Report No. PID5206 Project Name Cameroon-Basic Education Improvement Project (@ Region Africa Sector Education Project ID CMPE412 Borrower Republic of Cameroon Implementing Agency Ministry of Education Yaounde, Cameroon Tel: 237-22 51-76 Fax: 237-23 08-55 Date PID Prepared March 5, 1997 Date PID Revised August 1, 1997 Projected Appraisal October 1997 Projected Board Date January 1998 Background 1. Country and Sector Background Learning results at both primary and secondary level have been very poor and are jeopardizing human resource development. In almost all parts of the country primary school enrollment rates have been falling over much of the past decade, and currently, the gross enrollment rate stands at 83% compared with 114% ten years ago. Between 1987/88 and 1996/97 there was almost no recruitment of primary school teachers and thus the system became increasingly dependent on teachers paid by parents. Many teachers graduating from teacher training colleges (which were only reopened in 1995/96 after being closed for five years) still lack some of the skills needed for effective teaching; and the curriculum in primary schools is overburdened. The economic decline has meant that few parents are able or willing to buy textbooks for their children. The quality of the system has declined resulting in average repetition rates of 29%. Technical colleges are not providing meaningful job-oriented practical training due to a lack of teacher motivation, poor planning of the disciplines that are taught, resource constraints, and a complete separation between the colleges and the world of work. Management of the system remains centralized and slow. Staffing decisions at the school level usually cannot be made by the headmaster himself, but instead have to be referred to higher levels, sometimes to Ministry headquarters, where personnel records are still maintained manually. No education statistics were collected between 1988 and 1995, and few if any other data sets have been available. The Ministry has thus lacked the information needed to rationally plan the use of increasingly scarce resources for the system. In order to reach a consensus on a national education policy, Government held a National Forum for Education in May 1995. Thereafter the Ministry of Education formed a high level committee to follow up on the recommendations of this Forum, which prepared for Government (through the Minister of Education) a "New Policy Statement on the Education Sector," and an education law, both of which will be considered in the November / December 1997 session of the National Assembly. The "new policy" considers that the universalization of quality primary education is the priority of priorities, followed by improving the quality and efficiency of vocational and technical secondary education, especially through forging links between the training taking place in the colleges and the world of work; components that have been included in the proposed project. Objectives The project will contribute to the overall goal of reversing the deterioration of the education system through: (i) improving the quality, the demand and the access of primary education; (ii) piloting employment centered training in lower secondary schools; (iii) enhancing institutional and technical capacity in the Ministry of Education for efficient sector management; and (iv) improving relations between the Ministry of Education and private primary school operators. Progress towards these objectives will be monitored according to the following key indicators: (i) end of cycle exam pass rates and test scores in language and math; (ii) primary school repeater rates; (iii) first grade intake and dropout rates by department; (iv) employment record of graduates of pilot CETICs; (v) demand for short courses in CETICs by workers in employment; (vi) speed in decision making in the Ministry of Education; and (vii) participation of private school head teachers and teachers in all appropriate public sector organized training. Description The quality and efficiency of primary education will be enhanced by improving preservice teacher training, ensuring that adequate numbers of teachers are trained and employed where needed, implementing a new simplified primary school curriculum, improving school supervision, distributing text books to grade 3 to 6 students in public schools, improving private school quality, lengthening academic year, and increasing parental participation in school management. Access to, and intake into primary education will be increased by improving quality and reducing the direct costs of primary education; reducing the number of years taken to graduate by reducing repeater rates; constructing schools and providing furniture in underenrolled zones; and by encouraging parental participation in the construction and subsequent management of schools. There will be an open experimentation in 6 pilot CETICs (Lower Secondary Vocational Training Colleges) involving flexibility in curricula offered; training of practical teachers; repairing, expanding, and equipping buildings; creating links with the local economy; increasing non-governmental income sources; and - 2 - by following up the careers of graduates. This pilot will lead to a choice of key elements to be included in a sector wide reform of lower secondary vocational education and training. The institutional capacity in the ministry of education will be enhanced by implementing a computerized management information system with links to agencies outside the central ministry; introducing a system of recruitment and employment of teachers only against established posts; and using a national primary school map to determine where additional classroom and school facilities are needed. Financing The project is expected to be financed by IDA and Government. IDA will provide a credit not exceeding US$40 million to be disbursed over 4.5 years, and Government will pay the salaries of around 9,600 additional trained primary school teachers posted to understaffed schools, and the direct taxes and duties totaling the equivalent of US$20 million. Other multilaterals, and some bilaterals are already or will be involved in curriculum reform, primary school construction, capacity building in the Ministry of Education, and support for vocational secondary education in a synergistic relationship with this project. There are regular donor coordination meetings in Yaounde involving all the key donors active in the sector. Subject to final agreement between the Government of Cameroon and IDA it is likely that there will be large scale procurement of text books; consulting services and computing equipment for MINEDUCs management system; equipment for CETICs; and vehicles. In addition, there will be an extensive program of school construction with preference given to small scale local contractors, a massive training of public and private teachers in institutions belonging to MINEDUC, and of operating costs.. All of these could be financed through IDA using approved Bank procedures. Government will be expected to meet its counterpart contributions through the increasing employment of trained "vacataire" primary school teachers. Implementation -- The necessity of having a flexible implementation structure, which draws on the strengths of the existing units in MINEDUC is essential if the project objectives are to be met. Government and IDA have devoted a great deal of attention to developing an appropriate strategy that will enable the project to be completed in four years. Government has already agreed that: -- all technical aspects of project implementation will be entirely the responsibility of the technical directorates and inspectorates. These include finalizing the various curricula, organizing and running training programs, evaluating training programs, deciding on specifications and quantities of equipment and books that will be procured, participation in the evaluation of bids, taking - 3 - delivery and arranging installation where necessary of goods, and preparing the Terms of Reference for consultants, and research studies; -- each technical director or inspector is responsible for monitoring the impact of the components of the project which they execute. No repeat activities will be financed if an initial evaluation has not been completed. In addition a number of evaluation studies will be commissioned by the technical managers or inspectorates on questions relating to the overall impact of the project, such as on the performance by students on standardized achievement tests; -- a project coordinator of director rank is being appointed who will have direct unhindered contact with the Minister and with IDA; -- a follow up committee, chaired by the Secretary General of the Ministry, and made up of all the involved directors will meet once a month during the early implementation period, and never less than once a quarter. This committee will approve and follow-up annual and quarterly operational plans for submission to IDA, approve semi-annual progress reports, and try to resolve problems that may exist between directorates, or in the execution of particular activities; -- two "cellules" working directly under the coordinator and the DRFP, and composed of staff in the DRFP will be created. The first "cellule" is responsible for managing the special account; arranging for funds to be released to the technical implementers, financial control; preparing replenishment requests; preparing accounts for both IDA and the Government; and arranging for the audit of accounts. The second "cellule" is responsible for preparing bidding documents and evaluation reports for IDA, supervising the work of the consultant engineers who will be responsible for verifying the quality of primary school construction, and for following-up and monitoring project activities; Sustainability The program can become sustainable if teachers are employed against established posts, if double shifting in urban areas uses the same teacher for morning and afternoon shifts with a special allowance paid to such teachers, if multi-grade teaching is accepted in small rural schools, if PTA/APEs are encouraged to participate in the management of the funds that they collect, and if CETICs are forced to earn the large part of their operating revenues. Lessons learned from past operations in the country/sector The first three Bank supported education projects were implemented relatively successfully. Unfortunately this cannot be said for the fourth educational project which was an unmitigated disaster. It had many of the same objectives as this (fifth) - 4 - educational project, including those of improving the quality of primary education, relating vocational training to the labor market, and improving sector management. Important lessons can therefore be learned from the failure of that project, which closed with 71- of loan proceeds undisbursed, and none of its objectives achieved. In the ICR (report no. 15034) four major lessons were drawn from the project. First, counterpart fund requirements were high and even when reduced after a loan amendment were not made available in the amounts and according to the schedule agreed upon. Second, three ministries were involved in project implementation with no common policy framework and no effective coordination mechanisms. Third, management, especially in administration and accounting was inefficient: (i) there was a separation of the implementation structure from MINEDUC operating units; and (ii) the project steering committee tried to become an implementing agency which led to conflict with line agencies in the ministries. Finally, the demand for vocational training did not correspond to a demand for trained workers. There was insufficient involvement of employers and economic operators in the preparation and implementation of vocational training activities. Other donors have noted negative experiences in their financing of education projects in primary and vocational education as well: with a primary education project of one donor closed without notable success in 1990; another donor is having to play a proactive role to compensate for certain weaknesses in MINEDUC; and finally the construction and equipping of six technical lycees was completed on a turnkey basis by another donor, but the operational costs were underfunded, and almost no links with the entrepreneurs were established. The proposed operation, is thus designed to be simple, involves only one ministry, and has a small number of components. It is of restricted duration (four years), there will be flexibility during annual planning and with the mid term review so changing economic circumstances are unlikely to interfere. Considerable attention is being devoted to building up implementation capacity prior to project take off. Without an implementation team in place in MINEDUC, the project will not be presented to the board. As discussed above the only counterpart fund requirements are the salaries of the contractual teachers. Poverty Category The proposed project meets the broad criteria of targeted intervention projects. It is designed to improve access and quality of basic education throughout the country. Environmental Aspects This is a category C project. The project will have no noticeable impact on the environment. Any building activities will be distributed over a large area and affect very small areas, since all schools built would be small in size (6 classrooms). - 5 - Program Objective Categories This would be an education investment project with a focus on improving the quality of basic education, increasing access, and strengthening sector management. Contact Point: Public Information Center The World Bank 1818 H Street N.W. Washington, D.C. 20433 Telephone No.: (202) 458-5454 Fax No.: (202) 522-1500 Note: This is information on an evolving project. Certain components may not necessarily be included in the final project. Processed by the Public Information Center week ending October 3, 1997. - 6 -