Program Information Documents (PID)€¦ · While still high by global standards, India’s growth rate has decelerated in the past two years. After peaking at 8.2 percent in FY16/17,

The World Bank Strengthening Teaching-Learning And Results for States (P166868)

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Program Information Documents (PID)

Appraisal Stage | Date Prepared/Updated: 14-Sep-2019 | Report No:

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BASIC INFORMATION

OPS_TABLE_BASIC_DATA A. Basic Program Data

Country Project ID Program Name Parent Project ID (if any)

India P166868 Strengthening Teaching-Learning And Results for States

Region Estimated Appraisal Date Estimated Board Date Practice Area (Lead)

SOUTH ASIA 16-Oct-2019 17-Dec-2019 Education

Financing Instrument Borrower(s) Implementing Agency

Program-for-Results Financing Ministry of Finance Ministry of Human Resource and Development

Proposed Program Development Objective(s) The Project Development Objective (PDO) for STARS is to improve the quality and governance of school education in project states.

COST & FINANCING

SUMMARY (USD Millions)

Government program Cost 3,350.00

Total Operation Cost 3,350.00

Total Program Cost 3,325.00

IPF Component 25.00

Total Financing 3,350.00

Financing Gap 0.00

FINANCING (USD Millions)

Total World Bank Group Financing 500.00

World Bank Lending 500.00

Total Government Contribution 2,850.00


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B. Introduction and Context

Country Context

1. While still high by global standards, India’s growth rate has decelerated in the past two years. After

peaking at 8.2 percent in FY16/17, economic growth has been lower in FY17/18 (to 7.2 percent) and

FY18/19 (to 6.8 percent). Estimates for the first quarter of FY19/20 suggest that growth is likely to be

soft by Indian standards at around 6.4 percent for the full fiscal year (assuming the external

environment remains benign). In addition to relatively low levels of private investment over the past

several years, the latest data shows a broadening of the slowdown across all categories of aggregate

demand. Although the current account deficit widened to 2.1 percent of GDP in FY18/19, robust capital

inflows during the second half of the year allowed for a build-up of international reserves to US$ 411.9

billion at the end of the fiscal year (equivalent to 10 months of imports). Going forward, subdued import

growth and benign oil prices are expected to contain the current account balance to some extent. On

the fiscal side, the general government deficit is estimated to have widened to 5.9 percent of GDP in

FY18/19 but is expected to consolidate to 5.7 percent in FY19/20.

2. Since the 2000s, India has made remarkable progress in reducing absolute poverty, although the

pace may have slowed. Between 2011-12 and 2015, poverty declined from 21.6 to an estimated 13.4

percent at the international poverty line (2011 PPP US$ 1.90 per person per day), continuing the earlier

trend of robust reduction in poverty. Aided by robust economic growth, more than 90 million people

escaped extreme poverty during this period. Despite this success, poverty remains widespread. In 2015,

an estimated 176 million Indians were still living in extreme poverty while 659 million, or half the

population, were below the higher poverty line commonly used for lower middle-income countries (2011

PPP of US$3.20 per person per day). Recent trends in the construction sector and rural wages, a major

source of employment for poorer households, suggest that the pace of poverty eradication may have

moderated. Further, there are substantial social and economic disparities between states and urban and

rural areas, as well as structural inequalities by gender, tribe, and caste. Addressing these inequalities will

require the quality of school education with a view to enhancing learning levels and preparing the

students’ to successfully transition to the workforce.

Sectoral and Institutional Context

3. Education is viewed as key to reducing absolute poverty and increasing overall prosperity levels in India. Through its centrally sponsored schemes for school education – Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) – the Government of India (GOI) has considerably improved access to elementary and secondary education1 over the last decade. Around 300 million children between the ages of six and seventeen now attend 1.5 million government, government aided,

1 Pre-school education refers to two year of early childhood education for children between 4 to 6 years of age; elementary education comprises of primary and upper primary education that include grades 1 to 5 (age 6 to 11) and grades 6 to 8 (age 11 to 14); secondary education that includes grades 9 and 10 (age 14 to 16) ; and senior secondary education that includes grades 11 and 12 (age 16 to 18).


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and private schools in the 36 states and Union Territories that make up India’s federal system2.

4. The education sector in India has benefited from a broad structural architecture that encourages decentralized management of education. Education is a concurrent subject of the Indian Constitution; the Central government through the MHRD is the policy setting body and the 29 state governments and Union Territories are the implementing arms with flexibility to undertake reform as per state contexts. This is through the systems at district and sub-district levels and community-based organizations that are open to stakeholder ownership and social audit. However, these structures need appropriate nurturing and governance reforms to ensure that they deliver what they were supposed to deliver when they were put in place under the erstwhile District Primary Education Program (DPEP) and the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan programs of the government. The structure is as follows:

7. Sustained gains in school enrolment and attendance have contributed to substantial improvements in the elementary and secondary gross enrolment ratio (GER) across all school types. As of 2016-17, the elementary GER was almost 93.6 percent while the secondary GER stood at 79.4 percent, up from 58 percent in 2009-10. The government’s recent decision to merge SSA, RMSA, and teacher education into one integrated scheme (Samagra Shiksha) is a step towards creating a seamless K-12 system with a focus on enhancing learning at every level. Samagra Shiksha builds on the spirit of cooperative, competitive federalism in India and provides greater flexibility to states for school education planning and budgeting, with a view to supporting interventions and innovations that align with the local context and are focused on improving education outcomes. The scheme is being implemented by MHRD through a single State Implementation Society (SIS) at the state level. The central focus of this single management structure is to facilitate clear development objectives and results by using evidence-based decentralized planning at the district level, adopting a whole school approach, strengthening both vertical and horizontal accountability, and creating opportunities for peer learning.

2 (Government: 1,102,783, Government Aided: 83,787, Private Unaided: 335,776)


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8. There is a growing emphasis on the monitoring of learning outcomes across all levels of schooling, as evidenced by India’s decision to participate in the 2021 administration of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA); the expansion of India’s National Achievement Survey (NAS); and the introduction of State Learning Achievement Surveys (SLAS) in 27 states. Other positive developments include the introduction of grade-wise learning outcomes to support a shift in curricular focus from content to competencies; the inclusion of two years of Early Childhood Education (ECE) in the new centrally-sponsored scheme on school education; and the launch of two new indices for measuring state performance on key education outcomes and governance processes.

9. Despite these achievements, the 2017-18 Performance Grading Index published by India’s Ministry for Human Resource Development (MHRD) shows persistent deficiencies in school retention

and

completion, learning outcomes, and education sector governance, with deep inter- and intra-state variations in all areas. These deficiencies are linked to a limited focus on ECE (and foundational learning in general); teacher shortages in key geographic locations and subject areas; and overall weaknesses in teacher preparation and accountability. Further the education system’s ability to act on evidence is limited by weak institutional capacity to design, administer, and analyze data from learning assessments at national and state levels. There are massive variations on state performance and we can see at a glance how states perform on the Performance Grading Index (PGI) of the MHRD. The PGI is a grading tool prepared by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, GOI to provide insights into the status of school education in India by grading the 36 Stats and Union Territories on key levers that drive results; namely education outcomes and governance indicators for assessing education service delivery and accountability. The PGI comprises of 70 indicators with a total weightage of a 1000. Components include domains like: Quality and learning outcomes; Access; Equity and Governance. The PGI has been an effective tool used by STARS to identify the intervention states based on their performnace in PGI 2017-18 results. Based on the PGI, STARS has identified six states for STARS intervention; Himachal Pradesh, Kerala and Rajasthan that have been high performers and have been categorised as Lighthouse States; Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Odisha that need to strengthen their performnace on key domains like governance are the Learning States.


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10. With immense heterogeneity of schooling provision: there is a need for effective regulation: During the period 2010-2017, Government school enrolment fell sharply in India by 23.9 million and fell

in all the six STARS states (by a total of 7.7 million pupils, or by 23%). Average public-school size also fell between 2010 and 2017, from 123 to 99 students per school, a fall of 19% over seven years. However, it is to be recognized that a part of the decline in public school enrolment is due to state governments

doing data correction by removing fake or double enrolments (sometimes assisted by Adhaar card technology), but a substantial part is also due to migration to non-state providers.

11. Further, the aided school’s segment has also experienced a fall in their numbers and in their student enrolments over time, with their declining enrolment feeding the growth of non-state schooling providers. While legally under the ownership of their private managements, aided school teachers face very similar accountability structures as public-school teachers; with less accountability pressures than in public schools since in the latter, a non-performing teacher at least has the threat of being ‘disciplined’ by being transferred to an inconvenient posting. Paucity of government grants together with lack of tuition fee income implies that aided schools are very under-resourced, though they have well-educated and highly paid teachers. There is a large private unaided schooling system with “deep concentration of power and conflict of interest”3 within the present structure of governance of the school education system. In a fundamental reform of school regulation, India is considering that instead of government being the regulator of private schools, a basic uniform regulatory framework for public and private schools would be created at the central level for states to adopt/adapt for facilitating partnerships with non-state actors in this area.

12. In India, around 300 million school going children between the age of six and 17 are provided an education in 1.5 million government, government aided and private schools in India4; the quality of education varies across different kind of schools in India. It is strange within the same ecosystem, there are a set of Centrally managed public schools that work and continue to deliver effectively. Disaggregated data reveals that certain government school networks like the Navodyaya Vidyalayas (NVs) and Kendriya

3 Draft National Education Policy (NEP, 2019) chapter 8, page 178 4 (Government: 1,102,783, Government Aided: 83,787, Private Unaided: 335,776)


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Vidyalayas (KVs) perform better than other schools in learning outcomes. JNVs and KVs across the country have a pass percentage of 99.7 percent as compared to the national average of 98.8 percent. A closer look into their governance and management processes exhibit a few lessons that can be replicated to all schools. Broadly, these boil down to some key initiatives and actions taken commonly in both KVs and NVs: (i) decentralized academic planning and management, with annual inspection of the school across academic and administrative areas. (ii) teacher preparation is rigorous; all teachers must undergo at least one 21-day in-service course every five years, supplemented by rigorous CPD through reginal training centers (iii) Effective teacher incentives in the KV through monetary and non-monetary incentives was prevalent leading to motivated teachers (iv) School readiness is important; while KVs offer education from Grade 1 onwards and have no preschool provision, reception and transition for new young students is planned and delivered meticulously. A ‘school readiness program’ of 6 weeks duration is delivered through an activity-based approach to develop core competencies and skills of all children attending primary school (v) Partnerships with non-state actors is encouraged; KVS has partnered with various organizations like Oracle, Intel Corporation and Microsoft to impart Information Technology skills to teachers and children across all schools. It was felt necessary to isolate factors that made these schools effective and incorporate such elements int the STARS project design.

13. Strengthening Teaching-Learning and Results for States (STARS) Project Design: Dictated by the background analytical work and an increasingly powerful federal narrative in India, STARS would follow a carefully nuanced strategy in its project design. The design emerges from the India Country Partnership Framework (2018-2021) and the defining feature would include:

a. The How: Using India’s powerful federal structure strategically, STARS will focus on enhancing state capability. While the balance will tilt significantly towards support to states, engagement in select components of the transformational national scheme Samagra Shiksha will be followed at the federal level. The state focus under STARS will be on a group of states that are representative of Indian diversity (Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha) where deeper interventions will be supported to catalyze change, innovation, and agility in the state program.

b. The What: STARS would focus on key determinants that are expected to have transformational impact of improving service delivery through decentralized planning and management in the selected states. The components of the project as defined by analytical tasks undertaken will include: strengthening the early years, improving learning assessment

Box 1. What makes and Effective School? Global evidence on education system improvement

Global evidence suggests that interventions found to improve school systems can be classified into three categories:

(i) Supply side interventions such as high quality physical infrastructure, teaching and learning materials, and human

resources; (ii) Incentives for changing preferences and behaviors such as payment incentive schemes for teachers,

conditional cash transfers and school vouchers for parents, and merit-based scholarships for students; and (iii)

Participatory and community management interventions aimed at promoting decentralization of reforms and

improving governance systems. Additionally, studies underscore the need to assess learning as a guide and metric

to improve education systems. The lack of quality preschool education and foundational learning also has been found

to exacerbate poor performance and low learning outcomes as many children are entering primary school

unprepared to learn.


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systems; strengthening classroom instruction and remediation; improving teacher development and school leadership; facilitating school to work/ higher education transition and strengthening governance and decentralized management for improved service delivery.

PforR Program Scope

14. The World Bank PforR program under STARS will be moving away from a sector wide approach

of supporting the entire Centrally sponsored scheme of Samagra Shiksha, towards supporting

strategically identified components of Samagra Shiksha, the government’s school education program.

The scope of STARS will be to carve out areas of support from the Samagra Shiksha that would include (i)

providing support at the Central level to strategically critical areas for meeting requirements of improving

education outcomes like strengthening early childhood education, learning assessment systems and

governance reform (ii) strategically engage in six select states of India to bring to scale carefully chosen

components and innovative approaches that would help meet the development objective of the program.

This tiered approach will address challenges of Learning States that need more support to improve their

reform initiatives (Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Odisha) and share the success of the more

progressive Lighthouse States (Himachal Pradesh, Kerala and Rajasthan) to scale up their reform

initiatives and strengthen areas that need support financing.

STARS: Operation Boundaries:

15. Program Financing: The Samagra Shiksha program is being implemented across all the 36 states/ Union Territories. The overall expenditure for 2019-25 under the Government’s ongoing Samagra program is estimated at US$36 billion. The STARS Program is carved out of the Government’s Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan program to support school education enhancement under the existing framework, by targeting MHRD at the federal level and six pilot participating States in India, through a combination of investments in ongoing and new reforms/interventions. The cost of the PforR Operation (STARS) is USD


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3.35 billion which will be financed by (a) MHRD, GoI financing (national support) of US$1.79 billion; (b) States’ contribution over the operation period of US$ 1.06 billion; and (c) World Bank financing of US$500 million. The World Bank financing of US$500 million to the MHRD will be over a period of six years from the date of approval of the Operation. The proposed World Bank financing comprises of a US$ 475 million assistance to the Program using the PforR instrument and a US$ 25 million TA component (“Project”) using the IPF instrument. The World Bank’s contribution through the PforR instrument will thus account for about 15 percent of the total estimated expenditures of the Program. The Program expenditure framework is derived from a current baseline (supported through Central and State budget) and estimates for FY19–25 interventions.

Source Amount

(USD Million) % of Total

Program Cost 3,346 100%

Borrower/Recipient

GOI funding 1,789 53.43%

State Funding 1,057 31.64%

International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD)

500 14.93%

Total Program Financing 3,346 100%

C. Proposed Program Development Objective(s)

Program Development Objective(s) The Project Development Objective (PDO) for STARS is to improve the quality and governance of school education in project states.

Project Components:

16. STARS will focus two major areas: a national component and a state component with five sub-

components:

17. Results Area 1: National Component: At the national level, STARS would support the MHRD to

strengthen national data systems to capture robust and authentic data on retention, transition and

completion rates. Further, MHRD would be supported through finances to incentivize states to undertake

reforms that would improve quality and governance in states that would improve retention, completion

and transition rates that would reflect in the national data based the Unified District Information System

for Edcuation Plus (UDISE Plus). The DLIs especially through the proposed State Incentive Grants would

further push this reform agenda of the MHRD and state incentives that would ensure completion and

enhancement in transition rates. Secondly, STARS would support MHRD in improving the scores on the

Performance Grading Index (PGI) through incentivizing states for governance reform through the State


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Incentive Grants that will be financed through STARS. Thirdly, the project will support strengthening

learning assessment systems in India. STARS would cover a multi-year support for India’s participation in

PISA 2021, including (a) Creating a National Assessment Center that would manage India’s participation

in PISA; (b) technical capacity building; (c) stakeholder awareness raising; (d) media engagement; (e)

preparatory activities leading up to the 2021 administration of PISA (including familiarization of teachers

and students with PISA); and (f) analytical and dissemination activities leading up to and following the

release of the PISA international and country reports in 2022. Further, the PISA experience will be used to

strengthen institutional arrangements and technical design for national assessment in India. Specifically,

support will be provided to: (a) create an independent national center for assessment; (b) develop

technical standards for national assessment exercises; (c) build capacity to develop high-quality test items

aligned with competency-oriented learning standards; (d) build capacity to draw statistically sound

samples and develop standardized procedures and operational manuals for test administration; and (e)

build capacity to analyze and report on assessment results in technically robust and policy-relevant ways.

While some activities like creation of the national center for assessment; capacity building on test item

development and test results assessment will be covered under the Technical Assistance component,

some activities like examination reforms at the national level will use P4R funds. Support will be provided

for an external review of the Grades 10 and 12 examinations at the national level, with an eye to

identifying and implementing reforms to make them more competency-based. Lastly, in addition to the

above, the project will support the strengthening of a National Learning Center, to be designated by

MHRD, that will leverage the experiences of project states by collecting, curating, and sharing these

experiences with other states. Sharing will take place through online portals like Shagun and DIKSHA,

social media, technical workshops, state visits, and conferences. The National Learning Center will be

encouraged to prioritize the dissemination and sharing of state experiences in three areas to start with –

early childhood education, learning assessment, and governance. The center will also be encouraged to

partner with regional entities such as IITs and IIMs to create a national network that can share states’

‘lighthouse’ experiences across the country.

Results Area 2: State Component

18. RA 2.1: Strengthening Early Years Education: Samagra Shiksha guidelines include the introduction of two years of ECE (ages four to six) into government schools. This represents an expansion of the government’s existing early years learning program (Padhe Bharat Badhe Bharat), which covers classes one and two (ages six to eight). In response, states are devising different approaches to introducing ECE into their school systems. Some have introduced preschool classrooms in their government schools, which means that planning, management, and delivery of ECE will be under the purview of the state education department. Others have co-located Aanganwadis (Integrated Child Development Services Centers) on government school premises, with a view to strengthening existing channels of multi-sectoral service delivery. Under this model, planning, management, and delivery of ECE will be under the joint purview of the state department of school education and the state department of women and child development.


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19. STARS will support activities and initiatives that are compatible with the ECE service delivery models adopted by individual states. The unifying focus will be on providing students in each state with learning opportunities that cater to their individual needs. In particular, STARS will assist states to improve the quality of their foundational learning by providing support for:

a. Enhanced classroom layouts that are child friendly, developmentally appropriate, and stimulating; support child learning through direct sensory encounters with their surroundings; and have a positive effect on interactions between teachers and students;

b. Developmentally appropriate curricula supported by standardized Teaching Learning Material (TLM) kits;

c. In-service professional development opportunities for state, district, sub-district, and school-level education functionaries;

d. Parental engagement strategies to enhance parents’ awareness of the importance of ECE; and

e. Administrative and academic monitoring tools/platforms to support implementation of activities, with a view to tracking progress and supporting continuous improvement at both at the grassroots and system level.

20. Monitoring of states’ progress in strengthening early years education will focus on the development of teacher training modules for ECE teachers and facilitators and the percentage of ECE teachers and facilitators who receive training on these modules; the development of early reading and numeracy teacher training modules and the percentage of grades 1-2 teachers trained using these modules; and the development and dissemination of TLM for ECE and grades 1-2.

21. RA 2.2: Improving Learning Assessment Systems: All project states plan to use STARS funds to set up or strengthen state-level assessment cells that can design and manage state-level assessment surveys; build teacher capacities on competency-based assessment and continuous comprehensive evaluation; and manage state-level implementation of national assessment exercises. In each state, support will be provided in the following areas:

i. Creation of an assessment cell/State Centre for Assessment, with the help of expert assessment agencies, to support the National Centre for Assessment;

ii. Enhancement of teacher capacity to carry out and use data from Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation [CCE] and other classroom-based assessment activities, including in multi-grade/multi-level and other challenging classroom environments;

iii. Creation of online item banks to support teachers’ formative, diagnostic, and summative assessment activities by aligning them with key learning outcomes/competencies/benchmarks;

iv. Developing a technology-enabled assessment platform that can allow teachers to create assessments (using online item bank) as well as manage, analyze, and use data from assessments; and

v. Improving the quality and utility of various assessments (e.g., NAS, SLAS, and examinations) (a) for identifying individuals or groups of students in need of learning enhancement activities, and (b) for measuring the effectiveness of those learning enhancement activities.

vi. Support also will be provided to State Boards to carry out similar reviews and reforms of their


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examinations. All this work will be informed by a World Bank review of examination practices and reforms around the world as well as by the expertise and experience acquired by CBSE through its support for the capacity building of teachers and students undertaking the PISA 2021 test.

22. At the state level, the focus will be on the creation of state assessment cells; the development of teacher training modules on CCE and classroom assessment; the development of learning outcomes-based online item banks for use by teachers; and the training of teachers on CCE and classroom assessment.

23. RA 2.3: Improving Teacher Performance and Classroom Practice: Most project states have already begun using SLAS and NAS results to inform their teacher training needs. This feedback mechanism will be enhanced under the STARS project through investments in national and state-level capacities to assess learning. In addition, STARS will support a dedicated package of teacher development, school leadership, and learning enhancement activities in the project states to further enhance instruction and learning.

24. Teacher Development: The STARS project will support states to develop alternative, ICT-enabled approaches (online and offline) to enhance teachers’ access to subject matter-specific and pedagogical trainings. These training opportunities may be self-paced or provided at regular intervals by the State Council for Educational Research and Training (SCERT), District Institute of Education and Training (DIET), and/or Block Institutes of Teacher Education (BITE)/Block Resource Centers (BRC) and followed up with appropriate teacher assessments that can in turn inform future trainings.

25. Strengthen the infrastructure and facilities at DIETs and BITEs/BRCs, including for the development of DIETs into centers for academic leadership and experiential learning.

26. Facilitate peer learning by leveraging social media (and other IT-enabled) platforms and developing forums for face to-face interaction.

27. Block Resource Centers (BRCs) that are teacher training bodies at the block level and Cluster Resource Centers (CRCs) that are onsite support institutions created to cater to 10-12 schools in a cluster are crucial in teacher capacity enhancement. STARS will introduce governance reforms to reduce the amount of time sub-district level education functionaries are investing in administrative functions, thereby allowing BRCs and CRCs to play a more active role in in need based in-service training, onsite support, academic supervision and mentorship of teachers. 28. Harness the potential of technology and its better utilization in the teaching-learning process inside classrooms by providing technical assistance to assess the digital competencies of teachers and teacher educators and develop operational guidelines to enhance the same. This will enable state governments to refine the professional development needs of teachers, as well as make investment decisions around ICT-enabled interventions.

29. Classroom Instruction and Learning Enhancement Programs: STARS will support state initiatives


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to improve the quality of classroom instruction; encourage non-state actor partnerships, where appropriate, particularly in the area of learning enhancement programs; and provide technical inputs for enhancing the quality of programs. Specifically, STARS will facilitate further strengthening of learning enhancement strategies in a way that is relevant to each state’s context. All learning-enhancement programs will emanate from, and be linked to, the learning outcomes identified in the state.

30. Support states in improving the availability of resources (ICT-enabled and offline) that teachers can use in the provision of learning enhancement activities.

31. Enable states to develop learning level-aligned supplementary worksheets that allow teachers to provide academic support that corresponds to each student’s learning levels/needs and provide a structured path for bringing the student up to grade-level learning standards.

32. School Leadership: The School Leadership Development Program (SLDP) created by the National Institute for Education Planning and Administration (NIEPA) will be used to train a large pool of resource persons (master trainers). States will be encouraged to revive their State Institute of Education Management and Training (SIEMAT)/state nodal institute of education planning and management to provide in-service capacity building support to head teachers and school principals.

33. Monitoring of states’ progress in teacher development will focus on the percentage of elementary and secondary teachers receiving needs-based training and the actions taken by states to evaluate and improve the quality of that training (e.g., through teacher assessments and classroom observations). In the area of school leadership, states’ progress will primarily be tracked by monitoring the preparation and delivery of leadership development/training plans for BRCCs, CRCCs, head teachers, and principals. Monitoring of states’ progress in classroom instruction and learning enhancement programs will focus on the percentage of schools implementing approved learning enhancement programs based on identified learning outcomes for upper primary and secondary grades, and the availability of resources (ICT-enabled and/or offline) for teachers for learning enhancement activities.

34. Using technology to improve teacher management and education: Technology portals like Ek Step and other open source portals and platforms will be used to create capabilities for delivering content, tracking use and supporting teachers collect, manage and use student learning data and support teachers in remedial exercises. Platform selection will be done in consultation with the MHRD and the states. Resources will be subject matter specific and pedagogical training, content for class preparation and classroom use, curriculum and learning level aligned supplementary worksheets for students, and banks of formative assessment items. Digital platforms like DIKSHA with support ECE strengthening through creation of curated high quality ECE content and blended learning materials; parental orientation and outreach material, peer-to-peer learning of AWWs and pre-primary teachers.

35. RA 2.4: Strengthening School to Work/Higher Education Transition: Vocational education and school to work transition is still at a nascent stage in India. STARS will undertake a modest approach and will address the following identified tasks:


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36. Career Counselling initiatives: As part of the GOI’s efforts to universalize secondary education, there is recognition that students need to be provided with more varied options and guided approaches to support them in secondary school, which would be both vocational and academic in nature. Very often, students opting for higher education move into the labor market without the relevant work-related skills

or the transversal soft skills that are important for success in the labor market, rendering them unemployable. STARS will encourage states to provide emphasis on carefully targeted career counselling efforts at the secondary and senior secondary levels with two critical components as defined by OECD: (i) career education in which students learn about the world of work and develop career management skills through classroom teaching, and through other activities such as work experience (ii) individual career advice on a one-to-one basis, providing specific advice on career decisions; either pro-actively

(mandatory interviews for all) or reactively (on demand). To meet this, there need to be a coherent career guidance professional experienced in labor market issues and separated from psychological counselling. Guidance personnel need to have an independent base to underpin their objectivity and be able to call on a wide range of information and web-based material. Strong links between schools and local employers are very important means of introducing young students to the world of work. Guidance initiatives also need to be carefully evaluated. 37. In-school vocational education with market relevance: Clarifying and standardizing VET training and assessment systems, credit transfers and equivalence, and career counselling approaches are crucial so that there is effective coordination between the skills development and the school education sectors. While the Ministry of Skills Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) through its PPP body the National Skills Development Corporation NSDC) has set up a strong cadre of employer led Sector Skills Councils (SSCs), there is very poor connect between the school education sector and the SSCs. STARS will encourage work benches/ multi skilling centers in schools that would be closely linked with the SSCs for ensuring that the trades being introduced in schools are relevant and connected to the labor market. Further, STARS will also ensure that there is effective and relevat training of the vocational education instructors and trainers to reduce the theoretical nature of TVET and enhancing its relevance to the labor market and employers. Building credible systems of evaluation, equivalence, institutional accreditation and apprenticeship will be supported.

38. RA 2.5: Governance and Decentralized Management for Improved Service Delivery: Building on the India CPF, STARS will focus on enhancing state capability at decentralized levels for improved service delivery. This would largely help reduce government tasks, reorganize delivery, expand private initiatives, and create new partnerships for enhanced efficiency. The gains would be enormous: first, making education more relevant to local needs; second, democratically promoting people’s participation by empowering local authorities; and third, improving performance accountability. Key initiatives will include:

Often the rigidity in tertiary systems is inefficient and inequitable given the future of work1. This is because the trade-offs between general and vocational education are changing in unpredictable ways, and most economies continue to need both. Technological progress and the demand for certain occupation-specific skills makes certain tertiary degrees obsolete. Vocational training continues to be a viable career path for many. In 2012, 63 percent of Dutch higher education students were attending vocational training. This share was more than 50 percent in Malaysia, and 31 percent in Kenya in 2013. Vocational training helps meet immediate demand for technical skills, enables faster education-to-work transitions for some, and alleviates pressures on the university system.


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39. Reinforcing the District as the Unit of Educational Planning and Management: STARS will refocus on the district as the unit of decentralized planning and implementation. This will ensure that the planning is more transparent and participatory. The District Project Office (DPO) of Samagra Shiksha, which works in close collaboration with the State Implementation Society (SIS), will prepare evidence based participatory Annual Work Plan and Budget (AWP&B), and monitors physical and financial implementation progress. At the sub-district level, Block Education Offices (BEOs) that have administrative responsibility for the schools will be encouraged to work in close collaboration with Block Resource Centers (BRCs)5 and Cluster Resource Centers (CRCs)6 on academic support. Close coordination with the School Management Committees (SMCs), that have representation from the local authority (the local level elected government) will be strengthened for school management and implementation oversight. SMC will undertake community mobilization, prepare school development plans, identify out of school children and monitor students’ and teachers’ attendance and also look into strategies to improve learning outcomes.

40. Strengthening Crucial Institutions at Sub-District Level: At the sub-district level, Block Education Offices (BEOs) that have administrative responsibility for schools will be encouraged to work in close collaboration with Block Resource Centers (BRCs) and Cluster Resource Centers (CRCs) on academic support for teachers. Under STARS, the role of CRCs will be evolved to include monitoring and evaluation of schools. The Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted) in the United Kingdom will serve as an example for the kinds of capabilities and roles to be developed at the CRC level. CRC Coordinators (who are primarily from the cadre of senior teachers) are an important link in ensuring the quality of learning outcomes at the school level. However, their role has devolved to largely data gathering and reporting (80 percent of their time), which is detracting from the academic support they are supposed to provide to classroom teachers. The World Bank has partnered with Kaivalya Foundation to prepare a decentralized management strengthening plan for CRCs, which would be piloted by select states under STARS.

41. State Level Nodal Institution for Education Management and Training: Decentralized planning and management of education is a technical area requiring specialized skills. STARS will encourage states to establish or revive state-level educational planning and administration institutes, also known as State

5 Primarily, BRCs seek to be resource centers for onsite academic support to the teachers of elementary level. They function as a venue for teacher training, material development, community mobilization, action research works and organization of different activities or competitions among teachers and students and store all data. 66


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Institutes for Educational Management and Training (SIEMAT). The SIEMAT would be expected to take the lead in preparing a Five-Year State Perspective Plan with support from the national Project Management Unit (PMU) for STARS. This Perspective Plan will be translated into AWPBs at the district level through focused hand-holding exercises in which the DEOs, DPOs, BEOs, BRCs, and CRCs will be integrally involved.

42. Effective Teacher Management: STARS will support states to enhance the transparency of their teacher management processes. This will include support for developing IT systems to maintain electronic teacher records and facilitate transparent recruitment and transfers of teachers. Support also will be provided for developing and deploying teacher performance evaluation standards. The IT systems developed for teacher management will allow for the maintenance of online records of teacher performance and the production of analytics required to inform policy reforms and academic interventions directed towards improving teacher performance.

43. National Framework for Partnerships with Non-State Actors: The GoI’s draft National Education Policy (NEP) (2019) proposes that a new State School Regulatory Authority (SSRA) be created in each state, which would develop a uniform regulatory framework for public and private schools. This uniform framework would allow public and private schools to be regulated against the same criteria, benchmarks, and processes. As a move towards that, STARS would encourage the development of a national framework for partnerships with Non0-state actors that states may adapt/adopt.

44. Partnering with Non-state Actors: Partnerships with non-state actors are increasingly being adopted as reform initiatives by states, with the underlying premise that marrying the strengths of the public sector with the management approach of the private sector will lead to demonstrable results. Each

state has been undertaking partnerships in its own way without an overall guiding framework or set of principles.

45. While STARS will encourage such partnerships, it also will facilitate the creation of a national framework for partnerships with non-state actors, including guidance for identifying the schools to be brought under the partnership; a process for identifying and selecting NGO partners; and guidelines for developing Key Performance Indicators for onboarded partners. STARS

will encourage states to explore different models of partnerships, with up to 20 percent of project funding to be allocated for fostering non-state actor partnerships in project states. Potential pilots to be supported would include:

• Whole School Approach: Working with an aggregator or network of school operators, this would involve the private provider taking over the school operations and management. The school would follow the national curriculum but have the flexibility to use its own pedagogic approaches and teacher training while retraining government school teachers.

Both developed and developing economies are exploring

different models that vary in terms of rationale, population

reached, coverage, ownership, funding structures,

contractual arrangements, accountability frameworks etc.

World Bank analytical work covered global initiatives like

the Charter schools in USA that began in 1991 to the

Academy Schools in the United Kingdom, the Pakistan

Education Foundation work in Pakistan and more recent

models introduced in Liberia and Pakistan in 2016 that

show interesting results. Experiences of several Indian

states like Rajasthan (Rajasthan Education Initiative);

Punjab (Model Schools); Municipal Corporation of Greater

Mumbai PPP; New Delhi Municipal Corporation Partnership

schools etc. were also considered.


Sep 10, 2019 Page 17 of 22

• Outsourcing Specific Services: This would include recruitment of private operators to undertake certain services for quality improvement, with a particular focus on teacher training and school leadership.

• Support Services of Management Firms/NGOs: These would largely be expected to be in areas related to decentralized academic and administrative management and monitoring; school leadership; and educational management strengthening.

• Direct Benefit Transfers for School Choice: School vouchers or other direct benefit transfer mechanisms could be explored to ensure that parents and students are empowered to choose a well-functioning and accountable school. This could include the option of a private or public school.

46. The monitoring of states’ progress in strengthening governance and decentralized management for improved service delivery will focus on the setting up of state-level nodal institutions for education management and training; leadership training for BRCs, CRCs, Head Teachers and Principals by these state-level nodal institutions; partnerships established to pilot non-government agency and/or private service provider supported innovations; and the setting up of State School Regulatory Authority (SSRA). There will be further monitoring of states’ progress towards better management and monitoring of teachers and principals though a nine-indicator governance index.


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D. Disbursement Linked Indicators and Verification Protocols 47. For STARS, disbursement will be conditional to achievement of specific results, measured by the DLIs mentioned below. The choice of each DLI and DLI values for each year are based on (a) the signaling role of the indicator (that is, the extent to which it signals a critical action, output, or outcome in the results chain); (b) a perceived need to introduce a strong financial incentive to deliver the activity, output, or outcome; (c) practical aspects of verifying achievement; and (d) the capacity of the GoI to achieve the DLI during the Operation implementation period. Detailed description/definitions of the achievement of each DLI are provided in annex 3. Key DLIs are as follows:

• DLI 1: Increase in students achieving minimum proficiency in grade 3 language in project states

• DLI 2: Improvement in secondary school completion rate in project states

• DLI 3: Improvement in governance index scores in project states

• DLI 4: Strengthened learning assessment systems

• DLI 5: Partnerships developed to facilitate cross-learning between states

• DLI 6: State level improved service delivery

48. . The DLIs will be verified by an Independent Verification Agency (IVA) to be contracted by the MHRD. Those DLIs that need to be verified through disclosed data sources will use these pre-identified disclosed data sources for verification (eg; UDISE Plus, National Achievement Surveys etc.). The periodic reports of the IVA will serve as the data source for assessing progress toward achievement of DLI targets and form the basis for disbursement authorization of select DLIs by the World Bank. The detailed State Incentive Scorecard will form the basis for baseline setting and subsequent target verification for DLI 6. The World Bank will further review the evidence base for all DLIs during implementation. 49. The IVA to be hired will review the results achieved each year under the Results Areas. The terms of reference (ToR) of the IVA would need to be satisfactory to the World Bank. The IVA report will also form the basis for the MHRD to present DLI claims to the World Bank and release funds to the states based on their performance on the SIG scores. D. Environmental and Social Effects

50. In accordance with the World Bank’s policy on ‘PforR Financing’, the World Bank has conducted an ESSA of India’s existing environmental and social management systems for the education sector. The ESSA describes the extent to which the applicable government environmental and social policies, legislations, program procedures, and institutional systems are consistent with the six core principles of OP/BP 9.00 (Program for Results Financing) and recommends actions to address the gaps and to enhance performance during Program implementation. The ESSA provides a comprehensive review of relevant government systems and procedures that address environmental and social issues associated with the Program. The ESSA concludes that the environmental and social impacts of the Program are low-moderate. ESSA Preparation.

51. The methodology included review of policies, legal frameworks, program documents, previous

safeguards assessments for Bank-financed Education programs in India. The ESSA preparation process

also included interviews and consultations with experts and officials from MHRD and the State

Departments of Education of Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Odisha and Rajasthan. Further,

community members and beneficiaries were consulted across the six participating states. The

consultation process included site visits to 25 schools and 2 teacher training institutes in six states with a


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detailed questionnaire. A consultation workshop on the draft ESSA was held in New Delhi in September

2019 to establish consensus on PAP actions and recommendations from the ESSA.

Key Environment and Social Risks and Effects:

52. The ESSA identified the potential risks and opportunities and analyzed the compatibility of the program with respect to the core principles. The ESSA concludes that the environmental and social impacts of the Program are low-moderate. The Program will invest in minor physical infrastructure upgradation inside the existing school premises. These include construction of additional new classrooms, toilets, and water facilities. The Program will not support any civil works activities that will require land acquisition, or expansion. Five States (Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh) out of the six states supported under STARS have designated Schedule V areas. The governance system under the broader Samagra Scheme of the government of India is new and includes new intervention areas such as early-childhood education and school-to-work transition. Potential environmental and social benefits of the Program will include (a) focus on adolescent girls’

through provision of separate toilets for girls, counseling programs to build life skills and raise awareness

about empowerment, schooling outcomes, and health/hygiene; (b) necessary infrastructure and access

which is sensitive to gender and needs of CWSN (c) Creating safe and comfortable learning environments;

with improved sanitation and hygiene; energy and water conservation, and adequate waste management

and climate smart design (e) integration of occupational health and safety practices in vocational training

courses.

53. Key environmental effects of the Program include (a) Generation of dust and noise, construction and demolition wastes, (b) work site accidents, inadequate facilities for construction workers, wastes (c) risk of poor building design, construction and management leading to restricted access, inadequate lighting and ventilation, thermal discomfort, inadequate/inappropriate water and sanitation facilities, fire and electrical safety risks, disaster proneness, (d) impacts to biological environment if trees need to be felled (e) Risk of exposure (especially of pre-school children) to high levels of lead and VOC in building paint, toys and teaching-learning materials, if not properly selected and (f) Risk of occupation related accidents during vocational training facility operation. The key social effects of the program include:

(g)information asymmetries among mid-level officials BRPs, CRPs, BEOs regarding the new interventions

supported under STARS, methods to address potential issues of exclusion emerging due to presence of

vulnerable households, migration patterns and lack of facilities for CWSN; (h) inadequate capacity,

training and knowledge among SMC members to undertake self-audits and construction activities; (i)

potential issues of safety arising due to increased labor-students interface during on-going construction

on school campuses; (j) lack of rigorous beneficiary engagement mechanisms that inform students

especially from EBBs, SFDs, LWEs and aspirational districts about vocational/occupational training; (k) lack

of focused interventions to address the needs of adolescent girls and boys.

54. The Program is expected to have positive impacts on inclusionary outcomes especially w.r.t to secondary school completion rates for boys and girls. To further enable this result area, the ESSA will focus on recommendations relating to: a) assessment of higher-order infrastructure needs in aspirational districts across select states, b) leveraging the benefits of digital infrastructure and technology equitably in middle schools and secondary schools, c) engagement and capacity building of sub-district level officials


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(BRPs, CRPs) to identify needs of SC/ST students and adolescent girls in rural areas especially in areas of vocational education, career counselling and other requirements to enable school-to-work transition; d) usage of behavior change and interactive communication models to spread awareness amongst stakeholders including mid-level professionals, teachers, principals, SMC members about the broader objectives of Samagra, ECE, school-to-work transition, school safety parameters, etc. and e) collaboration and exposure windows for higher secondary students from schedule V areas under other MHRD schemes such as Avishkar Yojana, etc. 55. The Program will invest in minor physical infrastructure upgradation and rehabilitation inside the school premises. These include construction of additional classrooms, upgradation of anganwadis in col-located schools, laboratories, toilets, and water facilities and upgradation of teacher education institutes (TEIs). A screening checklist has been mainstreamed as part of the ESSA to be applied to school facilities, ECE and Vocational Training Facilities. Capacity of school management committes to manage construction related works will be built through the program. This will be strengthened by the delegation/hiring of environment and social focal points at the state and district levels.

56. Overall, the ESSA recommends that the Environmental and Social systems are acceptable for the Program implementation and adopting the PforR instrument. The ESSA finds that there are adequate legal provisions to safeguard against adverse impacts of activities due to construction and adequate guidelines and manuals are available for the procedures of providing environmental health and safety in schools such as safe water supply and sanitation in school facilities. An Environmental Management Framework developed under RMSA funded by World Bank has been brought under the Samagra Shiksha Framework, and School Safety Policy Guidelines developed by the National Disaster Management Authority cover most aspects under environment health and safety. 57. The ESSA suggests that these gaps can be addressed through the following PAP actions for improvement of the environment and social systems. These have been discussed with the MHRD and have been incorporated in the PAP. This includes (a) Institutionalization of environment, social, health and safety aspects in schools by hiring of environment and social specialists in the national PMU for STARS (b) a roadmap for aspirational districts is prepared and adopted by states (c) an awareness and communication strategy to engage with stakeholders is prepared by MHRD. supplementary actions recommended as part of the ESSA to strengthen organizational capacity to effectively manage the program risks are implemented.

E. Financing

Program Financing (Template)

Source Amount

(USD Million) % of Total

Program Cost 3,346 100%

Borrower/Recipient

GOI funding 1,789 53.43%

State Funding 1,057 31.64%

International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD)

500 14.93%


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Total Program Financing 3,346 100%

.

CONTACT POINT

World Bank

Name : Shabnam Sinha

Designation : Lead Education Specialist Role : Team Leader(ADM Responsible)

Telephone No : 5785+79445 Email : [email protected]

Name : Margaret M. Clarke

Designation : Senior Education Specialist Role : Team Leader

Telephone No : 5785+79143 / Email : [email protected]

Borrower/Client/Recipient

Borrower : Ministry of Finance

Contact : Bandana Preyashi Title : Director

Telephone No : 23092345 Email : [email protected]

Implementing Agencies

Implementing Agency :

Ministry of Human Resource and Development

Contact : Rina Ray Title : Secretary

Telephone No : 23383226 Email : [email protected]

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT

The World Bank 1818 H Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20433 Telephone: (202) 473-1000 Web: http://www.worldbank.org/projects

http://www.worldbank.org/projects


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