Document of The World Bank Report No: ICR00001564 IMPLEMENTATION COMPLETION AND RESULTS REPORT (IDA-37520 TF-51873) ON A CREDIT IN THE AMOUNT OF SDR 101.4 MILLION (US$138.76 MILLION EQUIVALENT) TO THE SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM FOR A PRIMARY EDUCATION FOR DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN PROJECT June 29, 2011 Human Development Sector Unit East Asia and Pacific Region CURRENCY EQUIVALENTS (Exchange Rate Effective June 2011) Currency Unit = Viet Nam Dong (VND) 1.00 VND = US$0.000048 US$ 1.00 = 20,713.62 VND FISCAL YEAR ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS AusAID Australian Agency for International Development BoET Bureaus of Education and Training CIDA Canadian International Development Agency CPRGS Comprehensive Poverty Reduction and Growth Strategy CSF Campus Support Fund DCDS District Community Development Specialist DEE Department of Ethnic Education of the MOET DFA District FSQLAudit DFID Department for International Development DoET Departments of Education and Training DPF Department of Planning and Finance of the MOET ECEDC Early Childhood Education for Disadvantaged Children Project (proposed) EFA Education for All EIESI Exemplary Inclusive Education Services Initiative EMIS Education Management Information System EC European Commission FII FSQL Input Index FMS Financial Management System FSQL Fundamental School Quality Level IE Inclusive Education IPAP Indigenous Peoples’ Action Plan IST Institutional Strengthening Team IT InformationTechnology JICA Japan International Cooperation Agency MDG Millenium Development Agency MDTF Multi-Donor Trust Fund MOET Ministry of Education and Training MOH Ministry of Health MPI Ministry of Planning and Investment MTR Mid-Term Review NGO Non Governmental Agency NORAD Norwegian Agency for Development NTP-E National Targeted Program for Education ODA Official Development Assistance PC Peoples’ Committee PCU Project Coordination Unit PED Primary Education Department of the MOET PEDC Primary Education for Disadvantaged Children PEP Primary Education Project PIP Project Implementation Plan PMR Project Management Report PPCU Provincial Project Coordination Unit PTA Parent-Teachers’ Associations SCF Save the Children Fund SDP School Development Plan SEQAP School Education Quality Assurance Project SR School Readiness Programs TA Teaching assistant TBS-EFA Total Budget Support for Education for All Project TVET Technical and Vocational Programs UNICEF United Nations Childrens’ Fund UPE Universal Primary Education USAID United States Agency for International Development VLSS Vietnam Living Standards Survey VND Viet Nam Dong Vice President: James W. Adams Country Director: Victoria Kwakwa Sector Director: Emmanuel Y. Jimenez Sector Manager: Eduardo Velez Bustillo Project Team Leader: Binh Thanh Vu ICR Primary Author: Suzana de Campos Abbott VIETNAM Primary Education for Disadvantaged Children Project CONTENTS Data Sheet ............................................................................................................................ i 1. Project Context, Development Objectives and Design ................................................... 1 2. Key Factors Affecting Implementation and Outcomes .................................................. 7 3. Assessment of Outcomes .............................................................................................. 17 4. Assessment of Risk to Development Outcome ............................................................. 23 5. Assessment of Bank and Borrower Performance ......................................................... 24 6. Lessons Learned............................................................................................................ 27 7. Comments on Issues Raised by Borrower/Implementing Agencies/Partners............... 29 Annex 1. Project Costs and Financing .............................................................................. 30 Annex 2(a). Outputs by Component ................................................................................. 31 Annex 2(b): FSQL Indicators ........................................................................................... 41 Annex 3. Bank Lending and Implementation Support/Supervision Processes................. 43 Annex 4. Stakeholder Workshop Report and Results ....................................................... 45 Annex 5. Summary of Borrower's ICR and/or Comments on Draft ICR ......................... 50 Annex 6. Comments of Co-financiers and Other Partners/Stakeholders .......................... 52 Annex 7. Executive Summary .......................................................................................... 54 Annex 8. List of Supporting Documents .......................................................................... 63 Annex 9. Fundamental School Quality Level (FSQL) Standards.................................... 64 Annex 10. List of Project Provinces & Districts.............................................................. 65 MAP .................................................................................................................................. 66 Data Sheet A. Basic Information Primary Education for Country: Vietnam Project Name: Disadvantaged Children Project IDA-37520,TF- Project ID: P044803 L/C/TF Number(s): 51873,TF-52939,TF- 93411 ICR Date: 06/29/2011 ICR Type: Core ICR Socialist Republic of Lending Instrument: SIL Borrower: Vietnam Original Total USD 138.8M Disbursed Amount: USD 151.4M Commitment: Revised Amount: USD 133.8M Environmental Category: C Implementing Agencies: Ministry of Education and Training Cofinanciers and Other External Partners: Department for International Development UK (DFID) Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) Australian Agency for International Development B. Key Dates Revised / Actual Process Date Process Original Date Date(s) Concept Review: 11/30/2000 Effectiveness: 10/10/2003 10/10/2003 Appraisal: 10/11/2002 Restructuring(s): 12/28/2009 Approval: 05/06/2003 Mid-term Review: 12/31/2006 12/04/2006 Closing: 12/31/2009 12/31/2010 C. Ratings Summary C.1 Performance Rating by ICR Outcomes: Satisfactory Risk to Development Outcome: Moderate Bank Performance: Satisfactory Borrower Performance: Satisfactory i C.2 Detailed Ratings of Bank and Borrower Performance (by ICR) Bank Ratings Borrower Ratings Quality at Entry: Satisfactory Government: Satisfactory Implementing Quality of Supervision: Highly Satisfactory Satisfactory Agency/Agencies: Overall Bank Overall Borrower Satisfactory Satisfactory Performance: Performance: C.3 Quality at Entry and Implementation Performance Indicators Implementation QAG Assessments Indicators Rating Performance (if any) Potential Problem Project Quality at Entry No None at any time (Yes/No): (QEA): Problem Project at any Quality of No None time (Yes/No): Supervision (QSA): DO rating before Satisfactory Closing/Inactive status: D. Sector and Theme Codes Original Actual Sector Code (as % of total Bank financing) Central government administration 1 1 Pre-primary education 2 2 Primary education 97 97 Theme Code (as % of total Bank financing) Education for all 33 33 Other social development 17 17 Rural services and infrastructure 17 17 Social risk mitigation 33 33 E. Bank Staff Positions At ICR At Approval Vice President: James W. Adams Jemal ud-din Kassum Country Director: Victoria Kwakwa Klaus Rohland Sector Director Emmanuel Y. Jimenez Emmanuel Y. Jimenez Sector Manager: Eduardo Velez Bustillo Christopher J. Thomas Project Team Leader: Binh Thanh Vu Christopher J. Thomas ICR Team Leader: Binh Thanh Vu ICR Primary Author: Suzana N. de Campos Abbott ii F. Results Framework Analysis Project Development Objectives (from Project Appraisal Document) The objective of the Project is to improve access to primary school and the quality of education for disadvantaged girls and boys. Disadvantaged children are broadly defined as school-aged children who are not enrolled or are at risk of not completing their primary education; children who attend schools that do not meet fundamental quality standards; and disabled children or children from other highly vulnerable groups, such as street children, migrant children or girls in certain ethnic minority areas. Revised Project Development Objectives (as approved by original approving authority) N/A (a) PDO Indicator(s) Original Target Formally Actual Value Values (from Revised Achieved at Indicator Baseline Value approval Target Completion or documents) Values Target Years Indicator 1 : Increase in number of PEDC schools reaching FSQL. Value participating quantitative or 54% school achieve N/A 68,3% Qualitative) FSQL Date achieved 11/30/2004 06/05/2003 11/30/2006 11/30/2010 Comments (incl. % the PDO achieved achievement) Indicator 2 : Increase net enrollment rate Value quantitative or 81% 96% N/A 98,7% Qualitative) Date achieved 12/30/1999 06/05/2003 11/30/2006 12/31/2010 Comments (incl. % the PDO achieved achievement) Indicator 3 : Improve primary student completion. Value quantitative or 72% 86% N/A 94,1% Qualitative) Date achieved 12/30/1999 06/05/2003 11/30/2006 12/31/2010 Comments (incl. % the PDO achieved achievement) Indicator 4 : Reduce Grade 1 repetition rate. Value quantitative or 8% 3% N/A 5,2% Qualitative) Date achieved 12/30/1999 06/05/2003 11/30/2006 12/31/2010 iii This indicator fell short of its target due to a new campaign launched by the Comments MOET two years ago to address a problem where teachers apparently passed all (incl. % of their students to higher grades. (primary repetition rates stood at 2% for achievement) PEDC) Indicator 5 : Reduce dropout rate. Value quantitative or 12% 4% N/A 2,5% Qualitative) Date achieved 12/30/1999 06/05/2003 11/30/2006 12/31/2010 Comments (incl. % The DPO achieved achievement) (b) Intermediate Outcome Indicator(s) Original Target Actual Value Formally Values (from Achieved at Indicator Baseline Value Revised approval Completion or Target Values documents) Target Years Schools serving the most educationally disadvantaged children in the country are Indicator 1 : better prepared for success 189 of the most All systems for data educationally collection, analysis Value disadvantaged and planning are in (quantitative N/A districts plan for N/A place and operative or Qualitative) and achieve FSQL not only for PEDC in all schools and districts but satellite campuses. nationwide Date achieved 12/30/1999 06/05/2003 11/30/2006 12/31/2010 Comments (incl. % the IO is overachieved achievement) Indicator 2 : Professional development provided to teachers, head teachers. 63,680 teachers have received subject-based 4,200 core school training. 95,000 Value 59,000 teachers and head sites and almost teachers received 5 (quantitative N/A teachers in over 15,000 satellite days of training in or Qualitative) sites Vietnamese Language Strengthening for Ethnic Minorities Date achieved 12/30/1999 06/05/2003 11/30/2006 12/31/2010 Comments (incl. % achievement) iv Indicator 3 : Teaching assisttants hired and trained 7,500 teaching Approximately Value assistants and 7,500 15,000 teaching (quantitative N/A N/A Grade 1 teachers assistants hired or Qualitative) trained and trained Date achieved 11/30/2004 10/30/2003 11/30/2006 12/31/2010 Comments (incl. % achievement) Indicator 4 : School infrastructure improved 13,141 new At least 9,240 classrooms were satellite campuses built at satellite Value are rehabilitated campuses and 6,720 (quantitative N/A N/A with permanent classrooms were or Qualitative) classrooms and renovated at both upgraded facilities, satellite campuses and main schools Date achieved 11/30/2004 06/05/2003 11/30/2006 12/31/2010 Comments (incl. % achievement) Indicator 5 : School-community linkages are strengthened Parent Teacher School-community Associations have Value linkages are been established at (quantitative N/A strengthened in N/A all schools/satellite or Qualitative) about 15,000 campuses and school campuses. functioning in 99% of the locations Date achieved 11/30/2004 06/05/2003 11/30/2006 12/31/2010 Comments (incl. % achievement) Textbooks provided to students and full set of training materials provided to Indicator 6 : teachers Nearly 40,000 satellite teachers 259,062 teacher will have a full set textbooks, manuals of teaching or guides have been materials and Value provided to 1,390,000 students (quantitative N/A N/A teachers, and Math and or Qualitative) 3,397,429 Vietnamese textbooks were textbooks at the provided to start of each students. school year. v Date achieved 11/30/2004 06/05/2003 11/30/2006 12/31/2010 Comments (incl. % achievement) G. Ratings of Project Performance in ISRs Actual Date ISR No. DO IP Disbursements Archived (USD millions) 1 06/27/2003 Satisfactory Satisfactory 0.00 2 12/3/2003 Satisfactory Satisfactory 0.00 3 06/15/2004 Satisfactory Satisfactory 4.00 4 12/16/2004 Satisfactory Satisfactory 4.11 5 06/09/2005 Satisfactory Moderately Satisfactory 6.82 6 01/09/2006 Satisfactory Satisfactory 8.13 7 07/06/2006 Satisfactory Satisfactory 12.12 8 03/27/2007 Moderately Satisfactory Moderately Satisfactory 26.63 9 06/21/2007 Satisfactory Satisfactory 30.84 10 01/11/2008 Satisfactory Satisfactory 46.87 11 07/29/2008 Satisfactory Moderately Satisfactory 66.27 12 01/23/2009 Moderately Satisfactory Moderately Satisfactory 80.01 13 06/18/2009 Satisfactory Satisfactory 87.37 14 01/08/2010 Satisfactory Satisfactory 111.55 15 01/01/2011 Satisfactory Satisfactory 150.76 H. Restructuring (if any) Board ISR Rating at Amount Disbursed Reason for Restructuring Approved Restructuring at Restructuring in restructuring & key Date(s) DPO Change USD millions changes made DO IP Closing Date 12/28/2009 S S 109.84 Extension and Partial Cancellation vi I. Disbursement Profile vii viii 1. Project Context, Development Objectives and Design 1.1 Context at Appraisal At the time of Appraisal of the Primary Education for Disadvantaged Children Project (the PEDC, the Project), Vietnam had made excellent progress in the development of its education system. In the previous ten years, it had met ambitious targets set through its Education for All (EFA) program, raising net enrollment rates at the primary level from about 80-86% in 1990/91 to nearly 94% in 1999/2000. It had also shown good improvement in a number of its internal efficiency indicators, such as repetition and dropout rates. Despite this progress, Vietnam continued to face important challenges in its education system. Approximately 7% of the primary school aged population had never attended school and many more dropped out before completing primary. A large number of minority children repeated grades or were unable to pass the entry exam for lower secondary, reflecting a lower than acceptable level of academic performance for these children. There were major differences between progress in urban areas and in rural and remote areas. The national criteria for universal primary education (UPE) was such that only 70% of 14 year-old students were required to have completed primary education in the most disadvantaged areas, compared to the more than 80% required in advantaged areas. Many of the children in the most disadvantaged areas were provided a shorter primary school curriculum over a five- year period. The situation was complicated by a financing system that did not fully acknowledge the needs of disadvantaged children: annual per pupil expenditure on education for children in Hanoi was more than twice as high as expenditure for children in the poor province of Soc Trang. Per capita expenditures for children in the wealthiest income quintile were two and one half times the expenditures for children in the poorest income quintile. Finally, a reliance on user charges favored children of richer households. The Government of Vietnam had acknowledged and made a commitment to universal, high quality basic education for all in its education law, poverty alleviation programs, 2010 Education Strategy, and Comprehensive Poverty Reduction and Growth Strategy. The Government had set, and largely achieved, a target of allocating 20% of the national budget to education, and had channeled significant funds from the education budget to nationally targeted programs in poor areas. The National Targeted Program on Education (NTP-E), one of eleven National Targeted Programs 1 , was intended to support the achievement of Vietnam’s 2010 Education Strategy and its EFA goals and targets for improved access, quality and efficiency in education services. Support for the education of ethnic minorities and in disadvantaged regions was one of the subcomponents (Subcomponent 5) of the NTP-E. Yet, a serious financing gap still existed in disadvantaged areas, and there was an identified need to meet the physical, instructional material and training needs in more than 4,000 schools and 14,000 teaching sites that were below basic standards and received little or no investment support. While the country had met its initial UPE goals of 80% net enrollment in 90% of communes, two large challenges remained: the problems of reaching outstanding communes and the un-reached children needed to be addressed, and the educational quality of the overall system needed improvement to allow it to progressively approach and ultimately meet national and international quality standards. At the ten-year review of its EFA program, Vietnam recognized that there were still many children left behind by the primary system, and that failing to educate all children and failing to educate them to an adequate level of quality would put the Government’s plans for UPE, economic growth and poverty reduction at risk. 1 National Targeted Programs are a state budget facility that provide sector-specific frameworks for planning and implementing strategic interventions, and act as focus points to attract community participation and NGO and official donor contributions. 1 1.2 Original Project Development Objectives (PDO) and Key Indicators (as approved) The objective of the PEDC was to improve access to primary school and the quality of education for disadvantaged girls and boys. Disadvantaged children were broadly defined as school-aged children who were not enrolled or were at risk of not completing primary education; children who attended schools that did not meet fundamental quality standards; and disabled children or children from other highly vulnerable groups, such as street children, migrant children or girls in certain ethnic minority areas. The majority of PEDC resources were to be targeted to 189 districts, where approximately 70% of Vietnam’s educationally disadvantaged children resided. In those districts, by the end of the Project (originally estimated for 2009), the following targets were to be met: o 4,272 core primary school sites and 14,902 satellite sites would have achieved “fundamental school quality levelâ€? (FSQL); o Primary net enrollment would have improved from 81% in 1999 to 96%; o Primary student completion (as measured by the G5/G1 ratio) would have increased from 72% in 1999 to 86%; o Primary repetition would have fallen from 8% in 1999 to less than 3%; o Primary school dropout would have been reduced from 12% in 1999 to less than 4%; and o Student achievement, as measured by Grade 5 tests in Mathematics and Vietnamese, would show an upward trend. In addition, by project completion: o National guidelines would have been developed and applied effectively to provide education to children with disabilities and highly vulnerable children, and for using FSQL as a first step in achieving national standards; o The number of children with disabilities in school would have increased; o Children with disabilities, street children, minority girls and other very high risk groups of children throughout the country would have benefited from expanded and innovative approaches to education service delivery; and o MOET, and participating DoETs and BoETs, would have regularly demonstrated strengthened capacity to identify, plan for, support, and monitor the needs of educationally disadvantaged children. 1.3 Revised PDO (as approved by original approving authority) and Key Indicators, and reasons/justification The Project’s Development Objectives were not revised. 1.4 Main Beneficiaries The Project’s target population comprised two groups of disadvantaged children: o Primary school-aged children from the 189 most educationally disadvantaged districts; and o Disabled children of primary school age and other highly vulnerable groups, such as street and working children, children living in fishing communities, etc. The disadvantaged children targeted by the Project included those who still did not have access to primary education or who were at risk of receiving an inadequate primary education, including: (a) school aged children who did not attend primary school; (b) children at school who were at risk of repeating or dropping out; and (c) children at school who were not able to achieve the level of learning to ensure a solid foundation of basic skills and to successfully access secondary education. The absolute number of children in these categories was estimated to exceed two million, and possibly even three million. 2 Approximately 70% of economically disadvantaged children lived in the 189 districts included under the Project (out of 615 total districts in Vietnam). The 189 districts were in remote or underdeveloped regions, and comprised: (a) a total of 2.7 million students, or 27% of all students in Vietnam; (b) one million ethnic minority students; (c) 1.1 million poor students; and (d) 1.2 million students enrolled in satellite sites or multi-grade classes. In addition, the Project’s beneficiaries were to include disabled school-aged children (there were an estimated one million in Vietnam, over 70% of which did not have access to school), and children who lived in difficult social conditions, such as street children, working children, children of migrants, children from fishing communities, girls from certain ethnic minority groups, and those from broken homes, all of which were considered less likely to access, participate and perform well in primary school. The Project was also expected to yield significant long-term benefits to the education system as a whole, including: (a) the adoption of a minimum service standard that, together with periodic evaluations of learning achievement, could serve as a measure of educational progress for all campuses across the nation; (b) the development of national guidelines for targeting resources and delivering services to disabled and other vulnerable children; and (c) community-based and decentralized implementation. 1.5 Original Components (as approved) The Project comprised four components, as described below. Component 1: Achieving Fundamental School Quality Levels (FSQL) (US$227.73 million) This component sought to raise all schools in the 189 most disadvantaged targeted districts to a fundamental school quality level through a two-pronged approach: (a) by providing necessary support to district administration to improve planning, management and monitoring capabilities, in order to develop and implement plans to meet FSQL standards; and (b) by enhancing school capacity to provide effective instruction at poorly resources satellite campuses, meeting the specific needs of educationally disadvantaged children and supporting other efforts to meet FSQL standards in those classrooms. Sub-Component 1.1: FSQL District Management (US$7.07 million) supported the institutional capacity of targeted districts (BoET) to plan and manage educational services and support schools and their satellites to reach FSQL standards by: (a) strengthening district school data collection systems (including an initial physical inventory of all schools and satellite campuses to guide planning for civil works and requirements for classroom inputs) and implement a monitoring and evaluation system to assess progress towards FSQL goals and educational outcomes; and (b) support the development of a consultative annual district-wide FSQL action plan that outlines the requirements for all schools in the district to reach fundamental quality levels and serves as a tool for planning and school-support purposes. Sub-Component 1.2: Instructional Improvement and Teacher Support for FSQL (US$44.24 million) provided targeted districts with FSQL grants to implement their district-wide FSQL action plan. Grants to districts would be made by provinces on a contract basis, and managed according to guidelines that were specified in the Project’s Operations Manual. Within the district, resources would only be provided to teaching sites that were below FSQL standards, most of which were satellite campuses. These interventions strived to address and meet the pedagogical needs of disadvantaged children. Funds could be allocated to support the procurement or provision of a variety of interventions, according to specifications laid out in their district-wide FSQL plan, including: (a) teacher guides, materials and training modules that would encourage and support instructional methods adapted to the needs of educationally disadvantaged children, such as Vietnamese language strengthening, multi-grade education or mainstreaming of disabled children; (b) professional development workshops to support teachers in acquiring new methodologies to address the pedagogical needs of educationally disadvantaged children, as well as satellite teacher certification upgrading to the minimum 9+3 FSQL standard for classroom instruction; (c) a basic package of teaching-learning materials; (d) establishment of community-based pre-primary school readiness language development programs to strengthen children’s Vietnamese competency levels in locations with a significant proportion of ethnic minorities; and (e) placement of 3 local community lower-secondary graduates as teaching assistants to support classroom instructors in satellite sites to provide more individualized attention to children with special needs (initially, on a pilot basis). Sub-Component 1.3: Infrastructure Development for FSQL (US$163.61 million) sought to improve the physical environment for learning in school satellites serving disadvantaged children. The Project was to upgrade the infrastructure in an estimated 8,500 existing schools sites, providing for construction of classrooms plus an office, water points and latrines. Standard building designs were to accommodate the needs of handicapped children. Sub-Component 1.4: Community Participation and Student Support for FSQL and Universal Primary Education (US$12.81 million) sought to strengthen parents’ associations at satellite campus locations to advocate for universal primary education goals as well as to support and monitor FSQL standards. With the assistance of a District Community Development Specialist (DCDS), parents would be mobilized and trained to manage a Campus Support Fund (CSF, budgeted and accounted for through the District FSQL grant, but managed at the school level) that could be allocated to a variety of activities, such as school feeding programs, extracurricular activities that promote participation of under-represented groups or remedial education classes. This activity was to be piloted in the 800 schools and satellite campuses in the worst off districts for two years and then expanded if successful. Component 2: Education Initiatives for Highly Vulnerable Children (US$4.15 million) This Component sought to address the needs of children at high risk through two streams of interventions that addressed the education needs of: (a) disabled children; and (b) vulnerable groups, such as street and working children, children living in fishing communities, and others. Sub-Component 2.1: Inclusive Education for Disabled Children (US$2.26 million) was designed to support a national Task Force to develop an integrated set of national guidelines for inclusive education that ensured disabled children could gain access to educational services and to improve teachers’ pedagogical capacity to meet the needs of children with disabilities in the classroom. Activities included: (a) development of a comprehensive set of national guidelines addressing the needs and constraints faced by primary schools attempting to adopt an inclusive education policy, including recommendations of an organizational structure to support the needs of disabled students; (b) implementation of a survey and research that scoped the dimension and variation of the educational issues faced by disabled children, profiled their educational needs, identified the barriers they faced in completing primary education and recommended appropriate strategies and approaches for the provision of inclusive primary educational services to them; (c) development of teacher guides and modules and provision of training workshops for educators that could assist in the mainstreaming of children with disabilities; (d) development of public awareness materials to mobilize parents to enroll disabled children in their local primary school, if appropriate, and assist head teachers and district officers to mobilize communities to provide a supportive environment for them; and (e) procurement of materials and equipment to support disabled children, based on the recommendations of the Task Force on the organizational structure and the result of the needs analyses. Sub-Component 2.2: Reaching Street and Working Children and Other High-Risk Groups (US$1.89 million) was designed to support a national Task Force to develop and enabling environment for the education of vulnerable groups and the implementation of innovative approaches to the education of these groups, through provision of innovation grants for vulnerable groups, on a competitive basis, to government agencies and NGOs that served at-risk children. Based on lessons from these grants, recommendations and guidelines would be developed to improve educational services for highly vulnerable children. 4 Component 3: National and Provincial Institutional and Technical Support for FSQL (US$8.17 million) This Component sought to assist the MOET to lay down a pathway for reaching national school standards using FSQL as a first step, proposing FSQL criteria and raising awareness at all levels of the education system about how to bring every school up to FSQL levels. Sub-Component 3.1: National Guidelines for FSQL (US$0.44 million) was designed to support a National Quality Standards Task Force to develop and disseminate FSQL standards and guidelines for implementation. The Task Force would periodically review and revise FSQL standards according to evolving Government plans and actual progress towards meeting FSQL. As schools achieved FSQL, the Task Force could recommend raising incrementally FSQL standards until they gradually approached national standards. Sub-Component 3.2: Institutional Strengthening (US$7.73 million) was designed to provide technical assistance to support MOET and provincial Departments of Education and Training (DoETs) to develop instruments and processes to achieve FSQL. Assistance would also be provided to MOET to bolster the five institutional strengthening teams responsible for: (a) strengthening planning and monitoring of educational quality—including harmonizing district-level school data collection efforts with the national Education Management Information System (EMIS) and carrying out analytical studies to increase sector wide effectiveness and efficiency; (b) supporting teacher development activities and back- stopping of Vietnamese language strengthening programs for non-Vietnamese speakers; (c) procuring and distributing educational goods and materials that would address the need of educationally disadvantaged children; (d) monitoring and supervision of all civil works; and (e) mobilizing and supporting community participation in education for highly vulnerable children. Technical assistance was also to be provided to the DoETs to strengthen capacity for procurement and financial management at that level. The institutional strengthening teams were expected to play a coordinating role, generate new knowledge, and provide overall leadership and direction in project implementation. However, most activities were to be carried out by existing departments in the MOET, DoETs and district-level Bureaus of Education and Training (BoETs). The teams’ role would include maintaining a focus on the innovations introduced in the Project, including those related to gender, targeting resources to satellite schools, Vietnamese language instruction, addressing the educational needs of minorities, and community participation. Component 4: Project Management (US$3.62 million) This Component was designed to support the establishment of a Project Coordination Unit (PCU) inside the MOET, attached to the Primary Education Department (PED). The PCU would be staffed with members from various departments of the MOET, domestic and international consultants, and would support MOET line agencies, the institutional strengthening teams (Component 3) and the National Task Forces for Quality Standards, Disabled Children and Highly Vulnerable Children. 1.6 Revised Components The Components were not revised, especially since the Project’s design was flexible, and encouraged creativity at all levels as a means of achieving FSQL. During the Mid-Term Review (MTR) the Bank agreed to the following: o Development and implementation of School Development Plans (SDP), in addition to the contemplated district and consolidated provincial plans that had been contemplated since a need had been identified for a development/planning function at the school level; o Completion of several activities such as data analysis, report writing and follow up analysis of findings of the Study in Grade 5 Student Achievement in Mathematics and Vietnamese Language 5 in the 2006-2007 School Year that had been initiated under the Bank-financed Primary Teacher Development Project2. o Development and implementation of the Exemplary Inclusive Education Services Initiative (EIESI), putting into practice a demonstrative element of the IE policy; o The carrying out of several evaluations of initiatives that had been carried out under the Project; o Integration of the Child Development Record with the District Financial Audit (DFA); and o Consolidation of separate policies for IE and highly vulnerable children in a single policy document, strategy and national action plan for IE, including provision for highly vulnerable children. The number of districts that benefited from the Project varied due to internal administrative changes that resulted in an increased number of districts in the 40 provinces that were targeted and not from an increase in the Project’s scope. 1.7 Other significant changes As planned during Appraisal, the Project was co-financed by US$51.5 million equivalent Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF) (TF051873) dated July 14, 2003 between Vietnam and IDA, acting as Administrator of grant funds provided by the Governments of Australia (A$1,485,000), Canada (C$14,355,000), the Kingdom of Norway (NOK113,800,000)3 and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (£24,700,000). A reallocation of funds from the MDTF was approved in June 2008, and the MDTF was amended in May 2009 to reflect a smaller than originally expected contribution from Norway and the addition of the income accrued to such contribution from time to time. The full financial contribution amounted to US$70.35 million equivalent. The MDTF closed on December 31, 2009. The IDA Credit Agreement was amended in May 2009 to reflect a change in the disbursement percentage for works and remove the limitation of the aggregate amount for procurement for small works by obtaining three quotations. The change in disbursement percentage allowed the Bank to disburse 100 percent against selected civil works contracts while others would be financed 100 percent under the Government’s ongoing School Concretization Program, thereby facilitating disbursements. Finally, in December 2009, a third order project restructuring was approved to extend the Credit’s Closing Date by one year to December 31, 2010, to reallocate part of the proceeds across expenditure categories under the Credits, and to cancel a portion of the Credit (US$5 million, or SDR 3,121,645 million equivalent). The restructuring reduced the Project’s infrastructure component, allowing initiatives to meet school building needs to be met through the Government’s School Concretization Program. It also provided continued funding for selected activities financed under the MDTF, thereby providing bridging mechanisms for the successful innovative interventions (e.g., FSQL Grants, including the DFA, training programs for community participation, small amounts for instructional materials, school consumables, in-service teacher training, Teaching Assistants (TA) and Inclusive Education (IE)) to be fully integrated into the Government’s systems. In addition, an undisbursed amount of US$43,219 was cancelled after the grace period for disbursements lapsed. Neither the Project’s design, nor the PDO were modified. 2 Primary Teacher Development Project, Project Appraisal Document No. 20276-VN dated 11/14/2001. 3 The total contribution to PEDC from the Kingdom of Norway at the end was less than the original commitment of approx. US$ 3 million equivalent due to their budget limitations. 6 2. Key Factors Affecting Implementation and Outcomes 2.1 Project Preparation, Design and Quality at Entry Bank Engagement in Education. Beginning with the Primary Education Project (PEP) in 1993, the Bank had adopted a comprehensive strategy of support for basic education through progressive engagement. At the time of the Project’s approval, three education projects were under implementation, including the PEP, the Higher Education Project and the Primary Teachers Development Project, a co-financed operation that the Bank was leading. In addition, the Bank and other donors were building a cross- sectoral knowledge base that aimed to help the Government achieve its goals for basic education, including: (a) Government-Bank-Donor work on poverty reduction and development strategies; (b) a Public Expenditure Review that served to bring insight to public finance issues in education; (c) Government-Bank collaboration in assessment, curriculum, primary education development, and teacher development that served to create a strong foundation on which to build EFA/basic education strategies; and (d) Vietnam Living Standards Survey (VLSS)/LSMS and other surveys that would assist the MOET to better target resources and monitor progress. Alignment with Government and Bank priorities. The Government had acknowledged and made a commitment to universal, high quality basic education for all in several Government plans and strategies described in Section 1.1, including its National EFA Action Plan, Socio-Economic Development Strategy (SEDS) 2001-2010, Comprehensive Poverty Reduction and Growth Strategy (CPRGS), Education Development Strategic Plan 2001-2010 and targets for the Millennium Development Goals. In all of these plans and strategies the Government recognized investment in primary education as the means to develop the fundamental skills and competencies necessary for economic growth and social development. The Government’s 1999 Education Law provided that all children, regardless of area of residence, gender, socioeconomic background or ethnicity, were entitled to a full primary education. The Project was also fully aligned with the then current Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) goal of “making basic social services accessible and affordable for the poorâ€?. Lessons Learned. The Project’s design incorporated several lessons from extensive in-country experience related to the pedagogical and language needs of ethnic minority, disadvantage and disabled children under activities supported by donors as well as under the Ethnic Minority Education Component of the PEP. These lessons influenced the Project’s focus on: (a) strengthening children’s readiness for primary schooling; (b) supporting teachers in acquiring pedagogical skills suitable for instructional environments in isolated areas; (c) enhancing teachers’ abilities to teach Vietnamese as a second language; and (d) boosting community and parental participating in schooling. The Project’s school building activities were designed to follow the prototype models and decentralized management arrangements under the PEP and a Primary School Construction Project sponsored by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Other activities under the Project such as the method for targeting resources and the community participation and CSF were designed to address specific issues that had been identified under analytical work on Vietnam’s education sector that had identified a high degree of inequity in resources spent on education across the country, and as a result, high variation in student enrollment and achievement. Participatory Process. The Project’s design benefitted from a stakeholder analysis carried out under the PEP, incorporating views of primary teachers, head teachers, government officials, students, parents, out-of-school students, and donors. A participatory beneficiary assessment carried out during preparation was designed to provide input into the Project’s design, the choice of specific interventions and implementation arrangements, to ensure that a pro-poor approach would be mainstreamed throughout the preparation process. The design of the Project’s components, especially the CSF that aimed to strengthen ties between the satellite campus and the local community, and stimulate parental and community involvement, benefitted from inputs from the participatory beneficiary assessment. Project Design. The Project was designed as a traditional investment project that provided incremental finance to a new program. It was to be implemented by the MOET, the DoETs and BoETs, and through 7 a Project Coordination Unit established in MOET. It was ambitious in design, especially since it would be implemented in and by 2274 of the most educationally disadvantaged districts in 40 provinces; in most cases those with the most limited capacity. The Project’s design envisaged activities to develop new programs and initiatives, and their subsequent implementation at the district/school level, but also an important program of capacity building so that provinces, districts and schools could plan, implement and monitor those activities appropriately, and promote institutional strengthening at all levels throughout the process. The Project introduced the concept of FSQL that defined minimum institutional capacity, instructional materials and teacher support, physical infrastructure, and school-community linkages required to maintain a healthy and productive learning environment. FSQL was designed to be an “achievableâ€? standard that schools in disadvantaged districts could aspire to achieve, as opposed to the national standards that were often considered excessively ambitious given their capacity and realities. The Project’s design also encouraged innovation, and the piloting of selected activities before eventual roll out to all project districts. The CSF encouraged parent and community engagement, while ensuring that funds would be allocated to particular schools’ and students’ needs. The CSF, and the TAs were designed for piloting for two years, and only expanded to remaining districts, if they were proven to be successful. Risk Analysis. The Project’s risk analysis included an extensive list of factors that could come to affect the achievement of its objectives and expected outputs. While recognizing several risks relating to potential lack of institutional capacity to implement the Project at all levels, the risk analysis in retrospect perhaps underestimated the risks that the Government’s complex procurement requirements with respect to civil works would come to present a particular challenge with respect to keeping an integrated project, that required concurrent delivery of an series of inputs, on schedule, and, also, that the Project presupposed a decentralized planning model which required a different role for the MOET than that it traditionally played. Likewise, the risk analysis may have underestimated the potential risk of sustainability of the Government maintaining FSQL investments, especially since the financing provided to provinces, districts and schools under the Project was incremental to that allocated to them under the NTP-E 2.2 Implementation The SDR 101.4 million Credit for the Project was approved by the Bank’s Board on May 6, 2003, and became effective on October 10, 2003. Its original December 31, 2009 Closing Date was extended by one year. Overall, implementation proceeded well, and the Project was never considered at-risk. The main factors that influenced its implementation are described below. Project Management. The Project’s implementation arrangements counted on a separate PCU set up in a separate geographical location from MOET and with a Director at the same level as the Director of Primary Education (although the Project Appraisal Document had specified that the PCU would be attached to the Primary Education Department). The PCU was to be staffed with members from various departments of the MOET, in addition to national and international consultants, and would support MOET line agencies, five institutional strengthening teams (ISTs) 5 and national task forces for Quality Standards, Disabled Children and Highly 4 The number of targeted provinces and districts was 38 and 189 but later becomes 40 and 227 respectively. This was because some provinces and districts were divided administratively. 5 The five ISTs were: (1) Strengthening planning and monitoring of educational quality—including harmonizing district-level school data collection efforts with the EMIS and undertaking analytical studies to increase sector wide effectiveness and efficiency; (2) Supporting teacher development activities and back-stopping of Vietnamese language strengthening programs for non-Vietnamese speakers; (3) Procuring and distributing educational goods and materials that will address the needs of educationally disadvantaged children; (4) Monitoring and supervision 8 Vulnerable Children. As it turned out, the arrangement created difficulties in the PCU’s interactions with the established structure of the MOET that often led to delays in obtaining routine approvals for activities such as training programs and materials. Ideally, the PCU would have been within the Department of Primary Education, as envisaged, and played the “coordinationâ€? role and each technical department of MOET would have led the sub- component/activity that concerned their function, thereby ensuring greater capacity building and sustainability. In addition, staffing of the PCU, including issues of professional capacity and turnover affected the Project almost throughout its implementation. Decentralization. Consistent with the Government’s decentralization agenda, PEDC was designed to decentralize and shift decision making to local levels in the education system (notably districts, schools and their satellite campuses). The PCU set up provincial PCUs (PPCUs) in the 40 target provinces, usually in the same building and under the auspices of the DoETs that coordinated implementation through the many district BoETs’ PCUs called District Management Units (DMUs). Although capacity and expertise varied widely among the DoETs and BoETs, this aspect of the design was based on strong evidence that such decentralized planning and service delivery would be far more effective in meeting local needs than centralized strategies for allocating resources. The MOET and its line departments at the central, provincial and district levels developed guidelines for reaching FSQL, providing necessary technical support to districts to improve administrative planning and management—thus enhancing their capacity to bring all schools up to acceptable educational levels and forge close linkages to their communities. The communities were to have active involvement, often for the first time, through working with District Community Development Specialists (DCDSs) to set up Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs) and administering the CSF. At the time of the Mid-Term Review (MTR), however, the majority of the Project’s innovations, including this model of decentralization, were not being implemented fully as envisaged. Specifically: (a) the central authorities were not devolving responsibility for planning and implementation to the local level, and were trying to retain the power and decision-making; (b) authorities at the local level were not being encouraged to act independently, and still asked for decisions to be made by the center; (c) resources were not being provided to the local levels in a timely manner; (d) there were many redundant approval procedures required, particularly prior reviews before implementation; (e) post review procedures with timely feedback to local level authorities were not in place; and (f) assistance to improve local skills and capacity was not being provided in a timely manner. Infrastructure. The main difficulties encountered under the Project related to the “hardâ€? components, in particular school construction and procurement of school furniture. This was especially worrisome since the construction sub-component focused on the replacement of temporary structures at existing sites with solid, new classrooms, represented almost 70 percent of the Project and was critical towards the achievement of FSQL, and consequently to the achievement of the Project’s objectives. Several factors contributed to the issues with infrastructure starting from the Project’s design to operational issues in implementation. While the Project’s decentralized implementation arrangements were supportive of the Government’s commitment to decentralization, they involved trade-offs with respect to the infrastructure sub-component. A key issue involved the use of Government procedures. While the Project provided for direct contracting for infrastructure, the Government was reluctant to follow this procedure during the first three years of implementation, and opted to use national competitive bidding procedures that complied with both Government and Bank requirements—a process that delayed the contracting process greatly. On top of this, contractors showed little interest in working in difficult to reach, isolated areas, where their costs were often above a ceiling price that the Government had established for what they of civil works; and (5) Mobilizing and supporting community participation in education for highly vulnerable children. The ISTs were expected to play a coordinating role, generate new knowledge, and provide overall leadership and direction in project implementation. However, most project activities were to be carried out by existing departments in the MOET, DoETs and BoETs. 9 considered MOET’s strict design standards for small works. Further, the DoETs and BoETs were not particularly experienced with construction management and required training for capacity building along with technical and advisory support throughout the construction process. The Construction Manual, completed almost two years after implementation began, revealed 24 steps that had to be followed to contract school construction. According to the Government’s Construction Law, three separate firms, and other individual consultants are required for each construction package to carry out: (a) design; (b) building; and (c) supervision. Compliance with both the Government’s Construction Regulations and the Bank’s Guidelines for contracting of consultants proved to be overly complex and time-consuming, and many local architectural firms were simply not interested in participating in the process, especially for small construction contracts for which Government procurement procedures allowed direct contracting. As a result, school construction progressed very slowly; at the time of the MTR in December 2006 (halfway through the Project’s originally planned implementation period), only 13 percent of the planned satellite classrooms had been rehabilitated. The main obstacles identified at the time were: (a) the approval processes were not in compliance with the Project’s original design and the Operational Manual; (b) the long planning and approval processes required for preparing provincial construction budget, appointing architectural and engineering consultants and producing economic and technical reports; (c) the over-elaborate designs for the new facilities; (d) the imposition of one, often inappropriate, construction method in every province; (e) the high unit cost of the construction of facilities; and (f) the long rainy season that occurred in most parts of the country during which transport of materials in the more remote areas and construction, particularly of foundations, was very difficult. However, after the third year of implementation, the Government began following direct contracting procedures, the Credit Agreement was amended in May 2009 to increase the aggregate ceiling of works that could be contracted on this basis, and the Government took concrete steps to address issues that had been delaying school construction. As a result, construction accelerated at the later years of the project implementation. In addition to delays in obtaining counterpart funding from the Government through MOET that created bottlenecks for the funding of school construction, a major risk situation developed in 2007-2008. The general instability in the Vietnamese economy (mirroring the instability in the global economy) and the specific instability in the construction sector led to high fluctuations and inflation in the prices of inputs for contracts that resulted in increased costs of materials and transportation and to a lesser extent labor costs. As many contracts were short-term fixed price contracts without price adjustment clauses, contractors reduced the pace of work or in some instances stopped work. For works still being contracted, this uncertainty resulted in the contractors’ need to adjust prices. Two overall effects resulted from this situation: (a) an approximate nine-month delay was incurred for construction activities; and (b) though economic stability returned, the effects of inflation remained, so the cost of construction increased significantly in local currency. Counterpart Funding. Provision of counterpart funds was an issue especially in the early years of the Project and caused delays especially for the infrastructure sub-component. The Government subsequently addressed this issue, and fulfilled their commitment to provide adequate funds for implementation. The Bank and the Government also agreed that it would be more efficient to separate the two sources of funding for school construction, providing 100 percent IDA funding for some schools, and for the Government to provide 100 percent funding by recognizing as counterpart PEDC schools built and funded under the Government’s School Concretization Program. This was reflected in an amendment to the Credit Agreement in December 2009. Counterpart contributions in kind, in terms of completed schools built under the School Concretization Program, were to be included in the Project’s financial statements. Delays in Procurement. By the time of the MTR, there were delays in providing basic equipment, furniture and basic teaching and learning resources, and implementing training programs. The delays for equipment and materials procurement were the result of long lead times—often almost one year— 10 between the period of Bank clearance of bidding documents for contracts under International Competitive Bidding and contract award by the PCU. They also reflected poor planning by the PCU, long and cumbersome approval processes in the MOET, and on specific issues with certain contracts, such as a issues with awarding a school furniture contract to the lowest evaluated bidder. Similarly, progress with the Project’s Master Training Plan (covering eight training programs that directly and indirectly improved the quality of teaching and learning) was delayed by the MTR, in part because the PCU had expanded the training program beyond the scope of the Project’s design and objectives. Delays in the approval and printing of training materials also resulted in delays in the implementation training programs, particularly training in delivering child-centered and inclusive education; overcoming barriers to learning and catering for children with special needs through use of the Child Development Record; and acquiring educational management skills through use of the School Development Plan. Mid-Term Review. The MTR in December, 2006 represented a “turning pointâ€? in the Project’s implementation. While reconfirming the validity of the Project’s Development Objectives, Components and basic design and acknowledging some successes, the MTR team was concerned about the implementation progress of the PEDC Project. At the start of implementation, the managers and staff in the PCU had no previous experience in working with the Bank, and required continuous, hands-on support by the Bank’s team. The Bank’s MTR Supervision team realized that the Project was falling behind its original schedule, and that the institutional model that was required for effective implementation was not materializing. Some activities had expanded beyond the mandate of the Project while other areas had received little attention and/or were subject to delays. Many opportunities had not been seized, and Government decisions tended to be delayed by bureaucratic processes. During the MTR, the team examined five areas: (a) implementing the training program; (b) accelerating construction/infrastructure; (c) achieving decentralization; (d) achieving FSQL nationally; and (e) improving project management to achieve the other four. On the positive side, by the time of the MTR capacity had improved significantly in the PCU. In light of this, and of the issues facing implementation, the MTR mission adopted a different approach to project supervision in order to reduce dependency on the Bank and donors and build the Government’s ownership for project implementation. The MTR team concluded that commenting on the processes and providing specific actions, suggestions, solutions and recommendations was not as productive as setting targets that would be the responsibility of the MOET as the executing agency and the PCU as the implementing agency to achieve. The team felt that the PCU needed to assume leadership, take responsibility, focus on results and implement effectively and efficiently those activities for which it had authority. The MTR developed ten clear, concrete and time- bound targets to be met by March 31, 2007 in discussions with project management, PCU staff, the MOET and donors. The Government provided very high level support at the MTR—the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of MOET attended the meetings—and not only supported the approach taken by the MTR team, but requested continuous inputs from the PCU to ensure timely progress towards accomplishing the agreed targets. Project supervision by the Bank took on a very defined, results-based focus aimed to keep implementation on track, while clearly assigning responsibility for implementation to the PCU and the Government. Preparation of the Project. While the Project was designed to introduce FSQL in disadvantaged districts, the Government’s Decision No. 48/2003/QD-BGD&DT dated 24/10/2003 by the Minister of MOET, based on the version of FSQL in the PAD did not contain a procedure for determining whether schools had achieved FSQL standards. To fill the void of having no procedure so as to ascertain whether schools had achieved FSQL, the PCU with Bank agreement developed the FSQL Input Index (FII). The FII is a group of items derived from the FSQL of Decision 48, some content in areas in National School Standards, and a small number of related items. All items have a designated weight based on the perceived importance of the item to describing quality standards at schools. Weights total to 100; therefore the FII is “the metric out of a hundredâ€?. Throughout implementation, the Government and the Bank teams developed a system for measuring annual “achievementâ€?, the District FSQL Audit (Section 2.3), and a school was considered to have reached FSQL if the FII totaled 60 points or more. At the same time, during implementation, the concept of SDPs, whereby schools would analyze, on an annual 11 basis, their progress and present future needs and challenges, was introduced, thereby feeding into the district FSQL plans and prioritizing project activities and resource flows. Quality Assessment of Lending Portfolio. The Project was reviewed twice as part of the Quality Assessment of Lending Portfolio (QALP) in starting in December 2008. After meetings and communications exchanged with the Bank’s supervision team, the QALP rated the Likelihood of Achieving DOs as Moderately Unlikely, the Quality of Design and Quality of Bank Supervision as Moderately Unsatisfactory and the Quality of Implementation by the Borrower as Unsatisfactory. While recommending areas in which to strengthen implementation and supervision, the QALP found the Project’s strategy sound, its Development Objectives relevant and appropriate, its technical, economic, and financial aspects well addressed in a clear results framework, with quantitative KPIs clearly stated, good borrower commitment, a good institutional framework, a design sensitive to educational attainment challenges of poor and disadvantaged children and made available necessary resources and infrastructure, to bridge investment and achievement gaps. However, it also highlighted that the Project’s design appeared too complex relative to the country's absorptive capacity, that it underestimated difficulty of reaching ethnic minorities, disabled children, migrant and street children, each of which required focused and dedicated strategy and plan of action, and found the estimates of risk in the PAD as unduly optimistic. Unfortunately, the QALP assessment came at a time that the many outputs relating to new policies, systems and initiatives designed, developed and disseminated under the Project in its early phase had just been developed and finalized, and implementation based on those very Project outputs was just beginning; hence, it may have been difficult at the time to see that the Project would ultimately be successful in applying the policies, systems and initiatives that had by then been developed (Section 3.4). 2.3 Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Design, Implementation and Utilization M&E Design. The PAD presented a very detailed results framework for the Project, with detailed outcome/impact and output indicators by objective and components, respectively. Several sources were to be used to monitor the Project’s progress towards expected outputs and outcomes, including the Annual District FSQL Audits (DFA), for which capacity was to be developed under the Project’s sub- components 1.1, FSQL District Management, and 3.1, National Guidelines for FSQL. Under sub- component 1.1, BoETs in targeted districts were to be responsible for carrying out FSQL audits and developing district FSQL plans. They were to receive support to: (a) strengthen district school data collection systems (including an initial physical inventory of all schools and satellite campuses to guide planning for civil works and requirements for classroom inputs) and implement a monitoring and evaluation system to assess progress towards FSQL goals and educational outcomes; and (b) develop a consultative annual district-wide FSQL action plan that outlined the requirements for all schools in their district to reach fundamental quality levels and served as a tool for planning and school-support purposes. The DoETs at the provincial level were to be responsible for monitoring and evaluation of FSQL implementation and quality improvements at the district level. The PCU was to be responsible for monitoring and evaluation of the Project’s progress overall. Under Sub-component 3.1, a National Quality Standards Task Force was to develop and disseminate FSQL standards and guidelines for implementation, and periodically review and revise standards according to evolving Government plans and progress towards FSQL. M&E Implementation. The IST for Planning and Monitoring of Educational Quality (Section 2.2) was responsible for coordinating district level FSQL planning, training and monitoring. A District FSQL Development Planning Manual and an Operational Manual for the Implementation of District FSQL Grants and Campus Support Funds were prepared as training materials and planning guidelines. Training followed a cascade approach with key DoET trainers trained at the central level, and they then organized seminars in of April each year for the BoETs who then trained Head Teachers and Deputy Head Teachers in DFA survey methods, as well as in the preparation of School Development Plans that were introduced during implementation (Section 2.2). All school managers (Head Teachers and Deputy 12 Head Teachers) and BoETs participated in annual 5-day professional training programs for school development planning and the FSQL audit. As a result, they know how to use annual DFA results and are becoming familiar with analytical skills appropriate to the data. They have recognized the value of standards-based school planning and of integrating FSQL data into annual school plans. School development planning was not part of the Project’s original design but was developed and implemented as a complement to district FSQL planning and has become an important aspect of the FSQL process and a principle means of capacity development within schools and a key source of monitoring data. The Project developed an effective approach for annual district FSQL planning to include activities and grants to support achievement of FSQL by district schools. BoETs in each district collected data for the DFA based on school self-assessment data, and verified results through school inspections. FSQL data is collated into annual district FSQL plans and some BoETs also use the data to produce medium-terms plans for their districts. IT Planners are responsible for collating and updating the DFA is the main responsibility of the IT Planner for their district. Under the Project, procedures were developed for measuring and verifying progress towards FSQL, based on the DFA and the FII (see Section 2.2, Preparation of the Project). Yet, at mid-term, the concept of a fundamental school quality level was being compromised since the number of indicators had increased from 17 to 35, and FSQL was being seen as a middle order standard somewhere between the 2003 intentions (Decision 48/2003) and the NSS, rather than a minimum standard and fundamental level. This was making measurement difficult and achievement of FSQL even more so, not only for the poor and disadvantaged but nationally. The Government subsequently increased further the number of indicators for “achievingâ€? FSQL under its Decision 55 in 2005. To ensure that the Project followed its original intent of having FSQL defined as a minimum, for monitoring purposes under the Project it was agreed that when a PEDC school achieved 60 percent compliance with the indicators under Decision 54 it was equivalent to having achieved FSQL as originally defined. M&E Utilization. The annual DFA provides year on year performance indicators of school performance against FSQL standards and allows for annual monitoring of a school’s, a district’s and a province’s progress towards achieving FSQL. The DFA has become a highly effective tool for planning and targeting financing and moving towards results-based delivery. With PEDC support, the DFA has been implemented in all districts nationally, over and above the districts included under the Project. This provides Viet Nam with data on school quality down to the remotest schools and villages and is a unique resource for tracking trends, determining gaps, planning and targeting financing. The Project was successful in introducing decentralized data systems at district levels and has built capacity and raised awareness on the use and application of information to monitor changes and make FSQL and operational concept. Funding for implementation of the Project at the district and provincial levels was made available based on the annual FSQL district plans. Although the Project originally aimed for data from FSQL/DFA to be integrated into the Government’s EMIS, that system is still under development, with the result that the DFA is today the single most important source of educational data nationwide in Viet Nam. The Project’s planned M&E output (a comprehensive plan) was both resourced and developed but was not utilized by the PCU. Instead, M&E remained an informal activity, addressed by various external evaluations, joint-donor review missions, and reports by the ISTs. A more formal form of M&E could have improved project coordination between ISTs and strengthened PCU management capacities in planning and reporting. It could also have been useful in transferring financial and technical responsibilities from the PCU and the ISTs to the MOET upon completion. Although M&E capacity in the DoETs and BoETs improved under the Project, there was less sustainable progress in building capacity at the level of MOET. Throughout implementation, the Project was the subject of intensive evaluation that, inter alia, guided the roll-out of activities that had been introduced as pilots under the Project, as well as provided useful data and analysis to inform both implementation and this ICR. Eight external evaluation studies were completed under the Project: (a) CSF and District Grants (December 2006); (b) Pilot School Readiness 13 (December 2007); (c) Pilot Teaching Assistant and School Readiness Programs (April 2007); (d) Training Review and Need Analysis (December 2008); (e) Evaluation of PEDC Investment in Non- Infrastructure Activities (April 2009); (f) Evaluation of PEDC Investment in Infrastructure Activities (April 2009); (g) Longitudinal Study on Teaching Assistant Program (December 2009); and (h) End of Project Evaluation (October 2010). 2.4 Safeguard and Fiduciary Compliance Procurement. The Project’s decentralized implementation involved procurement at the central, provincial and district levels, depending on the item being procured and the respective amount. Under the Project, procurement manuals were prepared for all of these levels and for the school level as well. A full-time procurement adviser was contracted at the first few years of the implementation to provide technical assistance, organize procurement training as well as conducting internal post reviews semi- annually and addressing issues as they arose. As could be expected, capacity for handling procurement at the local levels was limited, and the procurement adviser worked closely with staff at these levels, organizing training events to slowly build capacity. Two issues arose with respect to procurement. First, there were long delays, especially in the procurement of furniture and teaching aids using ICB procedures due to long internal approval procedures for issuance of bidding documents and contract award. Second, the procurement and approval procedures for small school construction contracts involved the contracting of three separate firms for design, construction and supervision, and the same over twenty steps that would have been required for larger contracts. Financial Management. By and large there were strong financial controls for resources under the Project. The design of the financial management systems and their adoption under the Project enabled the PCU and the Bank to monitor and track the use of funds. Like procurement, financial management of project funds was a shared responsibility among the school, district, provincial and central (PCU) levels. In view of the initially limited capacity among all of these levels, early implementation faced considerable challenges with financial management, and faced delays in compiling of financial information by the local levels and consequently consolidating this information by the PCU and submitting financial management reports to the Bank in a timely fashion. Two financial management review specialists worked with the PCU to address these challenges, especially to update financial transactions and records in the PEDC accounting systems and provide training to staff handling accounting and budgeting systems at the local levels. Particular challenges involved preparing financial plans, and cash flow projections based on the outputs needed in each period to achieve the targets set for the complete project period, together with realistic budgets connected to the output activities. The Project established an internal audit system although it was not a requirement by the time of the project preparation. Gradually, planning, accounting and system issues were addressed as capacity for financial management improved at all levels. There were no qualified audits for the Project and fiduciary risks were well contained. Safeguards. The Project was rated Environmental Assessment Category C; hence, and Environmental Assessment was not prepared. An Indigenous Peoples Action Plan was prepared, and together with a beneficiary assessment completed during preparation, fed into the Project’s design, including the targeting of schools where most disadvantaged children lived, the implementation of participatory procedures for the development of FSQL proposals, the provision for textbooks and instruction in native language, and the incorporation of programs directed at highly vulnerable children. During implementation, all of these activities were carried out as designed. 2.5 Post-completion Operation/Next Phase A specific follow-up operation is not contemplated. The PCU is expected to be in place until June 30, 2011 and most of the PPCUs were to be dismantled by the Closing Date. MOET has issued a letter to PPCUs and DoETs to instruct on a clear mechanism for handing over responsibility from the PPCUs to DoETs and relevant DoET management. 14 However, the Government and the Bank began addressing the issue of post-completion operation of the Project’s investments and programs over two years before completion, especially since as a project, PEDC provided funding incremental to the budget and was implemented by a separate PCU through the MOET and provincial, district and school levels. The Government in 2009 established eight Sub- Committees to identify institutional and financial arrangements that would provide continuity for activities supported by the Project, as follows: o Sub-committee # 1: Issuing Inclusive Education Policy, Strategy and Action Plans; o Sub-committee # 2: Provision of Exemplary Inclusive Education Services (EIES) at the District Level; o Sub-committee # 3: Integration of PEDC Training Programs for teachers and managers; o Sub-committee # 4: Implementing and integrating FSQL baseline data with the proposed Viet Nam Education Management Information System (EMIS); o Sub-committee # 5: Provision of Teaching assistants and School Readiness for schools with children of different ethnic groups; o Sub-committee # 6: Budget and Community Support for schools with Disadvantaged Children; o Sub-committee # 7: Education Initiatives (funding for innovative approaches to disadvantaged communities); o Sub-committee # 8: Maintenance of school buildings by communities. The recommendations of the sustainability sub-committees represent the principle mechanism through which PEDC outcomes are to be integrated into MOET systems and procedures. The PCU worked closely with MOET’s Primary Education Department (PED), Department of Ethnic Education (DEE), Department for Education Managers and Teachers, and Department of Planning and Finance (DPF) to prepare a letter signed by the Vice Minister to all provinces with respect to the importance of sustaining the Project’s investments. The circular provides guidance to the provinces about the value of TAs, SR, the CSF, DCDSs and District Planners and shows that they are an effective investment, particularly for the access, attendance and achievement of ethnic minority students. The MOET has also explained to the provinces how they can sustain successful initiatives supported by the Project through the Government’s existing institutional and financing arrangements under the framework of the NTP-E 2011-2015. TBS-EFA has successfully developed a transparent and equitable funding formula for the allocation of the NTP-E. The NTP-E, approved by the National Assembly, includes the following five projects that will be managed by MOET through the provinces and districts normal channels: o Project 1: Supporting the universalization of preschool for 5 year old children, illiteracy elimination and anti re-illiteracy, maintenance of primary education universalization, implementation of lower secondary education universalization at the right age and secondary education universalization o Project 2: Training of IT human resource and application of IT into education o Project 3: Strengthening teaching and learning foreign language in national education system o Project 4: Supporting education in mountainous, ethnic minority and difficult areas o Project 5: Enhancing training capacity of education and training institutions, including: (a) renewal of curriculum, textbooks and teaching materials; (b) training, retraining teachers, lecturers and educational administrators; and (c) enhancing, building education infrastructure/facilities In addition, some of the important initiatives under the Project will also receive continued funding under projects that are currently ongoing or under preparation for eventual Bank financing: the School Education Quality Assurance Project (SEQAP) and the proposed School Readiness Promotion Project (SRPP). Specifically, funding for DFA is expected to continue under SEQAP. Under that project, the Primary Education Department is expected to continue the collection of a single data set from a modified DFA 15 that can serve to: (a) continue to measure and monitor the national FSQL policy (and provinces, districts and schools can continue to develop annual reports); (b) monitor the implementation of SEQAP; (c) monitor Universal Primary Education; (d) provide a data base for future integration into the V.EMIS; (e) serve the purpose of research and studies for policy reform; and (f) provide data bases for planning, budgeting and prioritizing investments. Some funding for TAs and SRs would be provided under SEQAP and SRPP, in addition to what provinces can allocate under NTP-E. Funding for the CSF will be covered through the NTP-E tuition fees exemption integrated in a Governmental Decree issued in 2010 on free tuition, tuition cost reduction, learning costs assistance from the school year 2010/11 to the school year 2014/156. Children targeted by this decree include those targeted under the PEDC that will receive direct learning cost support to buy books, notebooks and other learning aids. SEQAP would also continue to support school-based management by directly building on the experience of the CSF in giving autonomy to schools (through principals and even pupil-teacher associations) in the management of funds for school operation and maintenance, additional Teaching assistants and lunches. Part of the SR program would be integrated under the ECEDC, supporting 5-year olds to have lunch at school. The premise is that children will be mobilized to attend school where Vietnamese language learning may take place. The Project’s training programs and materials have been assumed by the MOET’s Department of Teacher Management that is currently developing a strategic plan for in-service primary teacher education and plans to issue guidance to provinces in the use of these training materials. Several provinces, at both DoET and BoET levels, have made plans for continuing to organize teacher training, using the PEDC training programs. PEDC has built provincial training-of-trainer capacity and this can be developed and extended. Although some provinces may be in a position to extend the training programs beyond the life of the Project, most will require an integration of the programs into MOET and DoET systems of in-service teacher training and support from the general budget. The Project addressed the important issue of infrastructure maintenance three years before completion and helped to set up systems for local communities to ensure continued school maintenance, thereby protecting the Project’s investments. School maintenance is to be carried out with assistance from the community (participatory school maintenance). For this to work, the Project developed a manual on school maintenance, organized a workshop for the draft manuals development and provided training to head teachers and communities. About 43,000 manuals have been printed and distributed to 18,000 schools in the 222 districts of the 40 PEDC provinces. The other 23 non-PEDC provinces have also been provided with the manual. However, communities are likely to face difficulties in financing maintenance since resources will depend on budget allocations from the NTP-E A system for sustaining community participation has been established and is operative as follows: (a) each of the 40 DoETs has appointed staff in charge of primary education to take part in the system; (b) each of the BoETs has appointed the Head/Deputy Head of Primary Education Function and staff responsible for primary education to take part in the system; and (c) 4,500 trained head teachers/deputy head teachers are responsible for instructions and reports on community participation. A workshop was held in 2010 to revise the Manual for Innovation Grants and to draft instructional documents for managing innovation grants. The funds for future innovation grants are expected to be provided by provincial educational budgets from NTP-E and the Department of Science, Technology and Environment of MOET has drafted a correspondence to be issues in 2011 instructing DoETs to use the provincial state budget for implementing Education Innovation Grants. 6 Decision No. 239/Q-TTg dated February 9, 2010 by the Prime Minister on approving the Project of Early Childhood Education Universalization for 5-year old children in the period of 2010-2015 and Decree No. 49/2010/N-CP dated May 14, 2010 by the GOV on regulation tuition exemption and reduction. 16 Child-centered and inclusive education is established quite recently and in PEDC districts represents a very new approach. Although teachers and schools are responsive to the training programs and are seen to apply principles of IE and child-based teaching in lesson planning and classroom activities, the impact on teaching culture remains tentative. For results to become embedded in their operations continued levels of support are required form central (MOET), DoET and BoET authorities. PEDC has funded contract staff salaries for DCDS, IT Planner and TA positions. It is expected that many BoET will be able to integrate IT management skills within their institutional structures and be able to continue data input to some degree of quality. 3. Assessment of Outcomes 3.1 Relevance of Objectives, Design and Implementation The objectives of the PEDC continue to be relevant to Vietnam’s current development priorities. Vietnam has consistently expressed strong commitment to achieving universal basic education as a foundation to social development and economic growth, and there have been notable improvements in enrollment and educational attainment since the early 1990s. Rural and lower income populations have benefited the most from increase educational attainment. Despite these improvements, however, the country is still facing two notable educational challenges: (a) increasing inequities in educational attainment beyond primary driven by higher performance of the most advantaged groups; and (b) still insufficient quality of the education system, in particular for disadvantaged groups. While access to primary and lower secondary education have become more equitable, the rural population, and even more so ethnic minorities and the lowest income quintiles have not yet been able to go beyond lower secondary generating increasing inequities, fueled by persistent inequities in primary completion. The quality of primary education, although improving, still appears to be an issue, overall and more particularly for poor, rural and ethnic minority populations, according to the latest test results. Although schools’ input and processes have improved over time, there are still significant gaps in the level and distribution of these, and poor school management and insufficient community participation are still an issue in primary education, despite strong efforts to strengthen these under the Project. As a result, the Project, its objectives and the activities is financed are fully consistent with the Government’s Education Development Strategic Plan for 2011-2020 which is currently in the process of consultation and its NTP-E which both continue to emphasize the objectives supported by the Project (Section 2.5). It is also consistent with Vietnam’s Poverty Reduction Strategy 2006-2010, that emphasizes measure to tackle poverty among ethnic minorities, issues related to the quality and efficiency of investment and tackling the persistent poverty of ethnic minorities while developing strong systems and institutions for transparent management of public funds. The Project’s objectives are also consistent with the Pillar 2, Strengthening Social Inclusion, of Bank’s Country Partnership Strategy for the period 2007-2011 that puts emphasis on: (a) supporting universal, quality basic education through investing in education infrastructure improvements and implementing education initiatives that target vulnerable group, including ethnic minorities, girls, and children with disabilities; (b) improving ethnic minorities’ voice and participation in the development processes that affect them by decentralizing control over public expenditures to communities, and expanding their access to basic services; and (c) including people with disabilities in the development process. The Project’s objectives were clear, succinct, and responded to the Borrower’s development priorities; its design and components, while ambitious and demanding on the existing institutional capacity, especially given the Project’s decentralized implementation, responded directly to the Borrower’s decentralization goals and sector priorities of reaching disadvantaged groups. In effect, the Project provided compensatory financing incremental to the normal budget and provided finance for designing and establishing new systems and innovations at the district and school level to best address the needs of its target population, and hence meet its objectives. In this sense, the Project’s components comprised an integrated set of activities that needed to be designed, adopted and implemented almost concurrently for 17 maximum benefit, while at the same time providing capacity building to the very institutions, staff and groups that were to be directly involved in its implementation. As a compensatory mechanism, the Project has been completed, and the challenge of continuing to respond to the needs of disadvantaged groups will depend on the Government’s ability to internalize the many successful innovations and lessons from its implementation. This will require not only adopting and mainstreaming monitoring systems, training programs, community initiatives, etc., but also ensuring that the funding provided under the NTP-E to provinces and districts responds to their needs and the results of their efforts, and that they are sufficiently supported in providing continuity to the successful initiatives supported by the Project. 3.2 Achievement of Project Development Objectives The PEDC was a very successful investment project that provided incremental finance to a new, compensatory program that aimed to improve access to primary school and the quality of education for disadvantaged girls and boys. Progress towards the Project’s Key Indicators is provided in Annex 2 and summarized below: o Increase in number of PEDC schools reaching FSQL. In 2004 54% of schools in PEDC districts had achieved FSQL, as originally defined by the Project. By 2010, 68.3% of schools had reached FSQL as defined by the Government’s Decision 55. 7 Overall, PEDC schools improved more quickly than the national average and more than the non-PEDC schools in the same provinces. Also, the range was great with some provinces reaching and exceeding the targets, e.g., 99.24% in An Giang and some not. More importantly, several of the schools that had achieved FSQL reported that they now feel energized and empowered to continue their efforts, striving towards the achievement of national standards. o Increase net enrollment rate. The net enrollment rate in PEDC districts reached 98.7% in 2010, with gender equity, against the target of 96% set at Appraisal. o Improve primary student completion. Primary student completion in PEDC districts reached 94.1% in 2010, with gender equity, against the target of 86 % set at Appraisal. (In 2009, female completion rates in PEDC districts were 93.9%, compared to a national rate of 95.9%.) o Reduce Grade 1 repetition rate. The Grade 1 repetition rate in PEDC districts was 5.2% in 2010 against a target of less than 3% set at Appraisal. Although this represented an improvement over the 8% rate before the Project, this indicator likely fell short of its target due to a new campaign launched by the MOET two years ago to address a problem where teachers apparently passed automatically all of their students to higher grades. (Overall primary repetition rates stood at 2% for project districts in 2010 and 1.4% nationwide.) o Reduce dropout rate. The dropout rate in PEDC districts declined to 2.5% in 2010 against a target of less than 4% set at Appraisal. In PEDC districts, the dropout rate in Grades 1 to 5 was 1.8%. Respondents attributed reduced dropouts to the impact of related PEDC activities, specifically, TA support and mobilizing campaigns, participation by PTAs, the CSF, provision of books and notebooks for disadvantaged children and the overall raised attractiveness of schools. Reduced language barriers are also supposed to have contributed to consistent improvements for this indicator. 7 The Project introduced the concept of FSQL as an achievable standard to which all schools, even those for disadvantaged children in remote areas could aspire to achieve. FSQL was based on five simple criteria, as set out in the PAD. The Government regulated these standards in its Decision 48 (increasing the standards a bit), and then increased the standards for FSQL even more through its Decision 55 (to a point that these were no longer minimum standards). In order to maintain the concept of an “achievableâ€?, minimum standard, the Project adopted a “proxyâ€? that compliance with at least 60% of the requirements in accordance with Decision 55 would represent achievement of FSQL for the Project. On that basis, 80% of the PEDC schools had achieved FSQL by project completion. 18 o Increase the number of eligible disabled children in school. This has remained at about 2% of children throughout the Project. There have been definitional issues as “eligibleâ€? was not defined and work with the Child Development Record (CDR) showed that teachers have difficulty recognizing, identifying and recording children with special needs. (DFA data on disability is limited, does not provide for classification of disabilities and probably under-reports numbers of disabled children who are out of school). The Analysis of 2007/08 CDR-sourced data recommended the 2009 DFA include specific sources of data relating to children with disabilities. This has not yet occurred. o Improve completion rate for disabled children. In 2006 the completion rate for disabled children was 45.6%; by 2009, the completion rate reached 71.5 %. o Improve “independent learnerâ€? status in Mathematics and Vietnamese. The results for this will come from the Grade 5 study in 2011 that is the first time that participants in the PEDC will reach the age where they will be in Grade 5 and be assessed in the achievement study. The results from the Grade 5 2006/2007 study for PEDC schools showed that although students reaching “independent learnerâ€? status in Mathematics remained the same, in Reading they increased from 51.4% in 2001 to 64.5% in 2006/20078. The Quality of EFA Report9 reviews the most significant predictors of student achievement based on sample results for 2001 and 2007 Grade Five surveys. Some of its findings that are relevant to the Project’s outcomes include: (a) the FII is a significant and positive predictor of student achievement in the 2007 studies; (b) teacher education and training (included in the FII) was a very significant predictor of mathematics achievement; (c) the availability of classroom materials/learning tools is a significant predictors of achievement, and the most important variable is the FII as the indicator of overall school inputs (the FII effect on learning achievement in the 2007 study is substantial); (d) for schools in remote areas, school averages for teacher feedback is the strongest predictor of achievement, possibly since these students have less access to learning aids and feedback outside the school; (e) for ethnic populations, the FII and teacher excellence are especially important predictors of outcomes, since these students are less likely to receive help in the home, and are exposed to fewer non-school sources of learning. These findings all point to probably strong improvements in learning outcomes as a result of the initiatives supported by the Project. The Project’s most notable achievement was the development and introduction of the FSQL as a first step towards helping disadvantaged districts to plan, monitor and report progress in achieving defined educational standards and the collection of DFA data since 2004. The Project played a catalytic role in designing and implementing this mechanism to measure quality levels across schools and to allocate resources according to need to raise schools and their satellites up to minimum FSQL standards which were below national standards and therefore seen as “achievableâ€? by disadvantaged districts as a first- step towards eventually achieving national standards. FSQL procedures were piloted in the 40 PEDC provinces from 2004 to 2006, regulated by MOET Decision 48. Together these contributed directly to improving educational opportunities and results in its targeted, disadvantaged districts. The FSQL and the DFA have proven to be successful initiatives that have been expanded to the national level, allowing the Government to allocate need-based funding at the national, provincial, district and school levels. FSQL/DFA was expanded in 2005 under MOET Decision Number 55 and is now adopted nationally at primary school level (see Component 3 below). FSQL now applies in all districts in all 63 provinces of Vietnam. FSQL/DFA permit comparisons over time for the implementation of Government policies such as reaching FSQL; improving attendance; reducing repetition and dropout rates. FSQL and the provision of quality learning environments to achieve equity for all has been accepted and the original PEDC program targeting on disadvantaged districts has now been expanded nation-wide. 8 Report Study in Grade 5 Student Achievement in Mathematics and Vietnamese Language in the 2006-2007 School Year, Hanoi, 2008. 9 Vietnam Quality of All Report (draft) World Bank. The Report, Chapter 7 of the Report analyzes “The Variable That Matter: Determinants of Student Achievement. 19 The importance of education management and how to structure what is happening in schools and classrooms to achieve a better quality of education and improve students’ learning achievements is now more widely understood. All DoETs and BoETs have mastered the data-collection skills and they skillfully use data to identify FSQL gaps, create School Development Plans, allocate funds, target those who need it most, support communities and monitor progress. By completion in 2010, through activities financed in each of the Project’s four components in an integrated manner, 68% of schools in targeted provinces had reached FSQL (on the basis of Decision 55) and 80% on the basis of the “proxyâ€? described in Footnote 7 on page 18 against a baseline of 54% in 2004. The range among targeted provinces was large, with some provinces reaching and exceeding targets, e.g., 99.24% of schools in the An Giang province reaching FSQL. More importantly, schools supported under the Project improved more quickly than the national average, and more than non-Project schools in the same provinces. Table (b) in Annex 2 presents annual progress in FSQL Indicators nationally and for the 227 districts targeted by the Project, and the results towards FSQL are summarized below. 80.00 62.10 65.00 67.80 68.90 69.60 70.90 72.34 70.00 54.00 57.60 60.70 62.40 63.40 67.20 67.65 60.00 50.00 40.00 2003/4 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 PEDC National 2009/10 The Project directly supported the implementation of a process that enabled provinces, districts and schools progress towards FSQL, including the provision of inputs needed for schools and districts to reach FSQL that have been shown to produce a quality education and an environment for learning and to help increase the number of children attending school and the likelihood of their staying until completion. These include: a safe, appropriate building with inside-outside flow and activities, trained teachers, basic equipment and furniture, basic textbooks, a rich range of supplementary resources in local languages where needed, and a committed participating community ensuring healthy motivated children attend school. The End of Project Evaluation (EOPE) 10 mentions that “In all surveyed provinces, enrollment and completion rates have increased, with reduced drop-out and repetition rates, and have reached 96% or higher. A number of provinces have reached over 99% (Lang Son, Kon Tum, Dien Bien) in 2010, compared to net enrollment rates of less than 96% in 2004/05. Survey respondents attributed these results to PEDC’s impact and cited the following activities: (a) school infrastructure and facilities are more spacious, attracting students and parents; (b) the quality of teaching has improved through training programs; (c) the work of Teaching Assistants has contributed to mobilizing and maintaining number of students to school; and (d) the role of PTAs and the CSF have helped support disadvantaged students in going to school.â€? 10 Primary Education for Disadvantaged Children Project (PEDC), End of Project Evaluation, Final Report, September 21, 2010, Consia Consultants. 20 The Project achieved these outcomes through the implementation of its many successful activities, and the outputs described in detail in Annex 2. 3.3 Efficiency An economic analysis of the Project was not prepared for the ICR. The Project’s economic analysis in the PAD had projected the project’s benefits based on the projected increase in net earnings that would accrue to each child who completed Grade 5 under the Project (it excluded children then already enrolled since it assumed that they would have completed their primary education before the Project’s impact was felt). The Project improved student completion from 72% in 1999 to 97.1% in 2010 (these figures include all students). Moreover, completion rates for disabled children increased at a significantly higher rate, from 45.6% in 2006 to 71.5% in 2010. Cost savings associated with improved dropout and retention rates, that would provide an indicator of more efficient use of learning resources in schools, were not included in the Project’s economic analysis. Nevertheless, the Project made significant progress impacting each of these in targeted districts, decreasing repetition rates from 8% in 1999 to 5.2% in 2010 and dropout rates from 12% in 1999 to 2.5% in 2010, thereby impacting pupil flow- through efficiency and promoting much improved efficiency at the primary level. The Project also had another, perhaps equally if not more important impact on sectoral efficiency: developing and implementing a functional system whereby allocation of resources is determined on the basis of needs and capacities as determined by local schools and districts—moving from input-equity to output-equity through a system of evidence-based funding. The development and implementation of FSQL, that defined the minimum package of inputs necessary for providing a quality education at a school together with the basic outcomes that were expected of schools, was an efficiency-enhancing concept. A comparison of actual project costs against appraisal estimates is provided in the table below. Project Cost by Component, estimated and actual, US$ million Component Estimated at Actual Appraisal 1. Achieving FSQL 227.73 233.97 1.1 FSQL District Management 7.07 7.58 1.2 Instructional Improvement and Teacher Support for FSQL 44.24 49.92 1.3 Infrastructure Improvement 163.61 161.11 1.4 Community Participation and Student Support 12.81 15.36 2. Education Initiatives for Highly Vulnerable Children 4.15 5.05 2.1 Inclusive Education for Disabled Children 2.26 2.6 2.2 Reaching Street Children and Other High Risk Groups 1.89 2.45 3. National and Provincial Institutional and Technical Support 8.17 12.61 for FSQL and Vulnerable Children 3.1 National FSQL Planning 0.44 0.88 3.2 Institutional Strengthening 7.73 11.73 4. Project Management 3.62 7.02 TOTAL PROJECT COSTS 243.67 258.64 The actual costs of construction and rehabilitation, per square meter, varied considerably across the country reflecting the difficulties of works in different areas. Construction costs averaged from US$208.14 equivalent per square meter in provinces in the North, US$189.67 equivalent per square meter in provinces in the South, US$181.56 equivalent per square meter in provinces in the Central Highlands, to US$171.04 equivalent per square meter in provinces in the Central region of the country during the 2007-2009 periods. 21 3.4 Justification of Overall Outcome Rating Rating: Satisfactory The Project’s Outcome Rating is considered Satisfactory in view of its continued relevance, the substantial achievement of its Development Objectives as measured by its Key Development Indicators and the successful introduction of new and effective initiatives such as SR, VLS, TAs among others that contributed to their achievement, and the efficiency with which it was implemented and, more importantly, that it is expected to promote in the delivery of primary education, especially to disadvantaged groups. Although the QALP rated the Likelihood of Achieving DOs as Moderately Unlikely, the Quality of Design and Quality of Bank Supervision as Moderately Unsatisfactory and the Quality of Implementation by the Borrower as Unsatisfactory (Section 2.2), with the benefit of hindsight, these ratings do not appear to have been justified, especially in view of the Project’s progress towards the achievement of its Development Objectives described in Section 3.2, and the evaluation of the Bank’s and the Borrower’s Performance in Sections 5.1 and 5.2, respectively. In retrospect, the QALP assessment was carried out at a time when the Project’s implementation had accelerated in earnest, in part reflecting the previous delays in early implementation that had by then been addressed in the MTR, but also reflecting the very nature of the Project’s design that incorporated in its implementation (as opposed to during preparation) the actual design, development, dissemination and putting-in place of new policies, monitoring systems, budget formulation and allocation procedures and educational initiatives that very much depended on the participation and active involvement of the national, provincial, district, school, teacher and community levels and actors for ownership and eventual success. 3.5 Overarching Themes, Other Outcomes and Impacts (a) Poverty Impacts, Gender Aspects, and Social Development By design, through its focus on disadvantaged groups, the Project was targeted on the poor, although immediate poverty alleviation was not an objective, per se. Its activities were all targeted at districts and schools that served disadvantaged groups, including ethnic minorities. Its effects on these groups, and a comparison of the progress of schools under the Project against schools nationwide are presented in Section 3.2. The Project’s Key Performance Indicators were defined to promote gender equity specifically for each of the targets to be achieved. The Project succeeded in achieving gender equity (Annex 2). (b) Institutional Change/Strengthening The Project’s ring-fenced design incremental to education sector’s normal budget and activities together with its implementation arrangements through a parallel structure at the central MOET level (Section 2.2), while ultimately effective for implementing the Project, were not the most conducive to institutional change and strengthening. In fact, the PAD mentioned specifically that the Project would include “two broad types of capacity building interventions: one aimed at ensuring that the Government—at all levels—has the capacity to implement the changes supported by the Project, and the other aimed at enhancing the quality of general management in the district bureaus of education and the provincial departments of educationâ€?. The Project was successful in achieving both of those broad types of capacity building. Still, the Project produced notable successes that, if internalized and sustained, could result in extremely important institutional tools for the planning, implementing and financing of primary education. The decentralization of resources and responsibilities to the local levels required that the Project strengthen capacity at every level of the system, thereby creating a firm foundation that can be built upon. With Project support, the DFA has been implemented in all districts nationally, providing the Government 22 with data on school quality down to the remotest schools and villages—an important resource for tracking trends, determining gaps, planning and targeting financing. However, the EOPE 11 notes: “PEDC has demonstrated an effective approach to planning for development of primary education, based on decentralized data collection systems. Currently, neither annual district FSQL plans nor SDPs are incorporated into MOET systems or approved as a process at the provincial level. Rather, they function as constructs of PEDC and as mechanisms for disbursement of funds. A decision or resolution is required from MOET to provide a strengthened institutional framework for BoET annual district FSQL plans and SDPs…. DoET plans for province-wide attainment of FSQL by primary schools are outside the PEDC funding structure and are not a MOET requirement. More regular and coherent planning for FSQL at DoET levels should be required by MOET and incorporated into future funding mechanisms.â€? However, significant progress was made at the local levels to build capacity among DoETs and BoET, at the schools level, in IT management and data collection systems, and in promoting community involvements in schools’ activities. The SDP process as a means of collecting data and promoting managerial effectiveness at school and district level have been developed in all project schools and are widely produced and implemented nationally. Although most of the successful initiatives have not yet been internalized in the MOET’s mainstream operations, the institutional capacity has been strengthened at all levels of the education system, from the MOET down to the schools in the remotest villages. The challenge now is for the Government to move forward with the sustainability agenda, through the Sustainability Subcommittees described in Section 2.5, and to allocate funding in sufficient amounts to ensure that the Project’s successful systems and initiatives are provided continuity at all levels. (c) Other Unintended Outcomes and Impacts (positive or negative) 3.6 Summary of Findings of Beneficiary Survey and/or Stakeholder Workshops N/A 4. Assessment of Risk to Development Outcome Rating: Moderate The Risk to Development Outcome is very much related to prospects for sustainability discussed in Section 2.5, Post-completion Operation/Next Phase. The Government has devoted significant priority to the work of the Sustainability Committees (Section 2.5), and several mechanisms exist whereby continuity can be provided for the Project’s successful initiatives, including SEQAP and the proposed Project (SRPP), in addition to through normal government funding channels under its NTP-E. The NTP- E is a centrally sponsored scheme in which the MOET indicates to the provinces the expected allocations of central State budget funds to NTP-E sub-components. However, provincial authorities have full discretion over planning, investment and resource allocation. Schools and districts, and more importantly children and their parents and teachers, have witnessed the Project’s activities and impact, and will undoubtedly become important advocates vis-à-vis the provinces for continuity of activities such as SDPs, TAs, SR programs through sustained allocations through their NTP-E budget. Nevertheless, the Government’s EMIS is still not in place, and as a result the substantial information in the DFA could not be integrated in that system and will require a continued “bridgingâ€? to maintain it up- to-date and relevant as a policy and planning tool. Legal, policy frameworks are not in place for TA and 11 Primary Education for Disadvantaged Children Project (PEDC), End of Project Evaluation, Final Report, September 21, 2010, Consia Consultants. 23 SR programs, with the result that these also will depend on alternative project funding, or requests—or community demands--from the schools/districts for continuity of these programs. Still, to the extent that provinces decide to continue implementation of theses programs, funding will need to be provided either under SEQAP or SRPP, or framed within the overall provincial/district budget allocations under NTP-E. In some cases, this is already happening as a number of provinces and districts are already implementing FSQL plans from their own budget. 5. Assessment of Bank and Borrower Performance 5.1 Bank Performance (a) Bank Performance in Ensuring Quality at Entry Rating: Satisfactory The Bank’s Performance in Ensuring Quality at Entry is rated Satisfactory. The Project and its design was strategically relevant in that it responded to the Government’s commitment to Education for All and especially to the challenges of providing education to disadvantaged groups. With very clear objectives, the Project had a focused design with components that addressed real problems—provision of inclusive education for ethnic minority, poor, rural communities (i.e., the last 15% of children out of school, including those with special needs). Yet, its design was also very relevant in that it allowed for flexibility, creativity and adjustment during implementation, as would be necessary given its decentralized, bottom-up implementation of new initiatives. While the Project was ambitious and a “stretchâ€? on the Government’s capacity to implement it, it was the very institutional set-up for delivering education services at the various levels of Government, and the in retrospect correct effort to engage schools, local communities, parents, etc. that necessarily brought complexity. To ensure “ownershipâ€?, the Project financed the preparation and establishment of the instruments it needed for implementation, such as the National Guidelines for FSQL during implementation, and to ensure results, its design contemplated the piloting of activities, such as the CSF and TAs, and then evaluating their effectiveness before continuing with these programs. This proved to be a very successful strategy for introducing innovative mechanisms to address difficult challenges. Finally, the Project was innovative in that it introduced the FSQL as a first step to achieving Vietnam’s National School Standards. FSQL was a simple, straight-forward concept, based on the existing National School Standards, but through definition of the minimum package of inputs necessary for providing quality education at the school level together with outcomes expected of the schools, established standards that were seen to be achievable by all. In hindsight, it would not have been possible to achieve the Project’s results without its ambitious design. More importantly, and mostly due to its design features described above (clear objectives while incorporating flexibility, piloting, evaluation, etc.) the Project’s objectives, components and basic design were unchanged throughout implementation, remain relevant to this day, and in fact, have resulted in its many innovations being internalized in Vietnam. Recognizing the challenges that could be faced during implementation, the Bank’s preparation team worked closely with the Government during preparation to address possible issues that could come to affect implementation. The Project’s design defined roles, responsibilities and accountabilities expected at each level of government, and detailed manuals were prepared to guide implementation. Also, its design included activities required to establish a comprehensive system of monitoring progress towards FSQL, and provide training and support to provinces, districts and schools to utilize this system for information-based planning of activities and inputs, a critical part of budgeting and planning for targeting disadvantaged schools. Perhaps the one issue that came to affect implementation and that could have been addressed better during preparation was that relating to the construction start-up processes, and the detailed Government requirements and procedures for contracting school construction and rehabilitation that had not been identified. In the end, however, this issue was addressed during supervision, and although it led to minor 24 implementation delays early during implementation, it in no way affected the achievement of the Project’s objectives. (b) Quality of Supervision Rating: Highly Satisfactory The Bank’s Quality of Supervision is rated Highly Satisfactory. The Bank’s supervision team, led by one Task Manager from the start of implementation until completion, remained focused on supporting the Government and the PCU to implement the Project effectively, and provided strong and consistent leadership. Supervision was hands-on, and timely; supervision reporting was timely and candid. The Bank coordinated closely with all of the Project’s donors that routinely participated in and contributed to all supervision with expert staff. The MTR was critical to set the Project’s implementation on back on track, especially in view of initial delays and minor divergences from the Project’s decentralized design. The MTR focused on five areas: (a) implementing the training program; (b) accelerating construction/infrastructure; (c) achieving decentralization; (d) achieving FSQL nationally; and (e) improving project management to achieve the other four. While acknowledging some important accomplishments, the MTR team was seriously concerned about the Project’s implementation progress: some activities had expanded beyond the Project’s mandate while other activities had received little attention and/or were seriously delayed. A very detailed Aide Memoire of the MTR provided a thorough analysis of implementation and recommendations for improvement and reported that “many opportunities had not been seized, and management decisions tend to be bogged down by bureaucratic decision makingâ€?. It reported that implementing the Project required a departure from “business as usualâ€?, and reiterated that the Bank’s supervision would not micro-manage through providing specific recommendations, suggestions, actions and solution to issues, challenges and problems. In light of the serious shortcomings in implementation at the time of the MTR, the mission developed ten clear and concrete targets in discussions with project management, PCU staff, the MOET and donors that were expected to be met by March 31, 2007, and assessed in April 2007. The mission requested revised implementation, procurement and disbursement plans, and from then onwards supervision took on a very results focus, based on the ten major targets. At the same time, the Bank’s supervision team adopted a flexible approach to problems and difficulties and was willing to recommend adjustments as needed to facilitate implementation, e.g., changing systems for counterpart funding, funding 100% school furniture (originally it had been expected that only 70% would be financed, expansion of the training program as surveys and feedback established teachers’ wants and needs, expansion of the CSF to the host schools, etc.). Another noteworthy aspect of the Bank’s supervision was that of insisting on the carrying out of timely, external evaluations of Project-financed initiatives. In all, eight external evaluations were carried out under the Project (Section 2.3). Although the Project was designed as a traditional investment project that would come to closure upon completion, it succeeded in introducing and implementing some notable innovations in the Government’s efforts to provide improved educational opportunities to disadvantaged groups. Recognizing that these important programs (FSQL, TAs, VLS, SR, etc.) should be continued, the Bank’s supervision team began discussing transition arrangements with the Government over two years before completion, and worked together with the Government and the Sustainability Teams in developing proposals to provide continuity to these important initiatives with Government or alternative sources of funding. Finally, the integrated and sustained nature of the Bank’s assistance to Vietnam’s education sector has meant that there were several other operations under preparation and implementation concurrently with the Project’s implementation. The portfolio under implementation and preparation included several complementary investment projects as well as the TBS for EFA Program. Throughout, the Bank’s supervision effort and the Government counterparts worked as a team, sharing information and programs that benefited the entire program. For example, the TBS for EFA program benefited from the system for 25 data collection and data from the Annual DFA, while continuity to this successful system and data are expected to be provided under the SEQAP Project. (c) Justification of Rating for Overall Bank Performance Rating: Satisfactory The Overall Bank Performance is rated Satisfactory. While Bank Performance in Ensuring Quality at Entry is rated Satisfactory, and the preparation effort and project design considered appropriate, the Bank’s Supervision had to devote an extraordinary effort to keep the Project on track. 5.2 Borrower Performance (a) Government Performance Rating: Satisfactory The Government’s Performance (i.e., the MOET and the MOF) is rated Satisfactory. The Government remained fully committed to the Project’s objectives throughout, and despite some delays in counterpart funding during early implementation, provided continued financial, staffing and other support to ensure that it would achieve its objectives. The Project counted on high-level support from the Government throughout. The Deputy Prime Minister participated throughout the MTR, and provided strong support and follow-up to ensure that agreed actions were taken by the PCU in a timely manner. The Government embraced the concept of FSQL, but it changed over the period of the Project’s implementation, to the point where a revised criteria was needed to monitor performance of PEDC schools towards FSQL (see Footnote 7 on Page 18). Despite this, the Government has shown strong commitment to sustainability and enthusiasm for ensuring that project innovations that have been shown to improve children’s learning and achievement will continue after completion. Significant progress towards internalizing the Project’s accomplishments was made through the work of the eight sub-committees led by the appropriate technical departments in the MOET. However, incremental funding under the Project will cease and continued financing will need to be absorbed through normal funding channels. (b) Implementing Agency or Agencies Performance Rating: Satisfactory The Implementing Agencies’ (the PCU, and the provincial DoETs (PPCUs), and the BoETs (DMUs) Performance is rated Satisfactory. The Project required implementation at several levels of government, in addition to at the school level. These arrangements required strong efforts by the PCU to not only implement certain activities, in part through the ISTs, but also to coordinate, supervise and provide assistance and training to implementing agencies at the provincial, district and school level. Some initial issues with project management were identified and addressed at the time of the MTR, namely: (a) delays in project outputs; (b) monitoring of output progress; (c) central PCU organization; (d) forward production and financial planning; (e) decentralization through delegation to the appropriate level, and (f) strategic thinking on sustainability. From the time of the MTR, the PCU management began to assume leadership, took responsibility for implementation at the appropriate level, focused on results, and began to facilitate and implement project activities in a forward-looking timely manner. The PCU followed the Project’s Operational Manual, and began to follow the description of roles and responsibilities assigned to each of the Project’s implementing agencies, providing technical support and guidance where needed. Throughout, the PCU was committed to the concept of FSQL, the DFA, and to ensuring the collection and recording of data, and the use of the system as a needs-based system for resource allocation. The PCU also developed flexible approaches that helped the communities and schools to plan, budget and use their funds to meet their own needs, within their own capacity. The PCU developed a “menuâ€? approach and the SDP and district FSQL plan comprised three “softâ€? menus: (a) mandatory, where 26 funds could not be used for other purposes, e.g. students’ stationery, CSF, learning materials, etc.; (b) teacher training; and (c) school-based teacher training where schools could implement schemes meeting their own requirements for teachers’ development. In a decentralized project and across a diverse range of provinces/districts this proved a useful approach. (c) Justification of Rating for Overall Borrower Performance Rating: Satisfactory The Overall Borrower Performance is rated Satisfactory, based on the Government’s and the Implementing Agencies’ continued commitment to the Project, its design and implementation arrangements throughout, and their commitment to seek and design processes to identify options for ensuring sustainability of the Project’s accomplishments. 6. Lessons Learned The Project provides several lessons related to education policy, instrument design and institutional arrangements. Education Policy: The concept of quality of education is a dynamic concept that evolves over time. The evolution and development of education quality should be defined and formed to respond to a specific country or socio-economic and cultural context at a certain period of time. Therefore, setting up an FSQL that matches the education system’s implementation and financial capacity was critical to ensure its relevance and usefulness. The FSQL was a successful innovation that provided a “ladderâ€? to national standards by setting a realistic and attainable target for disadvantaged schools and has since become national policy and implemented in all provinces. Most importantly, it provides standards for a needs- based targeted allocation of funds and real data to schools on what to spend it on in order to reach the standards. In terms of setting standards, the Project set FSQL as the minimum standards that a school should have in place to provide a basic learning environment. Many schools that have attained FSQL feel successful and empowered, and as a result, are setting new, higher, targets to eventually achieve national standards. Caution, however, should be taken when seeing progress towards initial minimum standards, and using this as an opportunity to increase standards (as was done by the Government’s Decision 55). The value of fundamental quality standards, as originally defined in simple, easy to follow and monitor terms, is that they were seen as achievable by the provinces, districts and schools targeted by the Project. Of all the standards, schools were most challenged by FSQL requirements for physical infrastructure. Where these targets are unrealistic and difficult to achieve, provision should be made for FSQL certification based on other more manageable criteria, specifically including the quality of teaching and learning, as is currently provided for by the FII. Initiatives that strengthened the ties between schools and communities proved to be very successful in improving educational outcomes. These included the SR initiative a community-based, pre-primary school development program introduced to strengthen Vietnamese language competencies in districts with significant ethnic minority populations, where Vietnamese is spoken as a second language and support transition from pre-school to Grade 1, and the introduction of TA. TAs, bi-lingual members of local communities had primary responsibility for implementation of SR programs, under the coordination of satellite school and Grade 1 teachers. The initial pilot and later expansion of the TA initiative was successful in creating a link between Grade 1 teachers at satellite campuses, to support delivery of the SR program, and their work with families and communities to mobilize children in coming to school and to help ensure attendance. In disadvantaged areas without ethnic minority teachers, or without ethnic language speaking teachers, TAs also played a pivotal role in enabling schools and satellite campuses to meet minimal quality standards. TAs not only helped teachers, but played an 27 important role as a language and culture bridges between school, family, and community and helped change local people’s awareness about their children’s learning, with consequent positive outcomes. As mentioned in Section 2.5, funding for several of these initiatives is expected to be sustained by provinces with funding under the framework of the NTP-E 2011-2015. Instrument Design: The Project was designed as a traditional investment project, providing incremental finance to a project with specific time-bound objectives that were expected to be achieved in targeted districts by completion. Its institutional arrangements were designed to facilitate and ensure the Project’s effective implementation, but institutional strengthening on a national scale over and above that which would be required for successful implementation was not an explicit objective of the Project (although there was an indicator that expected the MOET, and participating DoETs and BoETs to have regularly demonstrated strengthened capacity to identify, plan for, support and monitor the needs of educationally disadvantage children). Nevertheless, the Project’s positive outcomes brought a critical challenge: how to ensure that the initiatives introduced under the Project are not only maintained upon completion (e.g., the schools constructed maintained, the learning materials utilized, etc.), but also expanded, internalized and adopted as national policies more broadly. As a quasi-compensatory project, aimed at leveling outcomes in disadvantaged districts, the Project’s design was contained, and it achieved mostly its expected objectives. But, given that, despite progress, there are still important differences in educational outcomes across schools, should this “compensatoryâ€? financing terminate now that the Project has been completed? The Bank’s supervision team worked closely with the Government well in advance of completion to ensure sustainability of the Project’s initiatives, with the objective of ensuring continued implementation of proven initiatives thereby further reducing the gaps in outcomes between schools in disadvantaged districts and other schools. Still, in retrospect, the question remains as to whether support for an ongoing program coordinated directly by the MOET through its technical departments (as opposed to through the PCU), and directly through the DoETs (as opposed to through the provincial PCUs) would not have provided greater sustainability and internalization of the very capacity that the Project helped develop. Several other aspects of the Project’s and instrument’s design were effective, especially, the piloting of innovative activities and their evaluation before expansion, as well as building into the Project’s design activities that were central to the Project’s objectives such as the development and dissemination of FSQL standards and guidelines. In addition, the Project’s design was such that its was well-defined, but still sufficiently flexible to allow creativity and minor adjustments based on provincial, district and school needs, that were all so important to ensure that its outputs and results responded to local realities. At the same time, this mix between up-front design and definition versus flexibility resulted in the continued relevance of the Project’s objectives, components and activities throughout implementation without the need for their restructuring. Institutional Arrangements: Given that the Project’s implementation was coordinated by a Project Coordination Unit, with the consequent issues that structure entailed for sustainability of institutional capacity that was developed, its structure was effective for implementing project activities. The establishment of ISTs for planning and monitoring, teacher development activities, educational goods and materials, civil works and community participation, ensured effective leadership, coordination, technical support and knowledge sharing between the MOET, the PCU, the DoETs and the BoETs. The involvement of schools, communities and parents in the Project’s activities ensured “bottom-upâ€? engagement and support for the initiatives and activities financed, and bode well for continued demand for its successful programs and initiatives. 28 7. Comments on Issues Raised by Borrower/Implementing Agencies/Partners (a) Borrower/implementing agencies The Government provided comments on a draft of this report through a letter to the Bank dated June 15, 2011 (Annex 7). Overall, the Government’s comments on the Project and its implementation were very positive, and highlighted the important role that the Project played in developing and implementing a successful model for improving the accessibility to quality education for disadvantaged students in some of the country’s most remote areas. The Government’s comments (translated) are provided in Annex 7 and have been incorporated in the final version of this report. The Government also submitted comments from 15 of the provinces that benefitted from assistance under the Project. These provinces, both in their written comments and through participation of their staff in a final project wrap-up ceremony in November 2010 (where issues of sustainability were very much on the agenda) unanimously cited the importance of the several innovative activities supported in their provinces and the positive impacts that these have had on providing more accessible and better quality education for their students in ways that address effectively the constraints that these students faced. These comments are provided in Annex 6. (b) Cofinanciers A draft of this report was sent to all of the Project’s co-financiers (Section 1.7). Minor written comments were received from CIDA (Canada), UK DFID and NORAD (Norway). Again, co-financiers were unanimously positive about the Project’s successes and about the notable achievements towards its development objectives, both of which were important accomplishments given that it addressed complex and interrelated issues in Vietnam’s most disadvantaged areas. The written comments are provided in Annex 8. The co-financiers of PEDC requested to have an executive summary for the report; the executive summary is presented in the Annex 9. c) Other partners and stakeholders (e.g. NGOs/private sector/civil society) 29 Annex 1. Project Costs and Financing (a) Project Cost by Component (in USD Million equivalent) Actual/Latest Estimate (USD millions) Appraisal Percentage Components Estimate (USD Credit and of millions) GOV’s Appraisal MDTF Total contribution Amended Achieving FSQL 227.73 207.09 26.88 233.97 103% Education Initiatives for Highly 4.77 0.28 4.15 5.05 122% Vulnerable Children National and Provincial Institutional and 8.17 11.22 1.39 12.61 154% Technical Support for FSQL Project Management 3.62 3.55 3.46 7.02 194% Total Baseline Cost 243.67 226.63 32.01 258.64 106% Physical Contingencies 0.00 0.00 0.00 Price Contingencies 0.00 0.00 0.00 Total Project Costs 243.67 226.63 32.01 258.64 106% Front-end fee PPF 0.00 0.00 .00 Front-end fee IBRD 0.00 0.00 .00 Total Financing Required 0.00 (b) Financing12 Appraisal Actual/Latest Type of Estimate Percentage of Source of Funds Estimate Cofinancing (USD Appraisal (USD millions) millions) Borrower 43.37 32.01 74% IDA 138.76 151.38 109% Australian Agency for International 1.00 0.994 99% Development Canadian International Development Agency 8.38 12.469 148% (CIDA) British Department for International 38.69 44.124 114% Development (DFID) Norwegian Agency for Development 13.47 14.360 106% Cooperation 12 Part of the change of donor contribution in percentage term is because the change of exchange rate between donor’s currency (donors’ commitment) and USD over time. 30 Annex 2(a). Outputs by Component The Project made progress towards its Development Objectives through the implementation of activities, and through outputs for each of its components and sub-components, as described below and presented in the Results Framework Matrix in this Annex. Subcomponent 1.1: District Management PEDC inputs have focused on: (a) strengthening school data collection systems, and (b) development of annual district FSQL plans by BoETs (see also Section 2.3, M&E Implementation). Annual District FSQL plans were developed and reviewed by BoETs at the end of each year (August 15), and presented for approval to DoETs. The plans were based on data collected during DFA surveys and compiled in the DFA database by IT planners. SDPs, verified by BoET inspection teams, provided primary sources of DFA. The District FSQL plans were subsequently submitted to the PCU as the basis for grant applications that presented items to be procured and activities to be carried out in support of FSQL achievement. The DFA allows data to be tracked by school year and is intended to result in realistic targets as the basis for activity planning at district level and for the grant application. Annual District FSQL plans, as set out in PEDC procedures, addressed four generic objectives: (a) all schools and satellite campuses achieve FSQL targets; (b) all school-age children are enrolled in school; (c) 96% of age 14 children graduate from primary school; and (d) gender equity targets are achieved. These objectives provide the context in which the five criteria or “chaptersâ€? of FSQL are laid out: (a) physical infrastructure, teaching/learning equipment and aids; (b) teaching staff; (c) school organization and management; (d) education socialization; and (e) educational activities and quality. The EOPE reports: “PEDC has successfully introduced a quantifiable system for primary education data collection, based on the district FSQL audit (DFA). Data collection systems are in place and annual district plans for FSQL achievement are being developed and implemented by BoETs. Schools are producing SDPs and principles of planning for FSQL are widely understood and adopted at school levels. The DFA enables school quality levels to be ranked and monitored and improvements in school quality standards have been demonstrated over time. Achievement of National School Standards has become a realistic objective for a significant proportion of PEDC schoolsâ€?. The EOPE also reports that capacities have been built at the level of DoETs, BoETs and schools to support standard-based planning, and that initiatives are under way to several provinces to sustain management training initiatives after completion, and to integrate the Project’s model of FSQL planning into provincial and district systems and procedures in the medium to long term. Challenges reported include improving data collection procedures and reliability of data that vary among districts and provinces, further strengthening BoET capabilities through integration of IT planning responsibilities, and integrating FSQL monitoring and assessment procedures into provincial and district systems. More importantly, district and school planning through FSQL and SDPs operate outside the MOETs normal sector planning processes, with approval of annual plans by the PCU and funding under the Project, both of which will terminate. Subcomponent 1.2: Instructional Improvement and Teacher Support for FSQL The Project financed teacher training and professional development and upgrading the quality of teachers at satellite campuses. Activities included the design of training programs and modules, and training of Teachers and Head Teachers through a “needs-basedâ€? strategy to professional development of teachers, seeking to address the pedagogical needs of disadvantaged children. Teachers were supported through training in child-centered teaching and learning methodologies to help children to learn according to their abilities and potential. A summary of training and professional development under the Project is provided below: 31 Type of Program Program Target Result Child-based teaching 130,000 112,626 teachers in 40 provinces 63,680 teachers for Grades 1 and 2 (provinces Subject-based teaching 60,000 BASIC (3 Programs) trained more using needs-based funding) Vietnamese Language 120,000 95,000 teachers in 40 provinces Strengthening 7,500 TA and 7,500 7,500 TAs and 7,500 Grade 1 teachers trained. Teaching Assistants teachers annually starting in 2006-2010 Overcoming Barriers to 39,480 teachers in 40 provinces (provinces trained 30% of all teachers TARGETED (4 Learning more using needs-based funding) programs) Specialized Teaching Skills 30,000 38,000 in the Inclusive Classroom EIES support teacher 150 153 support teachers and 456 classroom teachers training EDUCATION School Development Plan 10,500 10,461 head teachers and deputies , MANAGEMENT Education Management 10,500 10,586 head teachers and deputies , (2 programs) 45,620 personnel trained (now integrated into DFA Child Development Record 43,000 training) PTAs and Campus Support 270,000 270,350 people trained Funds COMMUNITY (4 54,000 community people trained by 283 DCDSs. programs) School maintenance 7,000 main schools Also 120 provincial trainers, 4,800 Head teachers, package training and satellites 4,800 PTA reps, 40 DoET officers and 4,500 school managers trained. 11,289 reported from 22 provinces (number is larger Needs-based training 20,000 as not all provinces reported) Source: The Ministry’s Progress Report November 2010. General notes: Head teachers, and Deputy Head teachers and teachers may attend more than one course; needs-based training has been used locally in a flexible way to cover gaps in training and provide school based training on specific needs. District level respondents to the EOPE were invariably positive about the training programs under the Project and felt the programs had made a significant difference to the way teachers teach and resulted in improvements to learning outcomes. Teachers have increased confidence in using new teaching methods and are able to apply a variety of teaching new aids, including adaptation of training materials to different subjects and becoming interested in making their own materials. The training programs have contributed to a change of attitude among school staff, particularly concerning inclusive education but more generally about the roles of teachers and the function of district schools. Combined with the impact of other Project initiatives, parents and communities also have increased interest in the schools and are more confident in the quality of education being received. While all of the programs, and the materials provided undoubtedly had a direct impact on the Project’s outcomes, several were particularly relevant to its focus on disadvantaged groups, ethnic populations and the disabled: Child-based Teaching, Overcoming Barriers to Learning (intended for teachers working with children with specific disabilities), Vietnamese Language Strengthening, School Readiness and Teaching assistants. The EOPE evaluated the Child-based Teaching, Overcoming Barriers to Learning and Vietnamese Language Strengthening programs. These programs addressed issues of access to education, enrolment and retention, particularly among ethnic minorities. The EOPE evaluated these programs positively, with “teachers reporting adoption of new teaching methods resulting in improved learning outcomesâ€?. It also concludes that “barriers to learning have been reduced in PEDC districts and positive attitudes towards inclusive education have been introduced, a conclusion supported by DFA data, that the overall attractiveness of schools has been raised through training program implementation with schools viewed as being more relevant and accessible by parents and communities.â€? 32 These training programs have been innovative, distinct from MOET pre-service programs, and have provided teachers with important skills and competencies for child-based and inclusive education, thereby contributing to improved learning outcomes, including for children with language barriers or other learning difficulties. Responses from Teachers and Head Teachers were positive, and classroom observation in the context of the EOPE found that teachers had understood and sought to apply concepts learned through training, and used visual aids, including learning cards, in addition to materials they had developed at their own initiative. Another external evaluation confirms these findings.13 It describes teachers as being better equipped in terms of teaching skills and being able to establish a conducive learning environment for children with disabilities with the quality of teaching and learning being much improved, after participating in the Overcoming Barriers to Learning training program. It notes significantly changed attitudes and perceptions of teachers towards working with disabled children with teachers more accepting and welcoming and more attentive to individual learning needs, such as by setting individual goals in class and tailoring homework to students’ ability. As a result, students are more motivated and attendance by disabled children has increased (although DFA data is weak on disability, and data is compiled through the CDR). The EOPE team observed that: (a) teachers’ attitudes of teachers in favor of inclusive education have been changed as a result of the training; (b) teachers feel better prepared to work with disabled children and have a heightened awareness of special needs; (c) teachers had individual educational planning record books for disabled children (CDR); and (d) previously, special education has been provided only in specialized schools at provincial level. Vietnamese Language Strengthening (VLS), a program targeted at ethnic minority children for whom Vietnamese is not a first language, was included under the Project as a key activity aimed at expanding access to primary, reducing dropout and repetition rates, and increasing completion rates. A five-day training program for teachers was carried out in all targeted provinces under a cascade training approach. The Project provided a full set of VLS teaching material for satellite campuses, including: (a) VLS materials for teachers (teachers guide); (b) Teaching Assistant guidebook; (c) VLS children’s materials; (d) VLS children’s workbook/coloring books; (e) VLS cards; (f) VLS/SR Language Corner (established in all Grade 1 classes; (g) SR materials; (h) SR materials; (i) SR language guides; (j) SR full-color picture book; (k) supplementary reading books; (l) TA Learning Aids (for Learning Corners); (m) Audio tapes and cassette player; and (n) Big Books. Student supplies were procured under annual district FSQL plans/grants, together with additional supplies for the TA and SR programs. MOET approved Teacher Guides were procured centrally. PEDC materials were in use in many schools, materials and textbooks are fully provided, and in sufficient time for schools to distribute them for students at the beginning of the school year. Other very successful initiatives supported by the Project were the School Readiness (SR) initiative, a community-based, pre-primary school development program introduced to strengthen Vietnamese language competencies in districts with significant ethnic minority populations, where Vietnamese is spoken as a second language and support transition from pre-school to Grade 1, and the introduction of Teaching assistants (TA). The Project supported development of the programs and distribution of materials, and training. Under SR programs new Grade 1 students can learn Vietnamese; existing Grade 1 students can revise Vietnamese in three summer months. TAs, bi-lingual members of local communities trained under the Project and provided with teaching aids, have primary responsibility for implementation of SR programs, under the coordination of senior satellite school and Grade 1 teachers. The TAs’ terms of reference are to support Grade 1 teachers at satellite campuses, to support delivery of the SR program, and to work with families and communities to mobilize children in coming to school 13 PEDC Investment: Non-infrastructure (July 2009) 33 and to help ensure attendance. The TAs are contracted by BoETs on an annual basis and paid a salary. Training of TAs training followed a cascade approach with training delivered directly by Head Teachers and Deputy Head Teachers. An external evaluation the TA and SR initiatives carried out under the Project, The Longitudinal Study on Teaching Assistants (TAs) and School Readiness (SR) programs shows very promising findings and the value of this intervention14. The study evaluated the effectiveness of TA utilization on progress and learning results of students in Grade 1 (and compared satellites with SR and TA and satellites with the same conditions but without SR and TA). The evaluation’s main findings corroborate earlier evidence that students in classes with a TA attend more regularly and achieve better results in mathematics and Vietnamese language than those students in similar classes without a TA. The study found that “In surveyed districts, the TA program has made significant contributions in preparing children for school through Vietnamese language acquisition under the SR program. In disadvantaged areas without ethnic minority teachers, or without ethnic language speaking teachers, TAs also play a pivotal role in enabling schools and satellite campuses to meet minimal quality standards. The Longitudinal Study qualitatively assessed communication skills (listening/speaking), vocabulary, ability to follow teaching instructions, reading, writing and mathematics abilities, and found clear correlations in each area showing better results in satellite schools with TAs than in schools without them. It concluded that 83.3% of satellite schools with TAs achieved “goodâ€? results at Grade 1, versus a rate of 50% in schools without them - a gain of 33.3%. While it is still about 13% below the national average, these findings point to important gains attributable to the TA and SR programs. BoETs and teachers were also consistent in reporting to the evaluators the improvements to learning outcomes at Grade 1, and describing the SR program as providing a “big leapâ€? in improving ethnic minority students’ Vietnamese capacity and in making them more confident when starting school. SR clearly has a positive effect on the learning of ethnic minority students in Grade 1. For example, the two charts below on reading skills and mathematics show that ethnic students attending SR class (yellow bar) do better than students not attending SR classes (black bar) when assessed at the end of the first semester of Grade 1, 2008. 100,00% 90,00% 90,00% 80,00% 80,00% 70,00% 70,00% 60,00% 60,00% § · häc CBTV 50,00% § · häc CBTV 50,00% Ch- a häc CBTV 40,00% Ch- a häc CBTV 40,00% 30,00% 30,00% 20,00% 20,00% 10,00% 10,00% 0,00% 0,00% § äc ®óng § äc ® óng § äc ®óng § äc PB NB h× khèi nh NB ch÷ sè, Lµm tÃ?nh vÇn tõ c©u dÊ thanh u u SL, dÊ > ;< céng, trõ Ethnic students’ reading skills Ethnic students mathematics skills The TA program has contributed to: (a) increasing enrollment rates; (b) mobilizing school-aged children to attend class and maintain regular attendance; and (d) thereby decreasing repetition and drop out rates. TAs have not only helped teachers, but have played an important role as a language and culture bridges between school, family, and community and helped change local people’s awareness about their children’s learning. TAs spend about two thirds of their time supporting teachers and students in the class, and the remaining time cooperating with the students’ families. The TAs helped students attend class more regularly, they have helped the children with homework and to understand lessons in the class 14 Mid-term Report “Longitudinal Study on Teaching Assistants and School Readinessâ€? April 2009 34 and follow teachers’ instructions. Moreover, TAs have created friendly learning environments so the children are more interested to attend class and learn better. Parents have been assured when their children get good learning results so they encourage their children to go to school regularly. Some TAs take children to school and bring them home, which make parents feel satisfied and sate. Parents and community members have developed trust in TAs and schools. TAs have also supported individuals with special needs and children with disabilities. The TA and SR initiatives have proven positively effective: (a) having great impacts on access to the primary schools of the ethnic minority students, children with disabilities and the most disadvantaged children; (b) playing an important role in accessing the inclusive education; and (c) creating the close relation between school, students’ families and supporting individual students. The Project has also recognized opportunities to strengthen teaching capacities through inter-school cooperation and exchange of teaching experience. The Exemplary Inclusive Education Services Initiative and introduction of “cluster-based trainingâ€?, modeled on Colombia’s Escuela Nueva 15 , represent a promising direction for district level planning and an alternative approach to the “cascadeâ€? training model. Subcomponent 1.3: Infrastructure Improvement for FSQL Infrastructure, including civil works, provision of furniture and related technical services accounted for the Project’s largest component. By project completion, 6,126 had benefited from the Project, 12,383 new classrooms had been constructed, and 6,720 had classrooms had been renovated or upgraded. Additional sites and classrooms benefited from assistance from the Government’s School Concretization Program (see Section 1.7), as presented below: Type Plan at Total PEDC School Concretization MTR Program (all new classrooms) New classrooms 14,535 13,141 12,383 758 Upgraded/renovated 3,338 6,720 6,720 N/A classrooms Teacher rooms 5,607 5,101 4,834 267 Water points 5,075 4,909 4,694 215 Latrines 5,690 5,321 5,072 249 Source: Developed from Ministry’s Progress Report November 2010 and Construction IST PEDC teacher rooms, water points and latrines include new and repaired/renovated While on the whole the quality of construction has met standards, an external evaluation of the infrastructure investment (VICA) reported some concerns about the finishing and the quality of construction in about 5% of buildings, creating the need for extraordinary maintenance.16 Despite this, the same report highlights that the beneficiaries’ (teachers, parents and commune leaders’) perception about the PEDC schools is overwhelmingly positive. More than 97% agreed that the upgraded campus was more beautiful and attractive, encouraged children to attend school, more child-friendly and conducive to learning. There was a strong sense of ownership and they are willing to share in the maintenance of the building. Overall, more than 96% of beneficiaries agreed they are happy with the Project. 15 The Government is under the process of application for an FTI funds to scaling up this model – called Vietnam New School Model project (VNEN) 16 Evaluation of the Infrastructure Investment (School Construction) VICA Consultants International, Hanoi, March 2009. 35 The PCU developed plans (involving no new construction) for repairing main school and satellite sites in 23 needy provinces in 2010. PEDC was the first project to provide investment for school construction at satellite sites of primary schools. The program was completed as planned, carried out efficiently and completely implemented through decentralization to DoETs and primary schools. Subcomponent 1.4: Community Participation Initiatives to seek community participation were a highly successful aspect of the Project. The focus of these activities was on strengthening PTAs to support and monitor FSQL, and, more recently, to support school maintenance training in order to ensure sustainability of the many gains made over the last five years. In July 2010, 20 provinces shared experiences and recorded lessons learned on community participation under PEDC and the results were printed and distributed to districts and provinces in Achievements of Community Participation. DCDS in the BoETs have played a key role in mobilizing communities in: (a) conducting surveys to identify teachers’ needs, needs for Vietnamese language strengthening for preschool children; (b) organizing training courses for teachers in the satellites and Head Teachers of main schools, training for communities and parents on CSF management (see below); (c) mobilizing community participation in the inclusive education for children with disabilities by distributing inclusive education materials; and (d) participating in monitoring the TA pilot program, supporting Head Teachers of main schools and teachers in the satellites in implementing the CSF, supervising and taking part in PTAs. District Planners, also in BoETs, were responsible: (a) participating and supervising the implementation of the DFA, attending training sessions, supervising staff in charge of conducting DFA, analyzing the DFA data, and developing DFA reports; and (b) assisting project units in the districts to develop overall district FSQL plans and annual operation plans and support different types of reports. The CSF was another highly successful innovation under the Project. The objectives of the CSF were to: (a) provide flexibility for schools to deal with locally specific issues that impact the enrolment, the retention, or quality of education that children receive, and (b) strengthen the relationship between schools and communities by encouraging greater community participation in the decision making at the main and satellite campus over the long term. Under the CSF, annual grants provided to schools and satellite schools to help with small purchases, support some educational activities as well an enhance community participation in school activities, based on the schools determination of needs. For example, the CSF provided support for: (a) disadvantaged children to go to school through such activities as buying clothes, learning aids, physical education equipment; (b) overcoming difficulties in the class such as buying water bottles, water pots, glasses, medicine boxes; (c) activities related to the SR program such as teaching and learning materials and aids; and (d) extracurricular educational activities with community participation such as buying teaching, learning aids, materials to enhance awareness of students in the ethnic minority languages and Vietnamese, encouraging active involvement of different types of students (such as girls, groups of ethnic minority students). The CSF for the disadvantaged primary students produced many benefits, including (a) supporting children to go to school and attend class regularly, which contributed to decreasing repetition and dropout rates; (b) supporting schools and satellites to reach FSQL; and (c) strengthening community participation through activities and planning and using CSF. Subcomponent 2.1: Inclusive Education for Disabled Children A draft National Inclusive Education Policy, Strategy and Action Plan on IE was developed and is pending approval as part of the Government’s Strategy for Education and Training 2009-2020. As part of the training program, 240 key teachers in 40 provinces were trained on Inclusive Education using the revised Education of Children with Learning Difficulties materials and Exemplary Inclusive Education Series Initiative (EIES). 36 Final activities on the EIES pilots were as follows: (a) a DVD is being developed to support training of teachers of children with learning difficulties; (b) a DVD was developed to support surveys on disadvantaged children; (c) EIES were monitored and evaluated in two provinces; and (d) a conference on summarizing, evaluating EIES was held to collect feedback, comments for material and sustainability of EIES at the district level. Subcomponent 2.2: Reaching Street and Working Children and Other High Risk Groups The Project supported activities aimed at reaching street children and working children and other high- risk groups, in a decentralized manner, and knowledge sharing of these activities. A program of Innovation Grants provided local solutions to local problems by local people in innovative ways. The objectives of the Innovation Grants were to: (a) develop and implement new and innovative approaches to meeting the educational needs of vulnerable children of primary school age; (b) encourage and facilitate the participation of government, non-government and other stakeholder groups in serving the needs of at-risk and highly vulnerable children; and (c) try-out quality interventions that could be applied widely, potentially nationally, to reduce the number of at-risk and highly vulnerable children who were not accessing and/or completing primary education. Grants were selected on the basis of a competition- based process that operated on annual cycle. Projects/programs, i.e., expenditure of grant funds, were to be implemented within a 12-month period and the amount of each grant was limited to a maximum of US$ 10,000 for any given 12-month period. Under the Project, a total of 123 grants were awarded in three cycles. By January 2010, 122 projects under the program of Innovation Grants had been completed, reviewed and summarized. Examples of grants include the following: (a) Support for Repeaters of First Grade, a project targeted at children who were repeating first grade at ten satellite campuses by providing support that was targeted to their school/classroom work and their environmentally-based psycho-social needs; (b) Children Helping Children, a project targeted at school-age children, aged 5 to 11, that were not attending school because they were working with their family or in situations arranged/accepted by their families in the satellite campuses in Kien Giang, that aimed to develop functional literacy skills for children who remained outside the school; and (c) Involving and Caring for All, a project targeted at school-age children, aged 5 to 11, not attending school due to multiple disabilities (with one of the main areas being orthopedic/ambulatory) either by placing these children in schools with adequate support services or serving the needs of those children whose disabilities were too severe for them to benefit from the school environment. The summarized information was compiled in a document, Innovation Grants: Results and Lessons Learned. Subcomponent 3.1: National Guidelines for FSQL FSQL was initiated by PEDC under MOET Decision 48 in 2003 as a pilot for PEDC provinces and districts. Although the regulation introduced five categories of assessment criteria, DFA and implementation guidelines were minimal and it did not enable procedures by which to assess schools’ attainment of FSQL. As implementation progressed, procedures by which progress towards FSQL were developed and implemented (Section 2.3, M&E Implementation). In September 2007, MOET Decision No. 55 introduced assessment criteria that was rolled-out nationally (not just to schools under the Project) that included specifications for school inspection, DFA verification and resource planning for investment to achieve FSQL. Each of the five categories contained a number of primarily quantitative indicators, based on “yesâ€? or “noâ€? answers. PEDC guidelines on implementing FSQL, however, are based on both quantitative and qualitative indicators or variables (the FII), which are recorded in DFA survey forms. A total of 81 variables are quantified into a score out of 100 and schools assessed as achieving FSQL on the basis of 60 points or more. Decision No. 55 is being implemented by MOET in coordination between the PED of the MOET and the Examination and General Department of Education and Accreditation. However, guidelines to develop and implement procedures for districts to approve FSQL achievement by schools are not yet published. 37 District mechanisms for FSQL approval vary between provinces, some based on PEDC FII, some on Decision 55 and some a combination of the two. FSQL will continue to be implemented by MOET, based on Decision 55 and with support from SEQAP for a modified DFA. Subcomponent 3.2: Institutional Strengthening The Project provided technical support to MOET and the DoETs in developing the processes and securing the inputs under the Project’s first two components through which FSQL could be achieved, sustained and incorporated within relevant institutional frameworks. The five ISTs established under the Project’s management structure (see Section 2.2), played an important role in working with DoETs in strengthening planning and monitoring, supporting teacher development and VLS programs, procurement of goods and materials, monitoring and supervising civil works and mobilizing community participation. The ISTs were coordinated by MOET-appointed representatives, complemented by national and international consultants to build capacity and achieve planned results across the various areas of Project’s intervention. For example, the IST responsible for strengthening and monitoring of education quality was responsible for local (province and district) and central level capacity building under Subcomponent 1.1 (FSQL District Management); activities includes the development of planning templates (District FSQL Plans, SDPs), data collection instruments, and programs for training the trainers. Another IST supported activities under Subcomponent 1.2 (Instructional Improvement and Teacher Support for FSQL) by focusing on teacher training and improvements to teaching and learning through development of materials and teachers’ guides and the TA, VLS and SR programs. The ISTs played an important role in recording project innovations through manuals, reviews and compilations of experiences, with a view to generating knowledge and providing a vehicle for an exchange of experiences among provinces and districts. Component 4: Project Management The Project financed activities of the PCU, including the Project Coordinator and several national and international consultants, as well as operating expenses required for overall project management, administration and supervision, as well as the support the unit provided to ISTs under Subcomponent 3.2 and to the National Task Forces for Quality Standards, Disabled Children and Highly Vulnerable Children. 38 Hierarchy of Objectives Key Performance Indicators Status at Project Completion Sector-related CAS Goal Sector Indicators The goal of the Government (as Improvements in student achievement in Mathematics and Results from the Grade 5 2006/2007 study for PEDC schools showed that students expressed in its 2010 Strategy) and Vietnamese, measured every 4-5 years beginning in 2001 achieving “independent learnerâ€? status in Mathematics remained the same while in the program financiers is to provide reading they increased from 51.4% in 2001 to 64.5% in 2006/2007.17 a high quality basic education for all children Improvements in student enrollment, completion, repetition See status at completion under Project Development Objective below and dropout rates Project Development Objective Outcome/Impact Indicators Improve access to primary school Participating schools and their satellite campuses in 189 Partially achieved. According to the DFA, 68% had been reached by 2010. and the quality of education for districts will achieve a “fundamental school quality levelâ€? Overall, PEDC schools improved more quickly than the national average and more disadvantaged girls and boys (FSQL) by the end of the Project than the non-PEDC schools in the same provinces. The range was great with some provinces reaching and exceeding targets. For participating project districts as a whole: ï‚· Net enrollment rate will rise from 81% (1999) to at ï‚· Net enrollment rate reached 98.7% in 2010 with gender equity (99.6%) least 96%, with gender parity ï‚· Student completion reached 94.1% in 2010 with gender equity (93.9%) ï‚· Student completion will rise from 72% (1999) to at ï‚· Repetition rate dropped to 5.2% in 2010, with gender equity (2.5% least 86%, with gender parity. ï‚· Dropout rate reached 2.5% in 2010 (1.8%) ï‚· Repetition rate will reduce from 8% (1999) to less than ï‚· Disabled children in school has remained at about 2% throughout18 3%, with gender parity ï‚· Through various project-supported initiatives (see text), completion rate for ï‚· Dropout rate will reduce from 12% (1999) to less than disabled children increased from 45.6% in 2006 to 71.5% in 2009 6%, with gender parity. ï‚· Number of eligible disabled children in school will increase. ï‚· Disabled children, street children, minority girls and other very high-risk groups of children throughout the country benefit from expanded and innovative approaches to education service delivery. Output from each Component: Output Indicators: Component 1: Achieving Fundamental School Quality Level (FSQL) Schools serving the most By the end of the Project: educationally disadvantaged children  189 of the most educationally disadvantaged districts  All systems for data collection, analysis and planning are in place and in the country are better prepared for plan for and achieve FSQL in all schools and satellite operative not only for PEDC districts but nationwide success campuses. The inputs required to achieve these goals are:  63,680 teachers have received subject-based training for Grades 1 and 2 in  Professional development provided for approximately Vietnamese and Mathematics; 95,000 teachers received 5 days of training in 59,000 teachers and head teachers in over 4,200 core Vietnamese Language Strengthening for Ethnic Minorities school sites and almost 15,000 satellite sites (including  MOET reports that this target was achieved through Government programs 17 The final results for this will only become available from the Grade 5 study in 2011 which is the first time that participants in the PEDC will reach the age where they will be in Grade 5 and be assessed in the Achievement Study. 18 There were definitional issues with this indicator as “eligibleâ€? was not defined in advance, and often teachers have difficulty recognizing, identifying and recording children with special needs. 39 Vietnamese language preparedness). and attrition  25% of unqualified teachers will advance their certification to 9+3.  Approximately 15,000 teaching assistants hired and  7,500 teaching assistants and 7,500 Grade 1 teachers trained trained for satellite campuses (pending results of a 2- year pilot test of this intervention).  At least 9,240 satellite campuses are rehabilitated with  13,141 new classrooms were built at satellite campuses and 6,720 classrooms permanent classrooms and upgraded facilities, were renovated at both satellite campuses and main schools particularly in ways that will make schools more attractive to girls.  Parent Teacher Associations have been established at all schools/satellite  School-community linkages are strengthened in about campuses and functioning in 99% of the locations 15,000 school campuses.  259,062 teacher textbooks, manuals or guides have been provided to teachers,  Nearly 40,000 satellite teachers will have a full set of and 3,397,429 textbooks were provided to students. teaching materials and 1,390,000 students Math and Vietnamese textbooks at the start of each school year. Component 2: Education Initiatives for Highly Vulnerable Children New partnerships and innovative  National guidelines for inclusive education children  Circular was approved December 29, 2009 and distributed according to approaches for improving access and adopted and applied effectively. MOET procedures. delivering education to the highest  40,000 educators trained to work with disabled  112,626 teachers in all provinces completed 8 days of training in Child risk groups of children are developed children and put these new skills into practice. Centered and Inclusive Teaching and Learning; 38,930 teachers in all and implemented.  National guidelines for highly vulnerable children provinces completed 5 days of training in Overcoming Barriers to Learning; adopted and applied effectively. 36,000 teachers completed training in Specialized Skills to Support Inclusive  Grants for DoETs, BoETs, schools (and their satellites) Education. or NGOs succeed in expanding or developing  Circular was approved December 29, 2009 and distributed according to innovative programs that address the educational needs MOET procedures. of very high-risk children, including ethnic minority  122 innovation grants were awarded and implemented to address the needs of girls. disabled children, street children, minority girls and other high-risk groups of children. Component 3: National and Provincial Institutional and Technical Support for FSQL Capacity is strengthened within  FSQL approach and procedures become mainstreamed  All systems for data collection, analysis and planning are in place and MOET, DoETs and BoETs to into MOET and its line agencies, with support from operative not only for PEDC districts but nationwide through Government identify, plan for, support, and Government and Party bodies. Decision 55 (September 2007) monitor the needs of educationally  District and provincial planning is attentive to the  21,047 Head and Deputy Teachers have received at least 5 days of training on disadvantaged children. needs of disadvantaged children and is based on sound School Development Planning and other key management tasks; Child data analysis. Development Record training for personnel is integrated with DFA training on an annual basis; 11,289 teachers received decentralized, district based and needs-based training  The Department of Planning and Finance at MOET is responsible for  Effective monitoring and evaluation process, including DFA/EMIS integration. EMIS is still under development, but MOET decided EMIS, is developed and applied by MOET, DoETs and that SEQAP will continue with the DFA until the EMIS is functional BoETs by Year 2. Component 4: Project Management Project Implementation is efficient,  PCU and PPCUs provide intellectual leadership and  PCU and PPCUs coordinated project activities effective and timely project management.  Financial and procurement management procedures are  Despite some bureaucratic issues, financial management and procurement operational throughout the Project procedures were operational throughout 40 Annex 2(b): FSQL Indicators Combined National Results & for the PEDC Supported Districts National PEDC FSQL Requirement Description 2004 Data Label 2003-2004 2004-2005 2005-2006 2006-2007 2007-2008 2008-2009 2009-2010 2003-2004 2004-2005 2005-2006 2006-2007 2007-2008 2008-2009 2009-2010 School Sites and Overall FII Composite Index Number of Schools Schools 15 298 15531 15551 15603 15610 15747 15786 4 751 4817 4874 4916 4978 5050 5104 Number of School Sites Sites 41 150 40283 39467 38839 38250 37796 37034 18 546 18055 17919 17819 17742 17587 17246 Composite FSQL Input Index (FII) to compare overall 62,1 65,0 54,0 57,6 FII 67,8 68,9 69,6 70,9 71,4 60,7 62,4 63,4 67,2 68,3 progress towards achieving FSQL (note *) A: School Organization and Management: Principals and deputy principals All principals and deputy principals should be trained Total PVP 33670 34528 34013 34294 33078 34273 33747 10113 10423 10426 10630 10299 10961 10923 in school management skills; have a good understanding of the basic content of state PVP_Train >=5 days 24210 2918 2676 3174 4012 5855 6664 5998 787 817 1240 1568 2644 2004 management activities in education and training, % PVP_Train 71,9% 8,5% 7,9% 9,3% 12,1% 17,1% 19,0% 59,3% 7,6% 7,8% 11,7% 15,2% 24,1% 18,3% primary education objectives and plans, and subject- PVP Under 9+3 757 497 292 229 173 137 63 402 256 165 143 109 77 61 related matter, syllabus and planning. FSQL-48 only: PVP 9+3 5130 4602 3635 3042 2437 2002 1640 3253 3011 2467 2130 1753 1498 1239 Principals and Vice-P. should meet the minimum training qualification standard of 12+2 % 12+2 or higher 82,5% 85,2% 88,5% 90,5% 92,1% 93,8% 95,0% 63,9% 68,7% 74,8% 78,6% 81,9% 85,6% 89,0% B: School Organization and Management: Management implementation and effectiveness Each school must have a school development plan Schools with SDP 8511 7626 6937 8756 7230 8710 2557 2244 1966 2528 2691 3198 and measures to implement the plan and monitor progress. %Schools with SDP 54,8% 49,0% 44,5% 56,1% 45,9% 54,0% 53,1% 46,0% 40,0% 50,8% 53,3% 60,0% All principals and deputy principals ensure that the Satellites receiving 3 or quality of teaching, educational services and more 21192 22114 21475 20887 20441 20201 19437 10353 11411 11253 11153 11181 11244 10893 resources in satellite campuses is the same as in the % Satellites receiving 3 or main campus more 82,0% 89,3% 89,8% 89,9% 90,3% 91,6% 92,0% 75,0% 86,2% 86,3% 86,5% 87,6% 89,7% 92,0% C: Teaching Staff: Training qualification standard All teachers meet the minimum training qualification Total teacher 361032 359833 347166 342807 323351 345629 337439 113610 111672 108913 107443 96003 109485 104736 standard (9+3) and have basic training in working with children from diverse backgrounds, including disabled Under 9+3 17620 10986 6375 4717 3310 2689 1951 9030 5184 3202 2367 1641 1457 997 children. FSQL-48 only: Teachers should meet the % 9+3 or over 95,1% 96,9% 98,2% 98,6% 99,0% 99,2% 99,4% 92,1% 95,4% 97,1% 97,8% 98,3% 98,7% 99,0% minimum training qualification standard of 12+2 9+3 qualified 83719 78025 67195 58759 46874 43360 35938 52388 50695 46072 40856 32598 31144 25957 % 12+2 or over 71,9% 75,3% 78,8% 81,5% 84,5% 86,7% 88,4% 45,9% 50,0% 54,8% 59,8% 64,3% 70,2% 76,6% D: Teaching Staff: Continuing and theme-based in-service training All teachers in schools and their campuses should Total teacher 361032 359833 347166 342807 323351 345629 337439 113610 111672 108913 107443 96003 109485 104736 receive at least 5 days of professional training each Received 5 or more days year on relevant classroom management & in-service training 231868 154585 161859 142083 79914 89040 82048 76992 57556 55823 48389 26814 31102 25951 % Received 5 or more pedagogical topics (developing teaching aids, multi- days in-service training Received 9 or more days 64,2% 43,0% 46,6% 41,4% 24,7% 25,8% 24,3% 67,8% 51,5% 51,3% 45,0% 27,9% 28,4% 24,8% grade teaching, extra remediation, Viet. language strengthening, inclusive education, school- in-service training % Received 9 or more 83153 94833 104122 86322 133263 105675 19395 20945 31522 22073 57806 30044 community coordination, etc.). days in-service training 23,1% 27,3% 30,4% 26,7% 38,6% 31,3% 17,4% 19,2% 29,3% 23,0% 52,8% 28,7% E: Physical Infrastructure: Schools and Classrooms The classroom for all main schools and their Total CR 216910 223890 221148 222121 222790 225300 230815 70813 70950 69450 69800 70859 72052 73869 campuses should be of solid construction (walls, CR OK 140226 136909 143526 150711 155996 163501 158614 35541 34353 36663 39568 43223 46614 46714 floors and roofs) and with adequate natural lighting. Schools and classrooms must be accessible to %CR OK 64,7% 61,2% 64,9% 67,9% 70,0% 72,6% 68,7% 50,2% 48,4% 52,8% 56,7% 61,0% 64,7% 63,2% All schools and their campuses should be located in Sites with WW 11262 16910 17580 18442 19424 20956 21388 2559 4623 5068 5679 6606 7845 8087 places that are quiet, dry and accessible to all students. Schools must have no houses and shops % Sites with WW 27,4% 42,0% 44,5% 47,5% 50,8% 55,5% 63,2% 13,8% 25,6% 28,3% 31,9% 37,2% 44,6% 50,9% inside the precinct area. Schools must have wells or Sites with WD 9351 11248 12118 13710 16308 18129 18095 1034 1327 1712 2974 5182 6448 6062 other clean water sources and latrines % Sites with WD 22,7% 27,9% 30,7% 35,3% 42,6% 48,0% 54,9% 5,6% 7,3% 9,6% 16,7% 29,2% 36,7% 36,8% Sites with Toilets 14223 15645 16562 17388 18670 20654 21802 3186 3757 4372 5092 6146 7661 8611 % Sites with Toilets 34,6% 38,8% 42,0% 44,8% 48,8% 54,7% 63,4% 17,2% 20,8% 24,4% 28,6% 34,6% 43,6% 54,1% FSQL-48 only: All schools and their campuses Sites with TT 9079 10379 11391 12370 13529 14910 16076 1628 1968 2372 2860 3695 4730 5358 should separate teacher toilets and a playground % Sites with TT 22,1% 25,8% 28,9% 31,9% 35,4% 39,5% 48,7% 8,8% 10,9% 13,2% 16,1% 20,8% 26,9% 34,9% Sites with PG 30539 36370 33993 33679 33336 33220 32856 11408 15593 14355 14375 14507 14613 14472 % Sites with PG 74,2% 90,3% 86,1% 86,7% 87,2% 87,9% 90,6% 61,5% 86,4% 80,1% 80,7% 81,8% 83,1% 85,6% F: Physical Infrastructure: Classrooms Equipment All classrooms should be equipped with the Total CR 216910 223890 221148 222121 222790 225300 230815 70814 70950 69450 69800 70859 72052 73869 following: one blackboard, teacher’s desk and chair, CR with BB Good 74334 110137 127849 202689 210161 217113 222926 8011 17433 21423 56910 61801 32862 68528 sufficient desk and chair for students, a (transportable) storage box or locker for instructional % CR with BB Good 34,3% 49,2% 57,8% 91,2% 94,3% 96,4% 91,2% 11,3% 24,6% 30,8% 81,6% 87,2% 90,7% 92,8% materials and teaching aids. CR with TD Good 81529 102901 108982 123529 138014 150590 164939 10979 16757 18417 22522 29976 35738 42669 % CR with TD Good 37,6% 46,0% 49,3% 55,6% 61,9% 66,8% 71,5% 15,5% 23,6% 26,5% 32,3% 42,3% 49,6% 57,8% Standard Student Desks 2838641 3337990 3811258 4195474 4513594 5033211 468538 562118 639836 785732 906183 1114667 % standard Student Desks 42,3% 50,3% 57,2% 62,8% 66,8% 62,8% 22,0% 27,0% 30,6% 37,0% 42,1% 50,7% CR with BS Good 71230 67573 90048 125634 140023 149276 140023 6653 5613 10487 20665 27393 32862 35284 % CR with BS Good 32,8% 30,2% 40,7% 56,6% 62,8% 66,3% 62,8% 9,4% 7,9% 15,1% 29,6% 38,7% 45,8% 46,5% 41 G: Basic te aching e quipme nt and aids Each school and campus has at the minimum T otal Classes 166282 157521 277377 275594 268409 268507 268093 72822 67601 93843 95334 92212 92979 92312 one set of teaching aids and instructional materials per grade (class) Classes with R_aids 124290 127095 230515 239584 238146 235739 238625 46005 49766 75839 80151 80245 80825 80533 % Classes with R_aids 74.7% 80.7% 83.1% 86.9% 88.7% 87.8% 89.0% 63.2% 73.6% 80.8% 84.1% 87.0% 86.9% 87.2% Classes with M_aids 124743 126457 232411 241738 240739 237054 240166 46109 49347 76793 81311 81587 81381 81400 % Classes with M_aids 75.0% 80.3% 83.8% 87.7% 89.7% 88.3% 89.6% 63.3% 73.0% 81.8% 85.3% 88.5% 87.5% 88.2% Each school and campus has 1 set of Classes with R_Supp 73170 72754 149925 145810 149098 158854 162830 15331 17405 35918 34723 37763 46685 47383 supplementary reading materials (SRM) % Classes with R_Supp 44.0% 46.2% 54.1% 52.9% 55.6% 59.2% 60.7% 21.1% 25.7% 38.3% 36.4% 41.0% 50.2% 51.3% i t t h d t ht Each teacher in every school and campus has 1 T otal T eacher 312678 359833 347166 342807 323351 345629 337439 100223 111672 108913 107443 96003 109485 104736 set of teacher supplies (ruler, scissors, chalk, T eacher have T _supp 257579 288977 295378 286279 268030 285317 285377 82858 90842 92967 93688 82276 95848 90348 paper, pen) at all schools and their campuses. % T eacher have T _supp 82.4% 80.3% 85.1% 83.5% 82.9% 82.6% 84.6% 82.7% 81.3% 85.4% 87.2% 85.7% 87.5% 86.3% Each teacher at every school campus has 1 full T eacher have T _Guid 291165 274670 291136 279055 262603 279687 277640 91365 87183 93248 92934 80648 92940 86592 set of textbooks, teaching manuals and teacher T _Guid 93.1% 76.3% 83.9% 81.4% 81.2% 80.9% 82.3% 91.2% 78.1% 85.6% 86.5% 84.0% 84.9% 82.7% g ides per grade ta ght H: Basic le arning mate rials and aids for stude nts Each student has one set of textbooks T otal Student 8102085 7738947 7278187 7019807 6800991 6724886 6866687 2403994 2249428 2120518 2032722 1957430 1926406 1937738 (mathematics and Vietnamese). Student no Sbook 187567 270101 184640 144491 121876 87712 88675 132763 170741 132459 111791 83273 59701 55747 % Student have Sbook 97.7% 96.5% 97.5% 97.9% 98.2% 98.7% 98.7% 94.5% 92.4% 93.8% 94.5% 95.7% 96.9% 97.1% All students in schools and campuses should be Student no SStat 97540 163276 112786 120486 79254 75271 58500 74841 115799 87561 101526 62333 58364 36692 equipped with a minimum set of learning % Student have SStat 98.8% 97.9% 98.5% 98.3% 98.8% 98.9% 99.1% 96.9% 94.9% 95.9% 95.0% 96.8% 97.0% 98.1% supplies including notebooks and pencils All ethnic minority students will be provided T otal Ethnic Student 1438956 1365489 1296646 1244712 1220144 1221032 953147 911626 867649 827303 811298 751502 with Vietnamese language strengthening (VLS) EVLS 84371 79728 64679 61271 88772 88942 54159 58336 47238 43029 70042 67560 materials. % Ethnic Student have EVLS 5.9% 5.8% 5.0% 4.9% 7.3% 7.3% 5.7% 6.4% 5.4% 5.2% 8.6% 9.0% I: Imple me ntation of Education Socializ ation Policy: Stre ngthe ning organization All school campuses establish individual parent Sites with PT A 33407 14451 33872 35549 35345 35321 34833 13656 5267 16435 17141 17042 17079 16748 associations. (2004 definition Y/N only, 2005 % Sites with PT A 81.2% 35.9% 85.8% 91.5% 92.4% 93.5% 93.4% 73.6% 29.2% 91.7% 96.2% 96.1% 97.1% 96.6% definition site specific PT A) PA at all schools and campuses carry out regular Sites with.. 30712 33419 33676 33625 33984 33693 12682 15624 15809 15963 16322 16109 and efficient activities in terms of cooperating % Sites with.. 76.2% 84.7% 86.7% 87.9% 89.9% 96.7% 70.2% 87.2% 88.7% 90.0% 92.8% 96.2% ith h l t propaganda t Schools organize d t t d activities in Sites with.. 15716 16943 17254 18053 19131 19249 4253 4992 5158 5747 6506 6479 various forms to raise the community awareness % Sites with.. 39.0% 42.9% 44.4% 47.2% 50.6% 57.8% 23.6% 27.9% 29.0% 32.4% 37.0% 41.3% J: Education O utcome s: Ge ne ral Re gulations T he National primary school curriculum should Number of Classes 2217 3432 4401 897 6911 1394 1041 1376 1457 427 2522 366 be used for teaching and learning in school % Classes 1.4% 2.3% 2.9% 0.6% 4.6% 0.9% 1.5% 2.1% 2.2% 0.7% 3.8% 0.5% Ensure the implementation of the universal Number of site 30529 31382 30837 30991 31848 31675 13455 14123 13973 14310 15019 14982 primary completion and illiteracy eradication % site 75.8% 79.5% 79.4% 81.0% 84.3% 85.7% 74.5% 78.8% 78.4% 80.7% 85.4% 87.0% tasks in localities; develop a plan for right age h l ll h bl f K: Education O utcome s Statistics Universal Enrolment and Gender Equity, Rate (NER) 82.9% 102.9% 100.4% 100.2% 99.8% 100.2% 100.7% 84.7% 101.9% 98.2% 97.4% 97.4% 97.9% 98.7% Enrolment of Ethnic Minority Children 2 Female NER 103.9% 101.4% 101.3% 100.9% 101.3% 101.8% 102.4% 99.0% 98.5% 98.7% 99.2% 99.6% 3 Ethnic Min. NER 98.2% 95.9% 95.8% 95.5% 96.3% 94.9% 97.0% 95.1% 94.7% 94.4% 94.2% 102.3% 4 Gr 5 Survival Rate System efficency: measures that students pass (cohort analysis) 93.3% 89.2% 92.5% 89.8% 92.2% 93.3% 93.5% 82.4% 79.6% 83.0% 80.5% 81.7% 85.6% 88.0% through the primary school system with the 5 Gr 1 Repetition rate 2.7% 2.3% 1.8% 2.0% 3.4% 3.6% 3.1% 5.4% 5.1% 3.9% 4.3% 6.6% 6.7% 5.2% minimum of repetition or dropout rate (flow rate) 1.1% 0.8% 0.7% 0.9% 2.0% 1.8% 1.4% 2.5% 2.0% 1.7% 1.9% 3.8% 3.4% 2.5% 7 T otal Gr1-5 in-year Within academic year' dropout, comparing dropout 1.9% 0.6% 0.9% 0.7% 0.5% 0.5% 4.5% 1.2% 2.0% 1.4% 1.0% 2.5% enrolment at the beginning and end of the 8 Female Gr1-5 'in- 1.8% 0.5% 0.7% 0.6% 0.4% 0.4% 4.0% 1.0% 1.6% 1.1% 0.8% 1.8% academic year Percentage of Child Population Completing Primary Grads. 96.8% 94.8% 97.1% 98.2% 96.0% 92.7% 92.2% 94.8% 96.3% 94.1% 10 Fem % 14 Year old Primary Cycle of Education Prim.Grads. 96.4% 94.6% 95.4% 98.0% 95.9% 91.8% 91.9% 93.6% 95.7% 93.9% L: Comple te or C lose By School Site s: (not ye t include d in FSQ L standards) All school sites offer all five grades of primary education at each site through either single or Complete 24081 26941 25254 24733 24482 24304 24114 9634 10984 10282 10014 10009 9916 14183 multi-grade tuition. Comp_per 58.5% 66.9% 64.0% 63.7% 64.0% 64.3% 68.7% 51.9% 60.8% 57.4% 56.2% 56.4% 56.4% 60.6% All school offer all five grades of primary Site 2576 2615 2676 2634 2616 2563 2176 2152 2216 2154 2145 2095 education at all sites, except if daily travel is % Site 6.4% 6.6% 6.9% 6.9% 6.9% 5.3% 12.1% 12.0% 12.4% 12.1% 12.2% 9.2% possible to a nearby complete campus T ransition of primary curriculum from 175 T otal Student 7728342 7276464 7017394 6800991 6724886 6870935 2242040 2120017 2032639 1957430 1926406 1937738 week with 5 'half -day' sessions/week to 'full day' Full-day schooling 24.7% 29.5% 34.1% 36.5% 38.5% 36.8% 7.2% 9.2% 11.9% 15.0% 15.9% 19.1% schooling with 10 'half -day' sessions/week 6-9 per week 19.3% 18.9% 19.1% 19.1% 21.0% 24.3% 5.8% 6.4% 8.7% 9.9% 14.1% 20.2% (above FSQ L-48 standard, long term policy of 5 per weeak (half-day) 55.9% 51.4% 46.8% 44.3% 40.6% 38.8% 86.9% 84.3% 79.5% 75.2% 70.1% 60.7% 42 Annex 3. Bank Lending and Implementation Support/Supervision Processes (a) Task Team members Responsibility/ Names Title Unit Specialty Lending Christopher J. Thomas Sr. General Educator EASHD Task team leader Christopher Shaw Principal Education Specialist EACVF Binh Thanh Vu Education Officer EACVF Carol Hau-Lai Chen Ball Proc Accredited Sr. Operations Off EASHD Hoi-Chan Nguyen Senior Counsel LEGES Luis Benveniste Education Specialist EASHD Peter Moock Principal Economist EASHD Behdad Nowroozi Sr. Financial Management Specialist EASHD Hung Kim Phung Sr. Disbursement Officer EAPCO Hung Viet Le Financial Management Officer EACVF Kathy Li Tow Ngow Program Assistant EASHD Hoai Linh Nguyen Team Assistant EACVF Chandra Chakravarthi Team Assistant EASHD Nga Quynh Nguyen Team Assistant EACVF Sabrina G. Terry Program Assistant EASHD DFID staff Steve Passingham Senior Education Advisor Lindy Cameron Governance Advisor Peter Owen Senior Governance Advisor Peter Balacs Senior Economic Advisor Adam Burke Sociologist CIDA Marvin Lamoureux Ed. Planning, Policy &Adm. Bruce Howell Development Officer Camille R. Baudot First Secretary of Canadian Embassy in Vietnam AusAID John Scheding Education Advisor Fiona Tarpey Program Officer Supervision/ICR Bank Staff Binh Thanh Vu Sr. Education Specialist EASHD Task Team Leader Sylvester Kofi Awanyo Lead Procurement Specialist EAPPR Procurement Nguyet Minh Nguyen Program Assistant EACVF Team Assistance Cesar Palma Banzon Program Assistant GSDDR Team Assistance Quynh Xuan Thi Phan Financial Officer GEF FM An Thi My Tran Education Spec. EASHE Education Robert J. Gilfoyle Sr Financial Management Specialist EAPFM FM Hoai Van Nguyen Procurement Specialist EAPPR Procurement Carol Chen Ball Consultant EASHD Proc. and operation Ha Thuy Tran Financial Management Specialist EAPFM FM John Malmborg Consultant ECSHD School construction Jennifer K. Thomson Manager, Financial Management SARFM FM 43 Luis Benveniste Lead Education Specialist DECWD Education Daniel M. Mont Senior Poverty Specialist EASPR Poverty and equity Charlotte Vuyiswa McClain- Senior Operations Officer HDNSP Inclusive education Nhlapo Jeffrey Waite Lead Education Specialist MNSHE Education Rie Kijima Consultant EASHD M&E Thong Quang Tran Financial Management Specialist FM Niel L Baumgart Consultant Education Linh Van Nguyen Program Assistant EAPCO Team Assistance Le Viet Hung Financial Specialist EAPCO FM Non-Bank Staff Bridget Crumpton Education Advisor DFID Maris ORouke International Consultant DFID Brian Allemekinders First secretary - Development CIDA Dang Mai Dung Development Advisor Norway Embassy- Hanoi Le Anh Thao Education and Social Sector Co CIDA Steve Passingham Sr. Education Advisor DFID Vo Thanh Son Sr. Program Officer DFID Marvin Lamoureux Consultant CIDA Nguyen Hong Giang Program Advisor NORAD Hildegunn Olsen Program Officer NORAD Nora Fyles Education Specialist CIDA Camille Baudot Staff CIDA Marianne Karlsen Staff NORAD Bruce Howell Sr. Development Officer CIDA (b) Staff Time and Cost Staff Time and Cost (Bank Budget Only) Stage of Project Cycle Total USD (including travel and No. of staff weeks consultant costs) Lending 158,31 488 698,3 Supervision/ICR 198,26 778 912,8 Total: 356,57 1 267 611,1 44 Annex 4. Stakeholder Workshop Report and Results EVALUATION OF PEOPLE’S COMMITTEES OF PROVINCES BENEFITING FROM THE PROJECT 1. Ä?ồng Tháp province “ The project meets important objectives of mobilizing students to school, maintaining regular attendace, decreasing drop-out rate; contributing to enhance management capacity of education managers and renovating teaching methods towards active and individualized teaching for teachers of primary schools; especially helping disadvantaged students, disabled students of satellite campuses in isolated, remote and border areas attend class, to ensure rights and duties of children in accordance with International Convention, and strengthening and mobilizing power, role and responsibility of community in taking care of education development career in local areas. ... Ä?ồng Tháp People’s Committee requests the PCU to consult, propose MOET to continue investing, expanding the project, supporting primary schools in Ä?ồng Tháp (not only 3 districts of the project) to participate in other projects to enhance quality of primary education and develop education development career of the province.â€? Trần Thị Thái – Deputy Manager of province People’s Committee 2. Bạc Liêu province “The project achieved the set targets, including supporting schools to take care of, encourage, help disadvantaged students, poor students, homeless students, ethnic minority students, especially disabled children go to school and complete the primary curriculum; improve infrastructure, enhance teaching and learning quality; support primary schools to achieve FSQL in accordance with Decision No. 55/2007/ QÄ?- BGDÄ?T dated 28/9/2007 of the Minister of Education and Training. And the project contributes much to Bạc Liêu province’s result of achieving universalization of school-aged primary education and maintain, consolidate results of universal primary education- anti-illiteracy. Bạc Liêu People’s Committee expects MOET and donors to continue implementing other new projects in disadvantaged provinces.â€? VÅ© Văn Há»?a - Deputy Manager of province People’s Committee 3. Phú Yên “The project is implemented in Phú Yên in a timely and considerate manner and achieved good results. Based on monitoring results, quality of teaching and management in the two districts participating the project is enhanced remarkably. Staff and people of the two mountainous areas of SÆ¡n Hòa, Sông Hinh districts are very happy and in favor of activities of the project implemented following guidance of MOET.â€? Lê Kim Anh - Deputy Manager of province People’s Committee 4. Quảng Bình province “Despite many difficulties during the implementation period, effectiveness brough about by the project is very practical in creating conditions and opportunities for development of primary education in the disadvantaged areas, gradually decrease gap in education quality among different areas in the province, contribute to implement equality in education for children, especially disadvantaged areas, which really creates considerable changes in primary education quality in the ethnic minority area of Minh Hóa district, Quảng Bình province. The province proposes MOET to continue developing other programs, projects to support disadvantaged areas in increasingly approaching general education quality nationwide, meeting requirements for intellectual enhancement, human training for the country’s industrialization and modernization.â€? Nguyá»…n Ä?ảng – Deputy Manager of province People’s Committee 45 5. Khánh Hoà Province “We appreciate the effectiveness of the project implemented in Khanh Hoa province. Through the criteria achieved in terms of the quality of the two districts, education of Khanh Hoa district is improved and enhanced. With support funding of more than 7 billion of the project, the whole province constructed 48 classrooms, 20 teachers, 19 toilets, and 20 water tanks for 20/64 schools, newly-constructed schools. Especially, Khanh Vinh district was selected as one of three provinces conducting pilot of Exemplary Inclusive Education Service – the mode helps underprivileged children have opportunities to study and benefit from quality learning. The project has facilitated more than 6,000 ethnic minority children in the two mountainous districts of Khanh Son, Khanh Vinh of Khanh Hoa to have opportunities to go to school and benefit from quality learning, minimize the number of drop-out students at the primary cycle. The project conducted training for 100% of primary education managers and teachers of the two project’s districts about pedagogic skills and enhanced awareness of community about education, children are direct beneficiaries, parents and communities aslo indirectly benefit from the project in terms of physical and emotional aspects. In the period to come, we will use the local budget to continue maintaining sustainability and effectiveness of the project such as enhancing construction of infrastructure of satellite campuses, developing policies on maintaining Teaching Assistants, implementing well school maintenance, strengthening quality of teachers, maintaining exemplary inclusive education service to increasingly increase primary education quality of the province.â€? Lê Xuân Thân – Deputy Manager of province People’s Committee 6. Hà Giang province “ The project is one of projects implemented in the province with a long-time implementation, most strict and effective management mechanism. Infrastructure of satellite sites of the province is improved remarkably, classrooms were built solidly and beautifully. The project contributed to enhancing management capacity, developing primary school plans for education managers, strengthening teaching capacity and methods for teachers, improving primary education quality; especially quality of Vietnamese teaching and learning, decreasing rate of children with poor learning results, contributing to establish friendly school and active students. The project helps change basically community’s awareness about letting their children to attend class. After the project ends, the province proposes MOET to continue supporting budget to maintain Teaching Assistant of the satellite sites and equip teaching and learning aids, equipments for students to learn and enhance Vietnamese communication skills for next grades.â€? Nguyá»…n Văn SÆ¡n – Deputy Manager of province People’s Committee 7. Bình Ä?ịnh province “The project’s activities bring about positive effectiveness: most of primary teachers are provided with materials, training, implementation and application of advanced teaching and learning methods. Campus Support Fund supports pysically (not by money) for poor and disadvantaged students....contributes to enhancing learning quality, mobilizing students to go to school, consolidating results of school-aged universal primary education. Teaching Assistants cooperate well with teachers in the satellite sites to conduct the School Readiness program for pre-school children; through this program, ethnic minority students have good preparation before entering Grade 1; Teaching Assistants help maintain regular attendance , mobilize students to go to school. With investment scope of 16,5 BVND (103 classrooms were renovated, 58 classrooms, 27 teacher’s rooms, 25 toilets and 27 clean water works were newly built), PEDC contributed much to improving learning environment in the two districts benefiting from the Project. Based on DFA results in 2010, VÄ©nh Thạnh district had 10/10 schools achieving FSQL, Vân Canh district had 9/9 schools achieving FSQL – important foundations to help schools develop towards national standard schools. 46 In spite of many difficulties during the implementation period, effectivess of the project is very significant. The project contributes to gradually decreasing gap in primary education quality among different areas. And for a central province like Bình Ä?ịnh, the project creates a leverage in enhancing primary education quality in the disadvantaged areas in particular and the education quality of the province in general.â€? Nguyá»…n Thị Thanh Bình – Deputy Manager of province People’s Committee 8. Quảng Ninh Province “Investment results of the project help 100% of satellite sites of 4 disadvantaged districts achieve FSQL fundamentally, creating favorable conditions for teachers and students to enhance teaching and learning quality. The project contributes much to enhancing awareness of community and parents and school-aged universal primary education. Quảng Ninh province People’s Committee highly appreciates investment effectiveness of the project and continues guiding Department of Education and Training, People’s Committees of disadvantaged districts and cities participating in the project to take advantage of the project’s results to enhance education quality, especially for disadvantaged children. The province People’s Committee would like to express gratitude to MOET, WB and the PCU for concerning and supporting resources for Quảng Ninh and provide guidance for the province to make use of invested resources, and the province proposes MOET, WB and related agencies to continue creating resources for Quảng Ninh in the coming period.â€? Ä?ặng Huy Hậu – Deputy Manager of province People’s Committee 9. Cao Bằng Province “The PEDC Project is a big project of MOET. Thanks to borrowing, donation capital and counter-part fund, the project invested directly into addressing most difficult issues relating to development and renovation of education of Cao Bằng, especially the primary education in the mountainous, isolated and remote areas of the province. The project’s traning activities contribute to strengthening capacity of education mangers and teachers, changing awareness about education for different types of students; developing professional development activities for managers and teachers, then gradually improve education quality. Training contents for community help develop community’s awareness, and create opportunities for political and social organizations in the local area to pay more attention to the primary education for disadvantaged children, and education socialization have more practical activities and enhance the primary education. Provision of equipments, text-books and teaching, learning aids, support of clothes and food for students annually helps decrease difficulties faced by schools and students of satellite sites; increase the number of students attending class, decrease drop-out rate, enhance quality of the primary education. Teaching Assistant working in the satellite sites is a positive activity to mobilize students to go to school, maintain regular attendance and enhance teaching and learning quality. In conclusion, all activities of the project relating to construction, training, support of satellite sites, classrooms, students help satellite sites in the disadvantaged areas achieve FSQL, create more friendly and favorable learning environment and conditions, then gradually strengthen quality of the primary education in Cao Bằng.â€? Ä?àm Văn Eng – Deputy Manager of province People’s Committee 10. Kiên Giang province “Support of the project for the past years brings about noticeable changes in education quality and school infrastructure of Kien Giang. Along with concern and efforts to take care of education of authorities,communities and teachers, up to now, education sector of Kiên Giang has been changed positively. Mobilization of children to go to school exceed the set target; rate of 6 year-old children attending class increases year by year; repetition and drop-out rates decrease and the number of students learning 2 sessions per day and 5 sessions per week increases satisfactorily. 47 Kiên Giang People’s Committee expresses sincere gratitude for the project’s support and will continue directing the provincial education sector to uphold achievements of the project.â€? Ä?ặng Công Huân – Deputy Manager of province People’s Committee 11. Yên Bái province “ After 7 years of implementing the project, the achievements gained through the project’s programs has good impacts on education and training effectiveness. Specifically, infrastructure, especially enhancement of satellite sites, managers and teachers are trained about teaching theory and methods that are suitable for disadvantaged children. That disabled children attending inclusive classes has good influences on the society, contribute to conducting the learning right of children; education quality of primary schools has been improved considerably. We propose MOET to continue directing and providing specific guidance on maintaing Teaching Assistant and VLS programs in the primary schools of the mountainous border areas where have a lot of ethnic minority students after the project endsâ€?. Phạm Thị Thanh Trà – Deputy Manager of province People’s Committee 12. SÆ¡n La Province “After 7 years of implementing the project in SÆ¡n La, accompanying with other programs and projects that invest into education, the project has positive impacts, education quality and effectiveness are increased gradually, and more sustainably. Access ability to the primary education of families and communities is enhanced; quality of the primary education of the province is increasingly improved and strengthened, contributing to universal lower secondary education. SÆ¡n La was recognized to achieve universal school – aged primary education standard in 2008. Infrastructure to achieve FSQL has been improved, the number of concretized classrooms increases. And equipments for teaching and learning are basically ensuredâ€?. Nguyá»…n Ngá»?c Toa - Deputy Manager of province People’s Committee 13. Bình Thuận Province “After 7 years of implementing the project in the province, Bình Thuận People’s Committee would like to have some comments as follows: 1. Focus on investment into satellite sites and disadvantaged children of the project is completely proper, contributing much to decrease gap in education development among different regions, and create equal learning among different students. 2.Contents, forms and methods of mobilization of communities in setting up and developing education in the local area contribute much to establishing friendly, safe and healthy learning environment, especially thorugh CSF and continue learning until completion of the primary education cycle. 3. Initiative of recruiting TA who supports Grade 1 teachers to teach ethnic minority students is good, which helps the local area partially address Grade 1 learning quality for ethnic minority students. Bình Thuận People’s Committee proposes the PCU to submit proposal to MOET for scaling-up of some activities after the project ends: - Recruit TAs for satellite sites that have at least 10 Grade 1 ethnic minority students. - Maintain “Campus Support Fundâ€? in the disadvantaged areas.â€? Hồ DÅ©ng Nhật - Deputy Manager of province People’s Committee 14. An Giang Province “After 7 years of implementing the project in the province, effectiveness of the project is good: training activities about DFA, TA, professional development activities for managers-teachers and 48 PTA...help enhance management capacity for education management levels in planning and implementing plans, increase knowledge and skills for teachers in the disadvantaged areas and take advantage of role of PTA in supporting inclusive education, school maintenance and beautify teaching and learning environment, support disadvantaged students... To sum up, investment effectiveness of the project to An Giang is very significant, contributing to strengthening teaching and learning quality of the primary education in the provinceâ€?. Lê Minh Tùng - Deputy Manager of province People’s Committee 15. Long An Province After 7 years of implementing the project in the province, the project helps enhance mobilization rate with high results: rate of 6-14 year old enrolled for attending class is 99,2% (increase 2,08%), rate of 6-14 year old attending class is 99,7% (increase 2,585%). Rate of disabled children in the inclusive educations is 72,8% (increase 24,15%). Rate if children with good and excellent performance increases, repetition and drop-out rates decrease, completion rate is rather high (98,6%, increase 2,33% compared to 5 years ago), helping the province achieve completion rate of more than 99%. Disadvantaged districts have 28 schools achieving FSQL (increase 46,6% compared to 5 years ago). The province People’s Committee would like to express sincere thanks to the PCU, MOET for their valuable, meaning and practical support for the primary education of Long An in general and of 4 districts in particular. In the coming period, the province People’s Committee proposes MOET to allow the province to continue participating in other education projects of MOET, to help education and training sector of the province have more conditions for development, and contribute to implementing successfully targets of socio-development for the period of 2011-2015 of the province in accordance with the Communist Party’s Resolution. Trần Hữu PhÆ°á»›c- Deputy Manager of province People’s Committee 49 Annex 5. Summary of Borrower's ICR and/or Comments on Draft ICR COMMENTS ON ICR AND RESULTS OF CREDIT AGREEMENT FOR THE PEDC PROJECT We agree and highly appreciate the draft report prepared by the World Bank. The report evaluates the implementation and results of the project logically and reasonably. The PEDC Project is a big project of Government of Vietnam in the education sector in terms of scope, time, budget and beneficiary of the project. The Project helps consolidate achievement of Universal Primary Education – anti-illiteracy as well as enhance quality of universalization, especially ethnic minority students, poor students in the mountainous, isolated areas of Vietnam. The objective of the project is to strengthen access and quality of primary education for disadvantaged children, which create favorable conditions and support Vietnam in implementing targets included in the plan for Education for All of GOV. MOET received positive evaluation opinions from People’s Committees of provinces benefiting from the Project (attached with summary of evaluation opinions of managers of some People’s Committees benefiting from the Project). This shows success and high feasibility of investment into the project at local areas. The Project development objectives are considered strong foundations for enhancing and renovating education quality equally for different types of students, local areas nationwide. MOET will continue sustaining the PEDC Project’s initiatives to make them become integrated into policies and mechanisms of the education sector. We agree with specific performance rating of the World Bank and the borrower at the satisfactory level. Specific, detailed comments and feedback to supplement and adjust the report is attached. Nguyá»…n Vinh Hiển, Vice Minister of MOET, The project National Director A- The project implementation 1- Infrastructure - The initial construction phase of the project needed from 18 to 22 months to be completed and handed-over. However, due to changes in civil works procedures and processes in the last period, it took only after from 6 to 8 months to lidiquate construction contracts. Basic reasons are as follows: - Replace National competitive bidding with 3 quotation method and increase ceiling level of procurement package value. - Each civil work contract was paid by 100% of borrowing capital or counter-part fund. - Contracts of civil work service are voluntarily paid through school concretization program fund by local areas. - In the period of 2007-2008, because Vietnam was influenced by global economic regression, value of construction works was escalated, which caused many difficulties to contractors. Construction works using GOV capital are compensated for price escalation, but the project’s construction work contracts’s values were not changed, therefore, thousands of classroom were constructed incompletely, which couldn’t meet demands for enough classrooms of schools. 50 2- Counter-part fund Lack of counter-part fund only happened in the initial period of the project. However, in 2011, Government arranged more than 2 million USD at the same time to pay for contractors in a timely manner. Moreover, the Project refunded 18 billion VND to Ministry of Planning and Investment due to not being used up. B- Implementation of New School Model (VNEN) - Although it is the new activity added at the end of 2009, VNEN has been paid due attention to by many entities from education research agencies to local areas conducting the pilot. - VNEN model is not only adaptive in areas lacking resources and having children who face difficulties in accessing primary education but also paves a new way for reforming education and enhancing quality of school after 2015. 51 Annex 6. Comments of Co-financiers and Other Partners/Stakeholders From DFID John has asked me to provide comments on the draft ICR report. I was involved in the PEDC project design at the beginning but my job was changed and I did not know anything about this project until later last year when I joined a review mission to Cao Bang and was very impressive with the changes this project had brought to primary education in remote and mountainous areas. Congratulations! I have a few comments below: 1. The draft report is very comprehensive. It covers project objectives, what have been achieved and how to make the project achievements sustainable. I however think it would be useful to have an Executive Summary of key achievements and what have not been achieved so a quick skim would give people some flavours of the project because the report is quite long. However I understand this is the World Bank set format and you can not do so but is it possible to make a separate Executive Summary as an additional part? 2. I would like to see the lesson learned part (point 6) to be extended to cover key lessons of the project. The report mentions lots of lessons under the key factors affecting Implementation and Outcomes (point 2) but I would have thought that these lessons (good or bad) should be captured under the final lessons learned session. I also think we need to go deeper here to learn lesson for future: what were the issues and what could have been done to avoid them. For example slow progress at the beginning: was this because of unrealistic targets or because of management issues, if this is the later then what and where i.e. at what level and what could have been done. The problem of slow fund transfer is because of central level, provincial level or district level etc. There might be other bad lessons as well. I remember visited some schools in my trip to Cao Bang where they built toilets but there is no water so it can't be used. They should have built other type of toilets etc. Point 2.5 on post -completed operation/next steps: Should there be clearer responsibilities and time bound for example funding for DFA under SEQAP: what the project will fund and when it should be done and how to make it sustainable in the long run after SEQAP etc? or the use of training materials or resources developed under PEDC what are MOET/DOET/BOET roles in this process. I remember in my trip to Cao Bang in one district people mentioned about two trainers that were recruited and worked under PEDC and a number of Training Assistants. They did not think at that time that they will be able to use them in future because they don't have money to pay them. If they really want it they surely will find fund somewhere. This is a matter of prioritizing and BOET/DOET could surely do something about that. Best regards, Hue. Nguyen Thi Hue - HR/Office Manager, DFID Vietnam From CIDA Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the PEDC-ICR. Overall, I find the report to be strong. Some comments on how the report could be improved: a) include an Executive Summary (highlighting key results achieved, lessons learned, and recommendation for the GoV for ensuring sustainability of results in terms of access to education for disadvantaged children) b) under section 6. Lessons Learned - add any relevant lessons learned during the implementation phase (e.g. how to ensure coordination/cooperation within MOET, between other line relevant Ministries) c) under section 3.2 Achievement of Outcomes - highlight any significant variance between expected and actual results d) Government of Vietnam financial/in-kind contributions - add information on GoV/MOET performance in this area during project implementation 52 e) It would be also useful for the ICR to make some links with the key points/recommendations in the December Aide Memoire, possibly under the Sustainability section of the ICR We look forward to the revised ICR. Thank you. Regards, Graham. Graham Dattels - Senior Development Officer, CIDA Vietnam From NORAD Thank you for sharing with us the draft final report of this important project. Congratulations to the good work of the project team. In line with NORAD’s reporting guidelines, it would be useful if the final report could also provide brief description of â€? The expected sustainability of the achieved results; â€? The risk factors identified before and during project implementation and management, including financial irregularities, corruption, etc. and how these were handled; â€? The follow-up of the project, if relevant; â€? The project’s effects on gender equality; â€? If relevant, to what extend the project has collaborated with other relevant educational programmes in the project sites (if any) to maximize the project’s impact. For instance, Inclusive Education (for Children With Disabilities) and Mother Tongue-based Bilingual Education (for Ethnic Minority Children) Programmes in Vietnam. And, Executive Summary with main Findings, Lessons Learnt, and Recommendations would also be very useful. Thank you very much. Best regards, Le T.Thuy Huong - Programme Officer/Development Adviser, Royal Norwegian Embassy in Vietnam 53 Annex 7. Executive Summary From May 2003 until end 2010, the Government of Vietnam implemented the Primary Education for Disadvantaged Children Project (PEDC, the Project) under the coordination of the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET). The Government counted on financing from the International Development Association (the World Bank, the Bank) in the amount of SDR 101.4 million (equivalent to approximately US$138.8 million) and from a Multi-Donor Trust Fund between Vietnam and IDA, acting as Administrator of Grant funds provided by the Governments of Australia (A$1.485 million), Canada (C$14.355 million), the Kingdom of Norway (NOK113.8 million) and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (£24.7 million) to complement its own financing. Bank policies require that an Implementation Completion and Results Report (ICR) be prepared for each lending operation it finances This Executive Summary presents the highlights of the ICR. It is not an exhaustive summary of each of the sections of the ICR, but a short summary highlighting the main aspects of the PEDC and its implementation to appreciate and understand those factors that influenced the Project’s many achievements, and to learn from them. Background At the time the Project was prepared, Vietnam had made excellent progress in the development of its education system. In the previous ten years, it had met ambitious targets set through its Education for all (EFA) program, raising net enrollment rates at the primary level from about 80-86% in 1990/91 to nearly 94% in 1999/2000. It had also shown good improvement in a number of its internal efficiency indicators, such as repetition and dropout rates. The Government had acknowledged and made a commitment to universal, high quality basic education and had set, and largely achieved, a target of allocating 20% of the national budget to education, and had channeled significant funds from the education budget to nationally targeted programs in poor areas. The National Targeted Program on Education (NTP-E), one of eleven National Targeted Programs19, was intended to support the achievement of Vietnam’s 2010 Education Strategy and its EFA goals and targets for improved access, quality and efficiency in education services. Support for the education of ethnic minorities and in disadvantaged regions was one of the subcomponents of the NTP-E. Yet, a serious financing gap still existed in disadvantaged areas, and there was an identified need to meet the physical, instructional material and training needs in more than 4,000 schools and 14,000 teaching sites that were below basic standards and received little or no investment support. While the country had met its initial UPE goals of 80% net enrollment in 90% of communes, two large challenges remained: the problems of reaching outstanding communes and the un-reached children needed to be addressed, and the educational quality of the overall system needed improvement to allow it to progressively approach and ultimately meet national and international quality standards. At the ten-year review of its EFA program, Vietnam recognized that there were still many children left behind by the primary system, and that failing to educate all children and failing to educate them to an adequate level of quality would put the Government’s plans for UPE, economic growth and poverty reduction at risk. World Bank Engagement in Education. Beginning with the Primary Education Project (PEP) in 1993, the Bank had adopted a comprehensive strategy of support for basic education through progressive engagement. At the time of the Project’s approval, three education projects were under implementation, including the PEP, the Higher Education Project and the Primary Teachers Development Project. The Project’s design incorporated several lessons from extensive in-country experience related to the pedagogical and language needs of ethnic minority, disadvantage and disabled children under activities supported by donors as well as under the PEP. 19 National Targeted Programs are a state budget facility that provide sector-specific frameworks for planning and implementing strategic interventions, and act as focus points to attract community participation and NGO and official donor contributions. 54 Project Development Objectives The objective of the PEDC was to improve access to primary school and the quality of education for disadvantaged girls and boys. Disadvantaged children were broadly defined as school-aged children who were not enrolled or were at risk of not completing primary education; children who attended schools that did not meet fundamental quality standards; and disabled children or children from other highly vulnerable groups, such as street children, migrant children or girls in certain ethnic minority areas. The majority of PEDC resources were to be targeted to 189 districts, where approximately 70% of Vietnam’s educationally disadvantaged children resided. Target Population The Project’s target population comprised two groups of disadvantaged children: o Primary school-aged children from the 189 Project (out of 615 total districts in Vietnam) most educationally disadvantaged districts20; and o Disabled children of primary school age and other highly vulnerable groups, such as street and working children, children living in fishing communities, etc. The absolute number of children in these categories was estimated to exceed two million, and possibly even three million. In addition, the Project’s beneficiaries were to include disabled school-aged children (there were an estimated one million in Vietnam, over 70% of which did not have access to school), and children who lived in difficult social conditions, all of which were considered less likely to access, participate and perform well in primary school. Project Description The Project comprised four components, as described below. Component 1: Achieving Fundamental School Quality Levels (FSQL) sought to raise all schools in the 189 most disadvantaged targeted districts to a fundamental school quality level through a two-pronged approach: (a) by providing necessary support to district administration to improve planning, management and monitoring capabilities, in order to develop and implement plans to meet FSQL standards; and (b) by enhancing school capacity to provide effective instruction at poorly resourced satellite campuses, meeting the specific needs of educationally disadvantaged children and supporting other efforts to meet FSQL standards in those classrooms. Component 2: Education Initiatives for Highly Vulnerable Children sought to address the needs of children at high risk through two streams of interventions that addressed the education needs of: (a) disabled children; and (b) vulnerable groups, such as street and working children, children living in fishing communities, and others. Component 3: National and Provincial Institutional and Technical Support for FSQL sought to assist the MOET to lay down a pathway for reaching national school standards using FSQL as a first step, proposing FSQL criteria and raising awareness at all levels of the education system about how to bring every school up to FSQL levels. Finally, Component 4: Project Management was designed to support the establishment of a Project Coordination Unit (PCU) inside the MOET, that would be staffed with members from various departments of the MOET, domestic and international consultants, and would support MOET line agencies, the institutional strengthening teams and the National Task Forces for Quality Standards, Disabled Children and Highly Vulnerable Children. 20 The number of districts that benefited from the PEDCt varied due to internal administrative changes that resulted in an increased number of districts in the 40 provinces that were targeted and not from an increase in the Project’s scope. By completion, the PEDC has financed activities in 227 districts in the initial 40 provinces.   55 Project Design Instrument. PEDC was designed as a traditional investment project that provided incremental finance to a new program. It was ambitious in design, especially since it would be implemented in and by the most educationally disadvantaged districts, in most cases those with the most limited capacity. The Project’s design envisaged both the development new programs and initiatives, and their subsequent implementation at the district/school level, together with a program of capacity building so that provinces, districts and schools could plan, implement and monitor those activities appropriately. The Project’s design encouraged innovation and the piloting of selected activities before eventual roll out to all project districts if they were proven to be successful. Implementation Arrangments. The Project was implemented by the MoET, the DoET, and the Bureaus of BoET. A Project Coordination Unit (PCU) established in MoET and staffed with members from various departments of the MOET, in addition to national and international consultants, supported MOET line agencies, five institutional strengthening teams (ISTs) and national task forces for Quality Standards, Disabled Children and Highly Vulnerable Children with implementation. In line with the Government’s decentralization agenda, PEDC was designed to decentralize and shift decision making to local levels (notably districts, schools and their satellite campuses). Although capacity and expertise varied widely among the DoETs and BoETs, this aspect of the design was based on strong evidence that such decentralized planning and service delivery would be far more effective in meeting local needs than centralized strategies for allocating resources. Communities were to have active involvement, often for the first time, by working with District Community Development Specialists (DCDSs). Monitoring and Evaluation. Monitoring progress towards FSQL was an integral objective and focus of the Project’s design (see below). Throughout implementation, the PEDC was the subject of intensive evaluation that, inter alia, guided the roll-out of activities that had been introduced as pilots, provided useful data and analysis to inform implementation and served to confirm PEDC’s results. Eight external evaluation studies were completed under the Project. Project Innovations—Outputs Financed National Guidelines for FSQL. The Project introduced the concept of FSQL by defining minimum institutional capacity, instructional materials and teacher support, physical infrastructure, and school- community linkages required to maintain a healthy and productive learning environment. FSQL was designed to be an “achievableâ€? standard to which schools in disadvantaged districts could aspire to achieve, as opposed to the national standards that were often considered excessively ambitious given their capacity and realities. PEDC developed procedures and capacity for measuring and verifying progress towards FSQL, based on the District FSQL Audit (DFA). The annual DFA provides year on year performance indicators of school performance against FSQL standards and allows for annual monitoring of a school’s, a district’s and a province’s progress towards achieving FSQL. The DFA has become a highly effective tool for planning and targeting financing and moving towards results-based delivery. With PEDC support, the DFA has been implemented in all districts nationally. This provides Viet Nam with data on school quality down to the remotest schools and villages and is a unique resource for tracking trends, determining gaps, planning and targeting financing. PEDC was successful in introducing decentralized data systems at district levels and has built capacity and raised awareness on the use and application of information to monitor changes and make FSQL and operational concept (see below). Although the Project originally aimed for data from FSQL/DFA to be integrated into the Government’s EMIS, that system is still under development, with the result that the DFA is today the single most important source of educational data nationwide in Viet Nam. Annual District FSQL Plans. Funding for PEDC implementation at the district and provincial levels was made available based on the annual FSQL district plans. A District FSQL Development Planning Manual, an Operational Manual for the Implementation of District FSQL Grants and Campus Support Funds and professional training programs were provided to key staff of DoETs BoETs, Head Teachers 56 and Deputy Head Teachers to guide school development planning, and the FSQL audit. These professionals now know how to use annual DFA results, have become familiar with analytical skills appropriate to the data, and have recognized the value of standards-based school planning and of integrating FSQL data into annual school plans. School development planning was not part of PEDC’s original design but was developed and implemented as a complement to district FSQL planning. It has become an important aspect of the FSQL process and a principle means of capacity development within schools and a key source of monitoring data. Annual District FSQL plans, based on data collected during DFA surveys were developed by BoETs at the end of each year and presented for approval to DoETs, who were responsible for monitoring and evaluation of FSQL implementation and quality improvements at the district level. BoETs in each district collected data for the DFA based on school self-assessment data, and verified results through school inspections. School Development Plans, verified by BoET inspection teams, provided primary sources of data for the DFA. The End of the Project Evaluation (EOPE) reports: “PEDC has successfully introduced a quantifiable system for primary education data collection, based on the DFA. Data collection systems are in place and annual district plans for FSQL achievement are being developed and implemented by BoETs. Schools are producing SDPs and principles of planning for FSQL are widely understood and adopted at school levels. The DFA enables school quality levels to be ranked and monitored and improvements in school quality standards have been demonstrated over time. Achievement of National School Standards has become a realistic objective for a significant proportion of PEDC schoolsâ€?. Instructional Improvement and Teacher Support for FSQL. District level respondents to the EOPE were invariably positive about PEDC’s training programs and felt the programs had made a significant difference to the way teachers teach and resulted in improvements to learning outcomes. Teachers have increased confidence in using new teaching methods and are able to apply a variety of teaching new aids, including adaptation of training materials to different subjects and becoming interested in making their own materials. The training programs have contributed to a change of attitude among school staff, particularly concerning inclusive education but more generally about the roles of teachers and the function of district schools. Combined with the impact of other Project initiatives, parents and communities also have increased interest in the schools and are more confident in the quality of education being received. The EOPE evaluated the Child-based Teaching, Overcoming Barriers to Learning and Vietnamese Language Strengthening programs and confirmed that they addressed well issues of access to education, enrolment and retention, particularly among ethnic minorities. The EOPE evaluated these programs positively, with “teachers reporting adoption of new teaching methods resulting in improved learning outcomesâ€?. Vietnamese Language Strengthening (VLS), School Readiness (SR) and Teaching Assistants (TA). The external evaluation of the VLS, TA and SR programs shows very promising findings and the value of these interventions21. The evaluation’s main findings corroborate that students in classes with a TA attend more regularly and achieve better results in mathematics and Vietnamese language than those students in similar classes without a TA. The study found that “In surveyed districts, the TA program has made significant contributions in preparing children for school through Vietnamese language acquisition under the SR program. In disadvantaged areas without ethnic minority teachers, or without ethnic language speaking teachers, TAs also play a pivotal role in enabling schools and satellite campuses to meet minimal quality standards. BoETs and teachers were also consistent in reporting to the evaluators the improvements to learning outcomes at Grade 1, and describing the SR program as providing a “big leapâ€? in improving ethnic minority students’ Vietnamese capacity and in making them more confident when starting school. SR clearly has a positive effect on the learning of ethnic minority students in Grade 21 Mid-term Report “Longitudinal Study on Teaching Assistants and School Readinessâ€? April 2009 57 1. The TA program has contributed to increasing enrollment rates, mobilizing school-aged children to attend class and maintain regular attendance and, as a result, decreasing repetition and drop out rates. TAs have not only helped teachers, but have played an important role as a language and culture bridges between school, family, and community and helped change local people’s awareness about their children’s learning. Parents and community members have developed trust in TAs and schools. TAs have also supported individuals with special needs and children with disabilities. Infrastructure Improvement for FSQL. Infrastructure, including civil works, provision of furniture and related technical services accounted for the PEDC’s largest component. By completion, 6,126 schools had benefited from the PEDC, 12,383 new classrooms had been constructed, and 6,720 had classrooms had been renovated or upgraded. Additional sites and classrooms benefited from assistance from the Government’s School Concretization Program. PEDC was the first project to provide investment for school construction at satellite sites of primary schools. The infrastructure program was completed as planned, carried out efficiently and completely implemented through decentralization to DoETs and primary schools. Teachers’, parents’ and commune leaders’ perceptions about the PEDC schools is overwhelmingly positive. More than 97% agreed that the upgraded campus was more beautiful and attractive, encouraged children to attend school, more child-friendly and conducive to learning. There was a strong sense of ownership and they are willing to share in the maintenance of the building. Overall, more than 96% of beneficiaries agreed they are happy with the Project. Community Participation. The CSF was another highly successful innovation. The CSF encouraged parent and community engagement while ensuring that funds would be allocated to particular schools’ and students’ needs. Annual CSF grants were provided to schools and satellite schools to help with small purchases, support some educational activities as well as enhance community participation in school activities, based on the schools determination of needs. CSF grants provided support for helping disadvantaged children to go to school, overcoming difficulties in the class, activities related to the SR program such as teaching and learning materials and aids and extracurricular educational activities with community participation. The CSF produced many benefits, including supporting children to go to school and attend class regularly, supporting schools and satellites to reach FSQL, and strengthening community participation through activities and planning and using CSF. Inclusive Education for Disabled Children. A draft National Inclusive Education (IE) Policy, Strategy and Action Plan on IE was developed and is pending approval as part of the Government’s Strategy for Education and Training 2009-2020. As part of the training program, 240 key teachers in 40 provinces were trained on Inclusive Education using the revised Education of Children with Learning Difficulties materials and Exemplary Inclusive Education Series Initiative (EIES). Reaching Street and Working Children and Other High Risk Groups. The PEDC supported activities aimed at reaching street children and working children and other high-risk groups, in a decentralized manner, and knowledge sharing of these activities. Innovation Grants provided local solutions to local problems by local people in innovative way to: (a) develop and implement new and innovative approaches to meeting the educational needs of vulnerable children of primary school age; (b) encourage and facilitate the participation of government, non-government and other stakeholder groups in serving the needs of at-risk and highly vulnerable children; and (c) try-out quality interventions that could be applied widely, potentially nationally, to reduce the number of at-risk and highly vulnerable children who were not accessing and/or completing primary education. Project Results The PEDC’s most notable achievement was the development and introduction of the FSQL as a first step towards helping disadvantaged districts to plan, monitor and report progress in achieving defined educational standards and the collection of DFA data since 2004. FSQL has been successfully utilized as a mechanism to measure quality levels across schools and to allocate resources according to need to raise schools and their satellites up to minimum FSQL standards. The FSQL and the DFA have proven to be successful initiatives that have been expanded to the national level, allowing the Government to allocate need-based funding at the national, provincial, district and school levels. The importance of education 58 management and how to structure what is happening in schools and classrooms to achieve a better quality of education and improve students’ learning achievements is now more widely understood. All DoETs and BoETs have mastered the data-collection skills and they skillfully use data to identify FSQL gaps, create School Development Plans, allocate funds, target those who need it most, support communities and monitor progress. The Project directly supported the provision of the inputs needed for schools and districts to reach FSQL that have been shown to produce a quality education and an environment for learning and to help increase the number of children attending school and the likelihood of their staying until completion. These include: a safe, appropriate building with inside-outside flow and activities, trained teachers, basic equipment and furniture, basic textbooks, a rich range of supplementary resources in local languages where needed, and a committed participating community ensuring healthy motivated children attend school. The PEDC produced important results, in many cases exceeding original expectations. o Increase in number of PEDC schools reaching FSQL. In 2004 54% of schools in PEDC districts had achieved FSQL, as originally defined. By 2010, 68.3% of schools had reached FSQL as defined by the Government’s Decision 55. Overall, PEDC schools improved more quickly than the national average and more than the non-PEDC schools in the same provinces. More importantly, several of the schools that had achieved FSQL reported that they now feel energized and empowered to continue their efforts, striving towards the achievement of national standards. o Increase net enrollment rate. The net enrollment rate in PEDC districts reached 98.7% in 2010, with gender equity, against the target of 96%. o Improve primary student completion. Primary student completion in PEDC districts reached 94.1% in 2010, with gender equity, against the target of 86%. (In 2009, female completion rates in PEDC districts were 93.9%, compared to a national rate of 95.9%.) o Reduce Grade 1 repetition rate. The Grade 1 repetition rate in PEDC districts was 5.2% in 2010 against a target of less than 3%. Although this represented an improvement over the 8% rate before the Project, this indicator likely fell short of its target due to a new campaign launched by the MOET two years ago to address a problem where teachers apparently passed automatically all of their students to higher grades. (Overall primary repetition rates stood at 2% for PEDC districts in 2010 and 1.4% nationwide.) o Reduce dropout rate. The dropout rate in PEDC districts declined to 2.5% in 2010 against a target of less than 4%. In PEDC districts, the dropout rate in Grades 1 to 5 was 1.8%. Respondents attributed reduced dropouts to the impact of related PEDC activities, specifically, TA support and mobilizing campaigns, participation by PTAs, the CSF, and provision of books and notebooks for disadvantaged children and the overall raised attractiveness of schools. Reduced language barriers are also supposed to have contributed to consistent improvements for this indicator. o Increase the number of eligible disabled children in school. This has remained at about 2% of children throughout. There have been definitional issues as “eligibleâ€? was not defined and work with the Child Development Record (CDR) showed that teachers have difficulty recognizing, identifying and recording children with special needs. (DFA data on disability is limited, does not provide for classification of disabilities and probably under-reports numbers of disabled children who are out of school). The Analysis of 2007/08 CDR-sourced data recommended the 2009 DFA include specific sources of data relating to children with disabilities. This has not yet occurred. o Improve completion rate for disabled children. In 2006 the completion rate for disabled children was 45.6%; by 2009, the completion rate reached 71.5 %. o Improve “independent learnerâ€? status in Mathematics and Vietnamese. The results for this will come from the Grade 5 study in 2011 that is the first time that participants in the PEDC will reach the age where they will be in Grade 5 and be assessed in the achievement study. The results from the Grade 5 2006/2007 study for PEDC schools showed that although students reaching “independent learnerâ€? status in Mathematics remained the same, in Reading they increased from 51.4% in 2001 to 64.5% in 59 2006/2007 22 . The Quality of EFA Report 23 reviews the most significant predictors of student achievement based on sample results for 2001 and 2007 Grade Five surveys. Some of its findings that are relevant to the Project’s outcomes include: (a) the FII is a significant and positive predictor of student achievement in the 2007 studies; (b) teacher education and training (included in the FII) was a very significant predictor of mathematics achievement; (c) the availability of classroom materials/learning tools is a significant predictors of achievement, and the most important variable is the FII as the indicator of overall school inputs (the FII effect on learning achievement in the 2007 study is substantial); (d) for schools in remote areas, school averages for teacher feedback is the strongest predictor of achievement, possibly since these students have less access to learning aids and feedback outside the school; and (e) for ethnic populations, the FII and teacher excellence are especially important predictors of outcomes, since these students are less likely to receive help in the home, and are exposed to fewer non-school sources of learning. These findings all point to probably strong improvements in learning outcomes as a result of the initiatives supported by the Project. The Project also had impact at the sector level. By decreasing repetition rates dropout rates in PEDC province, the Project had an important impact on pupil flow-through efficiency, promoting much improved efficiency at the primary level. The Project had another, perhaps equally if not more important impact on sector efficiency: developing and implementing a functional system whereby allocation of resources is determined on the basis of needs and capacities as determined by local schools and districts— moving from input-equity to output-equity through a system of evidence-based funding. The development and implementation of FSQL, that defined the minimum package of inputs necessary for providing a quality education at a school together with the basic outcomes that were expected of schools, was an efficiency-enhancing concept. Project Sustainability The Project, its objectives and the activities is financed are fully consistent with the Government’s Education Development Strategic Plan for 2011-2020 which is currently in the process of consultation and its NTP-E which both continue to emphasize the objectives supported by the Project. Recognizing that these important programs (FSQL, TAs, VLS, SR, etc.) should be continued, the Government and the Bank began discussing transition arrangements over two years before completion and developing proposals to provide continuity to PEDC’s successful initiatives with Government or alternative sources of funding. As a compensatory mechanism, the Project has been completed, and the challenge of continuing to respond to the needs of disadvantaged groups will depend on the Government’s ability to internalize the many successful innovations and lessons from its implementation. This will require not only adopting and mainstreaming monitoring systems, training programs, community initiatives, etc., but also ensuring that the funding provided under the NTP-E to provinces and districts responds to their needs and the results of their efforts, and that they are sufficiently supported in providing continuity to the successful initiatives supported by PEDC. Several mechanisms exist whereby continuity can be provided for PEDC’s successful initiatives, including under projects that are currently ongoing or under preparation for eventual Bank financing: the School Education Quality Assurance Project (SEQAP) and the proposed School Readiness Promotion Project (SRPP), in addition to through normal government funding channels under NTP-E, a centrally sponsored scheme in which the MOET indicates to the provinces the expected allocations of central State budget funds to NTP-E sub-components. However, provincial authorities have full discretion over planning, investment and resource allocation. Schools and districts, and more importantly children and their parents and teachers, have witnessed the Project’s activities and impact, and will undoubtedly become important advocates vis-à-vis the provinces for continuity of activities such as SDPs, TAs, SR 22 Report Study in Grade 5 Student Achievement in Mathematics and Vietnamese Language in the 2006-2007 School Year, Hanoi, 2008. 23 Vietnam Quality of All Report (draft) World Bank. The Report, Chapter 7 of the Report analyzes “The Variable That Matter: Determinants of Student Achievement. 60 programs through sustained allocations through their NTP-E budget. Nevertheless, the Government’s EMIS is still not in place, and as a result the substantial information in the DFA could not be integrated in that system and will require a continued “bridgingâ€? under the SEQAP to maintain it up-to-date and relevant as a policy and planning tool. Legal, policy frameworks are not in place for TA and SR programs, with the result that these also will depend on alternative project funding, or requests—or community demands--from the schools/districts for continuity of these programs. Still, to the extent that provinces decide to continue implementation of theses programs, funding will need to be provided either under SEQAP or SRPP, or framed within the overall provincial/district budget allocations under NTP-E. In some cases, this is already happening as a number of provinces and districts are already implementing FSQL plans from their own budget. Project Lessons The Project provides several lessons related to education policy, instrument design and institutional arrangements. Education Policy: The concept of quality of education is a dynamic concept that evolves over time. The evolution and development of education quality should be defined and formed to respond to a specific country or socio- economic and cultural context at a certain period of time. Therefore, setting up an FSQL that matches the education system’s implementation and financial capacity was critical to ensure its relevance and usefulness. The FSQL was a successful innovation that provided a “ladderâ€? to national standards by setting a realistic and attainable target for disadvantaged schools and has since become national policy and implemented in all provinces. Most importantly, it provides standards for a needs-based targeted allocation of funds and real data to schools on what to spend it on in order to reach the standards. In terms of setting standards, the Project set FSQL as the minimum standards that a school should have in place to provide a basic learning environment. Many schools that have attained FSQL feel successful and empowered, and as a result, are setting new, higher, targets to eventually achieve national standards. Caution, however, should be taken when seeing progress towards initial minimum standards, and using this as an opportunity to increase standards (as was done by the Government’s Decision 55). The value of fundamental quality standards, as originally defined in simple, easy to follow and monitor terms, is that they were seen as achievable by the provinces, districts and schools targeted by the Project. Of all the standards, schools were most challenged by FSQL requirements for physical infrastructure. Where these targets are unrealistic and difficult to achieve, provision should be made for FSQL certification based on other more manageable criteria, specifically including the quality of teaching and learning, as is currently provided for by the FII. Initiatives that strengthened the ties between schools and communities proved to be very successful in improving educational outcomes. These included the SR initiative a community-based, pre-primary school development program introduced to strengthen Vietnamese language competencies in districts with significant ethnic minority populations, where Vietnamese is spoken as a second language and support transition from pre-school to Grade 1, and the introduction of TA. TAs, bi-lingual members of local communities had primary responsibility for implementation of SR programs, under the coordination of satellite school and Grade 1 teachers. The initial pilot and later expansion of the TA initiative was successful in creating a link between Grade 1 teachers at satellite campuses, to support delivery of the SR program, and their work with families and communities to mobilize children in coming to school and to help ensure attendance. In disadvantaged areas without ethnic minority teachers, or without ethnic language speaking teachers, TAs also played a pivotal role in enabling schools and satellite campuses to meet minimal quality standards. TAs not only helped teachers, but played an important role as a language and culture bridges between school, family, and community and helped change local people’s awareness about their children’s learning, with consequent positive outcomes. As mentioned in Section 2.5, funding for several of these initiatives is expected to be sustained by provinces with funding under the framework of the NTP-E 2011-2015. 61 Instrument Design: The Project was designed as a traditional investment project, providing incremental finance to a project with specific time-bound objectives that were expected to be achieved in targeted districts by completion. Its institutional arrangements were designed to facilitate and ensure the Project’s effective implementation, but institutional strengthening on a national scale over and above that which would be required for successful implementation was not an explicit objective of the Project (although there was an indicator that expected the MOET, and participating DoETs and BoETs to have regularly demonstrated strengthened capacity to identify, plan for, support and monitor the needs of educationally disadvantage children). Nevertheless, the Project’s positive outcomes brought a critical challenge: how to ensure that the initiatives introduced under the Project are not only maintained upon completion (e.g., the schools constructed maintained, the learning materials utilized, etc.), but also expanded, internalized and adopted as national policies more broadly. As a quasi-compensatory project, aimed at leveling outcomes in disadvantaged districts, the Project’s design was contained, and it achieved mostly its expected objectives. But, given that, despite progress, there are still important differences in educational outcomes across schools, should this “compensatoryâ€? financing terminate now that the Project has been completed? The Bank’s supervision team worked closely with the Government well in advance of completion to ensure sustainability of the Project’s initiatives, with the objective of ensuring continued implementation of proven initiatives thereby further reducing the gaps in outcomes between schools in disadvantaged districts and other schools. Still, in retrospect, the question remains as to whether support for an ongoing program coordinated directly by the MOET through its technical departments (as opposed to through the PCU), and directly through the DoETs (as opposed to through the provincial PCUs) would not have provided greater sustainability and internalization of the very capacity that the Project helped develop. Several other aspects of the Project’s and instrument’s design were effective, especially, the piloting of innovative activities and their evaluation before expansion, as well as building into the Project’s design activities that were central to the Project’s objectives such as the development and dissemination of FSQL standards and guidelines. In addition, the Project’s design was such that its was well-defined, but still sufficiently flexible to allow creativity and minor adjustments based on provincial, district and school needs, that were all so important to ensure that its outputs and results responded to local realities. At the same time, this mix between up-front design and definition versus flexibility resulted in the continued relevance of the Project’s objectives, components and activities throughout implementation without the need for their restructuring. Institutional Arrangements: Given that the Project’s implementation was coordinated by a Project Coordination Unit, with the consequent issues that structure entailed for sustainability of institutional capacity that was developed, its structure was effective for implementing project activities. The establishment of ISTs for planning and monitoring, teacher development activities, educational goods and materials, civil works and community participation, ensured effective leadership, coordination, technical support and knowledge sharing between the MOET, the PCU, the DoETs and the BoETs. The involvement of schools, communities and parents in the Project’s activities ensured “bottom-upâ€? engagement and support for the initiatives and activities financed, and bode well for continued demand for its successful programs and initiatives. 62 Annex 8. List of Supporting Documents 2. Project Appraisal Document, Primary Education for Disadvantaged Children Project, Report No. 23846-VN, dated April 3, 2003 3. Implementation Status Reports and Mission Aide-Memoires 4. Report of the Joint World Bank-Donors Mid-Term Review (MTR) with Australia (AusAID), Canada (CIDA), Norway (NORAD) and United Kingdon (DFID), December 4-20, 2006 5. Primary Education for Disadvantaged Children Project, End of Project Evaluation, Final Report, September 2010, Consia Consultants 6. External Evaluation Completed under the Project: 7. CSF and District Grants (December 2006) 8. Pilot School Readiness (December 2007) 9. Pilot Teaching Assistant and School Readiness Programs (April 2007) 10. Training Review and Need Analysis (December 2008) 11. Evaluation of PEDC Investment in Non-Infrastructure Activities (April 2009) 12. Longitudinal Study on Teaching Assistant Program (December 2009) 13. Vietnam Quality for All Report (draft) World Bank, chapter 7 of the report analyzes “The variable that matter: determinants of student achievement. 63 Annex 9. Fundamental School Quality Level (FSQL) Standards The FSQL standards, as described in the Project’s Appraisal Document, are: Physical Infrastructure:  Schools and campuses have solid construction (walls, floors and roofs) for classrooms and with adequate natural lighting  Schools and campuses have 1 blackboard per classroom, sufficient tables and benches for students, 1 teacher desk/chair per classroom, and sufficient durable and transportable storage boxes or lockers for instructional materials Teaching Staff:  Teachers are minimally qualified at 9+3 level  Teachers receive annual professional training on relevant classroom management and pedagogical topics (e.g., crafting teaching aids, multi-grade teaching, remediation support, Vietnamese language instruction, inclusive education, etc.) School Organization and Management:  A school ensures that each satellite campus offers the same quality of instruction, services and resources as the main school site  Schools and campuses offer grades based on full 175 week curriculum  Head Teachers are trained in satellite campus management and support Education Socialization:  Schools and campuses have individual parent committees  Parent committees at all schools and satellite campuses are trained in school and student support strategies Educational Activities and Quality:  1 set of teaching aids/instructional materials per grade is available to each school and campus  1 set of teacher supplies is available to each teacher (e.g., ruler, scissors, chalk, paper, pen) in all schools and campuses  1 full set of textbooks, a teaching manual, and other guides as required per grade taught is available to each teacher  1 set of supplementary reading materials appropriate to all grades taught is available to each school and campus  All students have Math and Vietnamese textbooks  All students are equipped with a sufficient (minimum) number of notebooks and pencils  All teachers in ethnic minority areas are trained in teaching Vietnamese to children whose native language is not Vietnamese  Special Vietnamese language materials are available in all schools and campuses with ethnic minority populations Expected Outcomes  All school age children are enrolled in school  96% of 14-year olds complete primary education  Gender equity is achieved in primary school enrollments 64 Annex 10. List of Project Provinces & Districts Province District Province District Province District Province District 1 Hà Giang Town 61 MÆ°á»?ng Chà 114 Ea H'leo 172 Tân Hồng Ä?ồng Tháp 2 Ä?ồng Văn 62 Tủa Chùa 115 Ea Súp 173 Tam Nông Ä?iện Biên 3 Mèo Vạc 63 Tuần Giáo 116 Krông Năng 174 Thanh Bình 4 Yên Minh 64 Ä?iện Biên 117 Krông Búk Total: 3 district Hà Giang Ä?ắk Lắk 5 Quản Bạ 65 Ä?iện Biên Ä?ông 118 Buôn Ä?ôn 175 An Phú 6 Bắc Mê 66 MÆ°á»?ng Nhé 119 M'Ä?rắk 176 Châu Phú An Giang 7 Hoàng Su Phì 67 MÆ°á»?ng Ẳng 120 Krông Pắc 177 Tịnh Biên 8 Vị Xuyên Total: 7 district 121 CÆ° Kui 178 Tri Tôn 9 Xín Mần 68 MÆ°á»?ng Lát 122 Krông A Na 179 Châu Thành Thanh 10 Bắc Quang 69 Ngá»?c Lặc 123 Krông Bông 180 Thoại SÆ¡n Hóa 11 Quang Bình 70 ThÆ°á»?ng Xuân 124 Lắk Total: 6 district Total: 11 District 71 NhÆ° Xuân Total: 11 district 181 Rạch Giá 12 Bảo Lạc Total: 4 district 125 CÆ° Jút 182 Kiên LÆ°Æ¡ng 13 Hà Quảng 72 Quế Phong 126 Ä?ắk Mil 183 Hòn Ä?ất Nghệ An 14 Thông Nông 73 TÆ°Æ¡ng DÆ°Æ¡ng 127 Krông Nô 184 Tân Hiệp Ä?ắk Nông 15 Trà LÄ©nh Total: 2 district 128 Ä?ắk R'Lấp 185 Châu Thành Cao Bằng Quảng Kiên Giang 16 Trùng Khánh 74 Bình Minh Hóa 129 Ä?ắk GLong 186 Giồng Giá»?ng 17 Nguyên Bình Total: 1 district 130 TX Gia Nghiã 187 Gò Quao 18 Hạ Lang 75 HÆ°á»›ng Hóa 131 Ä?ắk Song 188 An Biên Quảng Trị 19 Thạch An 76 Ä?a Krông 132 Tuy Ä?ức 189 An Minh 20 Bảo Lâm Total: 2 district Total: 8 district 190 VÄ©nh Thuận Total: 9 district 77 Thừa Phú Lá»™c 133 Lạc DÆ°Æ¡ng 191 Phú Quốc Lâm Ä?ồng 21 Lào Cai 78 Thiên - Nam Ä?ông 134 Lâm Hà 192 Kiên Hải 22 MÆ°á»?ng KhÆ°Æ¡ng Total: 2 district 135 Bảo Lâm 193 U Minh Thượng 23 Bát Xát 79 Ä?ông Giang 136 Di Linh 194 Thị xã Hà Tiên Lào Cai 24 Bắc Hà 80 Nam Giang 137 Ä?am Rông Total: 14 district Quảng Nam 25 Sa Pa 81 PhÆ°á»›c SÆ¡n Total: 5 district 195 Thốt Nốt Cần ThÆ¡ Phan Rang- City 26 Bảo Yên 82 Bắc Trà My 138 Tháp Chàm Ninh Thuận 196 VÄ©nh Thạnh 27 Xi Ma Cai 83 Nam Trà My 139 Ninh SÆ¡n Total: 2 district Total: 7 district 84 Tây Giang 140 Ninh Hải 197 Châu Thành 28 Ba Bể Total: 6 district 141 Ninh PhÆ°á»›c 198 Cầu Kè Trà Vinh Kạn Bắc 29 Ngân SÆ¡n 85 Trà Bồng 142 Bác Aí 199 Tiểu Cần Quảng Ngãi 30 Pác Nặm 86 SÆ¡n Tây 143 Thuận Bắc 200 Cầu Ngang Total: 3 district 87 SÆ¡n Hà Total: 6 district 201 Trà Cú 31 Tràng Ä?ịnh 88 Ba TÆ¡ 144 Ä?ồng Xoài 202 Duyên Hải 32 Văn Lãng 89 Tây Trà 145 PhÆ°á»›c Long Total: 6 district Lạng SÆ¡n 33 Bình Gia Total: 5 district 146 Lá»™c Ninh 203 Sóc Trăng Bình PhÆ°á»›c 34 Cao Lá»™c 90 VÄ©nh Thạnh 147 Bù Ä?ăng 204 Kế Sách Bình Ä?ịnh 35 Lá»™c Bình 91 Vân Canh 148 Bình Long 205 Long Phú Sóc Trăng 36 Ä?ình Lập Total: 2 district 149 Ä?ồng Phù 206 Mỹ Tú Total: 6 district 92 SÆ¡n Hòa 150 ChÆ¡n Thành 207 Mỹ Xuyên Tuyên Phú Yên 37 Quang Nà Hang 93 Sông Hinh 151 Bù Ä?ốp 208 Thạnh Trị Total: 1 district Total: 2 district Total: 8 district 209 VÄ©nh Châu 38 Lục Yên 94 Khánh Khánh VÄ©nh 152 Tân Biên 210 Cù Lao Dung Ninh Yên Tây Bái 39 Mù Căng Chải 95 Hòa Khánh SÆ¡n 153 Tân Châu 211 Ngã Năm 40 Trạm Tấu Total: 2 district 154 Bến Cầu Total 9 district Total: 3 district 96 Ä?ắk Glei Total: 3 district 212 Bạc Liêu 41 Bình Liêu 97 Ngá»?c Hồi 155 Tân Phú 213 Hồng Dân Quảng Ä?ồng Nai Ninh Bạc Liêu 42 Móng Cái 98 Ä?ắk Tô 156 Ä?ịnh Quán 214 VÄ©nh Lợi Kon Tum 43 Tiên Yên 99 Kon Plông 157 Xuân Lá»™c 215 Giá Rai 44 Ba Chẽ 100 Ä?ak Hà 158 Cẩm Mỹ 216 Ä?ông Hải Total: 4 district 101 Sa Thầy Total: 4 district 217 PhÆ°á»›c Long 45 Tam Ä?Æ°á»?ng 102 Kon Rẫy 159 Tuy Phong 218 Hòa Bình 46 Than Uyên 103 Tu MÆ¡ Rông 160 Bắc Bình Total: 7 district Lai Châu 47 MÆ°á»?ng Tè Total: 8 district 161 Hàm Thuận Bắ 219 Cà Mau Bình Thuận 48 Phong Thổ 104 KBang 162 Hàm Thuận Na 220 Thá»›i Bình 49 Sìn Hồ 105 ChÆ° Păh 163 Tánh Linh 221 U Minh Cà Mau 50 TX Lai Châu 106 Ia Grai 164 Hàm Tân 222 Trần Văn Thá»?i Total: 6 district 107 Ä?ức CÆ¡ 165 Ä?ức Linh 223 Cái NÆ°á»›c Gia Lai 51 Quỳnh Nhai 108 ChÆ° Prông 166 Phú Quí 224 Ä?ầm DÆ¡i 52 MÆ°á»?ng La 109 ChÆ° Sê 167 Thị Xã La Gi 225 Ngá»?c Hiển 53 Thuận Châu 110 Phú Thiện Total: 9 district 226 Năm Căn 54 Bắc Yên 111 TX Ayun Pa 168 Tân HÆ°ng 227 Phú Tân Long An SÆ¡n La 55 Phù Yên 112 Krông Pa 169 VÄ©nh HÆ°ng Total: 9 district 56 Mai SÆ¡n 113 La Pa 170 Tân Thạnh 57 Sông Mã Total: 10 district 171 Thạnh Hóa Grand Total 227 district 58 Yên Châu Total: 4 district 59 Má»™c Châu 60 Sốp Cá»™p Total: 10 district 65 MAP 66 The original had problem with text extraction. pdftotext Unable to extract text.