D. Sustainability 12E. Institutional Development and Other Impacts 13F. Overall Project Rating 13G. Assessment of ADB and Borrower Performance 13

VI. ISSUES, LESSONS, AND FOLLOW-UP ACTIONS 13

A. Key Issues for the Future 13B. Lessons Identified 15


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C. Follow-Up Actions 15

APPENDIXES

1. Education System in Bangladesh 172. Estimated and Actual Project Cost 18

3. Achievement of Project Targets 194. Distance Education System in Bangladesh 215. Improved Quality and Relevance of Distance Education Programs 276. Sustainability Analysis 307. Economic Analysis 318. Socioeconomic Impact 37


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BASIC DATA

Bangladesh Open University Project (Loan 1173-BAN[SF])

Project PreparationTA No. TA Name Type Person-Months Amount1($) Approval Date

1222 Bangladesh OpenUniversity

PPTA 19 250,000 16 Nov 1989

Key Project Data ($ million) As per ADB Loan Documents ActualTotal Project Cost 43.00 41.15Foreign Exchange Cost 10.52 19.83Local Currency Cost 32.48 21.32

ADB Loan Amount/Utilization 34.33 32.77ADB Loan Amount/Cancellation 1.56

Key Dates Expected ActualFact-Finding Oct 1991 30 Sep15 Oct 1991

Appraisal Dec 1991 423 Dec 1991Loan Negotiations Jun 1992 45 Jun 1992Board Approval Jul 1992 4 Aug 1992Loan Agreement Aug 1992 20 Aug 1992Loan Effectiveness 19 Nov 1992 17 Nov 1992First Disbursement 23 Apr 1993Project Completion 30 Jun 1997 31 Dec 1998Loan Closing 31 Dec 1997 28 Sep 1999Months (effectiveness to completion) 55 73

Key Performance IndicatorsInternal Rate of Return (%) Appraisal PCR PPAR

Economic Internal Rate of Return 7Weighted Average Private Financial Internal Rate of Return 26

Borrower The Peoples Republic of Bangladesh

Executing Agency Bangladesh Open University

Mission DataType of Mission No. of Missions No. of Person-DaysFact-Finding 1 64

Appraisal 1 95Project Administration

Inception 1 4Review 14 198Project Completion 1 32

Operations Evaluation2 1 36

ADB = Asian Development Bank, PCR = project completion report, PPAR = project performance audit report, PPTA = projectpreparatory technical assistance, TA = technical assistance.1 Approved amount.2 Comprising S. Hutaserani (mission leader and senior evaluation specialist) and E. Ali (staff consultant and project management

and evaluation specialist), who visited Bangladesh during 1027 March 2002.


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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

In response to inadequate access to formal basic education and career-developmenttraining in rural Bangladesh, one of the Governments education priorities set out in the FourthFive-Year Plan (19901995) was to provide education opportunities to out-of-school peoplethrough nonformal channels and continuing education. In line with this priority, the Government

requested the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to finance the Project and thereby help providedistance education to various disadvantaged groups excluded from the formal educationsystem. A project preparatory technical assistance, granted by ADB in November 1989, wasinstrumental in designing the Project that was approved in August 1992.

The objectives of the Project were to (i) increase access to basic education (mostly atthe junior secondary level) and career-development training for disadvantaged groups throughdistance education; (ii) improve the quality and relevance of distance education programs(through radio and television broadcasting, printed self-study textbooks, audio and videocassettes, and part-time tutorials by contracted teachers from the formal education system); and(iii) increase general knowledge of the rural poor for improving their living conditions. Theproject scope comprised (i) establishment of the Bangladesh Open Universitys (BOU) main

campus, 10 regional resource centers, and 80 local centers; (ii) instructional materialsdevelopment; (iii) staff development; and (iv) project implementation assistance and benefitmonitoring and evaluation.

The project cost was estimated at $43.0 million, to be financed by an ADB loan of$34.3 million from its Special Funds resources. The remaining $8.7 million equivalent was to beprovided by the Government. The actual project cost of $41.1 million was 4.4% below theappraisal estimate. The cost underrun mainly stemmed from savings on staff development andsalaries, consulting services, and instructional materials development, which more than offsetthe cost overrun in civil works and equipment.

The Project was to be implemented over 4 years and 7 months. Actual implementation

took 6 years and 1 month. The 18-months delay was attributable to the time spent conducting aneeds assessment survey prior to implementation, which was not envisaged at appraisal, andto delays in civil works and staff recruitment. The delays in civil works were caused by litigationfor land acquisition, seasonal monsoons, and floods; and in staff recruitment by the lengthyrecruitment procedure and the large number of staff to be recruited.

The Project has been consistent both with the Governments education priorities, whichcontinue to focus on providing education opportunities to out-of-school people, and with ADBseducation strategy at project formulation, which focused on technical/vocational and highereducation. The Project is also consistent with ADBs current education strategy, which hasshifted the focus to basic education (primary, junior secondary, and nonformal education), as ituses nonformal distance delivery mode to provide secondary education and career-

development training (especially teacher training for primary and secondary schools) to thedisadvantaged.

At the time of the Operations Evaluation Mission, the Project has achieved or exceededappraisal targets by (i) establishing BOU's main campus, 12 regional resource centers, and80 local centers; (ii) developing 17 regular programs and curricula; (iii) developing19 supplementary programs; (iv) enrolling the current stock of about 210,000 students;(v) enrolling the cumulative flow of about 300,000 students over the past 10 years; and(vi) producing about 90,000 graduates over the past 10 years. Although the Project has low


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internal efficiency, as indicated by the low economic internal rate of return and the low utilizationof BOUs media center, its external efficiency has been sufficient. The quality and relevance ofBOUs curricula are perceived to be adequate by the sample BOU graduates, employers, andtutors. Two thirds of graduates are employed and benefit from high private financial internalrates of return. The Project has also achieved long-term financial sustainability as indicated bythe stable flow of recurrent budget from the Government and the ability of BOU to increase cost

recovery from 30% to 38% after project completion. The Project has also helped improve theliving conditions of the rural poor by broadcasting useful knowledge in various practical skills.

The Projects objectives have been achieved as planned, including increasing access tobasic education (42% of BOUs current enrollment is in the Secondary School Certificateprogram); improving the quality and relevance of distance education programs; and increasinggeneral knowledge of the rural poor. Thus, the overall goal of providing distance learningopportunities to various disadvantaged groups has been met. The Project is rated successful.

Three key issues emerge from the evaluation. First, BOU should try to increase theutilization of its media center by exploring possibilities to broadcast its programs directly fromthe media center, rather than sharing the existing radio and television channels. Second, BOU

should try to improve its management capacity by providing its management staff with relevanttraining to increase efficiency in the distance education delivery of its programs. Third, althoughthe Ministry of Education has recently granted recognition of BOUs Secondary SchoolCertificate program, BOU still needs to get recognition for its remaining programs.

The Project provides the following key lessons for similar interventions in the future:

(i) The project design should not put too much emphasis on the hardware side,without sufficient investments in the software side.

(ii) If establishment of new institutions is involved, a comprehensive package ofinstitutional capacity building should be part of the project scope to ensure

overall management efficiency.

(iii) If a project is employment oriented, the demand for semiskilled and skilledworkers should be estimated for various education programs through needsassessment surveys during project preparation to ensure long-term utilization ofgraduates.

(iv) If policy changes are involved, ADB should follow-up closely during reviewmissions with the executing agency and the concerned government agencies inorder to maximize project impacts.


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I. BACKGROUND

A. Rationale

1. Because access to formal basic education and career development training was

inadequate in rural areas, particularly for women, the educational priorities in the Fourth Five-Year Plan (19901995) of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh focused on (i) providingeducational opportunities to out-of-school children, youth, and adults through nonformalchannels and continuing education; (ii) reducing the rural-urban gap in educationalopportunities; (iii) increasing the participation of women in education; and (iv) strengtheningtechnical and vocational education and skills development by making it more job-oriented.Consistent with these education priorities, in 1989 the Government requested the AsianDevelopment Bank (ADB) to finance the Bangladesh Open University (BOU) Project.3 TheProject was consistent with ADBs education strategy at that time, which focused on technicaland vocational education and higher education. Appendix 1 shows BOUs programs as part ofthe Bangladesh educational system.

B. Formulation

2. Project preparatory technical assistance (PPTA)4 helped design an open universityproject to meet Bangladeshs education needs. The Project was formulated to absorb theexisting Bangladesh Institute of Distance Education (BIDE), whose functions and capacity,including resources and staff number, and quality, were too limited to serve the Projectspurposes. The Project was intended to supplement the formal educational system by providingdistance learning opportunities to various disadvantaged groups that were excluded from theformal education system. Based on the PPTAs findings and recommendations, ADB fielded afact-finding mission in September to October 1991, and an appraisal mission in December1991.

C. Purpose and Outputs

3. The Projects long-term goal was to provide distance-learning opportunities to variousdisadvantaged groups through radio and television (TV) broadcasting, self-study textbooks,audio and video cassettes, and part-time classroom tutorials by teachers contracted from theformal system. The Projects objectives included (i) increasing access to basic education fordisadvantaged groups (mostly at the junior secondary level) and career development training(mostly to prepare teachers for primary and secondary schools); (ii) improving the quality andrelevance of distance education programs; and (iii) increasing the rural poors generalknowledge to improve their living conditions. The project scope comprised (i) establishment ofBOUs main campus, 10 regional resource centers (RRCs), and 80 local centers (LCs);(ii) development of instructional materials; (iii) staff development; and (iv) project implementation

assistance and benefit monitoring and evaluation (BME).

D. Cost, Financing, and Executing Arrangements

4. At appraisal, the project cost was estimated at $43.0 million, comprising $10.5 million inforeign exchange and $32.5 million equivalent in local currency (Appendix2). An ADB loan of

3 Loan 1173-BAN(SF): Bangladesh Open University Project,for $34.3 million, approved on 4 August 1992.4

TA 1222-BAN: Bangladesh Open University, for $250,000, approved on 16 November 1989.


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$34.3 million from its Special Funds resources was approved to finance 79.8% of the total cost,including $10.5 million of foreign exchange cost and $23.8 million equivalent of local currencycost. The Government was to provide the remaining $8.7 million. BOU was the executingagency.

E. Completion and Self-Evaluation

5. The Project was completed in December 1998. A project completion report (PCR),prepared by ADBs Agriculture and Social Sectors Department (West), was circulated to theBoard in June 2000. The PCR rated the Project as successful, mainly because it had achievedmost of the physical targets set at appraisal. These included development of physicalinfrastructure and facilities for BOUs main campus and 12 RRCs; development of facilities for80 LCs; development of 16 regular programs5 to enroll many students from disadvantagedgroups; development of 19 supplementary programs to disseminate information to the generalpopulation, especially the rural poor, for improving their living conditions; and enrollment of morethan 100,000 students in 1999. The PCR did not clearly indicate whether the Project would befinancially sustainable, but sustainability was implicitly assumed because BOU regularlyreceived sufficient financial support from the Governments recurrent budget, and was collecting

tuition fees equivalent to about 30% of its total recurrent budget. The PCR focused onachievement of the Projects physical targets, without sufficient discussion of the project design,achievement of project objectives, internal and external efficiency, and investment efficiency.

F. Operations Evaluation

6. This project performance audit report (PPAR) evaluates the Projects design,implementation, outputs, and impact. It focuses on the contributions of the component outputsto achieving each objective, and on the Projects long-term goal, efficiency, and sustainability.Key issues are identified and follow-up actions recommended. Project lessons for futureoperations are also identified. The PPAR is based mainly on the findings of the threecomprehensive field surveys conducted by the Operations Evaluation Mission (OEM): (i) a

school survey of 183 BOU staff and 149 part-time tutors,6

(ii) a tracer survey of 579 BOUgraduates7 and 45 employers, and (iii) a beneficiary survey of 562 BOU students. The PPARalso uses findings from (i) focus group discussions with BOU staff and part-time tutors,government agencies concerned, and some beneficiaries; (ii) a desk review of project andrelated documents; and (iii) consultations with the concerned ADB divisions, including theBangladesh Resident Mission (BRM). Copies of the draft PPAR were submitted for review toBOU and to the ADB divisions concerned. Comments were incorporated into the final PPAR.

II. PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTATION PERFORMANCE

A. Formulation and Design

7. The Project was designed in accordance with the Governments educational priorities inthe Fourth Five-Year Plan (19901995). The Project was consistent with ADBs operationalstrategy in the education sector at appraisal. The project design put more emphasis on

5BOUs formal and nonformal programs referred to in the PCR are called regular and supplementaryprograms here to avoid confusion with the terms formal and nonformal education systems.

6The sample size of each category is not expressed in a round number because many intended respondents couldnot respond.

7 For comparison, the OEM also gathered data from a sample of 120 graduates from the formal system in the sameprograms as those of the sample BOU graduates.


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hardware, with the combined cost of civil works, equipment, furniture, and vehicles increasingfrom 23% of the total project cost at appraisal to 36% at the PCR stage, compared to only 5%for staff development. Although the latter was included in the project scope, most of the trainingfocused on improving the staffs technical capacity (e.g., pedagogy, curriculum development,instructional materials design, multimedia production, and student support services), rather thaninstitutional capacity (e.g., management and planning of distance education delivery; and

financial, budget, and human resources management). A needs assessment survey (NAS) wasnot conducted at the PPTA stage or the processing stage. However, it was conducted prior tophysical implementation to assess market demand before developing BOU programs. As aresult, many programs envisaged at appraisal were replaced by more relevant programs(Appendix 3). Although BME activities were included in one component of the Project, suchactivities, along with NAS, which should be institutionalized on an annual basis, werediscontinued after project completion.

B. Achievement of Outputs

8. As indicated in Appendix 3, the Project has achieved or exceeded its targets by(i) establishing BOU's main campus, as well as 12 RCCs and 80 LCs, compared to the

appraisal targets of 10 and 80, respectively; (ii) developing 17 regular programs and curricula,including instructional materials, at the OEM stage versus the appraisal target of 14;(iii) developing 19 supplementary programs at the OEM stage (no corresponding target wasprovided at appraisal); (iv) enrolling a current stock of about 210,000 students at the OEM stagecompared to the appraisal target of 138,500; (v) enrolling a cumulative flow of about300,000 students (without double-counting the same students who enrolled more than 1 year)over the past 10 years from 1992 to 2001 (no corresponding target was provided at appraisal);and (vi) producing a cumulative number of about 90,000 graduates over the past 10 years (nocorresponding target was provided at appraisal). Most of the sample graduates, employers, andtutors perceived the quality and relevance of the programs and curricula as adequate. Manysample employers and tutors, however, suggested that BOUs curricula be updated, particularlythose developed before 1998, to catch up with curricula of the formal system and to meet

changing market needs.

C. Cost and Scheduling

9. Implementation of the Project at appraisal was envisaged to be 4 years and 7 months.Actual implementation took 6 years and 1 monthan 18-month delay. Loan closing wasextended once to compensate for time spent conducting NAS as well as delays in civil worksand staff recruitment. Completion of the civil works construction of some RRCs was delayed by2 years by litigation for land acquisition, seasonal monsoons, and floods. There was also a longdelay in staff recruitment, which was completed by the end of the Project, rather than within thescheduled first 2 years, because the recruitment process was lengthy, and a large number758of full-time staff had to be recruited. The long delay in staffing resulted in substantial cost

savings in staff development and staff salaries (Appendix 2). Furthermore, BOU absorbed80 staff from BIDE, whose salaries were already covered by the government recurrent budget.The delay also helped save significant costs for consulting services. Only 6 person-months ofdomestic consultants were used versus the appraisal estimate of 198 person-months, becausethe planned consultants were replaced by experienced former BIDE staff. The use of localinstallation services for media equipment, and training provided through the procurementcontract, reduced the input of international consultants by half (67 versus 129 person-months).Other cost savings were in instructional material development, because of lower-than-estimated


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unit cost of tapes, the use of existing BIDE tapes and other materials, and fewer tapesdistributed to students due to the late opening of BOUs media center.10. A high cost overrun, mainly in civil works, resulted from significant changes in theconstruction design of BOUs media center and main campus buildings. ADB approved about$4.0 million of additional construction costs following the recommendation of the mid-termreview mission. The cost overrun in civil works and equipment was more than offset by the

combined cost savings in staff development, staff salaries, consulting services, anddevelopment of instructional materials. Thus, the actual project cost of $41.1 million was 4.4%lower than the appraisal estimate of $43.0 million. The ADB loan was reduced by 4.4%from$34.3 million to $32.8 millionwhile the Governments share decreased by 3.4%from$8.7 million equivalent to $8.4 million equivalent.

D. Procurement and Construction

11. Contracts for civil works were awarded based on local competitive bidding byprequalified contractors. An exception was bidding for the media center where a turnkeycontract covering both civil works and equipment was awarded to a consortium. Otherequipment, along with vehicles, was procured by international shopping. Furniture was

purchased locally, in accordance with government procedures acceptable to ADB. Instructionalmaterials were procured by local competitive bidding and international shopping. Theperformance of contractors and suppliers was generally satisfactory, despite some delays indelivery of goods and services. BOU engaged 2 international consulting firms and 12 individualinternational consultants in accordance with ADBs Guidelines on the Use of Consultants. BOUalso hired domestic consultants on an individual basis, using government proceduressatisfactory to ADB. The consultants technical advice was generally satisfactory. But a longdelay in submission of supporting documents for payment by one international consulting firmcaused a 1-year delay in disbursement of about $1.0 million. ADB intervention resolved theissue.

E. Organization and Management

12. The Government firmly committed itself to the Project before implementation, byapproving the BOU Act in 1992 that legally made BOU an autonomous institution. TheGovernment also disbursed the counterpart funds on time, with annual provision of recurrentbudget after project completion. The Government has not yet fully complied with the remainingloan covenant by granting recognition of BOUs certificates, diplomas, and degrees asequivalent to those of the formal education system. Until now, the Government has granted onlyrecognition for BOUs Secondary School Certificate (SSC). Except for inadequate coordinationwith the Ministry of Education (MOE) for such recognition, BOUs general performance wassatisfactory, considering that it was a newly established institution with most of its staffappointed during project implementation. BOU coordinated well with other agencies to arrangebroadcasting. It also effectively implemented the comprehensive NAS before physical

implementation. Some inefficiencies arose during project implementation, because of BOUshighly-centralized decision making. Those inefficiencies delayed staffing and caused failure toinstitutionalize some important functions such as the conduct of NAS. Although centralizeddecision making by top management was efficient when the Project beganand BOU was stillsmall in size and operations performance became less efficient as its organization andoperations expanded.

13. To strengthen the project design, ADB requested BOU to conduct NAS beforeimplementing the project. ADB closely supervised and guided the Project throughout


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implementation by fielding 15 supervisory missions totaling 202 person-days plus the PCRmission, including site visits to some RRCs and LCs. ADB also helped resolve a paymentdispute between a consulting firm and BOU. ADB generally approved BOUs requests tochange implementation arrangements to make the Project more responsive to local needs.BRM provided support and close coordination with ministries and agencies involved in BOUsestablishment and initial operations.

III. ACHIEVEMENT OF PROJECT PURPOSE

A. Operational Performance

1. Component I: Establishment of BOUs Main Campus, 12 RRCs, and 80 LCs

14. BOU was established by the Governments BOU Act in 1992 as an autonomouseducation institution to provide various distance education programs through radio and TVbroadcasting, self-study textbooks, audio and video cassettes, and part-time tutoring. Theoutputs of this component consisted of development of (i) physical infrastructure and facilitiesfor BOUs main campus, located on the 14 hectares of land provided by the Government at

Gazipur (22 kilometers from central Dhaka), and its 12 RRCs; (ii) facilities for 80 LCs;8(iii) regular programs to enroll many students from disadvantaged groups; and(iv) supplementary programs9 to disseminate knowledge to the general population, especiallythe rural poor, to improve their living conditions. BOUs organizational structure (Table A4.1)consists of six schools10 and 10 divisions, one of which is responsible for the 12 RRCs, 80 LCs,and more than 1,000 tutorial centers (TCs). BOUs main campus is responsible for programdevelopment and production; RRCs for registration and examination; LCs for face-to-facestudent support, and for registration and examination in remote areas, to stretch BOUsoutreach; and TCs for classroom tutoring. The subdistrict offices in the same locality as LCsprovide free office spaces for LCs, whereas the schools and colleges from which their teachersare hired by BOU as part-time tutors provide free classroom spaces for TCs.

15. This components outputs have helped reach two of the three project objectives:increased access to basic education and career-development training for the disadvantaged,and increased knowledge among the rural poor to improve their living conditions.

a. Increased Access to Basic Education and Career-DevelopmentTraining of Disadvantaged Groups

16. Table A4.2 shows that there are 17 regular programs offered by the six BOU schoolsthrough radio and TV broadcasting, audio and video cassettes, printed self-instructionalmaterials, and informal tutoring. Basic information for each program, such as year ofintroduction, minimum entry requirements, program duration, and student fees, are also shown

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The establishment of LCs did not require civil works because LCs are located in the subdistrict offices.9Supplementary programs differ from regular programs in that the former do not require any enrollment, but justdisseminate useful information to the interested public for improving their practical skills and knowledge about day-to-day lives through radio and TV broadcasting. In contrast, the regular programs enroll students and delivercourses not only through radio and TV broadcasting, but also through self-study textbooks, audio and videocassettes, and informal classroom tutoring using about 2,500 teachers contracted from the formal educationsystem as BOUs part-time tutors. About 1020 tutorial classes (45 minutes per class) are provided per subject,depending on the nature of the subject. The tutorial classes are held at BOUs tutorial centers, which are classroomspaces provided for free by the schools under the formal system in which their teachers are contracted by BOU.

10 Open School; School of Education; School of Business; School of Agriculture and Rural Development; School ofSocial Science, Humanities, and Languages; and School of Science and Technology.


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in Table A4.2. Most applicants who meet minimum entry requirements are accepted, as BOUhas no physical capacity limitations. At appraisal, the six schools were projected to provide14 regular programs (Appendix 3). However, based on the results of NAS, 16 regular programswere provided. These programs remained the same until the PCR stage. Since late 2000, BOUhas offered an additional programBachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Social Science. The School ofScience and Technology will launch a new program on Graduate Diploma in Nursing in 2003.

17. Table A4.3 shows the yearly stock of enrollment in BOUs regular programs of about210,000 students at the OEM stage (academic year 2001) compared to less than 120,000 at thePCR stage (academic year 1999).11 These figures reflect BOU's big capacity to provide accessto basic education and professional training for a large number of disadvantaged students whohave been excluded from the formal education system.

18. Table A4.4 shows the annual flow of enrollment, which refers to new students addedeach year. The figure was about 55,000 students at the OEM stage. No corresponding figureswere provided in the PCR or at appraisal. Enrollment of new students increased 10 times sincethe start of BOUs operations in 1992, with an annual average of about 30,000 students and anannual growth rate of 30%. Since most of the applicants who meet the minimum entry

requirements are accepted for enrollment, the annual flow figures of enrollment reflect continueddemand for BOUs programs. Since the start of its operations, BOU has provided access tobasic education and career-development training to a cumulative flow of about 300,000 students(without double-counting the same students who are enrolled more than 1 year). Thebreakdown of the cumulative flow of enrollment by program confirms that BOU has beencatering more to dropout students from the basic level of education as almost half of itsenrollment (48%) has been in the SSC program. Another 18% has been in the HigherSecondary Certificate (HSC) program, and 15% in the Bachelor of Education program whosegraduates will become teachers in primary or secondary schools.

19. Table A4.5 shows that about 90,000 students have graduated so far, resulting in anaverage graduation rate of 36% of BOUs cumulative enrollment flow.12 The low graduation rate

partly reflects the nature of BOUs nonformal education system, in which almost half of thestudents are working while taking the programs. It also reflects BOUs low internal efficiency.BOU should try to increase its internal efficiency by increasing the graduation rate to at least50% of its enrollment flow. BOUs dropout rate is negligible as BOUs students do not need todiscontinue working and BOU allows a long enrollment period of 5 years.

11These data were given by BOUs administration. However, the enrollment data as reported by the PCR was184,214 students (rather than 116,483) due to confusion in coding the number of students, which resulted in muchlarger numbers for some programs than actual numbers in the academic year 1999. For example, the actualenrollment in the Certificate in English Language Proficiency program has been about 4,000 students per year andwas 3,597 in 1999. But the number reported in the PCR was almost 6 times more (19,977 students). The academicyear for the School of Education starts in July, for the School of Business in April, and for the rest in January.

12This is an average graduation rate of 10 cohorts enrolled during 19922001, with the deduction (in thedenominator) of the number of new students enrolled in 2001 in the programs that take more than 1 year tograduate. Graduation rate differs from completion rate in that the former does not double count the same students(in the denominator) who are enrolled more than 1 year, while the latter does.


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b. Increased General Knowledge of the Rural Poor to Improve TheirLiving Conditions

20. Besides regular programs, BOU provides 19 supplementary programs via radio and TVbroadcasting13 to disseminate useful knowledge and practical skills to the general population,especially the rural poor, on programs such as agriculture, bank loans, environmental

protection, health and nutrition, and family planning (Table A4.6). The OEM found that mostsample beneficiaries gained practical knowledge to improve their living conditions andappreciated these programs.

2. Component II: Instructional Materials Development

21. The outputs of this component included development of (i) suitable distance educationcurricula for all regular programs, (ii) self-study textbooks in modular forms for all regularprograms, and (iii) audio and video cassettes for broadcasting for all regular and supplementaryprograms. These outputs helped achieve the project objective of improved quality and relevanceof distance education programs.

22. Table A5.1 shows perceptions of BOUs part-time tutorsteachers from the formaleducational systemon the appropriateness and quality of BOUs curricula and textbooks.

About 26% of the sample tutors considered them of comparable quality to those of the formalsystem. Many tutors particularly cited the modular form of the textbooks for making teachingand learning easier. About half (54%) considered BOUs curricula and textbooks as sufficientand appropriate, although of slightly lower quality than those of the formal system. The 13%who considered BOUs curricula and textbooks of much lower quality, and the 6% who thoughtthey were not comparable to those of the formal system, cited that BOU had not updated thecurricula. BOU should start updating its curricula and textbooks, particularly for the programsthat started before 1998, to catch up with those of the formal system.

23. Table A5.2 shows that large proportions of the sample BOU graduates who are currently

employed (which account for 67% of the total sample BOU graduates) perceived BOUscurricula as moderately relevant (17%) and highly relevant (20%) to their job requirements.These proportions were not much different from those of the sample employed graduates fromthe formal system. The quality and relevance of BOUs curricula as perceived by employers areshown in Table A5.3. Although more than half of the sample employers (56%) who hired BOUgraduates thought that BOUs curricula were not relevant to their job requirements, 31% thoughtthat they were moderately relevant and 11% thought that they were highly relevant. Those whothought that BOUs curricula were not relevant suggested that BOU update their curricula tocatch up with market needs.

24. The job search periods of the sample graduates of BOU and the formal system do notdiffer much (Table A5.4). Of the sample of 388 currently employed BOU graduates, 41% (161)

looked for jobs after graduation, while the remaining 59% (227) were working while taking BOUcourses. This implies that distance education is a good alternative education system for thosewho cannot discontinue working to upgrade skills and knowledge without incurring opportunitycosts. Of the sample of employed BOU graduates who searched for jobs after graduating, 18%got jobs in less than 6 months, and 79% got jobs within 6 months to 1 year. Correspondingproportions for the sample of employed graduates from the formal system were similar (23%

13 The combined broadcasting time for BOUs regular and supplementary programs by the Bangladesh Radio is25 minutes per day, 6 days a week; and by the Bangladesh Television, 25 minutes per day, 5 days a week.


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and 73%, respectively). Employment rates of graduates are another indicator of the quality andrelevance of BOU programs. Table A5.5 shows average employment rates of BOU graduatesfrom the 12 programs that have already produced graduates. The weighted average of thesecombined programs is about 67%.

25. When the sample employed graduates from BOU are classified by sector and size of

employment establishments, Table A5.6 shows that 36% are working in the private sector and64% in the public sector (including government, semi-government, and non-governmentorganizations); and that 64% are working in the formal type of establishments (defined asestablishments with more than 10 workers). As expected, higher proportions of the sampleemployed graduates from the formal system, compared to those from BOU, are found to work inthe private sector (47%), and in the formal type of establishments (90%) that generally providebetter job security.

3. Component III: Staff Development

26. During project implementation, BOU recruited 758 new fulltime staff and contractedabout 2,500 part-time tutors (teachers from the formal education system across Bangladesh).

BOU also absorbed 80 staff from BIDE. The output of this component included upgrading of thequality of BOUs staff, which helped achieve the project objective of improved quality andrelevance of distance education programs.

27. The Project provided 191 person-months of fellowships for international training to183 BOU staff, compared to 414 person-months for 164 staff envisaged at appraisal. In-countrytraining was 442 person-months for 502 staff versus 550 person-months for 510 staff envisagedat appraisal. Training areas included pedagogy, curriculum development, instructional materialsdesign, multimedia production, and student support services. The lower person-months thanprojected at appraisal, particularly for international training, reflect delayed completion ofinfrastructure development, which in turn delayed staff recruitment. The PCR found that BOUbenefited from high staff retention; 95% of the staff trained abroad returned to work at BOU in

the areas for which they were trained. Retention decreased to 80% at the OEM stage. TableA5.7 shows that 26% of these staff have highly utilized the knowledge gained to improve thequality and relevance of distance education programs, and 40% have utilized it moderately. But34% have utilized the training knowledge poorly or only partly, mainly because the training wasmostly through study tours of a few weeks at different locations in single trips, rather than longertraining with more relevant contents at specific locations.

4. Component IV: Project Implementation Assistance and BME

28. This components outputs included establishment of a project implementation unit, alongwith conduct of NAS, research, and BME studies. These outputs helped meet two of the threeproject objectives: improved quality and relevance of distance education, and increased general

knowledge among the rural poor. The conduct of NAS before project implementation assuredthat BOUs regular and supplementary programs, and their contents, were relevant to demandfor distance education by specific target groups, mostly the rural disadvantaged; and that thesegroups had access to radio and TVthe main delivery modes of distance education. Based onthe NAS results, only 4 of the 14 regular programs envisaged at appraisal were relevant, andwere actually developed during project implementation. Along with 12 other programs, a total of16 programs were developed (Appendix 3). Another program was introduced in late 2000. TheNAS results also indicated that more than half of the targeted households owned TV sets, andthat villagers and the urban poor often watched TV or listened to radio at the owners


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16

residences, or at a community center during lunch break or in the evening. The OEMsbeneficiary survey found that 95% of the sample students had radio, and 85% had TV sets athome. Those who did not own radio or TV could access them nearby. But the OEM found thatBOU had discontinued its NAS, research, and BME studies. These activities should beconducted annually to generate information for updating BOUs curricula.

B. Performance of the Operating Entity

29. The allocation of the Governments overall recurrent budget14 to the education sectorand the allocation of its total recurrent education budget across the education subsectors areshown in Table A6.1. The share of the Governments recurrent education budget in its overallrecurrent budget has been about 1719%, which is comparable to other South Asian countries(e.g., about 18% in Nepal). As the Government has been focusing on basic education since theFourth Five-Year Plan (19901995), primary education and secondary education (part of whichis junior secondary education) have received relatively high shares of the total recurrenteducation budget (over 40% each), followed by tertiary education with about 7%. BOU hascontinued to receive regular funds from the Government even after project completion of aboutTk120 million per year (about 0.30.4% of the Governments recurrent education budget) to

sustain the Project.

C. Sustainability

30. The PCR did not analyze the Projects financial sustainability, but calculated that costrecovery through fees levied by BOU contributed about 30% of its total recurrent budget. TheOEM found that because BOU had been able to enroll more students and introduce oneadditional program after the PCR, its cost recovery had increased to about 38% per year, withthe remaining 62% contributed by the Government (Table A6.2). The increase reflects BOUscapacity to generate more income, and to become increasingly self-reliant and graduallyfinancially sustainable. As the Governments contribution is only about 0.30.4% of its recurrenteducation budget, it is not a big burden to the Government to maintain its contribution to BOU.

BOU has allocated a budget item for operation and maintenance of facilities, although thisaccounts for less than 5% of recurrent expenditure. BOU has also achieved institutionalsustainability in terms of retention and utilization of staff who were trained abroad.

D. Economic Reevaluation

31. No economic analysis was conducted at appraisal or in the PCR. To assess theefficiency of investments, the OEMs survey data were used to estimate the economic internalrate of return (EIRR) on investments in BOU, and the private financial internal rates of return(FIRRs) on investments by individual employed graduates from BOUs 17 programs (Appendix7).15 About 60% of the sample BOU graduates had been fulltime students, with full opportunitycost incurred, and about 40% were working while taking BOUs courses, with zero opportunity

cost incurred. Thus, the base case of private FIRR estimates for each of the 17 programs, andfor the weighted average of all programs combined, is based on an average opportunity cost of60%, adjusted by the corresponding employment rates. Coupled with lower direct cost than in

14In this case, budget and expenditure are used interchangeably because budget allocated from one source to arecipient will finally become its expenditure.

15Although BOU has so far produced graduates from 12 out of its 17 programs, the FIRR of individual graduates foreach of the 5 remaining programs can be calculated based on the prevailing market wage rate and opportunity cost(wage rate at the preceding education level, if not having taken the program) for graduates of the same program ofthe formal education system.


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17

the formal educational system,16 the private FIRRs of BOUs employed graduates range from14% in some non-commercial programs to 42% in a commercial program. The weightedaverage private FIRR is 26% (Table A7.1). BOU should consider dropping some programs withmuch below-average employment rates (Table A5.5) and accordingly low private FIRRs, suchas Certificate in Livestock and Poultry, Certificate in Poultry and Fish Processing, and Diplomain Youth Development. If full opportunity cost is used, assuming that all BOU graduates were

fulltime students while taking BOU courses like in the formal system, a lower weighted averageprivate FIRR of 18% results (Table A7.2). But the private FIRRs for employed graduates fromSSC and HSC programs remain high (27% and 21%, respectively) because neither the juniornor the higher secondary levels of education require high investment cost to give students theknowledge and skills necessary to become productive workers.

32. The EIRR of investments in the Project is shown in Table A7.3, in which costs aredivided into traded and non-traded components. The capital cost was incurred duringimplementation, while recurrent cost continues after project completion. Economic benefits aremeasured by expected productivity increases for the economy, calculated as the product of theoutput of graduates of BOUs 17 programs and their weighted average incremental wage rates,adjusted by the weighted average employment rate and the standard conversion factor. The low

EIRR of 7% is due to (i) the low output of graduates assumed in the calculation, which reflectsthe actual graduation rate of 36% of BOUs enrollment; (ii) the adjustment for employment rate;and (iii) the exclusion of some educational benefits that are intangible. Sensitivity analysisshows that if the graduation rate rose to 50%, the EIRR would increase to 12% (Table A7.4).Thus, BOU should try to increase the graduation rate of their students, which will not onlycontribute to increasing investment efficiency, but also increasing BOU's internal efficiency.Given the much lower EIRR compared to private FIRRs, BOU should consider raising fees forsome commercial programs with very high FIRRs, such as Diploma in Computer Applicationsand Master of Business Administration.

33. To enhance the efficiency of investments, BOU should also try to increase the use ofproject facilities, especially its media center and office space in the RRCs. The OEM found that

equipment in the media center ran only 2 hours per day against the maximum capacity of16 hours. Also, many rooms at RRCs remain vacantyet no RRC rooms are designated aslibraries, despite the fact that each RRC has a collection of more than 2,000 books. Similarly, norooms are designated as TV rooms for students, even though each RRC has a TV set.

IV. ACHIEVEMENT OF OTHER DEVELOPMENT IMPACTS

A. Socioeconomic Impact

34. The Project has helped improve the beneficiaries socioeconomic status. Almost 90% ofthe sample of BOU graduates who were employed perceived that their socioeconomic statushad improved: 70% claimed moderately improved and 19%, significantly improved (Table

A8.1). A slightly higher proportion (93%) of the sample of employed graduates from the formaleducation system perceived improved socioeconomic status (61% moderately improved and

16Given the highly subsidized nature of Bangladeshs formal education system, some BOU programs charge highertuition fees than those of the formal system, particularly commercial programs catering to employed people toupgrade their skills. On balance, however, BOU's tuition fees are about 20% below those of the formal system.BOU also has a lower direct cost than the formal system because its direct cost consists only of tuition fees,expenses for books and stationery, and transportation to attend part-time tutorial classes. The formal system hashigher transportation expenses because classes are held full time almost everyday, plus additional expenses onuniforms and boarding or lodging.


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18

32%, significantly improved). As expected, the BOU sample earns less than that from the formalsystem (Table A8.2). A lower proportion of the BOU sample (20% versus 30%) earns a monthlysalary of more than $100 equivalent. The weighted average monthly salary of the BOU sampleis also less ($94.5 versus $98.4 equivalent). The Project did not aim to directly reduce poverty.If the Bangladesh poverty line of Tk8,328 per person per year17 were applied to the sample ofcurrent BOU students, only 3% would be classified as living below the poverty line (Table

A8.3).18 However, 27% of the sample students cited poverty as the major reason they lackedaccess to formal education. Moreover, the Project has benefited rural disadvantaged groupssignificantly, particularly the dropouts with no access to formal schooling. This is reflected in thehigh proportion of the sample students from rural areas (60%) as well as the high proportion ofBOUs cumulative enrollment flow in the SSC and HSC programs (48% and 18%, respectively)(Table A4.4).

35. Although the Project did not specifically address gender issues, it gave women greateraccess to education, particularly those who married early and could not attend formal schooling.

About 40% of BOUs total enrollment is female. BOU also provides educational opportunities topeople of all age groups. Table A8.4 shows that about 43% of the sample students are 25 to35 years old, 41% younger than 25, and the remaining 16%, older than 35. A local newspaper

once reported that two grandmothers and their granddaughters had enrolled in BOU.

B. Environmental Impact

36. There was no adverse environmental impact. Civil works of the Project were minor, andwere carried out in accordance with government regulations. The construction of BOUs maincampus in Gazipur on the outskirts of Dhaka, and of the RRCs, benefited the surrounding areasby bringing in basic infrastructure. The Gazipur area was rapidly developed into residential andcommercial communities. The Project helped raise public environmental awareness bydisseminating environmental education through BOUs supplementary programs.

C. Impact on Institutions and Policy

37. Staff development focused largely on technical areas (e.g., pedagogy, curriculumdevelopment, instructional materials design, multimedia production, and student supportservices), rather than on institutional capacity building (e.g., management and planning ofdistance education delivery; and financial, budget, and human resources management). Thus,BOUs institutional capacity has remained weak due to inefficient management, especially interms of inefficient utilization of operational staff. For example, many activities are still donemanually, and knowledge is insufficient on the effective delivery of distance education. Thisresulted in the discontinuation of NAS and delays as long as 9 months in the academic calendarof some programs because of delays in the delivery of course materials to students and tutors,publication of exam results, and issuance of certificates. Such delays have caused frustrationamong both BOU students and tutors. The Projects policy impact was also weak, as MOE has

still not recognized BOUs certificates, diplomas, and degrees as equivalent to those of theformal education system, except for SSC.

17 This is the weighted average of the official rural and urban poverty lines of Tk7,824 and Tk9,984, respectively.18 The low proportion partly reflects the fact that difficulty of access prevented the survey teams from gathering data

from students in very remote areas.


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19

V. OVERALL ASSESSMENT

A. Relevance

38. The Project has been consistent both with the Governments education priorities, whichcontinue to focus on providing education opportunities to out-of-school people, and with ADBs

education strategy at the time of the project design, which focused on technical and vocationaleducation and higher education. The Project is also consistent with ADBs current educationstrategy, which has shifted the focus to basic education (primary, junior secondary, andnonformal education), because it uses nonformal distance delivery mode to provide secondaryeducation and career-development training, especially teacher training for primary andsecondary schools, to the disadvantaged who have been excluded from the formal educationsystem. The Project is assessed as highly relevant.

B. Efficacy

39. At the time of the OEM, the Project achieved or exceeded its output targets envisaged atappraisal by (i) establishing BOU's main campus, 12 RCCs, and 80 LCs; (ii) developing

17 regular programs and curricula, including instructional materials, with one additional programto be introduced in 2003, in response to greater demand for distance education in certain fields;(iii) developing 19 supplementary programs; (iv) enrolling the current stock of about210,000 students; (v) enrolling the cumulative flow of about 300,000 students over the past10 years; and (vi) producing about 90,000 graduates over the past 10 years. The achievementof these outputs helped achieve all of the project objectives as planned, including increasingaccess to basic education (mostly at the junior secondary level as 48% of BOUs cumulativeenrollment flow over the past 10 years was in the SSC program) and career-developmenttraining for disadvantaged groups, improving the quality and relevance of distance educationprograms, and increasing general knowledge of the rural poor for improving their livingconditions. Consequently, the Project is assessed as highly efficacious.

C. Efficiency

40. The Project has achieved sufficient external efficiency (relevance to market demand),which is indicated by the stable enrollment at BOU, sufficient quality and relevance of itscurricula as perceived by their graduates and employers, sufficient employment rates ofgraduates, and high private FIRRs of employed graduates. The Project, however, has loweconomic efficiency as indicated by the low EIRR and the low utilization of some facilities. Thelow EIRR is mainly caused by the low graduation rate of 36%. Such a low graduation rateimplies low internal efficiency of BOUs system. The Project is thus assessed as less efficient.

D. Sustainability

41. The Projects institutional sustainability remains weak unless BOU acts urgently to getMOEs recognition of the remaining BOUs certificates, diplomas, and degrees (in addition to therecent recognition of BOUs SSC). However, the Project is considered financially sustainablegiven the regular Governments contribution to BOUs approved annual recurrent budget ofmore than 60%, and the increased cost recovery of BOUs fees from 30% of its annual recurrentbudget at the PCR stage to 38% at the OEM stage. The Project is considered as achievinggradual self-reliance, and its sustainability is assessed as likely.


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E. Institutional Development and Other Impacts

42. The Project did not have a strong institutional development impact. BOUs weakmanagement capacity has resulted in the discontinuation of NAS and long delays in theacademic calendar of some programs (due to delayed delivery of course materials to studentsand tutors, delayed publications of exam results, and delayed issuance of certificates). As for

other impacts, although the Project did not directly address poverty reduction, it has providedsome rural disadvantaged groups, especially the dropouts who have been excluded from formalschooling, with good opportunities to continue schooling. Almost all the sample BOU graduatesperceive improvement in their socioeconomic status. At about 40%, the proportion of womenenrolled has been high. The Project has also generated positive community impact; particularlythe construction of BOUs main campus on the outskirts of Dhaka has brought about continueddevelopment of the area and its surroundings. The Project has helped improve the livingconditions of the rural poor and raise their environmental awareness by broadcasting usefulknowledge in various practical learning skills as part of BOUs supplementary programs. Onbalance, the Projects institutional and other impacts are assessed as moderate.

F. Overall Project Rating

43. Given the achievement of the Projects goal of providing learning opportunities to variousdisadvantaged groups excluded from the formal education system, and in view of itsmultifaceted impacts, the Project is rated successful.

G. Assessment of ADB and Borrower Performance

44. Except for the pending loan covenant on obtaining MOEs recognition of BOUs status,the Government fulfilled its obligations and commitments. It demonstrated strong commitment tosustain the Project by regularly allocating sufficient recurrent funds to BOU even after projectcompletion, and encouraging BOU to increase fee collection by offering more programs. ADBprovided intensive supervision and guidance throughout project implementation, as evidenced

by the high number of review missions (Basic Data). Overall, the performance of the Borrowerand ADB is rated as satisfactory.

VI. ISSUES, LESSONS, AND FOLLOW-UP ACTIONS

A. Key Issues for the Future

45. Three key issues have emerged from the evaluation: (i) underutilization of some projectfacilities; (ii) low management efficiency; and (iii) the need to obtain MOEs recognition of theremaining BOUs certificates, diplomas, and degrees.

1. Underutilization of Project Facilities

a. Underutilization of the Media Center

46. With its equipment running only 2 hours per day against the capacity of 16 hours, BOUsmedia center is underutilized. Renting out some of its facilities to the private Ekushey TV assuggested in the PCR is not feasible since the Ekushey TV has been trying to establish its ownfacilities. Neither is it desirable as an alternative to full utilization by BOU. The only way for BOUto fully utilize the media center is to create its own radio and/or TV channels to broadcast BOUsprograms directly, rather than sharing the existing channels. The media center has, so far, been


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used mainly for producing audio and video cassettes of BOUs programs to be broadcast by theBangladesh Radio (BR) and the Bangladesh Television (BTV). The broadcasting time allocatedby BR and BTV has recently been reduced by almost one halffrom 40 minutes per day,7 days a week to 25 minutes per day, 6 days a week for radio; and from 40 minutes per day,6 days a week to 25 minutes per day, 5 days a week for TV. The reductions have causedfrustration among BOUs students. Both BR and BTV maintain that BOU should start paying

them for any additional broadcasting time needed. Much more broadcasting time is needed tofully run BOUs programs in order to attract more enrollment and, hence, more income for BOU.

47. The OEM suggested to BOU that it send technical staff to BR and BTV to estimate thecost of establishing its own radio and TV channels for broadcasting directly from its mediacenter through BR and BTV. Such cost might not be too high for radio (about $1.25 million plussome annual fees based on preliminary estimate) since BOU will need only five smalltransmitters at one kilowatt each in addition to the existing one to be able to hire a frequencyfrom BR for nationwide, unlimited broadcasting directly from its media center. This option isworth pursuing as radio is the widest used media mode, reaching poor people. The OEM alsosuggested that BOU explore the cost of various alternatives and negotiate for the cheapest dealwith the Ministry of Information, BR, and BTV. BOUs media center should also be used in

ADBs future education projects.

b. Underutilization of RRCs Office Space

48. The OEM found that while many rooms at the RRCs visited had not been in use, noroom was designated as a library despite a large collection of library books of more than2,000 per RRC. Similarly, although each RRC had a TV set, no room was used as a TV roomfor students to watch BOUs distance education programs. According to RRCs staff, this wasdue to the lack of trained staff who could run the library and TV room. The OEM suggested toBOU to set up a library and TV room at each RRC by assigning one existing staff of each RRCto do so after providing them with basic training on how to run the library and TV room.

2. Low Management Efficiency

49. The discontinuation of NAS, the low internal efficiency in terms of graduation rate, andthe long delays in the academic calendar of some programs reflect BOUs weak management.This in turn reflects inefficient utilization of operational staff due to insufficient use of theelectronic system, as many activities are still done manually, and insufficient knowledge indelivering distance education effectively because the Project did not provide capacity buildingfor that. The OEM suggested to BOU that it provide training for increasing managementefficiency to relevant professional staff (e.g., training in management and planning of distanceeducation delivery; in financial, budget, and human resources management; and in upgrading ofdistance education curricula to catch up with market demand); and replace the manual systemwith the electronic system, while providing training in the use of required software to operationalstaff concerned.

3. Recognition of BOUs Certificates, Diplomas, and Degrees

50. Although MOE has recently granted recognition of BOUs SSC, the OEM suggested toBOU that it put more efforts in continuing dialogue with MOE to obtain also recognition of itsremaining certificates, diplomas, and degrees as equivalent to those of the formal educationsystem. Without such recognition, BOU would run the risk of declining enrollment in the future.The recognition is also needed for compliance with ADB loan covenant.


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22

B. Lessons Identified

51. The Project provides the following lessons for similar interventions in the future:

(v) The project design should not put too much emphasis on the hardware side,

without sufficient investments in the software side.

(vi) If establishment of new institutions is involved, a comprehensive package ofinstitutional capacity building should be part of the project scope to ensure overallmanagement efficiency.

(vii) The length and contents of international training should be adequate, rather thanin the form of few-weeks study tours to different locations in one trip.

(viii) If establishment of new institutions is involved, efficient organizational structureshould be designed during the PPTA stage to avoid highly-centralized decisionmaking and to allow for delegation of authorities for efficient management.

(ix) If a project is employment oriented, the demand for semiskilled and skilledworkers should be estimated for various education programs during the PPTAstage as part of NAS to ensure long-term utilization of graduates.

(x) If policy changes are involved, ADB should follow up closely during reviewmissions with the executing and other government agencies concerned in orderto maximize project impacts. All agencies concerned should be members of theproject steering committee, and stakeholder meetings should be held regularly.

C. Follow-Up Actions

52. The following actions are recommended to address the issues discussed in section VI. A:

(i) By March 2003, BOU should dispatch a team of relevant technical staff to estimatewith relevant technical staff at BR and BTV the cost of establishing its own radioand TV channels for broadcasting directly from its media center through BR andBTV, and to find out about the unit cost of renting more time from the existingchannels of BR and BTV.

(ii) By June 2003, BOUs management should negotiate with the Ministry ofInformation, BR, and BTV for the cheapest deal of each of the two options above,and use the estimated figures as an input to the action plan proposed in (iv) below.

(iii) By June 2003, BOU should obtain MOEs declaration for recognition of theremaining BOUs certificates, diplomas, and degrees as equivalent to those of theformal education system.

(iv) By September 2003, BOU should prepare an action plan to address the issuesrelated to its institutional capacity. The investment activities to be prioritized inthe action plan (with phased and costed budget requirements) should include apackage of capacity building activities for increasing efficiency in managementand in the utilization of staff and budget (e.g., providing training in management


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and planning of distance education delivery, in financial and budgetmanagement, and in updating of distance education curricula to relevantprofessional staff; replacing the manual system with the electronic system, whileproviding training in the use of required software to concerned operational staff;providing basic training to relevant RRCs staff on how to run the library and TVroom; conducting NAS on an annual basis; and upgrading the curricula of some

BOU programs to catch up with those of the formal education system). Thepackage should also include necessary activities to facilitate managementreorganization (with delegation of authorities); and to increase efficiency in theutilization of project facilities (by setting up a library and TV room at each RRCand increasing the broadcasting time of BOUs programs through using theexisting radio and TV channels as well as through broadcasting directly fromBOUs media center with newly-generated channels for radio and TV).

53. BRM should monitor the implementation of these actions, particularly on MOEsrecognition of BOUs status, without which BOU is likely to be faced with declining enrollmentdemand in the future. If MOE is unwilling to pursue this matter, BRM should conduct a policydialogue with the Government as part of the country programming exercise.


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Secondary

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 SSC 13

13

13

13 C

HSC

CEd

CALP/CELP/CLP/CPFP

9 10 SSC

BA/BSS = Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Social Science, BAgEd = Bachelor of Agriculture Education, BEd = Bachelor of Education, BELT = Bache

BOU = Bangladesh Open University, CALP = Certificate in Arabic Language Proficiency, CEd = Certificate in Education, CELP = Certificate in En

CIM = Certificate in Management, CLP = Certificate in Livestock and Poultry, CPFP = Certificate in Poultry and Fish Processing, DCA = Diploma

DYD = Diploma in Youth Development, GDM = Graduate Diploma in Management, HSC = Higher Secondary Certificate, MBA = Master of Busine

MEd = Master of Education, SSC = Secondary School Certificate.

Source: Bangladesh Open University.

14

14

EDUCATION SYSTEM IN BANGLADESH

HSC12

Secondary Secondary

11

11

Higher

Bech

1211

Lower

BOU 's System

Primary


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Category

Physical InfrastructureLand Acquisition 0 869 869 0 769 769Detailed Engineering & Supervision 0 327 327 0 782 782Civil Works 1,605 4,819 6,424 2,613 7,839 10,452

Subtotal 1,605 6,015 7,620 2,613 9,390 12,003 62.8 56.1 57.

Vehicles, Equipment, & Furniture 1,578 671 2,249 2,613 0 2,613 65.6 (100.0) 16.

Instructional Materials DevelopmentCourse and Materials Development 135 9,290 9,425 4,504 0 4,504Media Development 2,580 0 2,580 6,524 0 6,524

Subtotal 2,715 9,290 12,005 11,028 0 11,028 306.2 (100.0) (8.

Staff Development

International Fellowships 1,220 0 1,220 1,725 0 1,725Local Fellowships 0 666 666 0 29 29Seminars & Symposiums 0 246 246 0 118 118

Subtotal 1,220 912 2,132 1,725 147 1,872 41.4 (83.9) (12.

Consulting ServicesInternational 2,421 0 2,421 1,135 0 1,135Domestic 0 1,098 1,098 0 31 31

Subtotal 2,421 1,098 3,519 1,135 31 1,166 (53.1) (97.2) (66.

Research & Evaluation 0 359 359 0 151 151 0 (57.9) (57.

Project Implementation & Recurrent CostsPIU Staff Salaries 0 585 585 0 428 428BOU Staff Salaries 0 7,919 7,919 0 3,392 3,392

Operation, Consumables, & Miscellaneous 0 2,648 2,648 0 3,117 3,117Subtotal 0 11,152 11,152 0 6,937 6,937 0 (37.8) (37.

Taxes & Duties 0 2,983 2,983 0 4,660 4,660 0 56.2 56.

Service Charge 984 0 984 719 0 719 (26.9) 0 (26.

Total 10,523 32,480 43,003 19,833 21,316 41,149 88.5 (34.4) (4.

BOU = Bangladesh Open University, PCR = project completion report, PIU = project implementation unit.Source: ADB. 2000. Project Completion Report on Bangladesh Open University Project in Bangladesh. Manila.

ESTIMATED AND ACTUAL PROJECT COST

($ '000)

Foreign Local Total

Actual (PCR Stage)

Foreign Local

% Overrun/

Total

Appraisal Estimate

Tot

(Underrun)

Foreign Local


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ACHIEVEMENT OF PROJECT TARGETS

Project ComponentAppraisal Target

(as per RRP and Appraisal Report)Ac

(as per P

A. Establishment of Bangladesh Open

University (BOU)s Main Campus,Regional Resource Centers (RRCs),and Local Centers (LCs)

- Development of physical infrastructure

and facilities for BOUs main campusand 10 RRCs

- Development of facilities for 80 LCs

- Development of 14 regular programsa

- Enrollment of 138,500 students in theregular programs

- Development of some supplementaryprograms

- Developme

and facilitieand 12 RR

- Developme

- Developmethe PCR sprograms a

- Enrollmentregular prowhich incre

the OEM s

- Developmeprograms

B. Instructional Materials Development - Development of suitable distanceeducation curricula, printed self-studytextbooks, and audio and videocassettes for 14 regular programs

- Developmeeducation textbooks, cassettes fPCR stageprograms a

C. Staff Development-

Provision of international training to 164staff (414 person-months)

- Provision of in-country training to 510staff (550 person-months)

-Provision ostaff (191 p

- Provision ostaff (442


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Project ComponentAppraisal Target

(as per RRP and Appraisal Report)Ac

(as per P

D. Project Implementation Assistanceand Benefit Monitoring and Evaluation(BME)

- Establishment of project implementationunit (PIU)

-Conduct of needs assessment survey(NAS) prior to physical implementation

- Conduct of research and BME studiesduring implementation

- Establishm

-Conduct ofimplement

- Adjustmenbased on t

- Conduct ofduring imp

OEM = operations evaluation mission, PCR = project completion report, RRP = report and recommendation of the President.a

The 14 programs envisaged at appraisal included Diploma in Computer Applications (DCA), Secondary School Certificate (SBachelor of Education (BEd), Certificate in Mass Education (CMEd), Diploma in Management (DM), Diploma in DisasterLanguage Proficiency (CL), Diploma in Bangla Language (DBL), Diploma in English Language (DEL), Diploma in Agricultu

Electrical Wiring (CEW), Certificate in Health and Family Planning (CHFP), and Diploma in Nursing (DN).bThe 16 programs at PCR included only the first 4 programs envisaged at appraisal (DCA, SSC, CEd, and BEd) plus 12 additneeds assessment survey, including Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC), Master of Education (MEd), Certificate in ManaManagement (GDM), Master of Business Administration (MBA), Certificate in Livestock and Poultry (CLP), Certificate in PDiploma in Youth Development (DYD), Bachelor of Agriculture Education (BAgEd), Certificate in Arabic Language ProficLanguage Proficiency (CELP), and Bachelor of English Language Teaching (BELT).

cThe 17 programs at the OEM stage included the 16 programs at the PCR stage plus one additional program on Bachelo(BA/BSS).

(Appendix 3 continued)


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Dean Dean Dean Dean Dean Dean Director Director Director Director Director Director

Open School School of School of School of School of School of Admini- Student Computer Information Production, Library &

Education Business Agriculture & Social Science & stration Support & Public Printing & Document

Rural Science, Technology Services Relations Distribution ation

Develop- Humanities

ment & Languages


Schools D

Regional Resource Center(s)

12

Local Center(s)

80

Tutorial Center(s)over 1,000

Table A4.1: Organizational Structure of Bangladesh Open University

DISTANCE EDUCATION SYSTEM IN BANGLADESH

Pro-Vice-Chancellor Treasurer

Vice-Chancellor

Chancellor


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BOU Program 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000

Open School

1. SSC 0 0 0 16,168 23,667 28,497 40,359 54,612 65,738

2. HSC 0 0 0 0 0 0 12,006 12,006 34,626

School of Education

3. CEd 0 0 0 0 0 0 1,812 3,910 5,4274. BEd 5,075 11,196 13,758 14,957 17921 17994 20,767 20,317 18,439

5. MEd 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1,106 2,418

School of Business

6. CIM 0 0 0 294 536 856 1,060 1,267 1,350

7. GDM 0 0 0 1,375 4,893 8,363 10,068 11,307 12,018

8. MBA 0 0 0 0 0 0 196 416 632

School of Agriculture

& Rural Development

9. CLP 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 59 103

10. CPFP 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 44 74

11. DYD 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 150 15012. BAgEd 0 0 0 0 0 1,735 2,814 3,552 5,204

School of Social

Science, Humanities

& Languages

13. CALP 0 0 0 0 546 647 747 771 259

14. CELP 0 0 2,102 4,682 6,133 6,743 5,680 3,597 2,394

15. BA/BSS 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7,339

16. BELT 0 0 0 0 0 1,073 1,680 2,025 2,025

School of Science &

Technology

17. DCA 0 0 0 0 0 0 720 1,344 2,092Total 5,075 11,196 15,860 37,476 53,696 65,908 97,909 116,483 160,288

Annual Average

BA/BSS = Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Social Science, BAgEd = Bachelor of Agriculture Education, BEd = Bachelor of Education, BELT = B

BOU = Bangladesh Open University, CALP = Certificate in Arabic Language Proficiency, CEd = Certificate in Education, CELP = Certificate i

CIM = Certificate in Management, CLP = Certificate in Livestock and Poultry, CPFP = Certificate in Poultry and Fish Processing, DCA = Diplo

DYD = Diploma in Youth Development, GDM = Graduate Diploma in Management, HSC = Higher Secondary Certificate, MBA = Master of Bu

MEd = Master of Education, SSC = Secondary School Certificate.

Source: School survey in April 2002.

Year

Table A4.3: Stock of Enrollment in BOU's Regular Programs


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BOU Program 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000

Open School

1. SSC 0 0 0 16,168 14,111 15,803 16,427 25,114 25,829 3

2. HSC 0 0 0 0 0 0 12,006 0 25,694 1

School of Education

3. CEd 0 0 0 0 0 0 1,812 2,098 2,0394. BEd 5,075 6,121 5,571 5,575 5443 4761 4,804 3,506 2,593

5. MEd 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1,106 1,312

School of Business

6. CIM 0 0 0 294 242 320 204 207 83

7. GDM 0 0 0 1,375 3,518 3,470 1,705 1,239 711

8. MBA 0 0 0 0 0 0 196 220 216

School of Agriculture

& Rural Development

9. CLP 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 59 44

10. CPFP 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 44 30

11. DYD 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 150 012. BAgEd 0 0 0 0 0 1,735 1,079 738 1,652

School of Social

Science, Humanities

& Languages

13. CALP 0 0 0 0 546 228 158 98 118

14. CELP 0 0 2,102 3,007 1,767 922 1,117 787 435

15. BA/BSS 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7,339

16. BELT 0 0 0 0 0 1,073 607 345 0

School of Science &

Technology

17. DCA 0 0 0 0 0 0 720 624 748Total 5,075 6,121 7,673 26,419 25,627 28,312 40,835 36,335 68,843 5

Annual Average

Annual Growth Rate (%) 20.61 25.36 244.31 (3.00) 10.48 44.23 (11.02) 89.47 (

BA/BSS = Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Social Science, BAgEd = Bachelor of Agriculture Education, BEd = Bachelor of Education, BELT = B

Teaching, BOU = Bangladesh Open University, CALP = Certificate in Arabic Language Proficiency, CEd = Certificate in Education, CELP =

Proficiency, CIM = Certificate in Management, CLP = Certificate in Livestock and Poultry, CPFP = Certificate in Poultry and Fish Processing

Applications, DYD = Diploma in Youth Development, GDM = Graduate Diploma in Management, HSC = Higher Secondary Certificate, MBA

Administration, MEd = Master of Education, SSC = Secondary School Certificate.


Year

Table A4.4: Flow of Enrollment in BOU's Regular Programs


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BOU Program 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000

Open School

1. SSC 0 0 0 0 0 17,585 4,565 10,861 12,884

2. HSC 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3,074

School of Education

3. CEd 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

4. BEd 0 0 7,016 4,376 2,479 4,688 2,031 2,511 3,1115. MEd 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

School of Business

6. CIM 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

7. GDM 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 31

8. MBA 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

School of Agricultureura eve opmen

9. CLP 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 94

10. CPFP 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 66

11. DYD 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

12. BAgEd 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

School of SocialScience, Humanities

& Languages

13. CALP 0 0 0 0 55 127 58 74 84

14. CELP 0 0 937 427 316 312 78 290 187

15. BA/BSS 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

16. BELT 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0School of Science &

Technology

17. DCA 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Total 0 0 7,953 4,803 2,850 22,712 6,732 13,736 19,531

Annual Average

Average Graduation Ratea

(%)

aSee footnote 10.


Year

Table A4.5: Number of Graduates from BOU's Regular Programs

BA/BSS = Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Social Science, BAgEd = Bachelor of Agriculture Education, BEd = Bachelor of Education,

Teaching, BOU = Bangladesh Open University, CALP = Certificate in Arabic Language Proficiency, CEd = Certificate in Education, C

Proficiency, CIM = Certificate in Management, CLP = Certificate in Livestock and Poultry, CPFP = Certificate in Poultry and Fish Pr

Applications, DYD = Diploma in Youth Development, GDM = Graduate Diploma in Management, HSC = Higher Secondary C

Administration, MEd = Master of Education, SSC = Secondary School Certificate.


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Year of

Program Introduction

Open School1. Basic Science 1992

2. Mathematics 1992

Open School/School of Social Science, Humanities

& Languages

3. Religion & Ethics 1995

School of Education/School of Science & Technology

4. Environmental Protection 1995

5. Maternity & Child Care 1996

School of Business

6. Bank Loans 1996

7. Marketing Management 1996School of Business/School of Agriculture

& Rural Development

8. Food Preparation & Preservation 1996

School of Business/School of Science & Technology

9. Health & Nutrition 1996

10. Family Planning 1996

School of Agriculture & Rural Development

11. Aforestation 1993

12. Agriculture 1993

13. Fish Processing 1993

14. Horticulture 199315. Livestock 1993

16. Pisciculture 1993

17. Poultry 1993

School of Agriculture & Rural Development/School

of Social Science, Humanities & Languages

18. Irrigation Management 1997

19. Women in the Workforce 1997

BOU = Bangladesh Open University.


Table A4.6: Supplementary Programs Provided by BOU

26 Appendix 4


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Extent of Relevance No. %Comparable Quality 39 26.2

Slightly Lower Quality 81 54.4

Much Lower Quality 20 13.4

Not Comparable 9 6.0

Total 149 100.0



Extent of Relevance No. % No. % No. %

Highly Relevant 78 20.1 10 14.1 88 19.2

Moderately Relevant 67 17.3 12 16.9 79 17.2

Partly Relevant 50 12.9 16 22.5 66 14.4

Not Relevant 193 49.7 33 46.5 226 49.2

Totala

388 100.0 71 100.0 459 100.0

BOU = Bangladesh Open University.a

Out of the 579 sample BOU graduates, 388 (67%) are currently employed. Out of the 120 sample graduates

from the formal education system, 71 (59%) are currently employed.

Source: Tracer survey in April 2002.

Extent of Relevance No. % No. % No. %

Highly Relevant 1 25.0 4 9.8 5 11.1

Moderately Relevant 1 25.0 13 31.7 14 31.1

Partly Relevant 1 25.0 0 0.0 1 2.2

Not Relevant 1 25.0 24 58.5 25 55.6

Total 4 100.0 41 100.0 45 100.0BOU = Bangladesh Open University.


Employers

Formal System Graduates

Employers

Table A5.3: Employers' Perceptions about the Relevance of BOU's Curricula to Job Requirements

Employers

Total

BOU

Public Sector Private Sector

IMPROVED QUALITY AND RELEVANCE OF DISTANCE EDUCATION PROGRAMS

Table A5.1: Tutors' Perceptions about the Quality of BOU's Curricula

Graduates from Graduates from Total

Compared to those of the Formal System

Table A5.2: Graduates' Perceptions of the Relevance of Their Curricula to Job Requirements


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Time Period No. No. No.

< 6 Months 29 18.0 16 22.5 45 19.46 Months - 1 Yea 127 78.9 52 73.2 179 77.2

> 1 Year 5 3.1 3 4.2 8 3.4

Totala

161 100.0 71 100.0 232 100.0

BOU = Bangladesh Open University.a

Of the 579 sample BOU graduates, 388 (67%) are currently employed. Out of these currently employed graduates, 161

(41%) took employment after graduating from BOU. Of the 120 sample graduates from the formal education system, 71

(59%) are currently employed.


Table A5.5: Average Employment Rates of BOU Graduates from 12 Programs

Program

Secondary School Certificate (SSC) 65

Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) 70

Certificate in Education (CEd) 75

Bachelor of Education (BEd) 75

Graduate Diploma in Management (GDM) 75

Certificate in Livestock and Poultry (CLP) 38

Certificate in Poultry and Fish Processing (CPFP) 38

Diploma in Youth Development (DYD) 35

Bachelor of Agriculture Education (BAgEd) 75

Certificate in Arabic Language Proficiency (CALP) 80

Certificate in English Language Proficiency (CELP) 85

Diploma in Computer Applications (DCA) 95

Weighted Average Employment Rate of

BOU's Graduates from 12 Programs 67



Table A5.4: Job Search Period of Currently Employed Graduates

Graduates from

Formal System

% %%

Graduates from

BOU Total Graduates

Average Employment

Rate (%)


36/44

10 Workers


37/44


38/44

Appendix 7 31

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS

A. Estimates of Private Financial Internal Rates of Return

1. The data from the tracer survey conducted by the Operations Evaluation Mission (OEM)are used to estimate a private (individual) financial internal rate of return (FIRR) for employed

graduates in each of the 17 programs offered by the Bangladesh Open University (BOU). Thesame data are also used to estimate a weighted average FIRR for employed graduates basedon the weighted average costs and benefits of the 17 programs combined. Since many of theprograms take 2 years to complete (as shown by the negative values representing the costsincurred to each individual during years 1-2 in Table A7.1), the earning lifetime of eachindividual is assumed to be 30 years after graduation (as shown by the positive valuesrepresenting the benefits accrued to each individual during years 3-32 in the same table). As forthe programs that take more or less than 2 years, year 32 is still assumed to be the cut-off yearof the earning lifetime so that the cut-off age will be the same for everybody.

2. Private costs and benefits are calculated annually. Private costs incurred to eachindividual employed graduate include both direct cost (tuition, books and stationery; plus some

transportation expenses incurred in coming to enroll, take exams, and attend part-time tutorialclasses) and indirect or opportunity cost (prevailing wage rate for those who have completed thepreceding education level). Only 60% of the opportunity cost is used in the FIRR estimatesbecause about 60% of the sample BOU graduates were fulltime BOU students while takingBOU courses (with full opportunity cost incurred) and about 40% were working while takingBOU courses (with zero opportunity cost incurred), so the resulting opportunity cost is about60% on average. The direct cost for distance education is also lower than that for the formaleducation system due to lower tuition, less expenses on transportation since regular dailyclasses attendance is not required, and no expenses on uniforms. Private benefits accrued toeach