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Document of
The World Bank
FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Report No: 60321-BD
PROJECT APPRAISAL DOCUMENT
ON A
PROPOSED CREDIT
IN THE AMOUNT OF
SDR 187.5 MILLION
(US$300 MILLION EQUIVALENT)
TO THE
PEOPLE‘S REPUBLIC OF BANGLADESH
FOR A
THIRD PRIMARY EDUCATION DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
June 11, 2011
Human Development Sector
South Asia Region
This document is being made publicly available prior to Board consideration. This does not
imply a presumed outcome. This document may be updated following Board consideration and
the updated document will be made publicly available in accordance with the Bank‘s Policy on
Access to Information.
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CURRENCY EQUIVALENTS
(Exchange Rate Effective as of May 31, 2010)
Currency Unit = Bangladesh Taka
Tk 73.47 = US$1
US$1.60077 = SDR 1
FISCAL YEAR
July 1 – June 30
ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS
ADB Asian Development Bank
ADP Annual Development Program
AFR Annual Fiduciary Review
AIEC Access and Inclusive Education
Cell/DPE
ASPR Annual Sector Performance Report
AOP Annual Operational Plan
AUEO Assistant Upazila Education Officer
BBS Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics
BANBEIS Bangladesh Bureau of Education
Information System
B. Ed. Bachelor of Education
BNFE Bureau of Non-formal Education
CAMPE Campaign for Popular Education
CAS Country Assistance Strategy
CF Government‘s Consolidated Fund
CGA Controller General of Accounts
C-in-Ed Certificate in Education
CIDA Canadian International Development
Agency
CPEIMU Compulsory Primary Education
Implementation and Monitoring Unit
CPTU Central Procurement Technical Unit
DEO District Education Officer
Dip-in-Ed Diploma in Education
DFID Department for International
Development (of the United Kingdom)
DDO Drawing and Disbursement Officer
DG Director General
DP Development Partner
DPC Development partners‘ Consortium
DPP Development Proforma Proposal
DPE Directorate of Primary Education
DPEO District Primary Education Office
DPHE Department of Public Health
Engineering
DSM Design, Supervision and Management
consultant
EC European Commission
EETC Expanding Education of Tribal Children
EFA Education for All
EHS Education Household Survey
ELCG Education Local Consultative sub
Group
EMF Environmental Management
Framework
EMIS Education Management Information
System
FPD Finance and Procurement Division
FY Fiscal Year
GDP Gross Domestic Product
GER Gross Enrollment Rate
GOB Government of Bangladesh
GPS Government Primary School
GWG Governance Working Group
HIES Household Income and Expenditures
Survey
HRD Human Resources Development
HSC High School Certificate
IA Implementation Agency
iBAS Integrated Budgeting and Accounting
System
ICB International Competitive Bidding
IDA International Development Association
IFR Interim Financial Report
IMSC Inter-Ministerial Steering Committee
IPP Indigenous Peoples Plan
IRR Internal Rate of Return
JARM Joint Annual Review Mission
JFA Joint Financing Arrangement
JICA Japan International Cooperation
Agency
KPI Key Performance Indicators
LGED Local Government Engineering
Department
M&E Monitoring and Evaluation
MDG Millennium Development Goals
MOPME Ministry of Primary and Mass
Education
MOE Ministry of Education
MOF Ministry of Finance
MOHFW Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
MOPA Ministry of Public Administration
MoU Memorandum of Understanding
MTBF Medium Term Budgetary Framework
MDTF Multi-Donor Trust Fund (for PFM
improvement)
NAPE National Academy of Primary
Education
NCTB National Curriculum and Textbook
Board
NER Net Enrollment Rate
NFE Non-Formal Education
NGO Non-Government Organization
NPRS National Poverty Reduction Strategy
NPV Net Present Value
ODCB Organizational Development and
Capacity-Building
OICR Organizational and Institutional
Capacity Review
PAD Project Appraisal Document
PBH Program Budget Head
PCE Primary (Grade 5) Completion Exam
PCR Primary Completion Rate
PEC Primary Education Cadre
PECW Primary Education Curriculum
Wing/NCTB
PEDP Primary Education Development
Project
PEDPII Second Primary Education
Development Program
PEFA Public Expenditure and Financial
Accountability
PFM Public Financial Management
PLU Program Liaison Unit
PMU Program Management Unit
PPR Public Procurement Regulations
PRMP Procurement Risk Mitigation Plan
PRSP Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper
PSC Public Service Commission
PSQL Primary School Quality Level
Indicators
PTA Parent-Teacher Association
PTI Primary Teacher Training Institute
PTR Pupil/Teacher Ratio
R&D Research and Development
RBM Results- based Management
RMS Risk Mitigation System
RNGPS Registered non-Government Primary
School
ROSC Reaching Out- of- School Children
Project
RP Resettlement Plan
SBM School-based Management
SIDA Swedish International Development
Agency
SLIP School Level Improvement Plan
SMC School Management Committee
SMF Social Management Framework
SSC Secondary School Certificate
SWAp Sector/sub-sector-Wide Approach
SPEMP Strengthening Public Expenditure
Management Program
TOR Terms of Reference
TST Technical Support Teams
UEO Upazila Education Officer
UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization
UNICEF United Nations Children‘s Fund
UPEP Upazila Primary Education Plan
URC Upazila Resource Center
WFP World Food Program
Vice President: Isabel M. Guerrero
Country Director: Ellen A. Goldstein
Sector Director: Michal Rutkowski
Sector Manager: Amit Dar
Task Team Leader: Susan Opper & Ayesha Vawda
Table of Contents
I. Strategic Context ..................................................................................................................... 1
A. Country Context .................................................................................................................. 1
B. Sectoral and Institutional Context ....................................................................................... 2
C. Higher Level Objectives to which the Project Contributes ................................................ 5
II. Project Development Objectives............................................................................................. 5
A. PDO..................................................................................................................................... 5
B. Program Beneficiaries ......................................................................................................... 5
C. PDO Level Results Indicators ............................................................................................. 5
III. Program Description ............................................................................................................ 6
A. Project Component.............................................................................................................. 6
B. Program Financing .............................................................................................................. 9
C. Lessons Learned and Reflected in the Program Design ................................................... 11
IV. Implementation .................................................................................................................. 12
A. Institutional and Implementation Arrangements .............................................................. 12
B. Results Monitoring and Evaluation .................................................................................. 13
C. Sustainability..................................................................................................................... 14
V. Key Risks and Mitigation Measures ..................................................................................... 14
VI. Appraisal Summary ........................................................................................................... 15
A. Economic and Financial Analysis ..................................................................................... 15
B. Technical ........................................................................................................................... 17
C. Financial Management ...................................................................................................... 18
D. Procurement ...................................................................................................................... 19
E. Social (including Safeguards) ........................................................................................... 20
F. Environment (including Safeguards) ................................................................................ 22
Annex 1: Results Framework and Monitoring.............................................................................. 23
Annex 2: Detailed Program Description ...................................................................................... 31
Annex 3: Implementation Arrangements ..................................................................................... 44
Annex 4 Operational Risk Assessment Framework (ORAF) ....................................................... 67
Annex 5: Implementation Support Plan ........................................................................................ 70
Annex 6: Team Composition ........................................................................................................ 77
Annex 7: Governance and Accountability Action Plan (GAAP) ................................................. 78
i
PAD DATA SHEET
BANGLADESH
Third Primary Education Development Program
PROJECT APPRAISAL DOCUMENT
South Asia
Human Development
Date: June 11, 2011 Country Director: Ellen A. Goldstein Sector Director: Michal Rutkowski Sector Manager: Amit Dar Team Leader: Susan Opper & Ayesha Vawda Project ID: P113435 Lending Instrument: Specific Investment Credit
Sector(s): Primary Education (90%); Government Administration (10%) Theme(s): Education for All (P); Public
expenditure, financial management and
procurement (S), Administrative and civil service
reform (S)
Environmental Assessment Screening Category: B
Project Financing Data: Proposed terms:
[ ] Loan [x ] Credit [ ] Grant [ ] Guarantee [ ] Other:
Source Total Amount (US$M)
Total Project Cost: Cofinancing:
ADB
DFID
EU
CIDA
AUSAID
SIDA
JICA
UNICEF Borrower:
Total Bank Financing: IDA
5860
609.4
320
110
55
48
28
24
24
.4
4950.6
300
Borrower: People‘s Republic of Bangladesh
Responsible Agency: Ministry of Primary and Mass Education (MOPME)
Address: Bhaban 6, Room 609 Bangladesh Secretariat, Dhaka Contact Person: Mr. AKM Abdul Awal Mazumder, Secretary, MOPME
Telephone No.: 7162484 Fax No.: 7168871 Email: [email protected]
ii
Estimated Disbursements (Bank FY/US$ m)
FY 2012 2013 2014
2015
Annual 75 75 75 75
Cumulative 75 150 225 300
Project Implementation Period: Start July 31, 2011 End: January 31, 2015 Expected effectiveness date: July 31, 2011 Expected closing date: December 31, 2015
Does the project depart from the CAS in content or other significant
respects? ○ Yes x No
If yes, please explain:
Does the project require any exceptions from Bank policies? Have these been approved/endorsed (as appropriate) by Bank
management? Is approval for any policy exception sought from the Board?
x Yes ○ No x Yes ○ No x Yes ○ No
If yes, please explain: A waiver is sought for an expansion of the exception to open eligibility under
paragraph 1.8(d) of IDA‘s Procurement Guidelines to allow IDA, in the case of contracts jointly
financed with the Asian Development Bank (ADB), to recognize the ineligibility of firms and
individuals debarred by the ADB.
Does the project meet the Regional criteria for readiness for
implementation?
x Yes ○ No
If no, please explain:
Project Development objectives are to (i) increase participation and reduce social disparities in primary
education, (ii) increase the number of children completing primary education and improve the quality of
the learning environment and measurement of student learning, and (iii) improve effectiveness of
resource use for primary education.
Project description: The proposed operation uses a Sector Wide Approach (SWAp) to support
implementation of the Government of Bangladesh‘s primary education program (PEDPIII). The Credit
will finance recurrent and development expenditures, up to capped amounts, covering the entire primary
education sub-sector, and which fall under agreed program budget heads (PBHs). Disbursement is
conditioned on the achievement of pre-specified results, referred to as ―Disbursement-linked indicators‖
(DLIs), which are a subset of the Government‘s results framework for PEDPIII.
The activities to be financed will fall under the following categories: (i) improving the quality of the
learning environment and the measurement of student learning; (ii) increasing participation and reducing
social disparities; and (iii) improving program planning and management, and strengthening institutions.
iii
Safeguard policies triggered?
Environmental Assessment (OP/BP 4.01) Natural Habitats (OP/BP 4.04) Forests (OP/BP 4.36) Pest Management (OP 4.09) Physical Cultural Resources (OP/BP 4.11) Indigenous Peoples (OP/BP 4.10) Involuntary Resettlement (OP/BP 4.12) Safety of Dams (OP/BP 4.37) Projects on International Waters (OP/BP 7.50) Projects in Disputed Areas (OP/BP 7.60)
x Yes ○ No ○ Yes x No ○ Yes x No ○ Yes x No ○ Yes x No x Yes ○ No x Yes ○ No ○ Yes x No ○ Yes x No ○ Yes x No
Conditions and Legal Covenants
Financing Agreement
Reference Description of Condition/Covenant Date Due
Implementation Covenants
Schedule 2, Section I. A.1.
(a)
Schedule 2, Section I. A.3.
(a)
The Recipient shall, not later than three months
after the Effective Date, establish and thereafter
maintain throughout the period of the Project
implementation, an Inter-Ministerial Steering
Committee, headed by the Secretary, MOPME,
and having as members representatives of key
ministries and agencies, including, inter alia: the
Finance Division and Economic Relations
Division of the Ministry of Finance; the
Ministry of Public Administration; the Planning
Commission; the Implementation Monitoring
and Evaluation Division of the Ministry of
Planning; and the Directorate of Primary
Education of the MOPME; and representatives
of Non-Government Organizations.
The Recipient shall, not later than three months
after the Effective Date, establish and thereafter
maintain throughout the period of Project
Implementation, a Technical Committee headed
by the Director General (Program Director),
DPE, and having as members inter alia, the
Additional Director General, all DPE directors;
representatives from MOPME, the National
Academy of Primary Education, National
Curriculum and Textbook Board, Compulsory
Primary Education Implementation and
Monitoring Unit, Bureau of Non-formal
Education, and the Bangladesh Bureau of
Education Information and Statistics; and a
representative from a Non-Governmental
Organization.
Three months after
the Effective Date
Three months after
the Effective Date
iv
Financing Agreement
Reference Description of Condition/Covenant Date Due
Schedule 2, Section I. A.
4.
Schedule 2, Section I. B.
Schedule 2, Section I. C.
(a)
Schedule 2, Section I. C.
(c)
Schedule 2, Section I. E.1.
and Schedule 2, Section
I.E. 2.
The Recipient shall: (a) ensure that all budgetary
allocations related to the Project are timely
released to the appropriate directorates and
agencies of the Recipient, as shall be required
for the effective implementation of the Project;
and (b) apply suitable internal controls to ensure
that payments of budgetary expenditures,
including monthly reconciliations thereof, shall
be made in a timely manner, together with an
appropriate accounting of budgetary advances, if
any, with a view to keeping said advances
separate from budgetary expenditures.
The Recipient shall, not later than May 1 of each
year, commencing May 1, 2012, prepare and
furnish to the Association, for its endorsement,
the Annual Plan for the following fiscal year.
The Recipient shall, not later than May 31 of
each year commencing May 31, 2012 carry out
joint reviews of the Project and the Program
with the Association and the Cofinanciers, to,
inter alia, assess the progress of implementation
and achievement of the agreed results, and
identify obstacles or impediments, if any.
By not later than thirty (30) months after the
Effective Date, the Recipient shall review with
the Association the progress made in the
implementation of the Project, particularly
progress made in the Recipient‘s compliance
with the DLIs, and Recipient‘s proposals, if any,
to substitute DLIs not complied with by their
due date with other DLIs that are conducive to
the achievement of the Project‘s objectives
(Mid-term Review).
The Recipient shall carry out the Project in
accordance with the Environmental
Management Framework (EMF), the Social
Management Framework (SMF) and the Tribal
Peoples Plan, and when applicable, prepare and
carry out appropriate mitigating measures
pursuant to the EMF and SMF.
May 1, 2012 and
May 1 of each of the
following years of the
Project.
May 31, 2012 and
May 31 of each of the
following years of the
Project.
Thirty months after
the Effective Date
1
I. Strategic Context
A. Country Context
1. Bangladesh has made striking progress in the last thirty years of economic growth and
social transformation, accompanied by significant poverty reduction and a curbing of population
growth. Sustained macro-economic measures, which notably increased the market orientation of
the economy and eased trade and exchange restrictions, have underpinned an average GDP
growth of 5.8 percent per annum over FY01-10, up by a percentage point compared to the
previous decade. Recent indicators show that Bangladesh has weathered the global economic
crisis, staying on track with a still healthy 5.7 – 5.8 percent annual growth rate in FY09 – FY10
and an expected 6 percent plus growth rate in FY11. This performance is noteworthy, given the
slow global recovery and severe power shortages in Bangladesh. Sustained growth has led to
reduction in the incidence of poverty from 57 percent at the beginning of the 1990s, to 49 percent
in 2000, and 40 percent in 2005. These gains were achieved despite fragile institutions, political
volatility and poor governance – exacerbated by frequent, large-scale natural disasters whose
consequences can be most devastating for the poor. Per capita income is US$640 (2010), but
close to 30 percent of the country‘s 164 million population remain below the poverty line
earning less than US$1 a day. Prospects for progress over the medium-term will depend upon
continued macroeconomic stability, a deepening of structural reforms to address severe
infrastructure deficits (energy, transport, extreme urban congestion) as well as steps to improve
governance and strengthen institutions to provide better quality services and bring marginalized
groups more securely into the development process.
2. Education is one of the most powerful instruments for reducing poverty. The effect is
compounded when there are linkages for education and health to work together to ensure that
children are well nourished, healthy and ready to learn. The effect is self-perpetuating across
generations. Educated parents are more likely to have reduced family size and provide schooling
to their children. Bangladesh is a good example of this phenomenon. Increased access to primary
education, particularly the rapid influx of girls over the past thirty years, have been powerful
enabling conditions for social mobility as young people have entered the labor market and are
attaining higher earnings. Workers have been moving away from low productivity jobs in
agriculture to more productive jobs in the nonfarm private sector, particularly in urban areas and
overseas. Widespread entry of women has been a leading factor in the rapid expansion of the
garment industry, a driver of the Bangladesh economy. All these factors contributed to declining
fertility rates – which were halved in the 1990s – as well as the high rates of poverty reduction.
3. Despite laudable progress on many fronts, development needs remain large and pressing.
Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated and poor countries in South Asia. Its GDP per
capita is half that of India. Chronic malnutrition pervades all socioeconomic strata in
Bangladesh, affecting 56 percent of children among the poorest and 32 percent among the
wealthiest quintiles. Yet, in some areas of human development, the country has outstripped
progress elsewhere in South Asia; for example, in infant and child mortality, which declined by
around half in Bangladesh over the last two decades. Continued investment in human capital is
essential to improve livelihoods for all. Bangladesh is projected to have an estimated 220 million
2
inhabitants by 2040. This poses a daunting development challenge in a setting that is vulnerable
to natural disasters, and the latter is amplified by the effects of climate change.
B. Sectoral and Institutional Context
4. The outstanding accomplishment of the last three decades is the increased access to
education and the achievement of gender parity. In the space of 30 years, the number of young
people completing primary education has more than doubled, and the participation of girls has so
accelerated in the past 15 years that more girls than boys now complete primary school. Gross
enrollment rates (GER) in primary education rose from 76 percent in 1991 to 107.8 percent in
2010 (MOPME data), and net enrollment (measured by household data1) reached 84.7 percent in
2010. In secondary education, the GER of 57 percent in 2008 is three times higher than in 1980.
Greatly contributing to this gain was a seven-fold increase in girls‘ enrollment; there is now
gender parity in secondary education as well as in primary. For progress in all these areas, it has
been critical that, since the 1990s, demand-side interventions – including primary school feeding,
cash transfer programs, and a gender-targeted secondary school stipend program – have been met
with expanded supply in the public and non-government (NGO) sectors. Today, over 16 million
students are enrolled in about 78,000 primary schools. These include ten types of schools, the
vast majority of which are Government Primary Schools (GPS) and Registered Non-Government
Primary Schools (RNGPS; privately operated but heavily government subsidized). In addition,
over 1.5 million children are enrolled in NGO schools. Despite these achievements, access
challenges remain: notably marked disparities in participation rates for children in pockets of
poor and disadvantaged communities compared to the national average (the 2005 NER of the
poorest economic quintile is 58 percent, compared to NER of 80 percent for the richest quintile).
The stipend program for primary school aged children, insufficiently targeted to the poor, has not
been effective in reducing these disparities. Overcrowded and deteriorated classrooms,
insufficient availability of sanitary facilities and drinking water still constrain access in parts of
the country and for some population groups.
5. Through a sustained injection of public resources into education, Bangladesh has reached
some international benchmarks, including one of the education Millennium Development goals
(gender parity). From 1999/00, government spending on education increased significantly owing
to the country‘s high rates of economic growth. Specifically, although the share of GDP devoted
to education remained around 2.3 percent over this period, real spending increased by 50 percent
as a function of the overall growth in real government spending. The per annum commitment of
approximately 15 percent of government resources allocated to education over the past decade
also appears comparable to developing and regional country averages. However, when measured
in terms of public current expenditure on primary education per pupil, the US$99 (in constant
2006 US$) spent in Bangladesh is the lowest in South Asia (UNESCO). Considering as well that
personnel costs take the largest share of the education revenue budget in Bangladesh, with some
98 percent of revenue spending in primary education devoted to salaries, expenditures on non-
personnel items are well below recommended norms. This has an impact on learning
achievement and system efficiency – both of which remain low.
1 Administrative data provide higher estimates of enrollments than household survey data, but trends are similar.
3
6. There is a collective recognition that improving the quality of primary education is one of
Bangladesh‘s highest priorities. Learning outcomes and primary cycle completion rates must
improve substantially. Only 60 percent of primary school children complete the primary cycle
(Grades 1-5) in 5 years, and of these, only about 44 percent go on to lower secondary school.
The primary cycle completion l rate (PCR) varies by geographic locality and family income
level. The PCR is exceptionally low in the seasonal poverty-prone areas of the Padma-Jamuna-
Brahmaputra basin. In addition, of the primary graduates who do go to secondary school, less
than half complete their education; the problem of drop-outs is more acute among girls. As for
learning outcomes, although there is not yet an assessment system in place providing reliable and
regular monitoring, there is wide recognition that learning levels are low and that excessive
emphasis is put on rote learning. One study conducted in 20082 showed that it is still not until the
end of grade 9 in the secondary cycle that 80-90 percent of students attain competencies in the
basic skill areas (reading, writing, mathematics) which they should have achieved by the end of
grade five. Evidence suggests this is not predominantly attributable to changes in the
demographics of the in-school population; that is, even those children from more advantaged
families are not mastering learning outcomes to acceptable levels.
7. Teachers, textbooks and curricula are the main supply-side factors contributing to the
poor learning outcomes and weak systems efficiency in the primary sector. The situation is
aggravated by the nature of the examination system and the overall weak institutional capacity
for monitoring and evaluation. There are approximately 340,000 primary teachers in the public
sector, and their qualifications are relatively low. Regulations stipulate that female and male
primary teacher recruits are to have a tenth grade (SSC) and a twelfth grade (HSC) education,
respectively, to be followed by a one-year Certificate-in-Education (C-in-Ed) training course
within two years after recruitment. Around 85 percent of GPS and RNGPS teachers have met
this requirement. The Government recognizes that it must raise the bar on teacher qualifications,
and it intends to pilot a new Diploma in Education program that will be rolled out over the
course of PEDPIII (see Annexes 1 and 2). Analysis has shown that prerequisites for success also
include the professional development of teacher trainers at the Primary Teacher Training
Institutes and improving the ability of school heads to provide support to teachers at school level
on an ongoing basis. Equally critical is to maintain a competitive and transparent recruitment
process that ensures that the jobs are given to the most qualified applicants.
8. The above reasons help to explain why the Government‘s overall objective for primary
education is to improve its quality. The main issues surround the need to usher in major reform
toward a competency-based approach (rather than rote learning), in order to be more supportive
of each child‘s learning. Textbook development remains a major challenge, as do the related
issues of the nature and quality of examinations (Grade 5 Completion Exam (PCE) and national
student assessments in grades 3 and 5). Notwithstanding the commendable achievement in 2009
of the first time ever administration of the PCE on a national basis, it is generally recognized that
the exam has low reliability, the test items measure rote learning rather than the actual
competencies children possess at the end of the primary cycle, and exam results are not fed back
to teachers and teacher trainers to improve teaching.
2 See ―School Choice and Cognitive Achievement in Rural Bangladesh‖ by M.N. Asadullah, N. Chaudhury, and A.
Dar, World Bank 2008.
4
9. More broadly, the range of monitoring and evaluation mechanisms in the primary sector
are ad hoc and insufficiently networked, as a system, for early reporting to inform improvements
in service delivery, and to fortify the evidence base for policy making and strategic planning.
Management of the sector is constrained by certain capacity limitations, in particular, lack of
specialized staff (see Annex 4). The regulatory framework for working across the sector with all
providers – government, non-government, private – remains in nascent stages of development.
Currently, the Government only controls and regulates four types of schools, although it intends
gradually to extend its monitoring capacity to all primary education providers. Decentralized
planning and management is also one of the Government‘s aims, but implementation has so far
been constrained by lack of funding. In addition, the accountability relationships between levels
of government (central, District, Upazila) and between government and schools and communities
still require clarification and reinforcement through regular monitoring for quality assurance.
10. The Government of Bangladesh has been heavily engaged with external development
partners in investing in primary education through two successive operations: PEDPI and
PEDPII. The advent of PEDPII in 2004 was instrumental in primary education receiving even
greater importance within the education sector, as a function of an increasing development
budget allocated to primary. A great deal of non-salary recurrent spending occurred on the
development side of the budget, e.g. production and distribution of (free) primary school
textbooks. PEDPII was an important step towards better coordination of development partner
support and the corresponding reduction in transaction costs for Government, with the adoption
of a sectorwide approach. Results from PEDPI and PEDPII show positive trends, on average, in
enrollment and completion rates, achievement of gender parity in access, classroom construction
(30,000 new classrooms) as well as improvements in quality with preparatory steps for a revised
curriculum and teachers‘ professional development (e.g. development of the Diploma-in-
Education), extension of the Grade 5 Completion Exam to all primary school students, and a
round of learning assessments. PEDPII furthermore increased the scope for local school-based
management by initiating school level improvement plans (SLIPs) and initiated an annual sector
performance reporting as a major achievement in monitoring and evaluation systemwide.
11. The Third Primary Education Development Program (PEDPIII) is intended to build on
the momentum generated in the areas of access and quality, while it distinctly promotes
accountability through a results-based program approach. A determined effort will be made to
fast track actions which can bring immediate, measurable impact on classroom learning and
primary cycle completion. Focus is on the use – rather than simply the supply – of inputs at the
school and classroom level to improve learning outcomes for individual children enrolled in GPS
and RNGPS schools. By following a Disbursement Linked Indicator approach (described
elsewhere in this document), the Development Partners and Government are broadly aligning
financial incentives with critical actions for which there is strong evidence nationally and
internationally that they will be capable of boosting progress toward more equitable participation
in higher quality primary education.
5
C. Higher Level Objectives to which the Project Contributes
12. The proposed Project which supports the Government of Bangladesh (GOB) Third
Primary Education Development Program (PEDPIII) that covers the primary education sub-
sector contributes to Bangladesh‘s long-term objective of human capital development for
sustaining economic growth and poverty reduction. The PEDPIII objectives are well aligned
with the Second National Strategy for Accelerated Poverty Reduction (NSAPR-II) for FY2009-
20113, the Perspective Plan 2021
4, the National Education Policy 2010, and the Bank‘s Country
Assistance Strategy (CAS)5. The NSAPR-II, which represents the first phase in implementation
of the Government‘s vision for 2021, lays out the education sector strategy for Bangladesh –
highlighting in particular the quality of education as one of the major strategic issues to be
addressed and also encouraging progress toward equitable access and more efficient delivery of
public services. The comprehensive National Education Policy provides more specific direction
for operational objectives and expected results across the entire spectrum of the education sector.
The CAS advocates improving the delivery of social services to bring marginalized groups and
rural communities more firmly into the development process. The CAS also identifies
strengthening the accountability at central and local levels as part of a strong governance agenda
leading to faster and more inclusive growth. PEDPIII can thus play an important role in
effectively operationalizing GOB‘s strategy for the education sector.
II. Project Development Objectives
A. PDO
13. The development objectives of the proposed Project are to (i) increase participation and
reduce social disparities in primary education, (ii) increase the number of children completing
primary education and improve the quality of the learning environment and measurement of
student learning, and (iii) improve effectiveness of resource use for primary education.
B. Program Beneficiaries
14. The direct beneficiaries are the 16.5 million students who attend pre-primary and primary
school in any given year, the 340,000 teachers in government schools who receive training, as
well as the younger cohorts of about 3 million children who will most likely enter primary school
each year over the course of the Project.
C. PDO Level Results Indicators
15. Success in meeting the Project objectives will be measured by using the following
outcome indicators and targets:
3 National Strategy for Accelerated Poverty Reduction II, Government of the People‘s Republic of Bangladesh,
2009. The Strategy lays out an ambitious agenda and commitment to systemic reforms. To generate growth and
reduce poverty, it focuses on five strategic blocks: (a) macroeconomic environment; (b) pro-poor growth; (c)
essential infrastructure; (d) social protection for the vulnerable; and (e) human resources development. 4 Outline Perspective Plan of Bangladesh: Making Vision 2021 a Reality, Government of Bangladesh, Planning
Commission (March 2010) 5 Bangladesh Country Assistance Strategy 2011-2014, The World Bank, August 2010.
6
Outcome indicator Latest available baseline Target, 2014/15
Primary Net Enrollment Rate (NER, in %) 84.7 (2010) 98.00
Primary cycle Completion Rate to Grade 5,
as % of cohort
52.2 (boys)
57.5 (girls) (2009)
62.0 (boys)
67.0 (girls)
Decreased disparity in access to schooling between
poorest 20% and richest 20% (1)
.72 (2005) .77
Learning levels regularly monitored through learning
assessment system (2)
Grade 5 exam introduced
in 2009, testing memory
more than ability to use
subject knowledge
Grade 5 exam with at
least 25% items
competency-based
Percentage of schools/SMCs preparing School
Improvement Plans and receiving funds
27.0 (2010) 75.0
(1) Measured by ratio of NER of poorest 20% and NER of richest 20%
(2) As measured by conduct of Grade 5 completion exam every year
III. Program Description
A. Project Component
Financing of the GOB Third Primary Education Development Program (PEDPIII)
Total: US$5800 million; IDA: US$300 million
16. The proposed Project finances civil works, goods, non-consulting services and recurrent
costs through a Sector Wide approach (SWAp) with eight other Development Partners, to co-
finance with the Government of Bangladesh the implementation of the GOB‘s primary education
program (PEDPIII). The Project finances recurrent and development expenditures from both the
development and the revenue budgets to support the carrying out of interventions as approved for
inclusion in the annual plans (see below) for improving the quality of the learning environment
and measurement of learning; increasing participation and reducing social disparities; and
improving program planning and management, and strengthening institutions. The detailed
interventions are described in Annex 2 of the PAD.
17. The GOB and the Development Partners used a strategic planning process to identify key
expected results and the operational framework through which to achieve these to attain the
development outcomes for primary education. The Government has a results framework with
expected results in the areas of access, equity, quality and effectiveness. The scope of
interventions and resource requirements vary across Districts and sub-Districts, and also from
year to year, so the Project is unlike a traditional Investment Credit with predefined components.
The Project would induce greater incentives in the system to facilitate achievement, while
affording the Government greater flexibility in the choice of inputs to reach the agreed results.
The Project will finance against the government‘s annual plan for the primary education sub-
sector (which will list the development activities to be undertaken in the Annual Operational
Plan, and the total budget allocation ceiling for agreed-upon program budget heads (PBHs)), and
the annual procurement plan. IDA will finance the identified PBHs, up to maximum amounts as
explained in Annex 3. Disbursement is conditioned on the achievement of pre-specified results,
i.e. ―Disbursement Linked Indicators‖ (DLIs), which are a subset of the Government‘s results
framework and have been agreed between the GOB and Development Partners as the milestones
7
which reflect the priority elements in PEDPIII. The DLIs build incrementally and include
institutional changes, implementation steps, and output/outcome indicators which are critical for
demonstrable progress of the sub-sector toward its overall development outcomes. DLIs will
generate improved efficiency and effectiveness during the period of the Credit, and will have an
impact and sustain results beyond the life of the Project. All DLIs are weighted equally. The
activities financed are described below; Annex 1 provides details on the DLIs. The full range of
Project interventions is detailed in Annex 2.
18. The following activities, included in the Annual Plans, will be supported. Other activities
may be supported during program implementation if jointly agreed between MOPME and the
Development Partners:
Improving quality of the learning environment and measurement of student learning
(a) Improvement of the timely delivery of free textbooks to all eligible schools and the quality of
textbook content through the provision of quality learning materials;
(b) Improvement of the effectiveness of teacher training through the carrying out of a
comprehensive teacher education and development plan, including the development and
piloting of a new Diploma-in Education and progressively increasing the number of Primary
Teacher Training Institutes implementing the Diploma-in Education program;
(c) Recruitment of teachers and head-teachers, and application of the competitive, merit-based
recruitment, as well as taking account of vacancies to be filled as a result of new classrooms
constructed through the needs-based infrastructure approach;
(d) Improvement of the quality, transparency and effectiveness of the primary completion
examination through the carrying out of an action plan to improve the Grade 5 completion
examination;
(e) Improvement of the national assessment program, including its‘ organizational management;
(f) Development of techniques to determine pupils‘ current knowledge and skill level, including
through the training of teachers to identify students‘ learning strengths and weaknesses;
(g) Improvement of the curricula for grades one to five, including the carrying out of a regional
comparative study on competencies, curriculum substance and revision practices, and
capacity building of staff for curriculum development;
(h) Implementation of a pilot initiative ―Shikhbe Protiti Shishu (Each Child Learns) to improve
learning of basic skills in Bangla and mathematics, and dissemination of good practices and
lessons learned to a progressively larger number of schools; and
(i) Provision of equipment and materials for the setting-up of multi-media classrooms.
19. DLI milestones in this area focus on the improvement of the quality, transparency and
effectiveness of the Grade 5 exam; more effective textbook distribution; teacher education
development; and merit-based teacher recruitment.
8
Increasing Participation and Reducing Social Disparities
(a) Provision of one year of free pre-primary education (PPE) for five-year olds through a new
school-based approach to reach coverage of all children in government primary schools
through: (i) the development and implementation of a plan for the scaling up of participation
in pre-primary education; and (ii) the expansion of pre-primary education coverage;
(b) Initiating a needs-based approach to improve physical facilities (reconstruction of schools,
additional classrooms, toilets and safe water source) through the preparation and
implementation of an action plan for infrastructure development;
(c) Development and implementation of a public relations and communications strategy to
inform and encourage enrollment and retention of children in school for the full primary
cycle;
(d) Implementation of a revamped stipend program to support participation of children in
primary education;
(e) Coordination and implementation of a school health and nutrition program, including
curriculum development on health and nutrition practices and health screenings in selected
areas, and nutritional interventions such as school feeding;
(f) Implementation of an inclusive primary education plan at the upazila level, with support
from a block grant, to provide resources to schools accommodating previously excluded
children, develop supplementary learning materials, and strengthen the capacity of teachers
to identify and teach children with special needs; and
(g) Coordinating alternative primary education opportunities with education service delivery in
the formal, public sector, including the development of an equivalency framework aligned
with the revised national curriculum, inclusion of non-formal education in upazila primary
education plans, participation of non-formal education learners in the Grade 5 completion
examination, and reporting on non-formal education outputs in the PEDP III reporting.
20. In this thrust area, DLIs will be milestones related to the implementation of the PPE
program; and the needs-based infrastructure plan.
Improving Program Planning and Management, and Strengthening Institutions
(a) Improvement of the efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery at central and
decentralized levels through the provision of grants to schools based on their school-level
improvement plans;
(b) Enhancement of the primary education subsector budget preparation process by improving
the linkage between the budgetary process and the medium-term primary education subsector
strategy, and the consistency between annually approved primary education subsector
budgets and the PEDPIII results framework and medium term budgetary framework
(MTBF);
9
(c) Improvement of the timeliness, quality and coverage of the Recipient‘s Annual School
Census (ACS) through: (i) the development and implementation of an improved
administration plan for the monitoring and evaluation/education management information
system; and (ii) the revising of the Annual School Census;
(d) Development and implementation of a human resource management plan to strengthen the
Directorate of Primary Education and improve delivery of teacher education programs; and
(e) Carrying out of analyses and stakeholder consultations to clarify issues and potential actions
to develop an integrated, comprehensive framework to include school standards for all
categories of primary schools in the country.
21. The DLI‘s in this area focus on setting targets for progressively larger percentages of
SMCs preparing plans and receiving and using the block grant financing; ensuring consistency
between annually approved primary education budgets and the PEDPIII results framework and
MTBF; and improvements expected in the timeliness and quality of the ASC.
B. Program Financing
Lending Instrument
22. The proposed operation is a US$300 million Specific Investment Credit to support the
first phase (four years) of implementation of the Government's program for primary education
(PEDPIII). The commitments from the additional Development Partners are summarized in the
following section. The IDA Credit disbursements will be made against identified program budget
heads (PBHs) contingent upon achievement of the agreed set of DLIs. The total amount that can
be claimed from the IDA commitments is defined by the total number of DLIs to be achieved
(9), and the costing of DLIs for each year. The proposed schedule of IDA disbursements is
shown in Annex 3 (Table A3.1) which sets out the total disbursement amount of US$300 million
as a function of the costing of DLIs for each year. The total estimated amount for each annual
disbursement would be subject to any deduction equivalent to the price of any unmet DLIs. DLIs
are priced, so that missing one does not hold back disbursement of others which are met.
23. Over the financing period of the Project, there are four scheduled disbursement cycles: in
July for each of the years 2011 to 2014. If fewer than the nine DLIs are achieved by a July cycle,
withheld amounts against unmet DLIs will be available for disbursement in January, subject to
confirmation that the said DLIs have been satisfied, and on condition that DLIs are achieved no
later than 18 months after the initially specified DLI achievement deadline.
24. IDA will disburse against PBHs to reimburse against expenditures incurred. The PBHs to
be supported by the Project account for the bulk of GOB's program expenditures for primary
education. The PBHs are part of the Government's own economic heads of account which are
used to track expenditure on non-development as well as development sides of the budget. The
PBHs are described in Annex 3.
10
Development Partner Co-Financing
25. All Development Partners committing funds for the SWAp to support PEDPIII will
finance the identified PBHs of the GOB primary education sector program. All Partners,
including the World Bank, would be signatories to a Joint Financing Arrangement (JFA) with the
Government. The JFA will govern the working arrangements for the SWAp. The indicative total
contribution under the JFA for the first four years of PEDPIII is US$909.4 million, of which the
total contribution of the Development Partners other than IDA is US$609.4 million (see table
below). The defined disbursement intervals are the same for all the Development Partners. All
(except UNICEF) are planning to condition their disbursements on the achievement of the DLIs.
In addition, some Partners (not including IDA) have indicated they will condition part of their
disbursement to financial and other reporting on PEDPIII, as defined in the JFA, to be reviewed
by all Partners and the GOB at the Annual Joint Reviews. PEDPIII represents an important move
toward using the country system of fund flow in that the Development Partner financing will be
disbursed using the Government system without Development Partners‘ requesting use of
project-specific designated accounts. Under certain conditions, there will be separate tracking of
the IDA and ADB disbursements, respectively (see Section VI. D, below). ADB is expected to
present the project to their Board in early July 2011 to be effective shortly thereafter. The
remaining Development Partners are planning to begin disbursing within the following twelve
month period.
Program Financing Table (first 4 years of the program)6
6 The proportionate allocations for IDA (ICB compared with other financing) and for ADB (Consultancies compared
with other financing) are approximate. Development Partners (other than the ADB) have indicated their commitment
to provide an additional approximately US$95 million for the fifth year of the program.
Component and/or Activity Total
(US $million)
IDA , of which - Textbooks and other goods procured through ICB (financed with
other Development Partners (not ADB) )
- Goods, works, non-consulting services, recurrent costs, stipends
300
24
276
ADB. of which - Consultancies financed by ADB (with other Development Partners
excluding IDA)
- Goods, works, non-consulting services, recurrent costs, stipends
320
24
296
DFID 110
EU 55
CIDA 48
AUSAID 28
SIDA 24
JICA 24
UNICEF .4
GOB Financing 4950.6
TOTAL 5860
11
C. Lessons Learned and Reflected in the Program Design
26. Based on the experience of previous projects in Bangladesh, as well as international
experience, key lessons incorporated in the PEDPIII program design include:
(a) Usefulness of an Education Sub-Sector Approach. Under PEDPII, the Government took
increased ownership and activities began to be somewhat mainstreamed and integrated into
the regular system activities. Harmonization of management, planning, procurement,
accounting and reporting arrangements helped to reduce GOB transaction costs. PEDPIII will
further consolidate those gains, enabling the Government to work towards management of
improvements across the whole primary education sector in a phased approach
commensurate with capacity of the implementing agency and use of technical assistance.
(b) Need for a Robust M&E: During PEDP II, it was difficult to obtain sufficient focus on
results and timely reporting. Much of the information available centered around progress of
activities instead of key implementation reforms and outcomes. System development for
sound data collection, and analysis and dissemination of data to improve planning were
limited. Through the DLIs, stronger emphasis will be placed on bolstering the technical
capacity of the M&E system and its ability to monitor program interventions. This will be
complemented by technical assistance aimed at improving data quality for timely planning.
(c) Leveraging Reform through Result-Based Financing: Many of the planned reforms under
PEDPII could not be implemented because they were not in the jurisdiction of DPE and/ or
MOPME. For example, DPE had no control over approval of the plan to devolve planning
and management responsibilities to districts, Upazilas and schools. In this regard, experience
from other countries shows that result-based disbursement linked to the use of country
systems for flow of funds can help to provide incentives and ensure greater support from
other ministries; in particular, the Ministry of Finance.
(d) Experience with Results-Based Financing and Disbursement Linked Indicators in other
countries: Some insights from the World Bank collaboration under Pakistan operations (in
Punjab and Sindh) are being incorporated into PEDPIII, where possible, and include: (i) the
DLIs, coupled with regular dialogue and engagement with the client, promote the focus on
results and their achievement. This is particularly important in securing government
commitment to politically difficult but potentially beneficial governance initiatives supported
by reform-minded stakeholders; (ii) the verification of DLIs can be leveraged to support
improvements in monitoring and evaluation practices; this is conducive for undertaking more
third party validations and impact evaluations to enhance the reliability of assessments and
measurement of sector performance; (iii) the DLIs help keep program implementation rolling
and consistent with the program designs; (iv) keeping the number of DLIs to a small number
is important to ease the administrative and supervision burden on the government and task
teams; (v) there need to be sufficient internal flexibility to adjust results – and the DLIs
linked to those results – in the event of unanticipated developments, while preserving the
high-powered incentives to achieve results via the DLIs; and (vi) as a consequence of the
continuous engagement with authorities at all levels, supervision intensity for the Project will
be high.
12
(e) Development Partner Coordination: Use of the results-based financing approach, the
pooling of Development Partners funding, and use of the Government‘s systems for PEDPIII
will result in the nine Development Partners having more harmonized implementation
arrangements and joint planning towards key program results. Parallel financing will be
greatly reduced, except for pre-existing projects and technical assistance. Because
Government has driven the design and preparation of the program, there will be no need for a
single lead agency during implementation, as was the case in PEDP II. Suitable arrangements
for donor coordination and program management have been agreed and will be articulated in
a Joint Financing Arrangement (JFA). All participating Development Partners will be
signatories to the JFA. This will also facilitate other partners who may wish to support the
Government‘s program at a later stage in a more coordinated program approach, something
which was not possible earlier.
IV. Implementation
A. Institutional and Implementation Arrangements
27. Overall policy guidance, program oversight and coordination will be provided by an
Inter-Ministerial Steering Committee chaired by the Secretary, MOPME, and comprising
representatives of key ministries as well as representatives of NGOs. Besides reviewing program
progress and approving the annual operational plans, the Steering Committee would be
responsible for resolving any critical inter-ministerial implementation issues.
28. The Directorate of Primary Education (DPE) headed by a Director General (Program
Director) will be responsible for day-to-day program implementation under the guidance of the
Steering Committee. DPE will be assisted by a Technical Committee, chaired and coordinated
by the Director General, assisted by an Additional Director General. The Technical Committee
will comprise all DPE directors and representatives from all agencies involved in the
implementation of PEDPIII.7 The main functions of the Technical Committee will be to: (i)
provide support to line directors to resolve implementation problems; (ii) devise strategies for the
gradual integration of different streams of formal and non-formal education in terms of
curriculum and service delivery structure; (iii) support the establishment of an integrated data
system and plan for results-based management; and (iv) support policy revision based on
implementation experience.
29. DPE line directors will be given responsibility for implementation of key areas of
PEDPIII. Although the implementation capacity of DPE has improved significantly during the
PEDPII phase, implementation of the new program will pose additional challenges: the size of
the program is significantly larger, and it has the ambition gradually to encompass the full sub-
sector (within a framework that eventually will incorporate the non-government service
providers as well). The intention is to develop long-term capacity of the regular staff of DPE and
7 These include: the National Academy of Primary Education (NAPE), National Curriculum and Textbook Board
(NCTB), Compulsory Primary Education Implementation and Monitoring Unit (CPEIMU), Bureau of Nonformal
Education, Bangladesh Bureau of Education Information and Statistics (BANBEIS), and anon-government
organization (NGO).
13
strengthen the interface between the central level personnel and decentralized levels (Upazila,
District and Division officers) as well as the outreach to teachers and head teachers at school
level. The DPE line directors will thus be supported, when required, with technical assistance
that will either be provided by Development Partners or recruited by GOB.
30. The financial management arrangements of the Program would be based on the country
financial management systems for budget execution, accounting, internal controls, financial
reporting and auditing). A comprehensive risk assessment and review of alternative funding
arrangements conducted during program preparations concluded that this arrangement represents
the least fiduciary risk (see Annex 3). Accordingly – contingent upon meeting a set of DLIs for
each of the fiscal years – Development Partner funds will be directly disbursed to the
Government‘s Consolidated Fund on a reimbursement basis. DPE would access funds according
to the normal government budgeting process. Via the Government‘s integrated budgeting and
accounting system (iBAS terminal), DPE will monitor the monthly/quarterly budget execution
reports and quarterly financial reports for the entire program to ensure that budget execution is in
line, and keeps pace, with the approved budget.
B. Results Monitoring and Evaluation
31. A robust M&E system is key to the success of the result-focused approach. Monitoring
and Evaluation are systematically integrated into the PEDPIII program design through DLIs and
a clearly established results framework against which to evaluate operational performance of the
program, including risk mitigation, and progress toward the PEDPIII development objectives.
Undertaking the program monitoring activities will be the responsibility of the M&E Division of
DPE. The main tasks are described in Annex 3. The Government aims to strengthen the existing
unit and to correct the weaknesses that a recent stock-taking exercise identified.
32. Over the course of PEDPIII implementation, the M&E Division will improve the data
quality through regular validation, expand the coverage of the Annual School Census to all types
of primary schools, and establish closer links with the Bangladesh Bureau of Education
Information and Statistics (BANBEIS), Local Government and Engineering Department
(LGED), National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) and the Ministry of Education
(MOE) to gain access to other sources of data and thereby improve DPE capacity to monitor
interventions; for example, construction and textbook delivery. Closer collaboration with the
Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) will also give access to large-scale household surveys
(including commissioning new surveys) and permit triangulating findings on outcomes and
improving the validity of core sector indicators such as disparities in net enrollment rates by
family income levels.
33. Monitoring that is specific to the fiduciary and procurement functions, and environmental
and social safeguards, is described elsewhere in the respective sections of the PAD.
34. The Government and Development Partners participating in the SWAp have a good
understanding of the constraints to achieving the results outlined for the program, as well as
reporting in a timely manner through robust and credible mechanisms. A Technical Assistance
(TA) strategy and plan are in advanced stages of development and will be reviewed before
14
Effectiveness. The TA needs have been identified to develop a culture of results monitoring by
strengthening the systems which provide the information and incentivizing the use of more
credible information. The TA plan, building on lessons learnt of past practices, aims to ensure in-
time implementation support on a rolling basis, to respond to emerging needs. While coordinated
through a single, global plan, the TA would partly be managed by Government and partly
contracted directly by one or more of the Development Partners. The DPE and other agents
implementing PEDPIII would draw upon technical assistance as they faced challenges in
evidence-based planning and management, including: (i) developing enhanced monitoring
instruments, (ii) independent validation of information; (iii) analysis of information from
administrative data to report on DLI achievement, where required, (iv) more in-depth analysis
and information dissemination to support policy making, (v) steps to mitigate risks in
procurement, and (vi) impact evaluations and cost effectiveness of various interventions. In
addition, the TA can help to advance in specific technical areas – especially, although not
exclusively – where PEDPIII introduces significant change. These include: (a) the needs-based
approach to provision of quality infrastructure, (b) pre-primary education (for which the GOB
has no prior experience delivering through primary schools in the formal sector), (c) stipend
programs (for targeting issues); (d) learning assessment and examinations, and (e) curriculum
and teacher professional development.
C. Sustainability
35. The sustainability of PEDPIII is shaped by several factors. First, the political
commitment to basic education which has remained stable since the country‘s independence is
reaffirmed in the Government‘s vision 2021, the Second National Strategy for Accelerated
Poverty Reduction (FY2009-2011), and the National Education Policy (2010). Second,
Bangladesh has a track record of meeting milestones for access and equity in basic education.
The Government has accomplished in 20 years what it took many developed countries more than
60 years to achieve. Third, the sector‘s institutional capacity to manage national scale programs
has been consolidated over decades of implementing four major primary education programs,
nine large scale projects, and numerous smaller ventures under the National Plan of Action for
Education for all. The PEDP II (2004-2011) particularly strengthened DPE and MoPME
management functions in planning, financing, monitoring and evaluation, and coordination of
simultaneous production and distribution of different types of inputs. Fourth, Government‘s
financial commitment to primary and mass education is nested in the country‘s broader Medium-
Term Budgetary Framework (MTBF). Sustainability considerations are built directly into the
PEDPIII design through improvements in budgetary processes to refocus program
implementation under a results-based management model; furthermore, the economic analysis
conducted for PEDPIII indicates parameters for fiscal sustainability (see below). Fifth, the
country‘s growth prospects make it possible to envisage an increasing allocation of resources to
education.
V. Key Risks and Mitigation Measures
36. Potential risks are summarized in the Operational Risk Assessment Framework (ORAF)
(Annex 4). The proposed overall risk rating for the Project for implementation is ―Medium
driven by impact‖ (MI). The following key risks identified in the ORAF have contributed greatly
to the choice of the overall risk rating of PEDPIII:
15
(a) Capacity: Despite ongoing capacity building efforts, staff vacancies and turn over, civil
administration issues and lack of accountability cut across the sector. Weak capacity at
planning, implementing and monitoring stage, as well as low fiduciary capacity, could
jeopardize program achievement. To mitigate this risk, the program ramps up technical
assistance in various aspects of educational management as well as on fiduciary issues to
assist the GOB in achieving results. Local capacity and accountability are being enhanced
through scaling up school-based management under School Level Improvement Plans
(SLIP). Increased focus is placed on developing quality monitoring and evaluation systems.
(b) Fraud and corruption: Certain systemic weaknesses in some aspects of the program, such
as delivery of stipends, contracts for books, hiring of teachers, and civil works expose the
Project to a risk of corruption and non-transparent or inefficient practices. Furthermore,
enforcement of GOB‘s procurement regulatory system may not meet the needed level of
governance and accountability. These risks are mitigated through several measures. The
program design incorporates expenditure monitoring; external validation exercises, and an
Annual Fiduciary Review. A PFM action plan is being implemented to ensure timely and
reliable financial reports and to enhance monitoring for follow-up of audit observations. The
Bank's own intensive supervision of technical and fiduciary aspects will also mitigate this
risk. On procurement, GoB‘s regulatory system will be strengthened in line with
internationally accepted procedures, and procurement capacity will be enhanced as needed,
including through recruitment of procurement (and financial management) consultants. There
will be transparency in disclosure of procurement activities, mainly through DPE‘s website.
(c) Focus on inputs: The current focus of DPE is on inputs. Given that results-based
interventions are fairly new, it will take some time to change from a culture based on inputs
to focus on outcomes and results. Hence, if adequate emphasis is not placed on monitoring
and evaluating effectiveness of programs/DLIs, the effectiveness of the program is likely to
be reduced. There has been a systemic effort to reduce this risk. Significant dissemination
regarding the change in approach has taken place through the system, and will continue.
MOPME, through DPE, has already initiated a results-based management system which will
be strengthened during PEDPIII. Further, capacity support in strengthening monitoring and
evaluation will be pronounced feature of PEDPIII. Finally, the adoption of DLIs builds an
incentive mechanism into the program design.
VI. Appraisal Summary
A. Economic and Financial Analysis
37. The economic analysis for the prospective PEDPIII presents an assessment of benefits
and costs associated with the program using a ―counterfactual‖ identification approach whereby
PEDPIII “investment” is the estimated additional cost over and above the projected spending for
primary education in the absence of this program. Similarly, the benefits are taken to be those
changes in the quantity, quality and reduction in internal inefficiency of education produced over
the period as a result of PEDPIII. Benefits come from three sources: (i) increased number of
primary school completers who earn higher wages (relative to non-completers); (ii) increased
quality of education resulting in higher wage-premium for all primary school completers; and
16
(iii) decreased wastage of public and private resources as a result of reduced dropout and
repetition. Costs include additional program costs (from GOB and Development Partner sources)
and private costs which comprise direct household outlays as well as opportunity costs. While
GOB has presented to Development Partners a five-year program, IDA will support the first four
years (with a possible additional financing at a later stage). The economic analysis provided here
focuses on the costs and benefits of this first four-year phase.
38. Underlying the analysis is the projection of the 6-year-old cohort population, gross-intake
ratio into grade 1, and repetition and dropout rates (and thus promotion/completion) for each of
primary grades 1-5. Under PEDPIII, dropout and repetition rates are estimated to decline faster
than if there were no PEDPIII. This allows calculation of student-flow numbers with and without
PEDPIII, and thus the difference between the two cases is the impact of the new program on the
completers, repeaters and dropouts. The additional number of primary completers will earn the
wage-premium (wage levels for primary completers and non-completers is estimated from HIES
2005 and then projected to account for inflation for future years). Quality premium (due to
increased skills and relevance through PEDPIII), however, applies to all primary completers. For
this, a conservative two percent of the wage level of the primary completer is assumed. The
benefit stream accruing from life-time earnings for the five cohorts is assumed to continue for 20
years (even though a typical primary completer will earn beyond 20 years, ―discounting‖ will
make the values insignificant beyond this time). Finally, the impact of improved internal
efficiency will reduce the ―number of student years‖ to complete the primary cycle per each
completer. Student-cohort analysis indicates that PEDPIII will save 0.7 student-years per
completer (from 7.4 years to 6.7 in four years), and savings apply to both program/public unit
costs as well as private household expenditure and opportunity costs.
39. Additional program investment is derived from the difference between the proposed
PEDPIII cost estimates and the projected spending on primary education had there been no
PEDPIII (projected using trends from the former PEDPII program spending). For the four-year
period 2011-2014, the ―differential‖ investment is expected to be about US$1.7 billion (in the
range of US$400 million each year). Household outlays and opportunity costs are also accounted
for additional enrollees.
40. Based on a discount rate of 12 percent for the benefit and cost streams described above,
the present discounted value of benefits for the base-case scenario is estimated to be US$2,062
million while the present discounted value of costs is estimated to be US$1,327 million, and
therefore the net present value (NPV) of program benefits is US$735 million. The Internal Rate
of Return (IRR) associated with this NPV is 21 percent. The sensitivity analysis under varying
scenarios for progress in internal efficiency and external efficiency gains indicate that the IRR
ranges from 13 percent to 21 percent. These results suggest that PEDPIII is expected to be a very
sound ―investment‖. In fact these are conservative lower-bound estimates, given that they do not
yet account for externality benefits arising from a healthier, more educated and a more equitable/
inclusive society. Nor has the above analysis assigned additional benefits to those primary level
completers who would have gone on to complete even higher levels of education and receive
―higher‖ wage-premiums.
17
41. The fiscal sustainability of PEDPIII over the medium-term will be dependent on the
budget availability to meet the additional recurrent costs that will result from the program.
Current macroeconomic prospects suggest that fiscal space will be available to accommodate
substantial increases in spending on education. The robust GDP growth witnessed over the past
decade is expected to continue given the country‘s strengths – a vibrant private sector, a large
pool of inexpensive labor, and the emergence of several promising exports sectors. Real GDP
growth is expected to rise over 7 percent by FY 2013, tax revenues to increase by about 2
percent of GDP and Government expenditures to increase from 14.6 percent of GDP in FY10 to
17.6 percent in FY14. These figures indicate that, even with a constant share of the budget spent
on primary education, the Government would be able to absorb a 20 percent increase in real
spending on primary education which would be sufficient to cover the expected additional
recurrent costs resulting from the program.
B. Technical
42. It was agreed that the next phase of Government‘s primary education program would
build on the PEDPII experience, keeping a sector-wide approach but, this time, encompassing
the whole primary sub-sector (not only development but also revenue budget), and with
Government taking the lead for the program. A key technical consideration was to design a
project that would place a greater emphasis on (i) achieving specific key results; and (ii)
providing incentives in the system to facilitate this achievement while giving greater flexibility
to the Government in the choice of inputs to achieve agreed results.
43. The program aims at simultaneously raising school participation and retention, as well as
student learning, through a set of focused interventions. This rests on the well-known
complementarities between both objectives: school quality and attainment. Simply attempting to
expand access could be self-defeating, whereas when coupled with actions which improve
quality, this can yield a bonus in terms of meeting goals for attainment. The choice of DLIs rests
on predictions of links between the selected interventions and the program‘s development
outcomes, which are derived from lessons learned in Bangladesh and other parts of the world as
well as from research. For example, world-wide research has shown that the quality of teachers
is the key to student performance. Thus, interventions (and related DLIs) which attempt to raise
the quality of the teacher training system, ensure a fair recruitment process and the availability of
teachers, as well as the reliability and timeliness of textbooks (particularly critical to learning
outcomes in resource-poor environments), are likely to raise student attendance and learning. It
is also expected that changes in the content of exams, increasingly focused on competencies
(rather than rote learning), will have powerful feedback effects on teaching methods. Similarly,
improving the quality of school infrastructure in underserved areas, providing wider access to
pre-primary education and giving stipends to children from poor households (compensating
families for foregone child labor earnings) are expected to induce parents to send their children
to school and to encourage their regular attendance.
44. The design of interventions supported by the Project also takes into account that
achieving the expected development outcomes, in particular improving school quality, is a
gradual process and a lengthy endeavor. The target levels set for improvement (indicators in
Annex 1) are based on past projections as well as an analysis of improvement in indicators as a
18
result of effective implementation of programs (PEDPII). The analysis relied heavily on the
Household Income and Expenditure Survey, third party evaluation of the M&E system, and
reports from the Annual School Census. In the first years of PEDPIII, there is a greater emphasis
(reflected in the DLIs) on putting into place critical policy related actions and meeting important
implementation milestones to build stronger foundations in key areas of the system including
M&E, and measuring student learning. These steps build incrementally over the life of the
program with the later years of PEDPIII then focusing more toward program outcomes. The shift
of emphasis from inputs to meeting implementation milestones and outcomes, as well as more
use of the country‘s financial systems, is better to address Government‘s own focus on results,
and its desire for program flexibility and more harmonized procedures with and between all
Development Partners.
C. Financial Management
45. The public financial management systems of Bangladesh can meet World Bank
requirements under OP/BP 10.02, and there would be sufficient basis to place reliance on the
country financial management systems for all financial management aspects of PEDP III subject
to satisfactory implementation of the agreed public financial management (PFM) action plan
which is well underway prior to Effectiveness. While the use of country financial management
systems was assessed as a lower fiduciary risk than the use of a parallel financial management
system as under PEDP II, it was recognized that there would be considerable challenges in
shifting from parallel systems to mainstream funds flow through the country systems. Certain
necessary actions were therefore identified to be accomplished prior to the start of project
implementation. Two of these tasks have been completed, i.e. agreement by the Comptroller and
Auditor General (CAG) on the Statement of Audit Needs for annual audit of PEDPIII and
agreement by MOPME on Terms of Reference for the Annual Fiduciary Review. The Controller
General of Accounts confirmed at negotiations that the remaining necessary actions would be
taken by July 2011, ie: (a) the Payment Process Times Compliance report will be generated on a
monthly basis for transactions under the Program; (b) a monthly report on the status of
reconciliation of expenditures between the DDO (Drawing and Disbursement Officers) and their
respective accounting officers will be generated from the Integrated Budgeting and Accounting
System (iBAS) and provided to the MOPME secretary; (c) iBAS will capture the PEDPIII
Component/Sub-Component wise expenditures; and (d) CGA will revise the procedure and
iBAS to enable an appropriate accounting for advances so that advances are not shown as final
expenditures.
46. No separate designated account will be established for the IDA contribution to PEDPIII.
Instead, the Credit proceeds will be disbursed directly to the Consolidated Fund Account (CF) of
the Government of Bangladesh as indicated in the withdrawal applications. The resources to be
transferred at each disbursement cycle will be linked to the Government‘s achieving the DLIs.
The estimated expenditure levels that IDA will finance for each disbursement cycle are set out in
the disbursement schedule (Table A3.1). Availability of funds for PEDPIII activities would be
secured through government approved budget, and payments for the program activities across
the country would be made by the accounts offices on the basis of approval of expenditures by
the DDOs in accordance with Government‘s own internal control procedures. IDA (OP 10.02)
requires that the financial statements for the PBHs be audited annually and provided to it no later
19
than six months after the end of the reporting period. The financial statements of PEDPIII will be
audited by the CAG under the agreed statement of audit needs.
47. While upfront strengthening of government systems under the PFM action plan is critical
for smooth transition to the Government‘s financial system, the PFM capacity building at
sectoral level would primarily be carried out under the Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF) for
SPEMP. In addition, PEDPIII would ensure the timely follow-up of audit observations and
conduct of Annual Fiduciary Review as specific risk-mitigation measures. The Joint Financing
Arrangements will document the requirements in terms of broad financial management
arrangements including PBHs, key internal controls, disbursement, financial reporting, and
auditing.
D. Procurement
48. IDA will finance civil works, goods, non-consulting services and recurrent costs under
the identified PBHs through a SWAp with eight other Development Partners, to co-finance the
implementation of the PEDPIII of Government. It is estimated that approximately 20 percent of
the overall expenditures for PEDPIII will be for procurable. The majority of procurement will
comprise small value contracts (constituting 80 percent of total procurement expenditure of
US$1.6 billion), for which essentially only local bidders will compete. These contracts would be
jointly financed by the Development Partners, and procured – in accordance with the
requirements set forth or referred to in Section 1 of IDA‘s Guidelines Procurement under IBRD
Loans and IDA Credits, Published May 2004 as revised in October 2006 and May 2010 –
through National Competitive Bidding methods of the GOB Procurement Rules 2008 (as
amended in August 2009) and the GOB Public Procurement Act (1st Amendment 2009) with six
modifications as required by IDA (see Annex 3) and deemed acceptable by ADB and the other
Development partners, subject also to proposed waivers (see following paragraph). Goods and
civil works procured through International Competitive Bidding (ICB) method would be
financed by IDA, other Development Partners (except ADB) and GoB, following IDA‘s
Guidelines. The IDA Credit will not finance expenditures against Consultant Services since the
selection of consultant services will follow the Asian Development Bank‘s Guidelines on the
Use of Consultants by the Asian Development Bank and its Borrowers (April 2010, as amended
from time to time).
49. In the context of NCB contracts for civil works, goods, and non-consulting services
jointly financed by IDA and the Development Partners, including ADB, Section 1 of IDA‘s
Guidelines will apply, with the six modifications, and subject to approval of waivers with the
objective of harmonization between the procurement and anti-corruption guidelines of IDA and
ADB. A waiver is being requested from the World Bank Board to extend IDA‘s rights under
paragraph 1.8(d) of the IDA Guidelines to provide additionally for the ineligibility of firms and
individuals debarred by ADB. ADB management intends to obtain a waiver to open up eligibility
to individuals and firms from all World Bank member countries.
50. All eligible procurement will be carried out by the implementing agencies (IAs):
Directorate of Primary Education (DPE), Local Government Engineering Department (LGED),
National Academy of Primary Education (NAPE), and the National Curriculum and Textbook
20
Board (NCTB) (hereinafter referred to as ―implementing Agencies,‖ IAs). The procurement
assessment conducted during program preparation verified that, through experience gained in the
execution of IDA funded projects, the IAs have developed reasonable procurement capacity to
carry out the procurement activities of the primary education budget. Various audit reports
during the initial years of PEDPII showed substantial deviations, for which there were a few
incidents of misprocurement. These concerns were subsequently mitigated by implementing a
Risk Mitigation System (RMS). For PEDPIII, risk mitigation and monitoring measures are also
being incorporated for procurement managed by the IAs (see Annex 3). To enhance their
procurement capacity and safeguard against risks of fraud and corruption, the Borrower will
implement a Procurement Risk Mitigation Plan (PRMP) that calls for monitoring procurement
performance against key indicators and submitting quarterly reports to IDA. The key indicators
include: timeliness of bid evaluation and contract award, strengthening complaint handling
mechanisms, and disclosure of contract award information. In addition, a needs-based technical
assistance strategy is being developed (see Annex 5) and will be updated during Project
implementation to ensure adequate support. The Governance and Accountability Action Plan
(GAAP), developed in conjunction with this PAD, further incorporates relevant actions
(highlighted in Annex 4: ORAF) to mitigate fraud and corruption risks.
51. The Project design mandates that Government‘s annual procurement plan for PEDPIII
shall be the Project‘s procurement plan. The first Procurement plan, which DPE has prepared for
12 months covering FY 2011-2012, was reviewed at Project negotiations and will be part of the
Annual Operational Plan for the primary education sub-sector.
E. Social (including Safeguards)
52. One of the principal concerns in preparing PEDPIII has been to identify more effective
means of reducing disparities in access to quality schooling. The PEDPIII aims to achieve this
through a particular focus on children of the most marginalized groups who remain out of formal
schooling. The actions will include, inter alia, the stipend program, criteria guiding
implementation of the needs-based infrastructure program, and reinforcement of decentralized
planning and management through support to SMCs and the Upazila education offices. For
culturally appropriate provision of benefits to Indigenous Peoples, the Indigenous Peoples Plan
for Expanding Education of Tribal Children (July 14, 2003), developed for PEDPII and publicly
disclosed, is also the instrument being used for PEDPIII. This and a specific Gender Action Plan
have been endorsed by all the Development Partners participating in the PEDPIII SWAp. To
ensure targets are achieved, the EMIS will closely monitor disparities in enrollments, learning
achievement, and primary school completion across diverse social groups. The DLIs as well as
the implementation support to be provided by the Development Partners systematically focus on
strengthening the use of EMIS for planning and management.
53. The Environmental Management Framework (EMF) and Social Management Framework
(SMF) have been developed through extensive consultation with stakeholders, and specifically
with indigenous peoples‘ groups. Both EMF and SMF provide for participatory approach,
community accountability, and grievance mechanisms. The documents conform to World Bank
safeguard policies and apply to the entire SWAp.
21
54. The process of preparing the PEDPIII has included all stakeholders e.g. teachers and
head-teachers, community leaders and parents, madrasha representatives, non-formal education
representatives, and nongovernmental organizations. These groups have been active in
consultation workshops, translating needs into program design, articulating implementation
challenges, and identifying how to build upon achievements of PEDPII.
55. Social Safeguards: As a function of the needs-based criteria for the PEDPIII
infrastructure program, expansion and renovation of existing schools, where required, will
involve construction of additional classrooms, provision of separate toilets for girls and boys,
safe drinking water supply, and repair/renovation of the buildings for overall improvement of the
learning environment. Construction of additional classrooms and toilets will be carried out on the
existing school premises. Most of these schools are likely to be located in the relatively densely
population areas. New building construction is mostly foreseen for the disaster-prone coastal
regions. The new schools in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), which have the largest
concentration of the country‘s indigenous population, will have dormitories to offset travel
difficulties and risks encountered by children from highly dispersed settlements. The new
schools will be built on khas and other public lands (including those owned by MOPME) which
are free of private users including squatters; lands would be transferred from one government
agency to the other. Where public lands are not available, they will be sought on voluntary
private donation by local individuals and communities. Beyond these possible options, DPE has
also decided that, unlike the case for PEDPII, it will not rule out the remote possibility of land
acquisition during PEDPIII as it steps up efforts to assure physical facilities are available for full
enrolment of all school-aged children. Hence, OP 4.12 on Involuntary Resettlement has been
triggered. With its program in the CHT, PEDPII triggered OP 4.10 on Indigenous Peoples, and
this will remain applicable under PEDPIII.
56. Consistent with the World Bank‘s OP 4.10, OP 4.12 and the safeguards requirements of
the other Development Partners, DPE prepared a Social Management Framework (SMF) that
was publicly disclosed before appraisal. DPE carried out consultations with indigenous peoples‘
groups whose views and recommendations were incorporated into the SMF.
57. The SMF sets out the principles, policies, guidelines and procedures to prepare the
Indigenous Peoples Plans (IPPs) and Resettlement Plans (RPs) as and when required for the
individual schools in the event that physical works are identified to cause any adverse impacts on
indigenous peoples, private landowners, or public land users. Regarding OP 4.12, it has been
assessed as highly unlikely that there will be any potential squatters displaced, but the SMF has
been prepared keeping the option of land acquisition as a last resort for procuring required lands;
Annex 3 provides additional detail. As executing agency, DPE will be responsible for
supervision, monitoring and evaluation of compliance with the SMF. A Social specialist with
expertise in resettlement, indigenous peoples, and gender issues will be appointed by DPE.
District and Upazila offices will perform all process tasks specified in the SMF; the District
Education Officers will report to DPE, which will monitor and report on the entire Project.
Jointly with DPE, the World Bank and the other Development Partners will evaluate the year‘s
compliance with the social and environmental safeguards (e.g. during the Joint Annual Review).
Post reviews of RPs and IPPs on a sample basis are further envisaged to ensure safeguards
compliance.
22
F. Environment (including Safeguards)
58. The PEDPIII infrastructure program, to be implemented throughout Bangladesh, does not
envisage any large scale, significant or irreversible environmental impact since the interventions
foreseen are all relatively small scale. The program was reviewed during preparation and
designated as environmental Category B which is appropriate and consistent with the provisions
of OP/BP 4.01. The program requires partial environmental assessment of ―subprojects‖ before
their implementation.
59. PEDPIII will support mainly four types of subprojects: (i) maintenance and minor
renovation of buildings; (ii) expansion or major renovation of existing classrooms/buildings; (iii)
new building construction; and (iv) provision of water supply and sanitation facilities. Particular
attention will be placed on infrastructure in vulnerable geographic locations, e.g. coastal areas,
hilly areas, and floodplains. Many of the schools are likely to be in the disaster-prone coastal
regions where they will also serve as shelters during cyclone and natural calamities. The
Environmental Management Framework (EMF) prepared and publicly disclosed by DPE before
appraisal is the framework on which they will prepare Environmental Management Plans
comprising the mitigating measures, where required, to eliminate adverse environmental impacts
or reduce them to acceptable limits.
60. Following the practice as in PEDPII, DPE will delegate implementation of the
infrastructure program for PEDPIII to the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED).
The LGED has reinforced its Environmental Unit with a head engineer. This Unit will also have
a full time Environmental Specialist responsible for supervising (including ensuring program
activities do not infringe upon natural ecosystems during the design stage) and reporting on
compliance with the EMF. DPE will sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the Department
of Public Health Engineering for annual arsenic testing of tube-wells and data analysis.
23
Annex 1: Results Framework and Monitoring
BANGLADESH
Third Primary Education Development Program (PEDPIII)
Results Framework
Project Development Objective (PDO): (i) increase participation and reduce social disparities in primary education, (ii) increase the number of children completing primary education and
improve the quality of the learning environment and measurement of student learning, and (iii) improve effectiveness of resource use for primary education.
PDO Level Results
Indicators* Co
re
Unit of Measure Baseline
Cumulative Target Values**
Frequency Data Source/
Methodology
Responsibility
for Data
Collection
Description
(indicator definition
etc.) 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15
Indicator One:
Increase in the number
of children enrolled in
primary education
Net enrollment
rate by gender
84.7% (overall)
(HIES, 2010)
93.9% (overall)
89.1% (boys)
99.1% (girls)
(ASC,2009)
98%(overall)
97%(boys)
100%(girls)
Every 3
years
(HIES)
Annual
(ASC)
HIES (2010),
EHS
(2012/13),
HIES (2015)
ASC (2009)
BBS, DPE Proportion of
children aged 6-10
enrolled in primary
education
Indicator Two:
Primary cycle
Completion Rate (PCR)
%, disaggregated
by gender
52.2%(boys)
57.5%(girls)
(2009)
58% (boys)
63% (girls)
59% (boys)
64%(girls)
60% (boys)
65% (girls)
62%
(boys)67%
(girls)
Annual ASC DPE Primary cycle
completion rate
(PCR) as % of
cohort; gender parity
index
Indicator Three:
Decreased disparity in
access to schooling
measured by family
income levels X
NER of 20%
poorest relative to
NER 20% richest
NER of 20%
poorest:
58%
NER of 20%
richest: 80%
(2005)
Ratio: .72
NER of 20%
poorest:
66%
NER of 20%
richest: 85%
Ratio:.77
Every 3
years
HIES
(2010)EHS
2012/13, HIES
(2015) MICS,
WFP Poverty
Profiles
BBS, DPE Decrease in disparity
in NER by: poor/non-
poor; and compared
to national average
NER
Indicator Four:
Learning levels
regularly monitored
through learning
assessment system
X
Frequency and
quality of
assessment of
learning of
primary
education
completers
(Grade 5
completion
exam)
Grade 5
completion
exam
implemented
for first time in
2009 to all
students:
testing memory
more than
ability to use
subject
knowledge
a 5-yr Action
plan for
quality
improvement
in Grade 5
completion
exam
developed and
adopted with
new test items
piloted
2011 Grade 5
completion
exam based
on pilot
results
2012 Grade 5
completion
exam with at
least 10%
competency
based test
items
2013
Grade 5
completion
exam with
at least 25%
competency
based test
items
Annual
a) Exam and
assessment
result
databases;
b) test items
DPE, NAPE a) Quality defined as
competency-based
exam items
b) Grade 5 is the last
grade of primary
schooling
24
PDO Level Results
Indicators* Co
re
Unit of Measure Baseline
Cumulative Target Values**
Frequency Data Source/
Methodology
Responsibility
for Data
Collection
Description
(indicator definition
etc.) 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15
Indicator Five:
Expanded coverage of
decentralized planning
and management at
school levels
Proportion of
schools
preparing
SLIPs &
receiving funds
27% (2010) Guidelines
revised
50% 60% 75%
Annual
budget
reporting
Budget reports DPE
Director of
Finance
INTERMEDIATE RESULTS
Intermediate Result 1: Improved quality of the learning environment
Intermediate Result
indicator One:
Adequate learning
resources
X
% schools
receiving
textbooks
within first
month of
academic year
32.7% (2010) 75% 80% 85% 90%
Annual Reports based
on receipts
signed in the
field.
Monitoring to
be gradually
improved
DPE, NCTB % of schools
following NCTB
curriculum having
received Grades 1 to
V textbooks
The types of schools
receiving free
textbooks is
increasing from 4 to
6 types compared to
baseline
Intermediate Result
indicator Two:
Classroom environment
more conducive to
learning
Share of
schools that
met minimum
quality
levels—PSQL
(%)
17% (2009) 18% 25% 35% 50% Annual ASC DPE PSQL (Primary School
Quality Level Package
of minimum standards
measuring physical,
teaching/learning
environment e.g. PTR,
student classroom
ratio, access to safe
water, available toilets
for girls.
Indicator measures the
proportion of schools
that meet at least 3 out
the 4 standards
Intermediate Result
Indicator Three: % of
qualified primary
teachers
X
% teachers
who have C-in-
Ed : 85%
% teachers
who have Dip-
in-Ed: 0%
(2010)
% teachers
who have C-
in-Ed: 86 %
% teachers
who have
Dip-in-Ed
0%
% teachers
who have C-
in-Ed: 87%
% teachers
who have
Dip-in-Ed
0%
%teachers
who have
C-in-Ed:
88%
% teachers
who have
Dip-in-Ed:
2%
% teachers
who have C-
in-Ed: 88%
% teachers
who have
Dip-in-Ed:
6%
C-in-Ed and
Dip-in-Ed
databases
(information
from PTIs
consolidated at
DPE level)
% teachers in GPS and
RNGPS
25
PDO Level Results
Indicators* Co
re
Unit of Measure Baseline
Cumulative Target Values**
Frequency Data Source/
Methodology
Responsibility
for Data
Collection
Description
(indicator definition
etc.) 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15
Intermediate Result 2: Improved infrastructure and financial support provided to the disadvantaged
Intermediate Result
indicator One:
Providing financial
support to
disadvantaged students
% of
beneficiaries
belonging to
40 % poorest
households
Program not
well
targeted:52.5%
of beneficiaries
belong to 40%
poorest
households
(2005)
65% 75% Twice
during
PEDPIII
lifetime
2010 HIES
2011 study
2012 EHS
BBS, DPE Monitors impact of
change in targeting
modalities for the
stipends by
measuring (increase
in) proportion of
beneficiaries
belonging to the
poorest households
Intermediate Result
indicator Two:
Adequate infrastructure
and facilities
X
Number of
classrooms built
or rehabilitated
(from prioritized
list) according to
agreed
construction
standards
including
adequate
sanitary
facilities.
32,000 new
classrooms
required to
reduce
overcrowding
3,200 9,600 17,600 Annual LGED data
LGED Prioritized classroom
is defined in DPE-
approved list.
Stipulated design and
quality standards are
approved and
supervised by LGED.
Intermediate Result 3: Improved program planning and management, and strengthened institutions
Intermediate Result
indicator One:
Strengthening Upazilas
for supporting school
management
Proportion of
Upazilas having
prepared UPEPs
and receiving
funds
Revision of
guidelines for
UPEPs under
preparation to
include
identification
of block grants
Revised
guidelines
issued
10%
25%
Annual
budget
reporting
Budget reports DPE
Director of
Finance
Intermediate Result
indicator Two: M&E
systems strengthened to
improve monitoring and
data utilization for
program performance
and planning
a)Number of
months for census
administration and
dissemination
b)Increased
coverage of ASC
(types of schools)
12
4
11
4
10
4
9
6
8
6
ASC DPE Increased coverage of
ASC defined as types
of schools providing
data
*Please indicate whether the indicator is a Core Sector Indicator (see further http://coreindicators)
**Target values should be entered for the years data will be available, not necessarily annually.
26
Disbursement Linked Indicators (DLIs)
I – Improving Quality of the Learning Environment and Measurement of Student Learning DLI Baseline Year 0
(May-June 2011)
Year 1 (April/May
2012)
Year 2 (April/May
2013)
Year 3
(April/May 2014)
Protocol
1. Textbooks/
Curriculum:
Improving the
timeliness of
textbook
distribution and
quality of
textbook content
Textbook
distribution to
schools spread
over several
months
Textbook content
still based on
current
curriculum
At least 75% of all
eligible schools
receive all approved
textbooks (Grades 1 to
5) within one month of
school opening day
At least 80% of all
eligible schools
receive all approved
textbooks (Grades 1 to
5) within one month of
school opening day
Third party validation
of monitoring
mechanism completed
At least 85% of all
eligible schools
receive all approved
textbooks (Grades 1 to
5) within one month of
school opening day
Monitoring system of
textbook distribution
improved with actions
agreed by MOPME
and MOE based on
validation results
At least Grade 1
textbook revised,
based on new
competency-based
curriculum developed
by NCTB
At least 90% of all
eligible schools
receive all approved
textbooks (incl.
revised Grade 1
textbook) within one
month of school
opening day
Definition: Grades 1 to 5 textbooks approved by NCTB
are to be made available to all eligible schools (through
the UEOs) and delivered to all schools under the
purview of MOPME and MOE. Eligible schools are all
those mentioned in the Book distribution guidelines and
following NCTB curriculum.
Source: DPE‘s Administration Division‘s reconciled
reports based on receipts signed by head masters and
compiled by UEOs and DPEOs, and (ii) reports of
textbooks delivery at Upazila levels submitted by
NCTB; third party validation reports.
2. Teacher
Education and
Development
(TED) :
Improving
teacher training
effectiveness and
teacher quality
Low standards
and competencies
guiding teacher
training (in-
service)
Comprehensive TED
plan prepared and
adopted by MOPME
All preparatory steps
for introduction of
Dip-in-Ed completed
in accordance with the
Plan
Dip-in-Ed diploma
piloted in at least 7
PTIs with number of
instructors according
to the Plan
Dip-in-Ed diploma
rolled out in 57 PTIs
with number of
instructors according
to the Plan
Definition: The plan and strategy for primary teacher
education and development (TED plan) defines the
professional standards/competencies of teachers, head
teachers and AUEOs and the strategy for improving
pre-service (with the introduction of a new Dip-in-
Ed), in-service (CPD), teacher supervision,
networking and mentoring.
Preparatory steps for introduction of the Dip-
in- Ed include sufficient instructors in each
PTI, curriculum, training materials &
assessment tools development, and training of
instructors as specified in the TED plan.
Source: TED plan as approved by MOPME
Secretary; reports from training division and
NAPE, curriculum and training materials and
administrative data.
27
DLI Baseline Year 0
(May-June 2011)
Year 1 (April/May
2012)
Year 2 (April/May
2013)
Year 3
(April/May 2014)
Protocol
3. Grade 5
Completion
Exam:
Improving the
quality of primary
completion exam
and the regular
measurement of
learning
Grade 5
completion exam
implemented for
all primary school
students in 2009.
Content focused
on testing
students‘ memory
more than ability
to use subject
knowledge
A 5 -year Action plan
for improvements in
Grade 5 Completion
Exam developed by
NAPE and approved
by MOPME and
including revising test
items to gradually
transform exam into
competency-based test
New test items
developed by NAPE
on selected
competencies and
piloted with
accompanying
guidelines for pilot test
administration and
training of test
administrators
Revised 2011 Grade 5
Completion Exam,
based on action plan
and pilot results
implemented, incl.
guidelines developed
for markers and
training of markers
Analysis of 2011
Grade 5 completion
exam results and
content completed by
DPE and NAPE and
results disseminated
Action plan
implemented with at
least 10% of items
competency-based
introduced in the 2012
Grade 5 exam and an
additional 15% of
competency-based
items piloted
Analysis of 2012
Grade 5 completion
exam results and
content completed by
DPE and NAPE and
results disseminated
Action plan
implemented with at
least 25% of items
competency-based
introduced in the 2013
grade 5 exam and an
additional 25% of
competency-based
items piloted
Analysis of 2013
Grade 5 completion
exam results and
content completed by
DPE and NAPE and
results disseminated
Definition: The Grade 5 Action Plan specifies the
number of new competency-based items to be
introduced each year, with the aim of achieving a fully
competency-based exam by end- 2016.
Analysis of results includes: (i) analysis of pass rates
by gender, subjects, Upazilas conducted by DPE; and
(ii) analysis of NAPE of marking and scoring of a
sample of answered scripts in selected Upazilas.
Source: Action plan as approved by DG, NAPE and
MOPME; sample of test items and questionnaire of
grade 5 exam; test analysis reports by DPE and
NAPE.
4. Teacher and
Head Teacher
recruitment:
Ensuring quality
of new teachers
hired
Approximately,
5,000 to 6,000
vacancies to be
filled every year.
In addition, new
positions needed
to reduce
classroom
overcrowding.
Teacher
recruitment
procedures in
place are
competitive and
merit-based
Assessment of yearly
needs for new teachers
and head teachers
based on verification
of current teaching
force, and on needs-
based infrastructure
development plan
completed and
approved by MOPME
All teachers and head
teachers‘ positions
(regular vacancies and
newly created
positions) filled
according to merit-
based recruitment
procedures and on
needs basis.
And at least 90% of
new teachers and head
teachers positions to
be created for current
year in accordance
with needs assessment
filled.
Revised final proposal
for career paths for
teachers and head
teachers, career paths,
All teachers and head
teachers‘ positions
(regular vacancies and
newly created
positions) filled
according to merit-
based recruitment
procedures and on
needs basis.
And at least 90% of
new teachers and head
teachers positions to
be created for current
year in accordance
with needs assessment
filled.
All teachers and head
teachers‘ positions
(regular vacancies and
newly created
positions) filled
according to merit-
based recruitment
procedures and on
needs basis.
And at least 90% of
new teachers and head
teachers positions to
be created for current
year in accordance
with needs assessment
filled.
Recruitment rules with
career paths for
teachers and head
teachers; career paths,
Definition: Needs-based analysis (conducted by DPE)
require a detailed review of EMIS and teacher database
to identify schools below minimum standards for STR
(1:56) followed by site verification by UEOs and
AUEOs.
The competitive, merit-based teacher recruitment rules
currently in place would be applied to all recruitment.
They include: (i) applications screened by committee
(or on-line): (ii) anonymous exam; (iii) weight given to
exam (80), academic record (5) and viva voce (15).
Source: Needs-based analysis of new teacher
positions approved by MOPME; administrative data,
sample of exams, implementation plans and schedules
for recruitment cycles; career paths, recruitment and
promotion rules for teachers, head teachers and DPE
officers as approved by Government of Bangladesh
through a Government order issued by the Ministry of
Public Administration (status of approval process to
be communicated annually).
28
DLI Baseline Year 0
(May-June 2011)
Year 1 (April/May
2012)
Year 2 (April/May
2013)
Year 3
(April/May 2014)
Protocol
recruitment and
promotion rules for
DPE officers (field
and headquarters)
submitted by MOPME
to the committee of the
Joint Secretary,
Regulations, Ministry
of Public
Administration
recruitment and
promotion rules for
DPE officers field and
headquarters)
approved by
Government of
Bangladesh
II – Increasing Participation and Reducing Social Disparities
Sub-Program Baseline Year 0 (May-June
2011)
Year 1 (April/May
2012)
Year 2 (April/May
2013)
Year 3 (April/May
2014)
Protocol
5. Pre-Primary:
Strengthening
children‘s
readiness for
learning
About 1.4 million
children entering
Grade1 with some
PPE prior
experience
PPE provision in
43% of GPS
mostly through
non-government
providers
Guidelines prepared
and endorsed by
MOPME on the role of
NGOs in pre-primary
education.
Integrated database
of PPE provision by
type of provider
completed
Plan for PPE
expansion approved
by MOPME
At least 15,000 PPE
teachers placed and
trained in areas of
greatest need
Curriculum,
standards and
materials for PPE and
teacher training
approved by
MOPME
At least 60% of PPE
teachers in GPS trained
in using new pre-
primary curriculum and
materials
PPE provision in at
least 75% of GPS
schools
Definition: 1 year PPE program organized for children
aged 5.
Guidelines define the role of NGOs in the delivery of
PPE and specify the types of partnerships that can
exist with the Government, in particular, in setting up
new school-based PPE, training and coaching
teachers, preparing materials, and providing services
if required in the catchment area.
The integrated database of providers would include
the location of services and, combined with the child
survey data, would provide a map of areas of greatest
need for PPE.
The expansion plan, based on needs identified through
the database, standards for PPE and the role of
NGOs/private sector, defines the pace of recruitment
and training, the type and duration of training, timing
of classes, and expansion pace.
PPE teachers will be recruited through a transparent
process; they can be regular primary teachers, or
contract teachers hired by schools with n the local
communities.
Source: Letter of endorsement of guidelines by
MOPME; provider database, expansion plan approved
by MOPME; curriculum, standards and materials,
ASC, CAMPE reports and administrative data.
29
Sub-Program Baseline Year 0 (May-June
2011)
Year 1 (April/May
2012)
Year 2 (April/May
2013)
Year 3 (April/May
2014)
Protocol
6. Infrastructure
Reducing
classroom
overcrowding and
improving school
environment
53% of GPS, 49%
of RNGPS and
31% of community
schools
overcrowded
Need for about
32,000 new
classrooms,
120,000 new
toilets for teachers
and students,
repair of about
18,000 existing
ones, drinking
water supply.
Infrastructure needs
assessment completed
and 5 –year plan for
prioritized needs-based
infrastructure finalized
and approved by
MOPME
At least 10% of
planned needs-based
infrastructure
development
completed according
to agreed criteria and
technical standards
At least 30% of
planned needs-based
infrastructure
development
completed according
to agreed criteria and
technical standard
Third party validation
of compliance of
infrastructure
development with
criteria and technical
standards
At least 55% of planned
needs-based
infrastructure
development completed
according to agreed
criteria and technical
standards
Third party validation
of compliance of
infrastructure
development with
criteria and technical
standards completed
Definition: The plan for prioritized needs-based
infrastructure specifies criteria and standards used for
estimates of needs. Based on these criteria, the plan
provides estimates of needs to be covered over 5 years
for: (i) additional classrooms and teachers rooms:
(ii)additional toilets, urinals for students and teachers;
(iii) repair of existing toilets; (iv) drinking water; (v)
school maintenance and repair.
Building specifications and technical standards are those
designed and approved by LGED.
Source: Needs-based infrastructure plan approved by
MOPME Secretary; construction contracts; construction
supervision reports by LGED engineers; third party
supervision reports.
III – Improving Program Planning and Management, and Strengthening Institutions Sub-Program Baseline Year 0 (March
2011)
Year 1 (April/May
2012)
Year 2 (April/May
2013)
Year 3 (April/May
2014)
Protocol
7.School
governance:
Strengthening
SMC‘s and
Upazilas for
supporting school
management
Limited
involvement of
SMCs in school
management and
improvement
Low capacity of
Upazila offices to
provide support to
schools
Circular/ Guidelines
for SLIPs revised,
(including
monitoring
arrangements),
approved by
MOPME and
distributed to all
schools
SMC guidelines ( in
accordance with SLIP
guidelines) revised and
approved by MOPME
50% of schools having
prepared SLIPs and
received funds
according to the SMC
guidelines
Revised guidelines for
UPEPs, including
identification of
expenditures for block
grants, approved by
MOPME and
distributed to all
Upazilas
At least 60% of schools
having prepared SLIPs
and received funds
according to SMC
guidelines(1) XX% of
schools having received
guidelines and prepared
SLIPs
At least 10% of
Upazilas having
prepared UPEPs and
received funds
according to UPEP
guidelines.
At least 75% of schools
having prepared SLIPs
and received funds
according to SMC
guidelines validated by
expenditure tracking
survey (at least 25% of
Upazilas having
received funds based on
UPEPS guidelines and
validated by
expenditure tracking
survey
Definition: A SLIP is a school level improvement
plan prepared by the SMC, and the school
community.
A UPEP is a planning instrument setting out ways to
support schools and the quality agenda.
Revised guidelines for SLIPs/UPEPs specify how
improvement plans should be prepared, what are
expenditures eligible for block grants as well as the
fund flow mechanism, tracking and training. They
will allow for differential support to schools.
SMC guidelines specify membership, roles and
responsibilities of SMC members (including
fiduciary).
Source: SLIPs, UPEPs, and SMCs guidelines as
approved by MOPME; MOF‘s approval of advances
to schools; administrative data; sample analysis of
SLIPs and UPEPs.
30
Sub-Program Baseline Year 0 (March
2011)
Year 1 (April/May
2012)
Year 2 (April/May
2013)
Year 3 (April/May
2014)
Protocol
8. Education
sector financing:
Ensuring
adequate
financing of
primary
education
program and
improving
medium-term
budgeting
Links between
budgetary process
and medium-term
education sector
strategy still weak
Low level of
public financing of
primary education
FY11 Primary
education program
approved with
financing levels
consistent with
agreed program
results framework
and FY11-16
MTBF
FY12 Primary
education program
approved with financing
levels consistent with
agreed program results
framework and FY12-
17 MTBF
Actual primary
education expenditures
in FY11 within 15%
deviation of the
originally approved
budget
FY13 Primary
education program
approved with financing
levels consistent with
agreed program results
framework and FY13-
18 MTBF
Actual primary
education expenditures
in FY12 within 15%
deviation of the
originally approved
budget
.
FY14 Primary
education program
approved with financing
levels consistent with
agreed program results
framework and FY14-
19 MTBF
Actual primary
education expenditures
in FY13 within 15%
deviation of the
originally approved
budget
Definition: Subsector financing has to be adequate to
implement GoB‘s PEDPIII and cannot be less than
1.03% of GDP in any period.
Source: budget circulars 1 & 2, Detailed budget
framework and expenditure forecast. Financial
reports. Draft budget (May), expenditure statement
until April/May, approved budget (July); simplified
AOP and IFR (June).
9. M&E:
Improving the
quality of the
Annual School
Census (ASC)
data and the
effectiveness of
the M&E unit
M&E and EMIS
insufficiently
staffed
IT support
functions
preventing
adequate and
timely data
analysis and
effective M&E
Census data
covering only 4
types of primary
schools
ASC questionnaire
and software
adjusted to meet
PEDPIII
requirements
New ASC questionnaire
fully implemented in
2012 census.
Plan developed and
approved by DPE for
expanding coverage of
monitoring system (to
all primary schools)
with periodic
validations
IT function separated
from EMIS function;
EMIS and M&E staffed
with at least 2
statisticians each
2013 Census
administration, report
preparation and
dissemination complete
within the academic
year ; expanding
coverage to at least 6
types of schools
Internal data validation
mechanisms in place
and validation of data
accuracy completed
2014 Census
administration, report
preparation and
dissemination complete
within the academic
year ; covering at least
6 types s of primary
schools
Third party validation
of census data
completed
Definition: the current census questionnaire collects
information on enrollment, repetition, teachers
qualification and training, physical infrastructure,
furniture and availability of teaching-learning
materials. To adjust to PEDPIII needs, new
information is required on pre-primary education,
textbook distribution and stipend beneficiaries.
Internal data validation mechanisms include
background checks during data entry and data
cleaning rules.
Source: EMIS, M&E units
31
Annex 2: Detailed Program Description
I. Project development objectives
1. The Project development objectives (PDO) are to (i) increase participation and reduce
social disparities in primary education, (ii) increase the number of children completing primary
education and improve the quality of the learning environment and measurement of student
learning, and (iii) improve effectiveness of resource use for primary education. The main basis
for these objectives is the National Education Policy (2010) for which PEDPIII implements the
first phase with respect to pre-primary and primary education. PEDPIII also aims more broadly,
to improve public finance management and effectiveness of public expenditures and service
delivery in the primary education sector. PEDPIII interventions are integrated within the GOB
organizational and operational systems. All programs and activities supported by the
Development Partners in the SWAp are coordinated within this framework.
2. The precursor, sector-wide program (PEDPII) jointly financed by the Bank and ten
Development Partners was implemented through a mix of pooled and parallel funding. The
operation was managed by a dedicated unit within DPE. Results show positive trends, as
described earlier in this PAD, but there is also the recognition that marked disparities still need to
be bridged in participation rates of children from different socio-cultural groups. Learning
outcomes and primary cycle completion must improve substantially across the system.
Management at all levels needs to overcome various capacity limitations, and the regulatory
framework for working across the primary education sector with all providers – government,
non-government, private – is only in early stages of development. PEDPIII is intended to build
on the momentum generated by its precursor in areas of access, quality, and effectiveness – but
with a distinctly concerted emphasis on accountability. The focus is on the use – rather than
simply the supply – of inputs to achieve expected results.
3. The Government and Development Partners have agreed on a set of Key Performance
Indicators (KPIs) which cover the entire scope of the primary sector, to assess performance and
results on an annual basis. The Project incorporates a selected number of these KPIs into the
PDO level Results Indicators of Annex 1 (net enrollment rate, decreased disparity in access to
schooling, and learning levels regularly monitored). Additional KPIs are incorporated into the
Intermediate Results Indicators (Annex 1) and the DLI matrix (e.g. DLIs on textbooks, physical
infrastructure, strengthening of M&E systems). Annex 2 presents a detailed description of
PEDPIII program interventions grouped by the three thrust areas of the DLIs. By way of
introduction, Figure A2.1 explains the results chain in terms of how it is expected that
achievement of the DLI actions, as well as other activities supported by PEDPIII, will contribute
to development outcomes described in the PDO. For example, the four DLIs in the thrust area
―Improving quality of the learning environment and measurement of student learning‖
(textbooks, Dip-in-Ed, Grade 5 exam, and teacher recruitment per merit and quality criteria)
track upward to directly corresponding targets in the first category of Intermediate Results
Indicators (IR1: Improved quality of learning environment) and, further, to the PDO level
indicators (including completion rate, as this is expected to rise as a function of improving
quality of the learning environment). Additional program areas in PEDPIII which amplify the
effects of the DLI actions are shown in the last row of Figure A2.1.
32
Figure A2.1 Results Chain – Linkages between PDO, Intermediate Results and DLIs
PDO
statement
Increase participation and reduce social
disparities in primary education
Increase the number of children completing primary
education and improve the quality of the learning
environment & measurement of student learning
Improve effectiveness of resource use for
primary education
PDO level
indicators-
Results
Framework
Net enrollment by gender
NER ratio of 20% poorest to 20% richest
Completion rate to grade 5 (end of
primary education)
Frequency and quality of assessment
of learning
Increasing use of results based
framework measured by %
schools preparing results-based
SLIPs & receiving funds
Intermediate
Results (IR)
IR 2: Improved infrastructure and financial
support provided to the disadvantaged
Financial support provided to disadvantaged
(stipends targeted to higher proportion of
children in poorest geographical areas)
Number classrooms built/rehabilitated
(―needs-based‖ – for which there are targets
regarding access for disadvantaged groups)
IR 1: Improved quality of learning
environment
Schools receiving textbooks
Classroom environment conducive to
learning (PSQL)
% qualified teachers
IR3: Improved program planning &
management, and strengthened
institutions
% of Upazilas having prepared UPEPS
Improving quality, timeliness &
coverage of ASC
DLIs
Increasing participation & reducing
social disparities PPE: expansion in areas of greatest need
Infrastructure : % needs-based plan completed
and implemented
Improving quality of learning environment &
measurement of student learning
Schools receiving textbooks on time and
better quality textbooks
Dip-in-Ed (improving teacher training and
effectiveness)
Improving quality Grade 5 exam & regular
assessment of learning
Ensuring quality new teachers hired and
adequate number of teachers: % recruitment
per the conditions specified in DLI
Improving Program Planning &
Management, Strengthening Institutions
% schools preparing SLIPs/receiving
funds
Ensuring adequate sector financing and
stronger links between budgetary process
and results framework
Improving timeliness & quality of ASC;
improving effectiveness of the M&E
Unit
Additional
Program
areas for
PEDPIII
Communication and social mobilization
campaigns
School health and nutrition programs
Second chance and inclusive education
programs for disadvantaged and dropouts
School and classroom-based assessment
National Assessment
Active learning methods and Teacher support
ICT in education
Human Resource Development through
needs and merit-based approach
33
II. Program Description
Financing of the GOB Third Primary Education Development Program (PEDPIII)
Total: US$5800 million; IDA: US$300 million
A. Sector Wide Approach (SWAp)
4. The proposed Project finances civil works, goods, non-consulting services and recurrent
costs through a Sector Wide approach (SWAp) with eight other Development Partners, to co-
finance with the Government of Bangladesh the implementation of the GOB‘s Third Primary
Education Program. The Project finances both recurrent and development expenditures to
support the carrying out of interventions for improving the measurement of student learning and
the quality of the learning environment; increasing participation and reducing social and regional
disparities in primary education; and improving program planning and management, and
strengthening institutions. The Government has a results framework for PEDPIII with expected
results in the areas of quality, access, equity, and effectiveness. The scope of interventions and
resource requirements will vary across Districts and sub-Districts, and also from year to year, so
the Project is unlike a traditional investment credit with predefined components. The Project
would induce greater incentives in the system to facilitate achievement, while affording the
Government greater flexibility in the choice of inputs to reach the agreed results.
5. The Project will finance against the government‘s annual plan for the primary education
sub-sector (which will list the activities to be undertaken, and which fall under agreed upon
program budget heads (PBHs)), and the procurement plan. IDA will finance the identified PBHs,
up to maximum amounts as explained in Annex 3. Disbursement is conditioned on the
achievement of indicators, i.e. ―Disbursement Linked Indicators‖ (DLIs), which are embedded in
the results monitoring framework for the Government‘s program. The DLIs, determined in
partnership with the GOB and Development Partners, reflect priority elements in PEDPIII,
primarily to generate significant impact in the medium term (4-5 years) toward longer term
sector objectives. The DLIs build incrementally and represent results which are largely under the
control of the government (central, District and Upazila levels) and achievable, although
representing a challenge to the government authorities. The DLIs include institutional changes,
essential steps to implement policies and/or regulations and/or to scale up coverage of programs
and initiatives for realizing the access and quality objectives, and similar outputs/outcomes. All
DLIs are weighted equally. The DLIs will be reviewed at the Project midterm review, and
revisions will be made if needed.
B. PEDPIII Program Areas and Strategic Interventions
6. The program interventions and corresponding DLIs are grouped in three categories: (i)
improving quality of the learning environment and measurement of student learning, (ii)
increasing participation and reducing social disparities, and (iii) improving program planning and
management, and strengthening institutions.
34
Improving quality of the learning environment and measurement of student learning
7. Context: The Government‘s ultimate objective is to ensure that each child learns, and that
learning competencies are relevant and incrementally build on appropriate skills each year. There
are disparities in learning outcomes which detract from otherwise notable achievements in
gender parity. For example, in some Districts, girls show higher rates of enrollment and
retention, yet lower achievement than boys in learning outcomes.8 PEDPIII continues systemic
reforms introduced under PEDPII to ensure enabling learning conditions and the regular
measurement of student learning. The major interventions are both at student/school level and
center level, and they recognize the critical inter-relationship between textbooks, teacher
training, and assessment of learning for improving internal efficiency and quality of learning.
8. Strategic Interventions (DLIs): The DLIs focus on improving the timely delivery of free
textbooks to all schools and the quality of textbook content (DLI 1), improving the effectiveness
of teacher training (DLI 2), and the quality, transparency and effectiveness of the primary
completion exam (Grade 5 terminal exam) for measuring student learning (DLI 3). PEDPIII aims
at a phased implementation of the GOB‘s National Education Policy to revise student learning
competencies (discouraging rote learning), which will guide quality improvements in textbook
content and the Grade 5 exam, as well as teacher education and performance standards. The
improvement process includes training teachers through constant linkage of theory and practice.
Country-wide, there is also a major shift under PEDPIII to a demand-based deployment of
resources for staffing (DLI 4). The deployment of new teachers and head teachers is to be
governed by clear, merit-based criteria as well as filling vacancies which are determined on the
basis of needs for new teachers and head teachers, in part, as a function of progress in creating
more classrooms under the needs-based infrastructure program. The deployment of teachers on a
―needs basis‖ is further guided by the objective to achieve pupil-teacher ratios more conducive to
learning. In operation, this calls for review of EMIS and teacher databases to identify schools
below the minimum standard student-teacher ratio. The DLIs are key elements of a broader
agenda in the PEDPIII, for which additional program areas are also described below.
9. Textbooks and other instructional materials: PEDPIII will continue to promote the
availability of textbooks for all grades and will add an emphasis on the utilization of textbooks
and other materials for learning. Textbooks for all grades will be printed and distributed
annually. Matching teacher guides will be prepared once every five years. The premium that
PEDPIII places on impacts at school level is highlighted in the DLI for textbook distribution as
the priority is to establish reliable proof that the books arrive and are received by all schools on
time, across all the different types of schools which follow the NCTB curriculum. To enhance
the quality of learning materials, quality standards (for content which matches the competencies
and age appropriateness, pedagogical layout, and physical specifications) will be defined and
adopted. Capacity building of staff for learning material development will be included in the
program.
10. Examinations and Assessments: MOPME/DPE successfully completed the first Grade 5
Completion Examination in December 2009. The examination serves the functions of: (i)
providing school leavers with a certificate of completion and proficiency and (ii) identifying
8 Education Watch 2008; 2008 National Assessment at Grades 3 and 5.
35
pupils who are eligible for receiving scholarships for entry into Grade 6. In PEDPIII, based on an
action plan, improvements to the completion exam will focus on progressively moving away
from all knowledge/rote recall questions to competencies with more application and problem
solving for real life situations. An action plan has been developed by NAPE during PEDPIII
preparations is geared to improve the Grade 5 completion exam by (i) successively transforming
it into a competency-based test (the 2013 Grade 5 exam is to comprise at least 25 percent
competency-based items and to pilot an additional 25 percent of competency-based items), (ii)
implementing the test, and (iii) analyzing the Grade 5 results on an annual basis and revising test
items accordingly. Analyses of successive completion examination results and content will be
used to inform and guide changes in further test-item design, curriculum development and
teacher training, sharpening the focus of the curriculum/ competencies and changing the way
teachers teach. Skill development for improving the examination, including training markers and
test-items developers, will be an equally important part of this work.
11. Teacher Education and Professional Development: One principal difference under
PEDPIII – compared with PEDPII – is the emphasis on learning in the classroom that is activity
based, competency-oriented and individually-paced. This profound change in practice will
require on-site professional supervision of teachers and follow-up, as well as peer support. A
second reform under PEDPIII is the Diploma in Primary Education (Dip-in-Ed) which is to raise
the bar for in-service training, aiming to prepare stronger quality future teachers. Under PEDPIII,
four types of professional programs are included in a comprehensive teacher education and
development plan, with the first of these – the Dip-in-Ed – being the strategic area targeted in the
DLI: (i) A new 18-month Dip-in-Ed is an initial pre-service teacher education program being
adopted to provide foundation training for all future primary school teachers in Bangladesh. The
course will be piloted in a select number of Primary Teacher Training Institutes (PTIs) and then
progressively rolled out – as staffing, capacity and resources allow – until it is offered in all 55
PTIs (see details in DLI on teacher training; the DLI focuses on pre-service and institutional
changes in lieu of ambitious quantitative targets for number of teachers trained). The curriculum
framework has already been designed and is awaiting MoPME‘s approval. (ii) Orientation
Training is planned as a three-week residential training for new teachers. The training will be
conducted by PTI instructors or an outreach trainer trained at the PTIs. (iii) Sub-Cluster Training
is for one day six times a year for all teachers, as part of the in-service program; the Assistant
Upazila Education Officer conducts the training. (iv)Teacher Support Networks will be
strengthened to provide peer support for new teaching approaches. These networks will be
initiated in Upazilas in a phased manner and linked to the needs-based teacher training. An
assessment of utilization and impact of teacher support networks is envisaged, to guide
improvements in this large reform area.
12. Teacher and Head teacher Recruitment: This sub-area is linked to having sufficient
trained teachers working with students for an improved learning environment. Approximately
5,000 to 6,000 vacancies need to be filled every year. In addition, new positions are needed to
reduce classroom overcrowding. DPE‘s objective is gradually to decrease class size to around 40
children to one teacher as an important element in improving quality of the learning
environment. Ideally, this ratio would also facilitate the use of activity based learning approaches
and better enable each child to learn at her or his own pace. Prior to the onset of PEDPIII, the
norm used to calculate the need for additional classrooms is a teacher-pupil ratio of 1:56. In
order to reach a ratio of 40 students per teacher, about 46,597 new teachers will be needed in
36
GPS. The competitive, merit-based recruitment per the GOB‘s existing rules would continue
under PEDPIII and be applied to all recruitment. Among others, the rules require applicants to
pass an entrance exam (see details in the DLI on teacher and head teacher recruitment). Transfers
would be made according to need; to receive transferred teachers, schools must have a student-
teacher ratio greater than 50 to 1. During PEDPIII, DPE will also seek revisions in the rules for
recruitment, promotion and career path to encourage the highest standards of professional
performance within the primary education sub-sector.
13. Additional Program Areas: In addition to the strategic interventions, the Government also
intends for PEDPIII to finance: (i) continued development of the National Student Assessment;
(ii) instruments and training for extending the use of Continuous Pupil Assessment in
classrooms; (iii) revision of the curricula for Grades 1-5 to center it around student learning
competencies; (v) establishment and piloting of active learning methods and teacher support
networks in selected Upazilas; and (vi) piloting various initiatives to expand the use of
information and communications technology in primary schools.
14. National Student Assessment: This sub-area is focused on establishing better
measurement of trends in learning achievement at the system level. PEDPIII will refine the
current national assessment program in terms of its organizational management (i.e. entity to
deliver the program – its staffing, functions and relation to other key bodies within the education
enterprise); methodology, and data dissemination and utility for results-based management. The
Government aims to conduct the National Assessment every two years in Grade 3 for Bangla
literacy and numeracy. Decisions on whether the next grade for testing will be Grade 5 (Bangla
literacy and numeracy, and English), or Grade 6 and/or Grade 8 will be taken in the first year of
PEDPIII in discussion with the Ministry of Education. It is important to ensure that there will be
consistent measurement techniques throughout the system, to be able to discern trends over time.
Learning achievement in English language may be added at Grade 5 if this is to be maintained as
a testing year. Establishing a semi-autonomous national center/ authority for assessment and
evaluation is being considered.
15. Classroom assessment: In PEDPIII, with the emphasis on classroom learning support,
techniques will be developed to determine pupil‘s current levels of knowledge, skills and
understandings, to diagnose problems they may be having, identify how to enable children to
overcome the problems, and then evaluate whether learning takes place. The National
Curriculum Framework prescribes that teachers should make ―regular use of Continuous Pupil
Assessment (CPA) and record results at the completion of definite lessons.‖ Teachers will be
trained to identify particular learning strengths and difficulties. Tools will be developed to help
teachers better diagnose and help students overcome learning difficulties.
16. Curriculum: The National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) will continue with a
10-year cycle of ongoing curriculum development for Grades 1-5. A regional comparative study
on competencies, curriculum substance and revision practices will be undertaken to help in the
revision of terminal and subject-wise competencies for Grades 1-5. The subject content of
learning materials will be revised based on these updated competences, beginning with Grades 1
by year 4 of the program (see DLI on quality of textbook). NCTB and the National Academy for
Primary Education (NAPE) will coordinate with pedagogical strategies, classroom assessments,
and in-service training programs for teachers on the revised materials. The practice of providing
37
positive representations of women, girls, minority groups and children with disabilities in
learning materials (i.e. textbooks, teacher guides and learning materials) will continue in
PEDPIII. In line with this, while there will be a focus on the development of Bangla as the
national language, multi-lingual education will also be incorporated in the new curriculum
framework. Capacity building of staff for curriculum development will be included in the
program.
17. Active learning methods and teacher support for classroom learning: With its objective
to focus on improving quality learning at the school/classroom level, PEDPIII will seek to shift
the emphasis from teaching the syllabus to enabling each child to learn basic skills and
competencies at her/his own pace. The Government is piloting a new flagship initiative entitled
―Shikhbe Protiti Shishu‖ (―Each Child Learns‖), through which school clusters in seven
divisions will participate in a model building exercise to improve learning of basic skills in
Bangla and mathematics, relying on available resources. Good practices and lessons learned will
be disseminated immediately to all schools, with the expectation that more effective models for
improving children‘s learning outcomes will propagate rapidly, driven by the capacity of each
school to use available inputs. As noted in previous sections of this document, one key feature of
PEDPIII is institutionalizing feedback loops between learning in the classroom and central level
institutions responsible for developing inputs such as: school standards, curriculum, materials,
assessment, or teacher training. This will be accomplished by enabling school clusters in seven
divisions to serve as ―listening posts‖ to provide information in real-time to apex institutions for
policy formulation, and training.
18. Information and Communications Technology (ICT): This is a component of the
National Education Policy that supports the priorities of the Digital Bangladesh program.
MOPME envisages provision of equipment and materials for setting up multi-media classrooms,
Increasing participation and reducing social disparities
19. Context: Although Bangladesh has been successful in steadily improving access to
education at all levels, social and regional disparities persist. Prior to PEDPII, there was limited
effort to reach out to marginalized population groups through the formal primary education
sector, relying instead to a large extent on the informal sector to provide services through the
work of NGOs. PEDPII embraced a policy of ―inclusive education‖ for the formal sector, but at
the time PEDPIII was prepared, there were remaining pockets of poor and disadvantaged
communities as well as significant disparities in the availability and quality of schooling
facilities. Even the stipend program, in principle targeted to the 40 percent poorest, was not
effective in reaching all its intended beneficiaries. Children who are particularly disadvantaged
in terms of access to primary education are in remote areas, among poor and minority ethnic
groups, as well as working children and those in urban slums.
20. Strategic Interventions (DLIs): To promote participation to primary education, PEDPIII
will finance both demand and supply side interventions, employing specific provisions for
targeting children from disadvantaged groups. The DLIs focus on supply side interventions
including provision – in the regular public budget – of one year of free pre-primary education
(PPE) for five-year-olds through a new school-based approach to reach coverage of all children
in GPS in the country (DLI 5), and initiating a needs-based approach to improve physical
38
facilities (additional classrooms, toilets, arsenic free/safe water) to (i) reduce disparities in
geographic access to primary school and (ii) reduce classroom overcrowding (DLI 6).
21. Pre-primary education (PPE): Through scaling up participation in pre-primary, the GOB
aims to strengthen children‘s readiness for school and thereby induce increased enrollment and
retention rates in primary education. In line with the National Education Policy 2010, the
investment strategy for PEDPIII is to introduce and scale up one year of pre-primary education
for five-year-old children through publicly financed provision. It is estimated that 1.4 million
children entering grade 1 have had some form of pre-primary education, mostly provided
through the NGO sector9. More than 150 NGOs conduct pre-primary education throughout the
country, notably in poor and disadvantaged areas. In many instances these operations are at or
near Government Primary Schools (GPS). However, coverage by such NGOs is subject to
availability of funding, and this has varied significantly in the past. To scale up coverage of pre-
primary education and build upon gains in access, GOB aims to provide a pre-primary class in
each GPS, financed by the public budget. The aim is that by the fourth year of PEDPIII, pre-
primary will be provided in at least 75 percent of GPS. Preparatory actions under PEDPIII,
include Government‘s updating a mapping of PPE providers (government and nongovernment)
and establishing a database of the target population so that planning priorities can be based both
on needs analysis of demand and the potential for increasing supply. The Government‘s long
term objective is to build out PPE capacity at all GPS.
22. The new school-based approach to PPE requires that additional teachers be hired and
trained, additional classrooms constructed, and materials produced and disseminated. At the
outset, DPE has sought to leverage expansion of PPE coverage through partnerships with the
NGO sector. The guidelines for engaging into such partnerships, and the roles of NGOs in
service delivery under PEDPIII, are being finalized by MOPME. Under the plan for PPE
expansion, the first element is to expand access to PPE classes at GPS. The second element is to
standardize the curriculum, teaching and learning materials, entry requirements (for students and
teachers), learning competencies and teacher competencies across the various providers (public,
NGO, private) as well as integrate PPE within the formal primary education system. During the
preparation period for PEDPIII, interim packages of teaching and learning materials developed
by the NCTB were distributed to a selected number of GPS in each district to initiate some
service delivery directly by public primary schools. While the NGO-run pre-primary classes may
continue to use their teaching and learning materials – known to be of reasonably good quality –
NGOs are also being engaged with the government to develop a set of standardized teaching and
learning materials, which will be expected to be utilized by all pre-primary providers, once they
are developed.
23. Infrastructure, including improved school facilities: This sub-area seeks to facilitate
progress towards universal enrolment through a needs-based approach to building out
infrastructure that adopts a prioritized list of standards, including for toilets and water supply,
and disability/accessibility so that more children will have access to quality schools without
overcrowding. Following field surveys and consultations with local communities, DPE is
preparing a five-year action plan for infrastructure development, with targets, taking account of
disparities within and across Upazilas. Given the extent of overcrowding, the Government
9 BANBEIS data, 2008.
39
decided to set 56 students per classroom as the target. With such a norm, at the outset of
PEDPIII, half of all GPS and RNGPS, and a third of the community schools, are reported to have
overcrowded classrooms, as well as needs for safe drinking water, toilets and school furniture (to
conform to DPE standards). Guided by the criteria (see also Environmental Safeguards section of
Annex 3), the estimated needs are to construct 32,000 new classrooms, 120,000 new toilets for
students and teachers and repair 18,000 existing sanitation facilities, and supply safe drinking
water (55% of those needs would be met within 4 years) In addition, the school grants (to
SMCs) will include a sum for maintenance and repair of school buildings.
24. Additional Program Areas: In addition to the above strategic interventions, the
Government intends for PEDPIII to finance a number of demand side and supply side
interventions. On the demand side, PEDPIII will finance (i) social mobilization and
communications activities to inform and encourage all families and communities to enroll and
keep their children in school for the full primary cycle, and (ii) implementation of a revamped
stipend program, to compensate families for the opportunity costs of primary school and
encourage the poorest families to enroll and keep their children in school.
25. Communications and Social Mobilization: DPE will develop and implement a public
relations and communications strategy targeted for different groups of stakeholders and utilizing
multiple media. Face-to-face workshops and seminars will engage educationists and opinion
leaders; broadcast media will be used for wide market penetration on core themes, and print
media for longer and more nuanced communications.
26. Stipends: The Primary Education Stipend Program (PESP) has been recently modified
for better poverty targeting across schools and Upazilas, and to encourage more children,
especially the disadvantaged, to enroll and complete their primary education. While in the past,
stipends were given to the 40 percent poorest children in each school, changes introduced in
2010 now result in provision of stipends to a greater share of students in ―high poverty‖ areas as
identified by the World Food Program poverty mapping (geographical targeting). The
administrative processes, including monitoring, remained unchanged. Future studies to evaluate
the effectiveness of the revised program will be made, to guide any further revisions. Multiple
options for strengthening the program monitoring and evaluation include third party validation,
expenditure tracking (to track flow of funds to the beneficiaries), and digitalizing the beneficiary
database to track students through the system over time.
27. On the supply side, PEDPIII also envisages to finance: (i) coordination and
implementation of a school health and nutrition program, including school feeding and health
screenings in select areas; (ii) development and implementation of action plans for
mainstreaming disadvantaged children, as well as (iii) coordinating second chance and
alternative primary education opportunities more closely with education service delivery in the
formal, public sector.
28. School Health and Nutrition: The PEDPIII school health and nutrition sub-area aims at
improving the day-to-day health and nutritional status of school children, thereby reducing
absenteeism and foster improved learning. Setting out from the previous engagement for school
health and nutrition, a new framework has been established for PEDPIII as an operating structure
to coordinate activities between Ministries, specifically MOPME and MOHFW. This framework
40
is built around the following package of interventions: (i) hardware – arsenic free tube well and
safe water supplies, adequate latrines/toilets respecting the cultural gender dimensions to foster
attendance by girls, and other physical elements which support good health and nutrition; (ii)
curriculum development around healthy living, including nutrition, hand washing, hygiene
practices, good pregnancies and safe motherhood, well baby care etc.; these activities are to
avoid fostering existing gender stereotypes; (iii) school health days - envisaged to operate in
every District twice a year; and (iv) school feeding and deworming.
29. Inclusive education program to mainstream disadvantaged children: The organizing
principle of PEDPIII is to decentralize administration and decision making on inclusive
education to the Upazilas. Each Upazila is to have a Primary Education Plan (UPEP) to be
implemented with support from a block grant. The grant might be used to provide disabled
children with a small monthly fund, or to provide resources to schools accommodating
previously excluded children. All teacher training will contain modules on working with
differently-abled children. Affirming messages about people with disabilities will be included in
textbooks and supplementary learning materials; modules on special needs children will be
included in training for Assistant Upazila Education Officers (AUEO and Upazila Education
Officers (UEOs), to allow them to provide classroom teachers with professional supervision.
Leadership training programs will include modules on the value of inclusive education. A focal
person in each school is to be designated to assist other teachers to identify children with
learning disabilities and provide them specialized teaching.
30. Second Chance and Alternative Education: This area is linked to the objective of
universal enrolment and addresses the needs of two types of primary school age children: those
who never enrolled in school and those who dropped out. These matters will be under the
auspices of Bureau for Non-formal Education (BNFE), and its capacity will be strengthened.
PEDPIII will finance the development of an equivalency framework aligned with the revised
national curriculum, inclusion of NFE activities in UPEPs, participation of NFE learners in the
Grade 5 terminal examination, and reporting on NFE outputs in the PEDPIII reporting including
the ASPR.
Improving program planning and management, and strengthening institutions
31. Context: PEDPIII builds on capacities developed under PEDPII and brings these more
sharply into a results-based model, viz. performance based planning, client (stakeholder) focus,
improved financial management, human resources development, and outcome level reporting. A
key dimension is to enhance decentralized planning at District, Upazila and school levels.
Functions and responsibilities are being redefined and, in some cases, expanded, with a view to
prepare and implement needs-based Annual Operational Plans (AOP). The process calls for
substantially more field level capacity for planning, management and monitoring. School
Management Committees (SMCs) are a cornerstone. The aim is for SMCs to continue their
involvement in minor public works but additionally to address factors which contribute to
learning outcomes and primary school completion in order to make a greater contribution to
improving indicators in their respective Upazilas. Improvements are also being sought in the
fiscal sustainability and effectiveness of public expenditures as well as in monitoring and
evaluation systems to improve data use for evidence-based planning.
41
32. Strategic Interventions (DLIs): The DLIs in this area focus on improving efficiency and
effectiveness of service delivery at central and decentralized levels: targets are set for the SMCs
to prepare plans and deploy block grants accordingly (DLI 7); education budget preparation is to
achieve tighter links between the budgetary process and medium-term education sector strategy,
and consistency between annually approved primary education budgets and the PEDPIII results
framework and MTBF (DLI 8); and among efforts to strengthen and build out M&E systems, the
focus is on improving the timeliness, quality and coverage of the Annual School Census (ASC) –
the main source of information on inputs, process, outputs and outcomes at school level (DLI 9).
33. Decentralized School-Based Management: PEDPIII seeks to improve the effectiveness
of school level management and governance by focusing especially on accountability and
institutional capacity at school and Upazila levels in support of school improvement plans. Under
PEDPII, DPE piloted School Level Improvement Plans (SLIP) – prepared by SMCs – and
Upazila Primary Education Plans (UPEP). Evaluation pointed to a need to provide consolidated
grants directly to schools, based on their SLIPs, and to strengthen the capacity of Upazila offices
to facilitate this process. Guidelines for school level SLIPs, and Upazila level UPEPs will be
updated, and district level DPEPs established. This sub-area specifically aims to strengthen the
role of school management committees (SMCs): encouraging stronger participation of parents,
teachers and local community members, building their capacity for school improvement planning
and local governance through further training; and empowering the process through a more
streamlined transfer of grants to schools to realize the plans. The receipt of funds will be
validated through a Public Expenditure Tracking System. The Government recognizes that this
will take sustained effort over time and that it must be backed by strong Upazila (and district)
management. Longer term, DPE is planning to incorporate leadership development, including
School Management Committee development, with measures for head teacher recruitment,
career path and incentives.
34. Fiscal sustainability and effectiveness of public expenditure: This priority area is
intended to assist Government to ensure adequate allocations to PEDPIII by aligning the primary
education budget with the PEDPIII framework, while improving fiscal and budget management
and consistency with the rolling Medium Term Budgetary Framework. This will assist the
Government to implement their National Education Policy according to an approved, costed
implementation plan which phases in interventions according to capacity and resources available.
35. Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E): The objective is to establish a robust system for
improved decisions about program targets, procedures and achievement on the basis of a reliable
and efficient system for collecting and exploiting data. Key activities include strengthening the
functioning of the M&E/EMIS system through the development and implementation of an
improved administration plan; revising the Annual School Census; conducting periodic internal
and external validation studies of the census data, and making commensurate revisions and
adjustments to the census mechanism. PEDPIII would finance requirements for adequate
staffing, organizational management arrangements, office equipment, and training. In addition,
PEDPIII would finance work to use results of large scale household sample surveys (HIES) and
other current studies to monitor and triangulate findings on outcomes. PEDPIII will continue to
mainstream the results based management approach for sector monitoring, among others,
through Upazila level training workshops.
42
36. Additional Program Areas: The additional areas include (i) strengthened institutional
capability to manage education service delivery through by developing and carrying out a human
resource management plan to define career paths, fill staff vacancies, strengthen DPE
particularly through capacity building at the Upazila level, and improve delivery of teacher
education programs by filling staff vacancies at PTIs and establishing instructor career paths; (ii)
moving towards an integrated comprehensive framework to include school standards for all
categories of primary schools in the country; and (iii) financing public-private partnerships to
deliver educational services.
37. Human Resource Development to manage education service delivery: The Government
recognizes that strengthening human resources and leadership capabilities are critical to ensure
effective institutional capacity for managing the primary education sector, and in particular to
achieve the PEDPIII development objectives and to sustain gains over time. To address the
serious weaknesses in education management capacity identified in Annex 4, PEDPIII will
finance actions intended to have a relatively rapid effect, as well as initiatives which will need to
be phased in over time. The short term measures include filling staff vacancies through a needs-
based and merit-based approach, and in addition providing several types of training which is
targeted for the respective responsibilities of government officers from the Upazilas to the
central levels. The content of the training will focus on management, administration and
financing. PEDPIII will also support the establishment and gradual implementation of a human
resource management plan. The plan will set out the framework and principles for
institutionalizing merit-based progression along career paths, including for teachers, head
teachers, PTI instructors and Upazila Education officers.
38. Institutional changes for unifying and developing the primary education system: The
Government envisages, longer term, to move toward a single framework and governance
structure for all primary education providers to improve sector management for reaching all
students with quality education. In view of such a prospect, it is envisaged under PEDPIII to
carry out analyses and stakeholder consultations to clarify issues and actions which could be
taken to develop such a comprehensive framework, including studies on aspects such as: unified
curriculum, equivalence of formal and non-formal provision, infrastructure standards,
performance standards, harmonized teacher career paths, and changes to the legal and regulatory
structures for an expanded system.
C. Technical Assistance
39. IDA will not finance technical assistance directly through this Project. Technical
assistance from several of the other development partners is envisaged to support the M&E
system as well as analytical work and feasibility studies to feed into policy development and
plans, and to pilot initiatives in areas identified in the Government‘s results framework and DLI
matrix, where comparatively limited technical or strategic work has been undertaken to date.
40. The Government and all the development partners participating in the SWAp have a good
understanding of the constraints to achieving the results outlined for the program, as well as
reporting in a timely manner through robust and credible mechanisms. A Technical Assistance
(TA) strategy and plan are in advanced stages of development, building on the lessons learnt of
past practices, i.e. ensuring high levels of coordination among TA providers and adequacy of
43
planning and government ownership. The current plan aims to provide implementation support
on a rolling basis, and on plan as prepared by the Government in consultation with the
development partners. MOPME and DPE would coordinate and manage most of the TA, which
should aim at building system capacity and be used for short term tasks and not to substitute for
staff functions. International TA should be partnered with Government counterparts and/or local
experts to build national capacity.
41. An initial needs assessment was conducted and several technical areas have already been
identified as particularly in need of implementation support. These are: (i) management and
evidenced-based planning; (ii) monitoring & evaluation; (iii) human resource management; (iv)
needs-based approach to the supply of quality infrastructure; (v) pre-primary education, for
which the Government has no prior experience delivering directly through primary schools in the
formal sector; (vi) stipend programs (for targeting issues); (vii) learning assessment and
examinations; (viii) curriculum and teacher professional development. This initial needs
assessment will be further refined and completed before PEDPIII effectiveness.
42. The TA needs have been identified to develop a culture of results monitoring by
strengthening the systems which provide the information and incentivizing the use of more
credible information through DLIs. TA to strengthen monitoring and evaluation systems is
expected to support: (i) development of enhanced monitoring instruments (through greater
coverage of the annual school census, systematic validation of the census data, triangulating
census data through the use of other information sources, including the Household Income and
Expenditure Survey as well as an Interim household survey specifically for the education sector);
(ii) independent validation of information (third party validations of textbook monitoring
mechanisms, infrastructure quality, census information, as well as expenditure tracking surveys);
(iii) greater analysis and dissemination of information to support policy making (annual analysis
of Grade V exam results and national assessment results linking student performance and system
wide performance with critical policy levers), and (iv) analysis of information from
administrative data to report on DLI achievement, where required (analysis of teacher
recruitment norms to determine if in fact teacher recruitment is as per the agreed policy,
synthesis of information from administrative data to determine textbook delivery), and (v)
impact evaluations and cost effectiveness of various interventions.
44
Annex 3: Implementation Arrangements
I. Program Administration Mechanisms
1. The organizational and management structure for PEDPIII (see Figure 3.1) is designed
along two dimensions: (i) policy and oversight; and (ii) implementation. Overall policy guidance,
program oversight and coordination will be provided by an Inter-Ministerial Steering Committee
(IMSC), chaired by the Secretary of MoPME, and comprising representatives of key ministries
and agencies inter alia: the Finance Division and Economic Relations Division of the Ministry of
Finance; the Ministry of Public Administration; the Planning Commission; the Implementation
Monitoring and Evaluation Division of the Ministry of Planning; the Directorate of Primary
Education of MoPME; and representatives of NGOs. As such, the Steering Committee should
play a key role in resolving critical inter-ministerial implementation issues. The IMSC will also
review and endorse the budget allocations, and approve the Annual Operational Plans.
2. The Directorate of Primary Education (DPE) headed by a Director General will be
responsible for day-to-day program implementation under the guidance of the Steering
Committee. DPE will be assisted by a Technical Committee, chaired and coordinated by the
Director General (Program Director). The Technical Committee will comprise inter alia the
Additional Director General, all DPE directors; representatives from MOPME, the National
Academy of Primary Education (NAPE), National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB),
Compulsory Primary Education Implementation and Monitoring Unit (CPEIMU), Bureau of
Non-formal Education, the Bangladesh Bureau of Education Information and Statistics
(BANBEIS), and a representative from the NGOs.
3. The main functions of the Technical Committee are to: (i) provide support to line
directors and other agencies to resolve implementation problems; (ii) devise strategies for the
gradual integration of different streams of formal and non-formal primary education in terms of
curriculum and service delivery structure; (iii) support the establishment of an integrated data
system and plan for results-based management; and (iv) support policy revision based on
implementation experience.
4. DPE line directors will be given responsibility for implementation of key areas of
PEDPIII. Although the implementation capacity of DPE has improved significantly during the
PEDPII phase, implementation of PEDPIII will pose additional challenges: the size of the
program is larger and it has the ambition gradually to encompass the full sub-sector (within a
framework that eventually will incorporate the non-government providers). The intention is to
develop long-term capacity of the regular staff of DPE and strengthen the interface between the
personnel in their respective functions at central level in DPE with decentralized levels (Upazila,
District and Division officers) as well as teachers and head teachers at school level. It is possible
that new divisions will be established, should the Government extend primary education
vertically up to grade 8. The DPE line directors will thus be supported, when required, with
technical assistance that will either be provided by DPs or recruited by GOB.
45
Figure A3.1: Proposed Organization & Management Structure - PEDPIII Implementation
II. Financial Management, Disbursements and Procurement
Financial Management
5. Following the last PEFA assessment (2005), many improvements in the PFM systems of
the country have been registered: roll-out of the Medium-Term Budgeting Framework (MTBF),
application of improved accounting principles and standards, and scaling up – out to the District
Accounts Offices – the use of a government-wide financial management information system
(Integrated Budgeting and Accounting system, iBAS). In addition, a comprehensive reform
strategy is being implemented and supported by a Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF)10
. The
MDTF supports three discrete projects in the PFM arena, namely: (i) deepening the medium-
term budget framework (MTBF) and strengthening financial accountability; (ii) strengthening
10
The MDTF (SPEMP) grant for PFM reforms (US$84 million) is being administered by the World Bank on behalf
of other Development Partners
Interministerial Steering Committee POLICY & OVERSIGHT MoPME to coordinate (GOB +
NGO + DP Representative group) 1
Development Partners Program Support 3
Program Support Office 5
Technical Committee 4 Director- DPE Coordination PROGRAM DPE to coordinate (DPE/NAPE/ General of existing DP/NGO IMPLEMENTATION CPEIMU/NCTB/BANBEIS) Madrasha DPE/ ADG 2 funded projects
NGO BNFE etc
Note: 1. GoB includes key ministries and agencies: MoPME,(Secretary, Chair of the committee) Consultants Finance, Public Administration, Planning, ERD, IMED, MOE and 2. Proposed position: Additional Director General, DPE. He will be the contact person TA Support between DPs & program. 3. DPs will keep close contact with MoPME and DPE as necessary 4. Relevant agencies will be added in phases as program evolves 5. A lean Program Support Office (PSO) to expedite coordination and clearances
PROPOSED ORGANISATION AND MANAGEMENT STRUCTURE FOR PROGRAM 3 IMPLEMENTATION
Operations
Field
Secretary MOPME
Line Directors
46
the office of the Comptroller and Auditor General; and (iii) strengthening legislative and public
oversight.
6. A comprehensive Fiduciary Risk Assessment and Study of PEDPIII were completed to
assess the risks and challenges of alternative financial arrangements. The diagnostic work
validated the accuracy of numbers in the iBAS system and the capacity of the system to capture
the real-time data at each stage, and checked the robustness of current accounting business
processes. The study recommends that PEDPIII leverage and facilitate the above-mentioned
PFM reforms from the demand side by proactive participation of the spending agencies in the
primary education sector while at the same time relying on third party validation and monitoring
for results to help mitigate the fiduciary risks. The assessment concludes that mainstreaming of
the program fund flow and expenditure management with the government financial management
system would be the least risk fiduciary option for PEDPIII. Finally, a PEFA study for primary
education has been conducted as a subset of a broader PEFA assessment with a view to
improving the sector PFM reforms over the medium term, under the MDTF (SPEMP).
7. As one of the key line ministries for FM capacity development under the SPEMP Project
A, component 3 (US$ 10.9 million), MOPME would receive ample support for: (a) use of
Budget System Development module; (b) development of the budget management function –
better linkage between policy and budget allocation, budget allocation and performance, and
monitoring and evaluation of budget implementation; (c) phased strengthening of the internal
audit function; (d) strengthening the Planning Cell in MOPME to support resource allocation
decision making processes in achieving policy objectives; (e) strengthening budget execution
and reporting and devolved financial management; and (e) integrating procurement planning
with budget formulation.
8. To address remaining challenges identified by the risk assessment study and allow a
smooth and complete transition towards the treasury system, a comprehensive PFM action plan
was developed and agreed. It aims, in particular, at: (i) improving compliance with payment
processing standards; (ii) monitoring for regular reconciliations between spending and
accounting offices; (iii) ensuring timely and reliable financial reports for the program; and (iv)
encouraging enhanced monitoring for executive follow-up of audit observations. Substantial
progress has been made in implementing the PFM action plan by negotiations of the Project. The
measures in the PFM action plan are to be complemented by an Annual Fiduciary Review
(AFR)) conducted each year of PEDPIII implementation. The AFR will provide an opportunity
to drill-down in the areas of fiduciary concern in order to generate concrete recommendations for
improvement of systems, processes, and internal controls. For essential financial management
tasks, the DPE and LGED – being the key implementing agencies for PEDPIII – would require a
read-only access to iBAS. This is in the process of being established, so that it will enable
effective budget monitoring and timely financial reporting. The overall PFM arrangements and
disbursement modalities are documented in the Joint Financing Arrangement to be signed
between Development Partners and the Government of Bangladesh. The Comptroller and
Auditor General (CAG) has agreed to the Statement of Audit Needs for annual audit of PEDPIII,
and MOPME has agreed to the Terms of Reference of the Annual Fiduciary Review as proposed
by the Development Partners. At negotiations, the Controller General of Accounts confirmed that
the following financial management arrangements of the program to be based on the country‘s
47
financial management systems for budget execution, accounting, internal controls, financial
reporting and auditing would be in place as of July 1, 2011:
a) the Payment Process Times Compliance report will be generated on a monthly basis for
transactions under the Program;
b) a monthly report on the status of reconciliation of expenditures between the DDO
(Drawing and Disbursement Officers) and their respective accounting officers will be
generated from the Integrated Budgeting and Accounting System (iBAS) and provided to
the MOPME secretary;
c) iBAS will capture the PEDPIII Component/Sub-Component wise expenditures; and
d) CGA will revise the procedure and iBAS to enable an appropriate accounting for
advances so that advances are not shown as final expenditures.
9. The financial management risk at entry is assessed as ―high‖ overall, given the risk
factors of the wide range of activities which are being carried out by various government
agencies across the country. To a great extent, these risks are mitigated by the availability of the
iBAS system up to the district accounts office level (including Upazilas). The expected residual
risk at program effectiveness would therefore be ―ML‖ due to the implementation of the agreed
PFM action plan.
Budgeting and counterpart funding arrangements
10. The budgeting of all PEDPIII expenditures will be part of the government budgeting
process. Development Partners would finance both development and non-development
expenditures. The detailed annual budget for PEDPIII would ensure that appropriate allocation is
provided for all critical activities in accordance with government Delegation of Financial Powers
and released to the spending units within the first two weeks of the fiscal year. There is a need to
improve the integration of budgeting and accounting modules under iBAS for better budgetary
control and timely booking of in-year re-appropriations. This is included in the PFM reform
initiative through the SPEMP project. DPE via the iBAS terminal will monitor the
monthly/quarterly/semi-annual budget execution through respective l financial reports for the
entire primary education sector to ensure that budget execution keeps pace with the approved
budget.
Flow of funds
11. Annual scheduled disbursements will ensure a consistent flow of funds throughout the
life of the program (see disbursements section below). Every disbursement will be contingent
upon meeting of DLIs. The first disbursement for PEDPIII – upon meeting the Year 0 DLIs (see
Annex 1) – will be on the basis of reimbursement of expenditures for the previous six months‘
actual expenditures (from January-June 2011) against employee related expenditures on the
recurrent side (PBHs - 4500 Pay of Officers, 4600 Pay of Establishment, and 4700 Allowances -
excluding PEDPII). The amount of the first disbursement cannot exceed the maximum
proportion (20 percent) of the Project‘s total Credit which is allowed under the World Bank‘s
policy to finance expenses incurred prior to signing. If this amount will be less than the total
48
value of all Year 0 DLIs met (by Effectiveness), the remaining amount can be disbursed at
midyear, after the November Consultation meeting of GOB and the Development Partners (see
Tables A3.1 and A3.3). Thereafter, the annual disbursement process would be repeated every
July over the life of the Project. In this way, the GoB would pre-finance the government
expenditures of the program (PEDPIII). Amounts claimed would depend on the indications given
in the disbursement schedule as well as timely achievement of DLIs.
12. The World Bank will finance up to 20 percent of the total program expenditures,
including procurable, and inclusive of taxes. Nevertheless, amounts claimed for withdrawal in a
year could not exceed the total value of the DLIs met in that year. If all 9 DLIs were achieved
consistently each year for the four years, the total annual disbursements would be as shown in
Table A.3.1 (disbursement schedule). An ex post reconciliation will be performed each year to
confirm that the amount of eligible expenditures made by the GOB was higher than the
maximum amount (20 percent) of total expenditure agreed ex ante as the proportion of total
expenditures eligible for World Bank financing (for reimbursement of PBHs). This reconciliation
would be based on a consolidated financial management report and accompanying reports.11
Figure A3.2: Funds Flow - PEDPIII Implementation
13. A few program activities such as training may need advance funds to be at the disposal of
DDOs/cost centers, rather than the suppliers/vendors being directly paid through the accounting
offices. Those activities will be carefully identified and selected, and MOPME would issue
Government Orders (GOs) in favor of respective DDOs/cost centers to enable them to draw cash
11
Fiduciary Arrangements for Sectorwide Approaches (Swaps): Interim Guidelines to Staff , The World Bank,
2002.
49
advance from treasury/accounts offices for implementation of such activities. The DDOs/cost
centers would be responsible for submitting the adjustment claims against such advances in a
timely manner. The advances will be adjusted within the due dates, and the outstanding advances
will not be included in the program expenditure statements to be submitted for the purpose of
reimbursement.
Accounting and maintenance of accounting records
14. Accounting records under PEDPIII will be maintained within the Government-wide
integrated financial management information system – iBAS – and in accordance with the
country accounting procedures and policies. These policies and procedures have progressively
improved over time. Nonetheless, advances to DDOs need to be separately booked under a new
economic code (XXXX) outside PBHs in order to be distinctly identified. In addition, a separate
back-end data table will be configured in iBAS to capture expenditure transactions pertaining to
DPP (on the development side of PEDPIII) by components and sub-components. The back-end
table for components and sub-components will be populated through a pop-up facility linked
with the operational unit code of DPP, and the information on component and sub-component (to
be charged) will be written on the bill/voucher submitted by the respective DDOs.
Internal controls
15. As with other government expenditures, payments under PEDPIII will be subject to the
normal pre-audit verification at accounting offices before payments from the Treasury are
approved. The 2005 Bangladesh PEFA assessment identified the absence of internal auditing in
Government as one of the major weaknesses in the PFM system. Given that the establishment of
a sector-wide internal audit function usually takes a long time, an Annual Fiduciary Review
would be conducted every year as a mitigation measure. This review would include the post-
procurement review of transactions, among other verification, and validations from a systemic
perspective (see next section on procurement). The TORs for the first year‘s review have been
agreed upon with the Government. For subsequent years, these TORs would be reviewed and
improved depending upon evolving knowledge of fiduciary risks. In addition, separate support
for sectoral PFM reforms would be available from the MDTF grant for PFM reforms, to cater for
activities such as improving budget management in the primary education sector, capacity
building of DDOs, and similar activities.
Financial Reporting
16. The system-generated accounting records will be the basis for preparation of in-year and
year-end financial reports for PEDPIII.
17. In-year reports would include semi-annual Interim Unaudited Financial Reports. These
could include the sources of project funds and their uses together with adequate notes and
disclosures. Disbursements will be made against Interim Unaudited Financial Reports (IFRs) to
be submitted by the Bangladesh Government to IDA and other Development Partners within 45
days after end June/December each year. These submissions would also include the detailed
budget execution reports by detailed heads of accounts for the entire primary education sector,
50
for continuous expenditure monitoring. The template for IFRs has been agreed with the GOB.
DPE will have primary responsibility for preparing these statements.
18. The DPE, with the assistance of the Chief Accounts Officer (CAO), MOPME, would also
prepare and submit the year-end annual financial statements of PEDPIII by drawing data from
the Government accounting system. Adequate notes and disclosures in accordance with the
International Public Sector Accounting Standard – Cash Basis shall be provided.
External audits
19. The annual financial statements of PEDP III will be audited by the Comptroller and
Auditor-General (CAG) of Bangladesh. These audited financial statements, along with the
management letter, would be submitted to IDA and other Development Partners within six
months after the close of the fiscal year. In this connection, a statement of audit needs has been
agreed with the CAG to ensure minimum coverage and extent of audit activity for PEDPIII.
20. All spending agencies within the primary education sector will provide the auditors with
full access to the related documents and records. The Development Partners will monitor
compliance with the audit requirements as per the table below:
Audit Report Due Date PEDPIII Annual Financial Statements for the year ending June 30 December 31 each year
21. The normal country systems for resolution and settlement of audit observations will be
equally applicable to PEDPIII. The GOB will provide evidence to the World Bank (and the other
Development Partners) of the course of action to resolve financial irregularities within six
months after the date of the audit report. The Bank will closely monitor the timely resolution of
any irregularities identified in financial audit reports of the Project and rigorously follow up on
the Government‘s compliance on audit observations. The Bank will reserve the right to
commission financial and compliance audits as well as special purpose audits. As far as possible,
the scope of these audits will be agreed upon by all the Development Partners. Following SWAp
principles, the use of Development Partners‘ funds would not be separately tracked.
Nevertheless, the financial reports will disclose the respective contributions from Development
Partners to PEDPIII as well as the Government‘s own contribution on the receipt side. Any
irregular expenditure would be followed up through the Government‘s own accountability
procedures, which will be further strengthened over time. There are no outstanding audits or
ineligible expenditures under Bank projects currently being implemented by MOPME/DPE.
Disbursements
22. IDA disbursements under PEDPIII will be in USD and made against identified PBHs
contingent upon DLI achievement. The disbursements will be based upon the submission of
Interim Unaudited Financial Reports (IFRs) (report-based disbursements). The DPE will prepare
quarterly IFRs from the government accounting system, and these must be endorsed by the Chief
Accounts Officer before finally being approved by the Secretary, MOPME. The authorized
signatory will sign the Withdrawal Applications based on the IFRs, and IDA will disburse funds
to the government in the Account indicated in the Withdrawal Application.
51
23. While a complete disbursement table for all Development Partners is included in the Joint
Financing Arrangement, Table A3.1 below presents the schedule for IDA disbursements. The
total estimated amount for each annual disbursement would be subject to any deduction
equivalent to the value of any unmet DLIs. DLIs are priced, so that missing one does not hold
back disbursement of others which are met. If fewer than the nine DLIs are achieved by a July
cycle, withheld amounts against unmet DLIs will be available for disbursement in January or a
following July or January cycle, subject to confirmation that the said DLIs have been satisfied
and the applicable IUFR has been submitted to IDA. If DLIs are achieved after the originally
specified disbursement deadline, achievement would need to be claimed no later than 18 months
after the initial deadline.
Table A3.1: Schedule for IDA Disbursements and Value of DLIs
Number Estimated Date12
Type of
Disbursement
Amount of the
Financing
Allocated
(US$M)
Value per DLI Basis for
Disbursement
1 Effectiveness(on or
about July 31, 2011)
Reimbursement of
expenditures for
selected PBHs13
for
Jan-June 2011
60 Based on nine Yr0
DLIs; DLI value is
US$8,333,333per DLI;
total US$75M is split
into two disbursements
Conditioned on
meeting Yr0 DLIs
2 On or about January
31, 2012
Reimbursement of
actual expenditures for
July-Dec 2011
15
3 On or about July 31,
2012
Reimbursement of
actual expenditures for
Jan-June 2012
75 Based on nine Yr1
DLIs; DLI value is
US$8,333,333per DLI
Conditioned on
meeting Yr1 DLIs
4 On or about July 31,
2013
Reimbursement of
actual expenditures for
July-Dec 2012 & Jan-
June 2013
75 Yr2 DLIs; DLI value is
US$8,333,333per DLI
Conditioned on
meeting Yr2 DLIs
5 On or about July 31,
2014
Reimbursement of
actual expenditures for
July-Dec 2013 & Jan-
June 2014
75 Based on nine Yr3
DLIs; DLI value is
US$8,333,333per DLI
Conditioned on
meeting Yr3 DLIs
December 2015 Could cater for
DLIs met with
delays
Total 300
12
These dates assume that the assessment of achievement of the nine DLIs in May (Joint Annual Reviews) verifies
that all the DLIs have been met. 13
The disbursement for Year 0 DLIs will be on the basis of reimbursement of expenditures for the previous six
months‘ actual expenditures (from January – June 2011) against employee related expenditures on the recurrent side
(PBHs 4500, 4600, and 4700) – excluding PEDPII expenditures.
52
24. The PBHs are part of the government‘s own economic heads of account which are used
to track expenditure on non-development as well as development sides of the budget. The
consultancy 4874 would specifically be deducted from the PBH 4800 for the purposes of IDA
financing to reflect use of ADB Consultants‘ Selection guidelines, making it ineligible for IDA
funding. On the development side, PBHs pertaining to all development projects of MOPME will
be eligible for financing, unless these have specific external funding under prior-existing
agreements with GOB (―discrete projects‖). While the existing, externally financed projects
would phase out over some time, all new projects are expected to be prepared within the ambit of
PEDPIII. Given the above explanation, the following major economic codes within all function
heads of MOPME (2400) and all operation unit codes (except 5150, 5460, & 5960) will
represent the Program Budget Heads for PEDPIII:
4500 Pay of Officers
4600 Pay of Establishment
4700 Allowances
4800 Supplies and Services (minus 4874 for Consultancy)
4900 Repairs & Maintenance
5900 Grants in Aid
6700 Revenue General (Contingencies)
6800 Capital Expenditure
7000 Civil Works
7900 Customs Duty and VAT
25. This expenditure mechanism satisfies the World Bank policy and, in particular, the three
pillars of OP 6.0, viz: (i) expenditures are productive; (ii) they contribute to solutions within a
fiscally sustainable framework; and (iii) acceptable oversight arrangements are in place. Table
A3.2 below presents the IDA financing allocated to a single catch-all disbursement category, and
the allocated amount represents the 100 percent capped expenditure limits from IDA.
53
Table A3.2: Disbursement Categories
Category
Amount of the
Financing Allocated
(expressed in SDR)
Percentage of
Expenditures to be
Financed
(inclusive of Taxes)
(1) ICB Goods, Works and Non-Consultant
Services and Project Eligible
Expenditures 14
for:
(a) First scheduled disbursement
(Effectiveness: on or about July 31,
2011)
37,500,000 100%
(b) Second scheduled disbursement
(on or about January 31, 2012)
9,375,000 100%
(c) Third scheduled disbursement
(on or about July 31, 2012)
46,875,000 100%
(d) Fourth scheduled disbursement
(on or about July 31, 2013)
46,875,000 100%
(e) Fifth scheduled disbursement
(on or about July 31, 2014)
46,875,000 100%
TOTAL AMOUNT 187,500,000
Procurement
26. Country Procurement Environment: Bangladesh has a nodal procurement policy agency
and a Public Procurement Act (PPA) 2006 with associated Public Procurement Rules 2008
(PPR) and bidding documents. The agency has created a critical mass of about 25 procurement
professionals and, to date, provided training to over 3200 staff of about 300 public sector entities.
To sustain a country procurement environment following good international practices, the
Government has been implementing a second procurement reform project, with assistance from
the World Bank, since late 2007. The reform focuses largely on the implementation and
monitoring of the PPA including introduction of e-government procurement at key sectoral
agencies. Notwithstanding the above progress over the past years, the Government recently made
a few amendments to the PPA, part of which were found not to be consistent with World Bank
Guidelines. For this reason, for projects financed by the Bank, the use of the PPA/PPR is allowed
for local procurement provided that specific modifications (listed elsewhere in this section) are
implemented
14
ICB Goods, Works and Non-Consultant Service and Project Eligible Expenditures are collectively referred to as
PBHs.
54
Summary of procurement assessment for PEDPIII
27. For PEDPIII, the total value of procurement is about US$1.6 billion of which civil works
contracts constitute an estimated USD1.2 billion (about 80 percent of procurement under
PEDPIII), followed by goods (textbooks, computers, vehicles) of about USD75million, and the
remaining approximately USD30 million for consultancy services. The World Bank conducted a
procurement capacity assessment using the web-based Procurement Risk Assessment and
Management System (P-RAMS)) of the implementing agencies (IAs) expected to be responsible
for procurement under PEDPIII. These include: DPE, local government representatives of the
LGED, and the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB). Due to their specific
procurement experience in the respective areas, Civil Works contracts will be managed by the
LGED, and procurement of textbooks will be carried out by NCTB.
28. The procurement capacity assessment covered the legislative framework, procurement
planning, procurement processing, organizational functions and staffing, internal control and
support systems, record keeping, and contract administration. The detailed capacity assessment is
available in the program files. The key finding of the assessment is that, while there is no
evidence of widespread fraud or corruption, the IAs have a significant lack of capacity in
managing procurement processes. In particular, they are unaware of specific risk areas in bidding
related fraud and corruption. Other weaknesses include the lack of sufficient detail in bid
evaluation reports and omissions in seeking clarification from the lowest quote bidders in cases
where this would be required. None of the IAs assessed maintains a database to monitor
procurement performance. The assessment also identified that the IAs‘ complaint handling
mechanism is yet to reach satisfactory standards. Whereas a system is in place, its effectiveness
is weak because existing complaint procedures are not disseminated to the bidding community.
The IAs do not maintain data or report on the volume and nature of complaints. Specific to the
LGED field level, the procurement capacity assessment noted the need to improve record
keeping in terms of: adequacy and electronic handling of documentation, and protection of
documents against loss and unauthorized access. Other issues highlighted in the assessment
were: absence of trained senior level staff at DPE with knowledge of international procurement
practices, lack of procurement capacity among Upazila education offices (UEO), and limited
awareness within the bidder community about procurement processes and bidders‘ rights
29. Considering the findings of the assessment and the volume of small value contracts
expected under national competitive bidding, the project is rated as ―MI‖ for procurement
operation and contract administration. Several measures to mitigate the risks are either in place
or are being put in place, and are described in following section.
Measures to mitigate risks
30. The IAs have identified the person(s) designated in their respective agencies who are
responsible for handling procurement, including the regular reporting on performance. In this
connection, the Government has also agreed (at negotiations) to develop the format for a
procurement database containing information on NCB contract packages, in order to facilitate
the regular monitoring and reporting on performance.
55
31. The principal measures which are to mitigate risks during PEDPIII implementation are
the following: (i) establishment of a website for proactive disclosure of information; (ii)
submission of quarterly consolidated monitoring reports from the respective IAs, using a set of
commonly agreed indicators suggested by the Procurement and Finance Working Group
(PFWG) of the Development Partners; (iii) recruitment of an independent procurement
consultant for the duration of PEDPIII, to follow up on procurement capacity development-
related actions as they are suggested by the PFWG, and to report back to the PFWG; (iv) training
as and when required to enhance procurement capacity of IAs; and (v) updating the procurement
plan at least annually. In addition, the following procurement practices will apply for the
duration of PEDPIII: (a) agencies‘ officials / staff to be alerted about any fraud and corruption
issues; (b) bidders to be alerted about any fraud and corruption issues; (c) strict enforcement of
the six modifications as required by IDA in regard to NCB procedures (see below); (d) award of
contracts within the initial bid validity period, and close monitoring of the timeliness; (e) taking
action against any corrupt bidder in accordance with PPA and IDA Guidelines; (f) preservation
of records and all documents regarding public procurement, in accordance with the PPA
provisions; (g) publishing contract award information in dgMarket/ UNDB online, CPTU‘s
website and agencies‘ websites within two weeks of contract award; (h) ensuring timely
payments to the suppliers/contractors/ consultants and imposing liquidated damages for delayed
completion; and (i) setting up an effective complaint handling mechanism within all IAs,
including their field offices.
Procurement arrangements and review thresholds
32. IDA will finance civil works, goods, non-consulting services and recurrent costs under
the identified PBHs through a SWAp with eight other Development Partners, to co-finance the
implementation of the PEDPIII of Government. It is estimated that approximately 20 percent of
the overall expenditures for PEDPIII will be for procurable. The majority of procurement will
comprise small value contracts (constituting 80 percent of total procurement expenditure of
US$1.6 billion), for which essentially only local bidders will compete. These contracts would be
jointly financed by the Development Partners, and procured – in accordance with the
requirements set forth or referred to in Section 1 of IDA‘s Guidelines Procurement under IBRD
Loans and IDA Credits, Published May 2004 as revised in October 2006 and May 2010 –
through National Competitive Bidding methods of the GOB Procurement Rules 2008 (as
amended in August 2009) and the GOB Public Procurement Act (1st Amendment 2009) with six
modifications as required by IDA (see para. 36) and deemed acceptable by IDA, ADB and the
other Development partners, subject also to proposed waivers (see following paragraph). Goods
and civil works procured through International Competitive Bidding (ICB) method would be
financed by IDA, other Development Partners (except ADB) and GoB, following IDA‘s
Guidelines. The IDA Credit will not finance expenditures against Consultant Services since the
selection of consultant services will follow the Asian Development Bank‘s Guidelines on the
Use of Consultants by the Asian Development Bank and its Borrowers (April 2010, as amended
from time to time).
33. Waiver: In the context of NCB contracts for civil works, goods and non-consulting
services jointly financed by IDA and the Development Partners, including ADB, Section 1 of
IDA‘s Guidelines will apply, with the six modifications, subject to approval of waivers with the
objective of harmonization between the procurement and anti-corruption guidelines of IDA and
56
ADB. A waiver is being requested from the World Bank Board to extend IDA‘s rights under
paragraph 1.8(d) of the IDA Guidelines to additionally provide for the ineligibility of firms and
individuals debarred by ADB. ADB management intends to obtain a waiver to open up eligibility
to individuals and firms from all World Bank member countries.
34. Procurement plan: The PEDPIII design mandates that the Government‘s annual
procurement plan shall be the Project‘s procurement plan. The first Procurement plan, which
DPE is preparing for 12 months covering FY 2011-2012, will be part of the annual plan for the
primary education sub-sector. For each contract to be financed under PEDPIII, the different
procurement methods or consultant selection methods, estimated costs, prior review
requirements and time frame are agreed among the GOB, IDA and ADB in the Procurement
Plan. The Procurement Plan will be updated at least annually or as required to reflect the actual
implementation needs and improvements in institutional capacity. All procurement plans, their
updates or modifications shall be subject to IDA and ADB‘s prior review and no objection
before implementation (see details below in the Fiduciary Oversight Arrangements).
35. Procurement of Goods contracts estimated to cost less than USD600,000 and contracts
for works estimated to cost less than USD2,000,000 per contract may be procured in accordance
with the National Competitive Bidding (NCB) procedures of the People‘s Republic of
Bangladesh (Public Procurement Act 2006, Public Procurement Act (1st Amendment) 2009, and
Public Procurement Rules 2008 (as amended in August 2009) – collectively referenced as PPA,
with: (i) modifications as outlined in the paragraph below; (ii) the provisions of Section 1 of
IDA‘s Procurement Guidelines, including the proposed waiver in order for IDA to recognize the
firms and individuals which are debarred by ADB; and (iii) the provisions of Section 1 of ADB‘s
Procurement Guidelines dated April 2010, including the proposed waiver to permit bidders from
non-ADB member countries. Given that the provisions of Section 1 of ADB‘s Procurement
Guidelines are substantially identical to those of Section 1 of IDA‘s, and that ADB and IDA
intend to arrange the respective waivers to iron out these two differences, the NCB procurement
would be consistent with ADB‘s and IDA‘s Procurement Guidelines, respectively, provided the
modifications in the paragraph below are also implemented. The NCB contracts will be carried
out using standard bidding documents satisfactory to the Development Partners. All bidding
documents will specifically state the IDA Guidelines will apply to the contracts jointly financed
with the other Development Partners.
36. For the purpose of National Competitive Bidding (Goods and Works), the following shall
apply:
(i) Post bidding negotiations shall not be allowed with the lowest evaluated or any other
bidder;
(ii) Bids should be submitted and opened in public in one location immediately after the
deadline for submission;
(iii) Lottery in award of contracts shall not be allowed
(iv) Bidders‘ qualification/ experience requirement shall be mandatory;
(v) Bids shall not be invited on the basis of percentage above or below the estimated
cost, and contract award shall be based on the lowest evaluated bid price of compliant
bids form eligible and qualified bidders;
(vi) Single stage, two-envelope procurement system is not allowed.
57
37. Works contracts estimated to cost less than USD30,000 and Goods contracts estimated to
cost less than USD20,000 may be procured through Shopping. The ―Request for Quotation‖
under PPA is acceptable as a form of Shopping.
38. Selection of Consultants for services – not financed by the credit - will follow the Asian
Development Bank‘s Guidelines on the Use of Consultants by the Asian Development Bank and
its Borrowers (April 2010, as amended from time to time).
39. All International Competitive Bidding procurement for contracts for Goods, Works and
Non-consulting Services will be carried out in accordance with IDA‘s Guidelines -- Procurement
under IBRD Loans and IDA Credits, Published May 2004 as revised in October 2006 and May
2010.
40. All International Competitive Bidding procurement for contracts for Goods, Works and
Non-consulting Services will be prior reviewed by IDA. All selection of consultants for services
will be prior-reviewed by ADB. All other procurement not prior reviewed by IDA and ADB,
respectively, will be post reviewed through the Annual Fiduciary Review (AFR). The AFR
would include the post procurement review of transactions, among other verification and
validations from a systemic perspective.
41. Misprocurement: IDA would assess and shall declare misprocurement in accordance with
IDA Guidelines) where alleged misprocurement involves ICB of Goods, Works and Non-
consulting services. Similarly, based on findings from the prior reviews and/or complaints
arising from other documented sources relating to consultancy services, ADB would assess
probable cases of misprocurement, and ADB would transmit the formal letter to inform
Government (with a copy to all the Development Partners). In the case of misprocurement in all
other NCBs, this would be jointly assessed by IDA and ADB, who would jointly transmit a letter
to Government on the findings, after consultation with the other Development Partners. As and
when any misprocurement is confirmed, each of the Development Partners would decide on
remedial action to be taken as dictated by their respective bilateral agreements with GOB.
42. The Joint Financing Arrangements will set forth the understandings between GOB and
the Development Partners on procurement supervision, including post-reviews and
misprocurement decisions.
Fiduciary Oversight Arrangements under the SWAp
43. To ensure fiduciary oversight of all eligible expenditures undertaken through PEDPIII, a
matrix of oversight arrangements has been established. The principal instruments for fiduciary
oversight of PEDPIII expenditures are as follows, and the tentative schedule is outlined in Table
A3.3, below: (i) Annual Fiduciary Review (AFR); (ii) Quarterly Fiduciary Review (QFR); (iii)
review of and no-objection on the Procurement Plan (annual); (iv) prior review of ICB goods and
works; prior review of all consultancies; (v) other regular fiduciary oversight activities including
review and follow-up of the Interim Unaudited Financial Reports (IFR), Annual Audit Report,
quarterly reporting on the procurement risk mitigation plan.
58
44. For all Development Partner co-financed eligible expenditures (excluding procurement
carried out in accordance with ICB method and all consulting services), ADB and IDA will
jointly manage the Annual Fiduciary Review (AFR) and the Quarterly Fiduciary Review (QFR).
Both ADB and IDA will provide joint technical supervision of the work of the consultants and
therefore both will be accountable for the quality of the report. Both ADB and IDA will make
best efforts to take joint decisions. However, in the event that a joint decision cannot be
achieved, ADB and IDA will take decisions based on their respective bi-lateral loan/credit
agreements. The fiduciary oversight managed by IDA and ADB is summarized in Table A3.4.
Table A3.3: Tentative schedule of fiduciary oversight activities over the year
Review of
Interim
Unaudited
Financial
Report
(IFR)
Quarterly Fiduciary
Review (QFR)
Review
of
Annual
Audit
Report
Annual
Fiduciary
Review
(AFR)
Joint GOB
+ DP
Reviews
July IFR
August
QFR including
Procurement Review
September
October
QFR
November
Consultation
Meeting
December
January IFR replaced with AFR
Annual
Audit
Report
AFR
including
full Post
Procurement
Review
February
March
April
QFR
May
JARM
June
59
Table A3.4: Fiduciary Oversight Arrangements
Activity Role of ADB and IDA Role of Other Development
Partners
Annual
Fiduciary
Review
(AFR)
ADB will initiate TORs
ADB and IDA will finalize TORs
incorporating comments from PFWG
members
ADB and IDA will agree on selection process
of the consultants
ADB will initiate short listing of consultants,
organize a joint consultant evaluation
committee, including IDA, finalize consultant
selection, finance (or co-finance) consultant
contract, recruit consultants, administer the
contracts
ADB and IDA will provide technical oversight
on the work of the consultants
ADB will share draft reports of the
consultancies with the PFWG.
ADB and IDA will consolidate comments
received on report from PFWG
ADB and IDA will make joint
recommendations on findings of the report and
next steps. These decisions will be discussed
with the PFWG before finalization.
Once finalized, ADB and IDA will send a
joint letter (co-signed by the team leaders of
both ADB and IDA) addressed to the GOB
(details are provided in the ―misprocurement‖
section of this table in cases where major
irregularities are found)
ADB will draft reports (as required), together
with IDA for information sharing for the
Donor Consortium or the Government
Procurement and Finance
Working Group (PFWG) to
review and provide comments
on TORs
PFWG to review draft AFR
report and provide comments
PFWG to provide input to
proposed recommendations by
ADB and IDA on findings of
AFR
Quarterly
Fiduciary
Assessment
(to be
undertaken
jointly by
ADB and
IDA staff and
individual
consultants
ADB will initiate TORs
ADB and IDA will finalize TORs
incorporating comments from PFWG
members
ADB and IDA will agree on selection process
of the consultants
ADB and IDA (as appropriate) will finalize
consultant selection, finance (or co-finance)
consultant contracts, recruit consultants and
administer the contracts that they finance/co-
finance
ADB and IDA will provide technical oversight
on the work of the consultants
ADB will share draft reports of the
consultancies
Procurement and Finance
Working Group (PFWG) to
review and provide comments
on TORs
PFWG to review draft AFR
report and provide comments
PFWG to provide input to
proposed recommendations by
ADB and IDA on findings of
AFR
60
Activity Role of ADB and IDA Role of Other Development
Partners
ADB and IDA will consolidate comments
received on reports from PFWG
ADB and IDA will make joint
recommendations on findings of the reports
and next steps. These decisions will be
discussed with the PFWG before finalization.
Once finalized, ADB and IDA will send a
joint letter (co-signed by the team leaders of
both ADB and IDA) addressed to the GOB
(details are provided in the ―misprocurement‘
section of this table in cases where major
irregularities are found)
ADB will draft reports (as required), together
with IDA for information for the Donor
Consortium and/or the Government
Procurement
Plan
(there will be
one single
Procurement
Plan, updated
annually by
the GOB. The
GOB will
submit the
Procurement
Plan to ADB
and IDA for
no-objection)
ADB and IDA roles:
ADB review Consultancies
IDA reviews ICBs
ADB & IDA jointly review the remaining
NCBs
All assessments/comments from the reviews
above are incorporated into a single (no-
objection) letter on behalf of all DPs. The
letter is co-signed by the ADB and WB team
leaders, and transmitted by either ADB or IDA
to GOB. The letter will state that ICB has been
reviewed by IDA, Consultancies by ADB, and
the remaining NCBs reviewed by both ADB
& IDA.
Other DPs may also review the
Procurement Plan or delegate
to the 2 Banks (ADB, IDA)
Prior Review No joint responsibility
Respective ADB and IDA procurement
specialists review documents (for
Consultancies and ICB goods and works,
respectively), and letter signed by respective
team leaders
Mis-
procurement Where misprocurement involves
consultancies, ADB assesses. ADB signs any
misprocurement letter to inform GOB, and
transmits directly to government with a copy
to all DPs. ADB team leader gets input from
ADB procurement specialists before finalizing
the letter.
Where misprocurement involves ICBs, IDA
assesses. IDA signs any misprocurement letter
to inform GOB, and transmits directly to GOB
with a copy to all DPs. IDA team leader gets
input from IDA procurement specialists before
finalizing the letter.
Selected DPs to participate in
procurement review sub-
committee of PFWG
Misprocurement decisions by
the 2 Banks, to be finalized in
consultation with the PFWG
61
Activity Role of ADB and IDA Role of Other Development
Partners
Misprocurement identified by the AFR
involving all other NCBs is assessed jointly by
ADB & IDA, with possible inputs from other
DPs. The two Banks (ADB, IDA) will form a
working committee including selected PFWG
members, finalize decision (e.g., declare mis-
procurement) in consultation with the PFWG,
and present their joint decision for
endorsement by the Donor Consortium where
possible. ADB and IDA will make every
effort to agree on their assessment so that one
single letter on the findings of the AFR can be
sent (co-signed by the ADB & IDA team
leaders, and additional DPs (as appropriate) to
inform government about the findings of the
assessments. ADB and IDA team leaders get
input from their respective procurement
specialists before finalizing the letter.
Communication with government on the
preliminary findings of the AFR report will be
jointly drafted and jointly signed by the team
leaders of the ADB and IDA on behalf of all
DPs.
Bilateral agreements prevail for any remedial
action after misprocurement is declared. That
is, the respective DPs would send their own
letter to government to request reimbursement
of funds/announce cancellation of part of their
financing and/or other actions.
III. Environment and Social (including safeguards)
45. Environment. The PEDPIII infrastructure program will be implemented throughout
Bangladesh. Infrastructure activities will be small scale, and any potential environmental impact
is likely to be short-term, site-specific, non-sensitive or reversible. Mitigation measures can be
designed to overcome or reduce any negative environmental impacts. The Project was reviewed
during preparation and designated as environmental Category B, which is appropriate and
consistent with the provisions of OP/BP 4.01.
46. The needs-based approach adopted for PEDPIII means that the full extent and exact
location of works to be carried out cannot be known at the time of Project preparations. In
conformity with World Bank procedures, limited environmental analysis/screening of each sub-
project will be carried out prior to its implementation. The analysis/screening will be conducted
through government systems, under responsibility of DPE, using procedures specified in the
Environmental Management Framework (EMF) prepared and publically disclosed before Project
appraisal. The EMF also sets out supervision, mitigation measures and monitoring procedures.
DPE prepared the EMF in consultation with the Local Government Engineering Department
62
(LGED), relevant stakeholders including government agencies, local government bodies, local
communities, School Management committees, NGOs and the other Development Partners
involved in PEDPII and PEDPIII.
47. PEDPIII will support mainly four types of subprojects: (i) new building construction, (ii)
expansion or major renovation of existing buildings; (iii) maintenance and minor renovation of
buildings, and (iv) provision of water supply and sanitation facilities. Particular attention will be
placed on infrastructure in vulnerable geographic locations, e.g. coastal areas, hilly areas,
floodplains. DPE is developing a five-year action plan for the needs-based infrastructure
program (see Yr0 DLI, Annex 1), with targets, taking account of disparities within and across
Upazilas. The actual locations of the new schools and those to be expanded or renovated are
being identified and prioritized, according to certain parameters derived from field surveys and
broad consultations. Many of the schools are likely to be in the disaster-prone coastal regions,
where they will also serve as shelters during cyclones and other natural calamities. The following
criteria have been agreed, to roll out subprojects through a transparent system of priority-setting:
(i) Classroom gap (required rooms for day shift/(2x existing rooms) x 100
(ii) Teacher gap (required teachers for day shift/(2 x existing teachers) x 100
(iii) Condition index of the existing classrooms (percentage of buildings assessed to be
in poor condition)
(iv) Percentage of kacha15
rooms
(v) Enrolment gap: out-of-school children in the school catchment area
(vi) Trend in student population in the school for last 3 years
(vii) Special/underprivileged areas: Char, Haor, Coastal areas, Hilly area, schools in
remote and unserved areas (of an Upazila) to be given priority
(viii) Toilet gap (required/existing x 100)
(ix) Drinking water gap (required/existing x 100).
48. During PEDPIII preparations, DPE reviewed conditions of existing schools, water supply
and sanitation facilities with relevant stakeholders to distil recommendations for improving
environmental stewardship and sustainability of the structures to be built under PEDPIII.
Standards have been proposed, as follows:
(i) Girls‘ toilets: 1:50
(ii) Boys‘ toilets: 1:75; boys‘ urinals 1:60 (twice the number in national and
international standards)
(iii) Teachers‘ toilets: at least 1 per school (2 if there are more than 30 teachers)
(iv) Water supply: each school to have at least one safe drinking water source, either a
tube-well or piped water supply
49. Elevated levels of arsenic in groundwater have emerged as a major health issue in
Bangladesh. Good construction practices can enhance use of sanitary latrines and associated
drainage facilities. Safeguarding against arsenic contaminated drinking water can be ensured
through (i) careful site selection based on available data and arsenic testing just after installation
of tube-wells (if arsenic is found in installed tube-well water, tube-well would be withdrawn);
15
Building made with earthen materials
63
(ii) providing alternative water supply option in case of arsenic contamination in tube-well water;
(iii) annual monitoring of water (arsenic for tube-wells and fecal coliform for water supply based
on dug-well, rainwater harvesting and surface water); (iv) maintaining/consulting central
database on tube-well and alternative water supply (quality, depth, location etc.).
50. All construction must give due consideration to the use of environmentally friendly
construction materials. Alternative solutions and final designs are to be subject to public and
community consultation, with special emphasis on students and teachers; their preferences will
be given priority in decisions on infrastructure design. In cases of new construction, PEDPIII
will use khas (administered by the Ministry of Land) and other public lands to the extent
possible. Land needs will be determined on a case-by-case basis according to school location and
the land presently available under schools‘ ownership. A check list will be utilized to determine
whether land is procured through voluntary donation, direct purchase, or acquisition.
51. DPE will delegate responsibility to LGED to manage the civil works, as was done under
PEDPII. The LGED has reinforced its Environmental Unit with an additional engineer (to head
the unit), and it will also have a full time Environmental Specialist which will build up LGED‘s
capacity to monitor safeguards compliance and regularly report on status. Safeguard monitoring
will include compliance checking, facilitation and coordination related to environmental
analysis/screening, ensuring that environmental management costs have been properly reflected
in the bidding documents for civil works, and for other measures as relevant. Additionally, DPE
will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Department of Public Health
Engineering (DPHE) for annual water quality monitoring to ensure arsenic-free safe drinking
water. DPHE/LGED will ensure that schools have provision of septic tanks and infiltration
gallery (soak pit), and that, during the design stage, infrastructure activities do not infringe upon
natural ecosystems. DPE will provide all the tube-well information and field test kits to the
DPHE Research and Development (R&D) Division. DPHE will coordinate and implement the
testing through its field office and prepare the analytical reports. DPHE will also carry out a five
percent quality check in their zonal laboratories. Finally, DPE will set up an Engineering Unit
during PEDPIII. This unit will hire the consultant services to monitor at least ten percent of the
infrastructure implemented by the LGED. The monitoring will include environmental
performance of the subprojects.
52. Social Safeguards: As a function of the needs-based criteria which pertain to the PEDPIII
infrastructure program, expansion and renovation of the existing schools, wherever required, will
involve construction of additional classrooms, provision of separate toilets for girls and boys,
safe drinking water supply, and repair/renovation of the buildings for overall improvement of the
learning environment. Construction of additional classrooms and toilets will be carried out in the
existing premises, either adjacent to or on top of the existing buildings. Most of these schools are
likely to be located in the relatively densely populated areas. New building construction is
mostly foreseen for the disaster-prone coastal regions. The new schools in the Chittagong Hill
Tracts, location for the largest concentration of the country‘s indigenous population, will have
dormitories to offset travel difficulties and risks encountered by children from highly dispersed
settlements. The new schools will be built on khas and other public lands (including those owned
by MOPME) which are free of private users including squatters; lands would be transferred from
one government agency to the other. Where public lands are not available, they will be sought on
64
voluntary private donation by local individuals and communities. Beyond these possible options,
DPE has also decided that, unlike the case for PEDPII, it will not rule out the remote possibility
of land acquisition during PEDPIII, since it steps up efforts to assure the physical facilities
required for full enrolment of all school-aged children. Hence, OP 4.12 on Involuntary
Resettlement has been triggered. With its program in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, PEDPII
triggered OP 4.10 on Indigenous Peoples, and this will remain applicable under PEDPIII.
53. Consistent with the World Bank‘s OP 4.10 and OP 4.12, DPE has addressed the possible
social risks and concerns relative to involuntary displacement from private and public lands and
to indigenous peoples, and prepared a Social Management Framework (SMF). This applies to
PEDPIII as a whole. The SMF also incorporates the safeguards requirements of the other
Development Partners and has been reviewed and endorsed by them The document builds on the
plan developed under PEDPII for Expanding Education of Tribal Children (EETC) which
remains valid for PEDPIII and aims to enhance effectiveness of actions for extension and
rehabilitation of existing government schools for better coverage of out-of-school children, as
well as capacity building of tribal institutions and social mobilization to motivate tribal parents to
send their children to school. Before the SMF was finalized, DPE undertook further
consultations with indigenous peoples‘ groups to ensure their views and recommendations were
incorporated into the document. In regard to OP 4.12, the assessments undertaken show that it is
highly unlikely there will be squatters who might be displaced. The SMF has nonetheless been
prepared keeping the option of acquisition as a last resort for procuring land. The SMF sets out
the principles, policies, guidelines and procedures to identify and address impact issues and
implementation arrangements for Indigenous Peoples Plans (IPPs) and Resettlement Plans (RPs)
as and when they may be required. In the remote possibility that DPE would need to acquire land
in a way that would involve adverse impacts, compensation for land and all replaceable losses
would be paid at replacement/ market prices, and all irreplaceable items at market prices.
54. As executing agency, DPE will be responsible for supervision, monitoring and evaluation
of SMF implementation. Given present capacity levels at DPE, specialized assistance will be
required for managing the social safeguards assessment and mitigation issues. A Social specialist
with expertise in resettlement, IP and gender issues will be appointed by DPE. District and
Upazila level offices will perform all process tasks, especially those related to obtaining lands
from private and public ownership. As to monitoring, Upazila Education Offices will provide the
up-to-date monthly information on all activities undertaken. The District Education Offices will
collate the information and forward to DPE. With the assistance of a consultant, DPE will set up
computerized databases which will include district-wise information on planned civil works,
community consultations, options used to obtain lands, purchase and acquisition and
compensation payment, as well as others needed to implement the SMF. DPE will report on the
entire program. The Upazila and district level DPE staff as well as the relevant personnel from
the central ministry who will be directly involved in implementation, will be trained to ensure
compliance with the Environmental Management Framework (EMF) and the Social Management
Framework (SMF). The cost of monitoring, training and other expenses to carry out provisions
of the EMF and SMF is budgeted under the appropriate PBHs. The MOPME‘s annual plan for
implementing PEDPIII each year will also include the scope of application of any applicable
Environmental Management Plans, Indigenous Peoples‘ Plans, and/or Resettlement Plans
required per the EMF and SMF to implement activities for the respective years.
65
55. Because there is no lead Development Partner providing oversight of the program,
oversight of safeguards‘ compliance will be ensured through joint reviews, led primarily by the
World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, as is the case for fiduciary oversight. To the
extent possible, joint decisions will be sought on safeguards compliance and in the case of
disagreement, bi-lateral agreements shall prevail. If the need for an in-depth review arises, the
World Bank may contract (finance or co-finance) the consultant/firm to undertake the review on
behalf of all Development Partners.
IV. Program Monitoring and Evaluation
56. Undertaking the monitoring activities of the program will be the responsibility of the
M&E unit of DPE. The main task of this unit will be to monitor the implementation of the
program‘s main interventions and document the results achieved at each stage. The unit will also
be responsible for regular updating of the key performance indicators, preparing and
disseminating detailed progress reports and conducting specific studies. At the moment, the main
source of data used by DPE is the Annual School Census (ASC) which collects information on
school enrollment, teachers, school performance and other indicators in government schools and
other registered schools. As PEDPIII is implemented, the amount of information collected
through the ASC will have to expand to cover new or not previously monitored interventions as
well as to include non-government schools and madrasas. Currently, MOPME is only able to
monitor certain types of schools and does not have the full picture of the primary education sub-
sector. The M&E unit will establish closer links with the Bangladesh Bureau of Education
Information and Statistics (BANBEIS), Local Government and Engineering Department
(LGED), National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) and the Ministry of Education
(MOE) to gain access to other sources of data and improve its capacity to monitor interventions
such as construction, textbook delivery or indicators such as transition rate to secondary
education. Closer collaboration with the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) will also give
access to large scale household surveys (including commissioning additional surveys)) and
permit triangulating findings on outcomes and improve the validity of core sector indicators.
57. A robust M&E system is key to the success of the result-focused approach. The
Government thus aims at strengthening the existing unit and at correcting the weaknesses
identified by a stocktaking exercise (financed by the World Bank) in 2010. First, there will be a
reorganization of the M&E unit, separating the IT functions from M&E. Second, staff with
specific M&E skills will be added, and roles and responsibilities will be clearly defined. Third, a
strong emphasis will be placed on improving the data collection and validation processes to
ensure better data quality and reliability. Fourth, there will be greater emphasis on timely and
quality reporting and dissemination. Finally, the program will build in and be informed by
impact evaluations of specific interventions.
V. Role of Partners
58. IDA‗s support to the Government of Bangladesh will be supplemented by funding from
interested Development Partners. Ten of them have participated in PEDPIII preparation and
nine16
have expressed their commitment to fund the program. Although each of the Development
16
The Netherlands have not yet indicated the amount of funding available.
66
Partners will provide support to the primary education program under separate bilateral
agreements, all have agreed to support the same program framework. They have also all agreed
to adopt the use of country systems to the extent possible for both financial management and
procurement. A few Development Partners, however, may still keep some parallel funding for
the purpose of technical assistance (e.g. JICA, UNICEF). In addition to bilateral agreements, a
Joint Financing Arrangement (JFA) will be signed between the Government and the
Development Partners supporting the program, to document the harmonized funding modality,
agreed program framework, and common reporting and auditing requirements as well as
procurement procedures and fiduciary oversight arrangements. The technical assistance
arrangements will also be coordinated among Development Partners. All participating
Development Partners will be signatories to the JFA.
67
Annex 4
Operational Risk Assessment Framework (ORAF)
Negotiations and Board Package Version
Project Development Objective(s)
Description: The development objectives of the proposed program are to (i) increase participation and reduce social disparities in primary education, (ii) increase the
number of children completing primary education and improve the quality of the learning environment and measurement of student learning, and (iii)
improve effectiveness of resource use for primary education.
PDO Level Results Indicators:
1. Increase in the number of children enrolled (net enrollment rate (NER)) in primary education
2. Primary cycle Completion Rate to Grade 5, as % of cohort (disaggregated by gender)
3. Decreased disparity in access to schooling measured by family income levels (NER of 20% poorest relative to NER 20%
richest)
4. Learning levels regularly monitored through learning assessment system (frequency and quality of assessment of learning
of primary education completers (Grade 5 Completion Exam)
5. Percentage of schools/SMCs preparing School Improvement Plans and receiving funds
Risk Category Risk Rating Risk Description
Proposed Mitigation Measure
Project Stakeholder Risks
MI
Community ability and possibly commitment
to school-level management and
improvement plans may diminish due to
complex arrangements for accessing funds
and inadequate community mobilization, thus
adversely affecting local level
implementation.
1. Continue community awareness and mobilization
programs
2. Simplify transfer mechanism for implementation of
School Level Improvement Plans
Implementing Agency Risks
MI
Achievement of program objectives may be
significantly affected by weak capacity in
planning, management, and monitoring
program results, financial management,
procurement and compliance with
environmental safeguards at all levels.
1. Capacity building is at the forefront of the program. It
is being supported through technical assistance,
strengthening of school-based management, the
development of a robust M&E system and independent
program evaluation.
2. A PFM action plan is being implemented as part of
program preparation. Program design also incorporates
68
Institutional arrangements for effective
implementation not yet finalized: regulatory
framework and mechanisms for working
across the sector with all providers remains in
early stages of development
expenditure monitoring, external validation exercises,
and an Annual Fiduciary Review, including a
procurement post review. IDA and ADB have taken
joint responsibility for ensuring fiduciary oversight and
detailed their roles (as well as those of other DPs) in the
Joint Financing Arrangement. The objective is to ensure
high quality fiduciary oversight and harmonized
decision-making to the extent possible.
3. The preparation of the education budget will adopt a
results based approach, well integrated with the MTBF.
Strengthening Public Expenditure Management Project
(SPEMP) will provide support for strengthening the
MTBF and financial accountability. 4. The program will support the capacity development of
the DPE on environmental and social issues through
technical assistance.
5. Technical assistance for international training on
procurement principles and best practices shall be
incorporated in the annual training plan.
6. Use of country FM systems (treasury model) will
reduce transaction costs and help focus the capacity
building efforts.
Project Risks
Design Risk MI
The approach of linking disbursements to key
results may be subject to risks associated with
the capacity to implement, monitor and
evaluate program activities effectively and in
a timely manner.
1. MOPME, through DPE, has already initiated a results-
based management system which will be strengthened
during the project.
2. Capacity support in strengthening monitoring and
evaluation will be a strong feature of PEDP III.
3. The adoption of DLIs builds an incentive mechanism
into the program design.
4. DLIs do not hold GOB accountable for delivery
outcome-related targets which may be beyond its reach
within the program period. DLIs include a combination
of policy, implementation output and outcome level
targets which aim to strengthen reforms in the key
selected areas. These can be reviewed at midterm to
allow for contingencies.
Social & Environmental L
Social and Environmental Safeguards Risk:
Limited capacity within MOPME may lead to
deficiencies in implementing the agreed plans
(including the Environmental Management
Plan, EMP), consistent with agreed
guidelines.
1. An Environmental Management Framework (EMF)
and Social Management Framework (SMF) and
arrangements for its implementation have been prepared
in consultation with communities and stakeholders.
2. Institutional and Organizational arrangements include
clearly specified responsibilities for managing
environmental and social safeguards. This will be further
69
Overall Risk Rating at Preparation Overall Risk Rating during Implementation
ML MI
strengthened through the recruitment of additional
expertise as explained earlier.
3. The Project will include a strong mechanism for
supervision and monitoring physical facilities and
provision of safe drinking water (i.e. without arsenic
contamination) including a qualified official assigned to
oversee these and other environmental and social
safeguards.
Program & Donor L
1.The variety of requirements by various DPs
can create some confusion and add
complexity with additional transaction costs
for the GOB
2. The capacity of DPs to supervise such a
large GOB implemented program is limited
and relies heavily on GOB produced
administrative data.
3. DP financing are subject to fluctuations in
aid and may be ―lost‖ if not fully disbursed
due to unmet DLIs within the financial year.
1. All DPs adopt the same program and results
framework, and use the same set of DLIs, and joint
review process, and common financial reporting.
2. The Joint Financing Arrangement will spell out the
harmonized requirements/rules (common financial
reporting, common set of DLIs etc), signed by all DPs
and the GOB.
3. GOB administrative reported data will be triangulated,
with information from other valid sources, as mentioned
earlier.
4. Some proportion of bilateral funding will be provided
irrespective of success in meeting DLIs. This safeguards
the loss of all Development Partner funds earmarked for
the Project in the event of unmet DLIs.
Delivery Quality MI
There could be pressure to implement too
large a number of interventions at the expense
of quality
1. Through the DLIs, the focus is set on selected priority
areas leaving some flexibility about the pace of
implementation of other program areas.
2. The program will support strong monitoring and
evaluation.
70
Annex 5: Implementation Support Plan
I. Implementation Support Strategy
1. In line with the decision to use a common results-based approach and to provide
Development Partner funding for PEDPIII by using country systems, there is consensus among
all the Partners participating in the SWAp to have harmonized implementation arrangements,
joint planning towards key program results, and joint assessment of those results. This includes a
joint responsibility to supervise, and provide necessary implementation support to DPE and
MOPME.
2. While maintaining the usual functions of due diligence in fiduciary and safeguard
oversight over procedures, transactions, and activities, implementation support under PEDPIII
will shift from attention restricted to inputs in order to focus substantially on the capacity to
deliver results: in particular, in the areas identified as strategic interventions (see Annex 2). The
strategy for the Implementation Support Plan (ISP) will be to maintain a continuous dialogue
(both formal and informal) with the Government to identify ahead of time, problems and
obstacles which could delay implementation and prevent achieving agreed results; and to
provide, where and when needed, technical advice and support to remove such obstacles.
3. There is consensus among the Development Partners that, while Government‘s
commitment is key to the achievement of agreed results, technical assistance that is well targeted
on a number of strategic areas could be critical to strengthen capacity and country systems. The
Government has endorsed this strategy, requesting implementation support in selected areas. The
Development Partners have in turn, agreed to determine jointly with the Government, technical
assistance plans (to avoid duplication of efforts and confusing advice), and to build on their
respective comparative advantages in terms of expertise and financial resources. The
Development Partners and GOB will agree jointly on the providers of technical assistance and on
their terms of reference. Some of this implementation support is built within the PEDPIII. In
addition, some Development Partners will provide technical assistance directly, while this will
still be within parameters of the jointly agreed, technical assistance plan.
Implementation Support Plan
4. The following ISP describes how the World Bank and the other Development Partners in
the PEDPIII SWAp will support the implementation of the risk mitigation measures (identified
in Annex 4: ORAF) and provide the technical support necessary to facilitate achieving the PDO
(linked to results/outcomes identified in the Results Framework, Annex 1). The ISP also
identifies the minimum requirements to meet the World Bank‘s fiduciary obligations. The ISP
will be reviewed at least once a year to ensure that it continues to meet the implementation
support needs of PEDPIII.
5. Joint Annual Reviews (between GOB and all Development Partners) constitute the first
element of the ISP. These joint reviews will take place twice a year. In May, their main objective
will to review progress, and, in particular, to check whether agreed results have been achieved.
The second review, scheduled for November, is also meant to review progress, but this time, the
71
focus will be on identifying ahead of time, obstacles and impediments (if any) that could derail
the implementation plan. During each of the reviews, and, especially during the November
review, the type of implementation support that is needed could be identified, followed by joint
decisions to provide technical assistance. The main beneficiaries of this support would be DPE
with its line directors, as well as all other agencies involved in the implementation of PEDPIII.
6. The second element of the ISP is the continuous dialogue that needs to be maintained
between the Development Partners and the Government, and which would provide an
opportunity for discussing options, responding to specific requests for advice, or identifying
possible issues. This second element is more informal and would not require that a full mission
be fielded, but rather that the relevant experts and/or selected Development Partner
representatives participate.
7. Whether formal or informal channels (annual reviews or small technical visits), there is
agreement between GOB and the Development Partners on the following principles: (i)
implementation support should be provided according to a rolling plan prepared by GOB in
consultation with Development Partners and based on identified emerging needs; (ii)
coordination and management of technical assistance should be done by MOPME and DPE; (iii)
technical assistance should aim at building system capacity and be used for short term tasks and
not be used to substitute for staff functions; (iv) international technical assistance should be
partnered with Government counterparts and/or local experts to build national capacity. These
principles were adopted to address the problems which the GOB and Development Partners
identified during preparation of PEDPIII, i.e. poor coordination, lack of planning and limited
government ownership which reduced the effectiveness of support during the life of the previous
project.
Technical Support/Review:
8. An initial needs assessment was conducted and several technical areas have already been
identified as particularly in need of implementation support. These are: (i) management and
evidenced-based planning; (ii) monitoring & evaluation; (iii) human resource management; (iv)
needs based quality infrastructure; (v) pre-primary education; (ii) stipend programs; (iii)
learning assessment and examinations; (iv) curriculum and teacher professional development.
This initial needs assessment will be further refined and completed before PEDPIII effectiveness.
9. Based on past and on-going experience, and an agreed sharing of responsibilities between
the Development Partners, implementation support financed (outside the Credit) by the World
Bank will be largely focused on the areas of monitoring and evaluation, learning assessments and
examinations, and delivery of stipends in addition to the overall supervision of the whole
program, and in particular, to the needs in areas of fiduciary and safeguards oversight.
10. Monitoring and Evaluation. The M&E support plan will seek to enhance the capacity of
the M&E division and the project implementation divisions. It will include support for:
improving the Annual Census instrument, enhancing data quality though validation and internal
checks, better triangulation of information through comparison with data from other sources,
designing surveys and analyzing data, undertaking third-party validations, monitoring of key
performance indicators, and expanding the coverage of the census to be more comprehensive
72
within the primary education sector. Support in the area of M&E will also seek to ensure closer
coordination between DPE divisions and between DPE and related agencies which are
implementing the stipend program, textbook distribution and construction activities.
11. Learning assessments and examinations. In this area, there is a critical need to strengthen
DPE and other agencies (e.g., NAPE, NCTB) with international expertise to ensure the quality of
the tests and administration, a timely analysis of their results and an appropriate feedback of
findings into teaching practices. The quality of tests used in previous rounds has been weak and
has prevented the establishment of a reliable baseline. Exams have tested rote learning rather
than ability to think. Improving the system in a sustainable way cannot be achieved with a one-
time assistance. Support will need to be provided on a continuous basis over the life of PEDPIII
to accompany the gradual improvement of the assessment system and carefully phased out to
allow for a gradual build-up of national capacity.
12. Stipend program. A study is currently under way to analyze several aspects of the
administration of the revamped stipend program. It is expected that support will be needed to
help implement recommendations which could result from this analysis and for undertaking
further analysis of its effectiveness and impact.
Fiduciary Oversight and Support:
13. Fiduciary oversight arrangements and support have been developed to support
harmonized approaches, particularly between the two multi-lateral development banks (World
Bank and ADB) co-financing this SWAp, which would be enabled upon acceptance of the
waivers (from the World Bank Board on recognizing ADB‘s sanctions list and from the ADB
Board on expanding the list of eligible bidders beyond its member states) being requested by the
two Banks.
14. For all expenditures incurred under PEDPIII, excluding procurement of goods using ICB
method and all consultancy services, the World Bank and the ADB have worked out, in
consultation with all other DPs, arrangements for mutual accountability of fiduciary oversight
functions. The World Bank will undertake fiduciary oversight for all ICB goods and works
contracts which it is co-financing along with other Development Partners (excluding the ADB,
which is not financing this category of expenditures). The ADB will undertake fiduciary
oversight for all consultancy contracts that it is co-financing along with other Development
Partners (excluding the World Bank, which is not financing this category of expenditures). The
oversight arrangements are also given in Annex 3 of this PAD and will be set out in detail in the
Joint Financing Arrangements to which the GOB and all the Development Partners in the
PEDPIII SWAp will be signatories.
15. The principal instruments for fiduciary oversight of PEDPIII expenditures include, each
year:
One Annual Fiduciary Review (AFR) including a detailed Procurement Post Review
Three Quarterly Fiduciary Review (QFR) (one of the three QFRs is expected to include
a light procurement review)—the fourth one is replaced by the AFR
Review of and No Objection on the Procurement Plan (annual)
73
Prior review of ICB goods and works and all consultancies Other regular fiduciary oversight activities including review of the Interim Unaudited Financial
Reports (IFR), Annual Audit Report, quarterly reporting on procurement risk mitigation plan or
procurement performance reporting based on agreed indicators, etc.
16. For the co-financed eligible expenditures, ADB and IDA will jointly manage the Annual
Fiduciary Review (AFR) and the Quarterly Fiduciary Review (QFR). The two Banks will
provide joint technical supervision of the work of the consultants and therefore both Banks will
be accountable for the quality of the report. The two Banks will make all efforts to take joint
decisions. However, in the event of disagreement, bi-lateral loan/credit agreements shall prevail.
17. Financial management: The financial management support plan will be risk based, and
will include: monitoring progress against the PFM action plan; review of the PEDPIII financial
management arrangements through Annual Fiduciary Review; reviews of quarterly/semi-annual
IFRs; review of annual audited financial statements and management letter; monitoring of audit
follow-up process as well as timely follow-up of issues arising; and participation in joint
implementation support missions as appropriate. Since it is the first time that a Project of this
nature relies on the use of country systems, a great deal of implementation support is envisaged
on a day-to-day basis to ensure adequate financial management. This will involve, inter alia,
MOPME, DPE, Ministry of Finance, CGA, CAG, and SPEMP. Close coordination would be
maintained with the MDTF (SPEMP) team for implementation of Public Financial Management
capacity building in the education sector.
18. Procurement: Procurement oversight will be provided by the World Bank exclusively for
all ICB contracts which are co-financed with all DPs (excluding the ADB). Procurement
oversight of all consultancies (ineligible for World Bank financing) will be provided by the
ADB. Both Banks have agreed to undertake mutual accountability for the supervision of
contracts subject to national competitive bidding processes (see Annex 3), pursuant to obtaining
the waivers mentioned above. The oversight will be required for planning procurement,
undertaking prior review, building capacity for procurement and undertaking post reviews.
Safeguards:
19. Given the weaknesses in DPE capacity, specialized assistance will be required for
managing the environmental and social safeguards assessment and mitigation issues. The
Upazila and district level DPE staff as well as the relevant personnel from the central ministry
who will be directly involved in implementation will be trained to ensure compliance with the
Environmental Management Framework (EMF) and the Social Management Framework (SMF).
20. The EMF and SMF have been reviewed and agreed by all Development Partners. These
documents clearly specify the monitoring arrangements. Because there is no lead donor
providing oversight of the program, oversight of safeguards‘ compliance will be ensured through
joint reviews, led primarily by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, as is the case
for fiduciary oversight. To the extent possible, joint decisions will be sought on safeguards
compliance; in the case of disagreement, bi-lateral agreements will prevail. If the need for an in-
depth review arises, the World Bank may contract (finance or co-finance) the consultant/firm to
undertake the review on behalf of all the development partners in the SWAp.
74
21. In addition, on an ongoing and regular basis, the World Bank team will supervise (in
collaboration with other Development Partners, particularly the ADB) and provide support to
agencies involved in ensuring safeguards compliance. Inputs from an environment and a social
specialist are required, though the Project‘s social and environmental impacts are limited.
Training is required on environment monitoring and reporting. Field visits are required on a
semi-annual basis. Both social and environmental specialists are based in the World Bank
country office in Dhaka.
Anti Corruption:
22. The World Bank team will supervise the implementation of the agreed Governance and
Accountability Action Plan which is based on the Annex 4: ORAF and available as a separate
document from this PAD.
23. The main focus of the ISP is summarized below: Time Focus Resource Estimate Partner Role
First 12
months
Technical Review:
M&E (school census instruments;
data analysis and reporting from
school census; reporting for DLIS
and KPIs; expanded scope of census,
effectiveness of revamped stipend
program);
Grade 5 exam and learning
assessments
General education expertise
M&E Specialist (20
SWs), Economist (10
SWs)
Assessments
Specialist(s)—15 SWs
& Firm (Learning
Assessment)—30SWs
Sr. Education
Specialist (25 SWs)
Education
Specialization may
be shared with
other Development
Partners (DPs)
Other DPs may
contribute
resources
Fiduciary Oversight:
Financial Management
Procurement
Financial
Management
Specialist (15 SWs)
Procurement
Specialist (10 SWs);
Procurement
consultant (6 SWs)
Mutual oversight
with ADB
(pending waiver).
Other DPs
contribute
resources for all
fiduciary oversight
functions
Safeguards:
Social Safeguards
Environmental Safeguards
Specialist(s)—5 SWs
Specialist(s)—5 SWs
Other DPs
contribute
resources for all
fiduciary oversight
functions
Task Team Leader
15 SWs
75
Time Focus Resource Estimate Partner Role
12 – 48
months
Technical Review:
M&E (data validation, third party
validations, designing Education HH
survey; analysis of the EHS data, data
analysis and reporting);
Building capacity for exams and
assessments; targeted support for
learning assessment
General education expertise
M&E Specialist (60
SWs),
Economist (30SWs)
Assessments
Specialist(s)—30 SWs
& Firm (Learning
Assessment)– 30 SWs
Sr. Education
Specialist (75 SWs)
Education
Specialization may
be shared with
other DPs
Other DPs may
contribute
resources
Fiduciary Oversight:
Financial Management
Procurement
Financial
Management
Specialist (30 SWs)
Procurement
Specialist (18 SWs);
Procurement
consultant (18 SWs)
Mutual oversight
with ADB
(pending waiver).
Other DPs
contribute
resources for all
fiduciary oversight
functions
Safeguards:
Social Safeguards
Environmental Safeguards
Specialist(s)- 15 SWs
Specialist(s)- 15 SWs
Other DPs
contribute
resources for all
fiduciary oversight
functions
Task Team Leader
45 SWs
Other Technical Review:
Third party evaluation of Stipend
program
Fiduciary Oversight:
Public Expenditure Tracking Survey
Research Firm -
30 SWs
Consultants:
International - 10 SWs
National - 20 SWs
Other DPs may
contribute
resources
76
24. The staff skills mix required is summarized below
Skills Needed Number of Staff Weeks Number of Trips Comments
M&E Specialist 80 SWs Fields trips as required. International and
local consultant
Economist 40 SWs Field Trips as required Local
Assessment Individual Specialist(s) 45 SWs
Firm 60 SWs
Year 1; 10 SWs Year 2
Field Trips as required International
Senior Education Specialist 25 SWs annually Field Trips as required International
(based in Country Office)
Research Firm + Research
consultants
Firm (stipends eval.) 30 SWs
Consultants (PETS) 30 SWs Field Trips as required Local
Social specialist (national) 5 SWs annually Fields trips as required. Country office based
Environment specialist 5 SWs annually Fields trips as required. Country office based
Procurement 10 SWs Yr 1; 6 SWs Yr2
onward Fields trips as required. Country office based
Procurement Post Review
(consultants) 6 SWs annually Fields trips as required. International
Senior Financial
Management specialist
15 SWs Yr1; 10 SWs annually
Yr2 and onward
Fields trips as required. Country office based
Task Team leader 15 SWs annually Fields trips as required International/Country
based
77
Annex 6: Team Composition
World Bank staff and consultants who worked on the project:
Name Title Unit
Susan Opper Senior Education Specialist and
Co-TTL
SASED
Ayesha Vawda Senior Education Specialist and
Co-TTL
SASED
Helen Craig Lead Human Development
Specialist
AFTED
Michelle Riboud Consultant (Economist) SASED
Marta Molares-Halberg Lead Counsel LEGES
Jay Pascual Counsel LEGES
Syed Rashed Al-Zayed
(Josh)
Economist SASED
Benjamin Safran Junior Professional Associate SASED
Dilip Parajuli Education Economist SASED
Md. Mokhlesur Rahman Senior Operations Officer SASED
Subrata S. Dhar Senior Operations Officer SASED
Burhanuddin Ahmed Senior Financial Management
Specialist
SARFM
Furqan Ahmad Saleem Senior Financial Management
Specialist
AFTFM
Chau-Ching Shen Senior Finance Officer CTRFC
Zafrul Islam Lead Procurement Specialist SARPS
Toufiq Ahmed Procurement Specialist SARPS
Marghoob Bin Hussein Senior Procurement Specialist SARPS
Nadia Sharmin Consultant (Environment) SASDI
Shakil Ahmed Ferdousi Senior Environment Specialist
Sabah Moyeen Social Development Analyst SASDS
Teen K. Barua Consultant (Social Development) SASDI
Hena Mukherjee Consultant SASED
Somasundaram
Swaminathan
Finance Analyst CTRDM
Sandra Alborta Program Assistant SASHD
Nazma Sultana Program Assistant SASHD
Alejandro Welch Information Assistant SASHD
Shashi K. Shrivastava Consultant SASHD
78
Annex 7: Governance and Accountability Action Plan (GAAP)
The World Bank, together with eight Development Partners (DPs), aims to support the
Government of Bangladesh‘s (GOB‘s) Third Primary Education Program (PEDPIII) through the
use of a Sector Wide Approach (SWAp). Disbursement is conditioned on the achievement of
pre-specified results, referred to as Disbursement-Linked Indicators (DLIs). The PEDPIII seeks
results in three broad areas: (i) improving the quality of the learning environment and measuring
student learning; (ii) increasing participation and reducing social disparities in primary
education; and (iii) improving program planning and management, and strengthening
institutions.
The most critical risks to the achievement of these results are:
(d) Focus on inputs: The current focus of education service delivery is on inputs. Given that
results-based interventions are fairly new, it will take some time to change from a culture
based on inputs to focus on outcomes and results. Hence, if adequate emphasis is not placed
on monitoring and evaluating effectiveness of programs/DLIs, the effectiveness of the
program is likely to be reduced. There has been a systemic effort to reduce this risk.
Significant dissemination regarding the change in approach has taken place through the
system, and will continue. MOPME, through DPE, has already initiated a results-based
management system which will be strengthened during the project. Further, capacity support
in strengthening monitoring and evaluation will be a strong feature of PEDPIII. Finally, the
adoption of DLIs builds an incentive mechanism into the program design.
(e) Capacity: Despite ongoing capacity building efforts, staff vacancies and turn over, civil
administration issues and lack of accountability cut across the sector. Weak capacity at
planning, implementing and monitoring stage, as well as low fiduciary capacity could
jeopardize program achievement. To mitigate this risk, the program ramps up technical
assistance in various aspects of educational management as well as on fiduciary issues to
assist the government in achieving results. Local capacity and accountability are being
enhanced through scaling up school-based management under School Level Improvement
Plans (SLIP). Increased focus is also being placed on developing quality monitoring and
evaluation systems.
(f) Fraud and corruption: Certain systemic weaknesses in some aspects of the program, such
as delivery of stipends, contracts for books, hiring of teachers, civil works etc., expose the
project to a risk of corruption and non-transparent or inefficient practices. Furthermore,
enforcement of GOB‘s procurement regulatory system may not meet the needed level of
governance and accountability. These risks are mitigated through several measures. The
program design incorporates expenditure monitoring; external validation exercises, and an
annual fiduciary review. A PFM action plan is being implemented to ensure timely and
reliable financial reports for the Program and to enhance monitoring for follow-up of audit
observations. The Bank's own intensive supervision of technical and fiduciary aspects will
also mitigate this risk. On procurement, GOB‘s regulatory system will be strengthened in line
with internationally accepted procedures, and procurement capacity will be enhanced as
79
needed. There will also be transparency in disclosure of procurement activities, mainly
through DPE‘s website.
The program has been designed to address these critical risks, and hence, project interventions
are in essence the mitigation measures for ensuring the outcomes planned for this program.
While the details of the interventions are provided in the Project Appraisal Document, the
following tables summarizes the key elements of achieving results through enhanced governance
and accountability in the sector.
80
Issues / Risk Mitigating Actions GAAP monitoring mechanisms Agency
Responsible
Timeline
Focus on inputs includes
too much emphasis on
inputs rather than on results,
often resulting from lack of
incentives to focus on
outcomes and constrained
by ineffective management
information systems and
unavailability of analyses
for decision making.
Adoption of Disbursement Linked Indicators,
which provides a strong financial incentive to
deliver results since a large proportion of
financing is linked to the delivery of results
Results based management
Strengthening capacity for monitoring and
evaluation through enhanced instruments for
M&E and better staffing
Monitoring of Disbursement
Linked Indicators through
Joint Annual Reviews (JARM)
Preparation of Annual Sector
Performance Report
DLI verification (use of more
comprehensive education
census questionnaire, data
verification through sample
based quality control
mechanisms, data
―triangulation‖ through
household surveys and interim
household survey focusing on
education); Analysis of results
of 2013 Grade V terminal
examination completed by
DPE and NAPE and results
disseminated
MOPME
and DPs
DPE
MOPME
and DPs
Semi-annual
(once for JARM
and once 6
months earlier)
Annual
Semi-annual
(once for JARM
and once 6
months earlier)
Capacity constraints includes limited availability
of skills required for
undertaking the work either
due to frequent turnover or
inadequate career paths,
weak capacity at planning,
implementing and
monitoring stage, as well as
low fiduciary capacity. The
system overall may be
limited in its capacity due to
unpredictable financing.
Incentives for attracting and retaining high quality
staff through well designed career paths for all
teachers, head teacher, and all staff of the
Directorate of Primary Education (center and
localized)
Strengthened assessments of student learning,
measuring skills as opposed to rote learning
Support school based management thorough the
provision of School Level Improvement Plans
(SLIPs)
DLI verification: Proposal of
career paths for teachers and
head teachers and, career
paths, recruitment and
promotion rules for DPE
officers (field and Head
Quarter) approved
Grade 5 examination which is
25% competency based
verified through independent
review
At least 75% of schools having
prepared SLIPs and received
funds according to SMC
guidelines validated by
expenditure tracking survey
MOPME
and DPs;
MOPME
DPE and
NAPE
MOPME
and DPs
Year 3
Year 3
Year 3
81
Issues / Risk Mitigating Actions GAAP monitoring mechanisms Agency
Responsible
Timeline
Support financial sustainability—For each fiscal
year, Primary education budget aligned with
program framework and consistent with 3 year
Medium Term Budgetary Framework (MBTF);
Actual primary expenditures for each fiscal year
within 15% deviation of the originally approved
budget
Community involvement in school maintenance
Budget circulars 1 & 2;
Detailed budget framework
and expenditure forecast; draft
budget (May), and expenditure
statement until April, approved
budget for next FY; simplified
AOP and Integrated Financial
report June.
Site visits, third party
monitoring
MOPME
and MOF
MOPME
and LGED
Annually
Annually
Fraud and corruption
include non-transparent or
inefficient practices
Needs-based infrastructure development
Improved targeting of stipends to beneficiaries
All teachers and head teachers‘ positions
(vacancies and new positions) filled according to
agreed recruitment procedures and on needs basis
Third party validation exercises
At least 55 % of planned
needs-based infrastructure
development completed
according to criteria and
technical standards.
Public Expenditure Tracking
Survey
Needs-based analysis of new
teacher and head teacher
positions approved by
MOPME; Teacher database
and EMIS, Administrative data
on teacher recruitment process.
Third party validation of
validation census data
completed, at least 25% of
Upazilas having prepared
Upazilla Primary Education
Programs(UPEP) and received
funds based on UPEP
guidelines validated by
expenditure tracking survey;
Third party validation of
infrastructure development
MOPME
and LGED
MOPME
MOPME
and
Ministry
of
Establish
ment
Contracted
out to
agencies
Annually
Year 3
Annually
As required
(more details on
each validation
exercise in
PAD)
82
Issues / Risk Mitigating Actions GAAP monitoring mechanisms Agency
Responsible
Timeline
according to criteria and
technical standards; Third
party validation of monitoring
mechanism for textbook
distribution completed
FM Risks include:
Weaknesses in Financial
Management capacity at GOB
level in terms of supervision,
follow up, audit compliance.
Lack of FM capacity at locals.
Potential delay in payments
through the treasury system and
risk of rent seeking
Inaccurate expenditure numbers
and/or incorrect classification of
accounts
Advances booked as an
expenditure (not actually spent)
Absence of an effective internal
audit function within
MOPME/DPE
Inadequate audit follow-up
(weak financial accountability)
Financial management arrangements are provided in
detail in Annex 4. The key measures that directly
strengthen the governance and accountability include
among others:
Use of country systems for financial flows,
payments and audit which would encourage more
balanced segregation of duties in transaction
processing and a pre-payment audit
Agreement on a comprehensive PFM action plan
to mitigate key financial management and
procurement risks while using the treasury
systems for PEDP III
Strengthening of financial management capacity
of the Finance Unit in DPE encouraging
segregation of duties, exercise of authorization
and approval controls, compliance with
procedures and independent internal checking;
Agreed templates and framework for monitoring
of payments processing service standards at
accounts offices
Agreed monitoring framework for monthly
reconciliation between DDOs and accounts
offices
Agreed on a separate code of advances outside
the expenditure codes
Adoption of International Accounting Public
Sector Accounting Standards to promote
adequate disclosure and presentation of financial
information;
Annual Fiduciary Review
Reports (Studies)
Quarterly Fiduciary Review
(review of FM systems and
compliance with agreed
arrangements)
Minutes of monthly meetings
on reconciliation and
payment processing time
exceptions
Interim Financial Reports
Annual Financial Statements
and Audit reports (incl.
management letter)
Minutes of tri-partite
meetings on audit follow-up
DPE/MOP
ME,
PFWG
Annual
Quarterly
Monthly
Semi-annual
Annual
Annual
83
Issues / Risk Mitigating Actions GAAP monitoring mechanisms Agency
Responsible
Timeline
Annual audit by the Comptroller and Auditor
General of Bangladesh
Annual fiduciary review to bring out systemic
issues and concrete recommendations for high
fiduciary risk areas
Legal covenant for the executive follow-up of
Serious Financial Irregularities through tri-partite
meetings/audit review meetings on a timely basis
The program design incorporates expenditure
monitoring; external validation exercises, and an
annual fiduciary review conducted by DPs to
mitigate this risk substantially.
Procurement risks include:
Corrupt, Collusion, Fraudulent,
and Coercive practices by the
bidders.
Record Keeping and document
management system
Complaint mechanism,
Complaint handling, redress
mechanism and awareness
Transparency and right to
information
Verification of contract
obligations
Raise awareness among implementing agency‘s
officials/ staffs about fraud and corrupt issues.
In the pre-bid meeting aware bidders on the
consequences of fraud and corrupt practices.
Also bidders are to be informed about bidders‘
right to complaint and complaint handling
obligations by the procuring entities.
All implementing agencies will ensure written
procedure for record keeping with periodic audit
on functioning of the record keeping procedures.
Ensure online complaint mechanism in place in
the website of the procuring entities. Conduct
training for handling complaint to the
procurement staffs/ officials of the procuring
entities.
Publish contract award information in the website
of the procuring entity.
Keep records of complaint resolution, debriefing
minutes and ensure bidders are made aware of the
decision.
A protocol on access to information to be
developed and all staffs are to be made aware of
the protocol (including the requirement of
confidentiality of bid evaluation).
Quarterly Fiduciary Review
and Annual Fiduciary
Review.
DPE,
LGED
and
NCTB
Quarterly and
Annual
84
Issues / Risk Mitigating Actions GAAP monitoring mechanisms Agency
Responsible
Timeline
Complaint mechanism at field level to be
introduced for contract obligation verification.
Involvement of School Management Committee
in contractual obligations monitoring. Establish
complaint mechanism specifically on issues of
quantity, quality and timeliness of contract
obligations.
