Initial Project Information Document (PID) Report No: AB114 Project Name CAMBODIA-KH-Basic Education Region East Asia and Pacific Region Sector Primary education (70%); Secondary education (30%) Theme Education for all (P) Project P070668 Borrower(s) CAMBODIA Implementing Agency(ies) MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, YOUTH, AND SPORT Address: 169 Norodom Blvd., Phnom Penh, Cambodia Contact Person: Ou Eng, Project Liaison Officer Tel: 855.23.210.349 Fax: 855.23.210.349 Email: ppu@online.com.kh Environment Category C (Not Required) Date PID Prepared June 9, 2003 Auth Appr/Negs Date March 31, 2004 Bank Approval Date July 7, 2004 1. Country and Sector Background Cambodia emerged from 30 years of civil conflict and now faces the long-term prospects of post-conflict rebuilding as one of the world's poorest countries. Decades of war destroyed much of the country's resources, including both its institutions of governance and its human capital. Much of the population--and especially girls and ethnic minorities--is vulnerable to poverty, landmine disability, high incidences of mortality and morbidity, and lack of social safety nets. This is illustrated in part by the fact that 20% of all households are female-headed and 75% of the population relies on agriculture for their livelihood. Government capacity and spending in general is low, including the education sector. Despite such adversity, Cambodia has made significant progress over the last five years in expanding educational opportunities, especially at the primary level with a rising share of rural girls and ethnic minorities. By 2001, the national primary education net enrolment rate reached 87%. However, the enrolment rate in post-primary education remains low. The net enrolment rate in lower secondary education was 19 percent and in upper secondary education was 7% in 2001. The transition rate to lower secondary education is approximately 79%. The education system also faces many challenges, including: (1) Gender disparities Gender disparities in educational opportunities remain a source of some concern at all levels of education, although recent years have seen progress especially at the primary level. Between 1996 and 2001, gender parity levels increased from 0.86 to 0.94 for primary schooling and from 0.66 to 0.77 for lower secondary schooling. However, the gender gap in enrolment widens at each successive level and it grows particularly acute at the upper secondary level. Very few girls complete secondary schooling, limiting the number of eligible women candidates for higher education, and for professional and administrative careers--including the teaching profession where increased numbers of female teachers would support girls' enrolment and completion of schooling. These gender based inequities are related to cost factors, lack of facilities for secondary schooling, late starts, and high repetition and drop-out rates. The estimated female completion rate for Grades 1 through 6 in 2000 was only 26.5%. 2 PID (2) Disparities across different income groups An encouraging recent trend has been the increasing school participation of children from low-income families. Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS) research in 1,621 communes indicates a positive impact on improved primary and secondary school enrolment from the poorest communes. At the primary level, school enrolment growth was over 25% in the poorest communes, compared to 7% in the highest quintile in 2001. However, there are still significant disparities in educational opportunities across different income groups. In 2001, the share for the poorest communes was 16.7 % while that for the richest communes was 20.2%. These disparities are explained in part by the reality that 80% of the country's incomplete schools are located in rural areas and 13% in remote areas, and in part by teacher and school quality issues producing higher repetition and drop-out rates. The situation for lower secondary education is comparatively worse. Despite overall improvements in access to lower secondary education, inequities in access to grades 7-9 remain. Although enrolments in the poorest communes have risen slightly to 6% in the last two years, the share for the richest communes has remained constant at around 37%. Thus, in grades 7-9, the richest communes are significantly over-represented relative to poorer communes. These inequities are even more severe in grades 10-12 where the richest quintile accounts for 57% of enrolments in 2001, compared to only 1.5% from the poorest quintile. These income based inequities are attributable in part to the fact that 65% of Cambodia's 1,628 communes do not have a lower secondary school, along with high cost barriers facing low income households. (3) Education system inefficiency The efficiency of education service delivery at both the primary and lower secondary levels is poor. At the primary level, the repetition rate is highest in Grade 1 at 17.5% but tapers to 2.3% by Grade 6. Primary dropout rates for 2001/02-2002/03 showed increases from Grades 3 to 6 with the drop-rate peaking at 15% in Grade 6. Overall, this data suggests the need to improve primary progression rates in order to stabilize primary student flows. At the lower secondary level, progression rates have improved in recent years, with the number of Grade 7-9 students increasing from 220,000 to 340,000. Reflecting this trend, the average size of secondary schools has also increased by 15%. This positive data, however, masks a stagnant national transition rate from grade 6 to 7 of 79%, with this rate declining further for girls and in poorer rural areas. In addition, in 2001 an estimated 82% of the country's total 12-14 year-old cohort were out of school. Cambodia's weak transition rate points to a large number of students that have dropped out of incomplete primary schools, lack of sufficient lower secondary school places and cost barriers for girls and poorer children. (4) Poor education quality The quality of education service delivery is low. Schools have expanded enrolments at an unprecedented rate, but crowded classrooms, insufficient trained teachers and inadequate instructional time threaten to undermine investments in improved access and efficiency. Pupil: teacher ratios and inequitable teacher deployment. Between 1998-99 and 2001-02, the national average primary pupil: teacher ratio increased from 48:1 to 56:7 despite an increase in the overall number of classrooms, reflecting a lack of trained and experienced teachers at the primary level. This situation is even worse in remote provinces. The number of schools resorting to double-or triple-shift use of facilities has shot up (from 2,852 in 1998-99 to 4,591 in 2001-02). This is an unsustainable short-term solution to the need for more teachers despite appearances of efficiency gains. Teacher capacity is generally weak, presenting the risk of declining instructional quality and learning outcomes. Furthermore, teachers and school directors are not equitably deployed throughout Cambodia, due in part to low salaries and in part 3 PID to lack of sufficient incentives to draw staff to rural and remote areas. Low salaries result in teaching staff seeking alternative income generation opportunities, which is more difficult in comparatively poorer areas. Teacher professional development. The Master Plan for Development of Teacher Education (2001-2005) underscores the need to upgrade the teaching skills and academic status of teachers in order to move from a teacher-centered to a student-centered teaching methodology. The linkages between Teacher Training Colleges (TTCs) and school daily practices are weak and there is a real lack of articulation between pre-service and in-service teacher training. The present in-service teacher training approach lacks an overarching organizational framework, a network of technical support from TTCs to schools, and ways of identifying content that address system (top-down) and teacher (bottom-up) needs. Learning achievement. In the primary grades, there is an absence of student performance standards; thus, it is difficult to make a reliable assessment on learning achievement. However, recent studies of academic outcomes in nationally representative samples of Grade 3-5 children as part of the Basic Education Textbook Project reveal that the overall performance levels in Khmer, Mathematics and Science are low. Moreover, instructional time is largely insufficient, while textbook use by teachers and students has remained highly variable. (5) Financing and management issues The education sector has made enormous headway in improving its budget planning process and introducing elements of program-based budgeting. As a share of GDP, education expenditure more than doubled from 0.9% to 2% between 1997-2002. The education sector share of the total Government recurrent budget increased to 18.2% in 2002, up from 15.7% the year before. Over the past five years, an average of 64% of education expenditure was devoted to primary education. MoEYS is continuing to strengthen recurrent program financing and management systems at all educational levels through Priority Action Programs (PAP). PAP disbursements, however, have remained unreliable and untimely, oftentimes depriving schools, not only of resources, but also of the ability to plan on the basis of expected operational budget allocations. Education management decentralization has been a priority for MoEYS. Yet, local capacity to take responsibility and action for improvement of educational services is weak. Civil service salaries are much too low. Budget allocations and expenditure on wages have fallen considerably as a share of education recurrent expenditure, from 78% in 1997 to only 67% in 2002. MOEYS has created a special program to finance redeployment of staff and increase staff remuneration modestly (including financial incentives to teach in remote and difficult areas and for management/leadership functions). Government strategy The vision for education development in Cambodia is set out in the Education Strategic Plan 2001-05 (ESP). Along with the ESP, MoEYS has adopted a rolling Education Sector Support Program (ESSP), implemented in collaboration with international donors and NGOs. The ESSP lays out MoEYS priorities for the sector. Performance and implementation progress towards the achievement of Ministry goals are jointly reviewed by MoEYS and its partners on an annual basis. The ESSP has adopted an ambitious pro-poor agenda, aimed at (a) increasing access to basic education (grades 1 through 9) for all school-age children by 2010; (b) improving the quality and relevance of schooling; and (c) enhancing the management and efficiency of educational services. The MoEYS program is comprised of a comprehensive set of interventions that strive to address both supply and demand side constraints. For example, on the supply side, the Ministry has sought to increase primary 4 PID and lower-secondary educational opportunities through a school construction capital investment program in underserved areas and to improve educational quality by furnishing educational materials and strengthening teacher professional skills through in-service capacity building. On the demand side, MoEYS has sought to reduce direct costs to schooling for families by providing educational establishments with basic operational budgets, abolishing enrolment fees, and targeting incentives/scholarships for disadvantaged children. 2. Objectives The development objective of the project is to improve enrolment, transition and achievement of poor and disadvantaged students at primary and lower secondary schools. This goal will be achieved by (a) enabling equitable access to education and (b) promoting educational quality through a participatory approach to decentralized school cluster improvement planning, performance-based resource management and supportive government policy and administration. 3. Rationale for Bank's Involvement The World Bank has a long-standing partnership with MoEYS through its support to the Education Quality Improvement Project (EQIP) and involvement in other education activities at the primary and higher education levels as well as the central and grassroots levels. In addition, the Bank has participated in cross-sectoral analytical work, including a fiduciary assessment and a public expenditure review. This wealth of experiences in the sector will support the Royal Government of Cambodia to pursue and achieve its objectives and priorities for education development. 4. Description The project will consist of two components: (1) Enabling Equitable Access to Education; and (2) Supporting Education Quality Improvements. The project will be structured around how the central government, provincial and district offices, teacher training institutions and school clusters can best act as a support network to bring about changes in teaching and learning at the classroom level. Sustainable and quality enhancing management, financial, supervisory and pedagogical practices will be promoted so as to foster greater efficiency and effectiveness in educational service delivery and administration. Component 1: Enabling Equitable Access to Education for Disadvantaged Children. This component seeks to achieve more equitable access to education by addressing constraints to schooling access for disadvantaged children, especially in lower secondary and primary education. This objective will be achieved through two approaches: (a) by expanding education facilities in currently poor and under-served areas and (b) by supporting demand-side interventions and policies to foster participation in schooling. Component 2: Supporting Education Quality Improvements. The objective of this component is to support education quality improvements through three broad avenues: by strengthening decentralized school quality improvement planning, by enhancing teacher professional development, and by establishing a quality assurance and monitoring system. This component will strive to guide Ministry agencies at the central and local levels towards providing administrative and pedagogical support services to school clusters as well as to strengthen the skills of educators and government officials to enhance student outcomes. 5 PID 5. Financing Source (Total ( US$m)) BORROWER ($2.50) IDA ($24.00) Total Project Cost: $26.50 6. Implementation Project Management and Procurement Responsibility: The project will be implemented at the national, regional, provincial, district and school levels. The Directorate of General Education will have the overall responsibility for the management of the project. At the national level, a Project Director will be responsibile for the day-to-day implementation of the project, including overseeing procurement, disbursement activities, maintaining a sound financial management system, monitoring and evaluating project objectives, coordinating interactions with various donors and related government agencies, and facilitating technical assistance. Large procurement packages using international competitive bidding procedures and hiring of international consultants would be handled through the project director along with national competitive bidding, shopping, and quotation procedures for goods and works, and hiring of national consultants and organizing national training and workshops. Smaller procurement packages using national competitive bidding, shopping, and quotation procedures for goods and works as well as hiring of national consultants and organizing local training and workshops will be handled at the provincial/regional level. 7. Sustainability MoEYS commitment to education reform is strong. All project components are embedded in the Ministry of Education's medium term plans. The Priority Action Program already incorporates provisions for a scholarship scheme for disadvantaged children, school operational budgets and school cluster administrative budgets to promote decentralized planning, as well as funds for teacher capacity building and continuous development. MoEYS has also expressed commitment for the creation of a education quality monitoring system and stipulations will be made during project preparation to ensure that it becomes a permanent feature of the education system. The State Assets Department is currently responsible for school facilities maintenance. 8. Lessons learned from past operations in the country/sector The project preparation team has incorporated into the projet design key lessons learned from the on-going EQIP project. These include: Long-term, on-the-job training with access to regular feedback has proved more effective than "seminar-based, cascade" approaches. Peer partnerships and networks (teachers, directors, district leaders) are effective in improving the quality of professional performance. Sustained technical support, facilitation and coordination is crucial to maintain effectiveness of quality improvement efforts at the school level. This is best provided at district level. Decentralized external TA can be very effective in providing capacity building to a system undergoing decentralization. Opportunities for real decision-making over the use of resources builds confidence, competence and feelings of responsibility at the local level. Institutionalizing the role of communities in the process of school planning develops trust in the school's capacity to manage human and financial resources while promoting local accountability and transparency. 6 PID In-service teacher training in Cambodia lacks an overarching organizational framework, a network of technical support from the Teacher Training Colleges to schools, and ways of identifying content that address system needs (top-down) and teacher needs (bottom-up). Significant improvements in student access to primary schooling have given way to a concern over educational quality. Student outcomes and academic achievement needs to be systematically measured and monitored in order to appraise the effectiveness, progress and impact of MoEYS education reform agenda. 9. Environment Aspects (including any public consultation) Issues : Proposed civil works for school facilities will be aligned with MoEYS Education Facilities Plan. This activity will primarily consist of classroom expansion in incomplete primary schools and/or provision of Grade 7-9 facilities in communes where there are no secondary schools. Targeting and prioritizing criteria will be reviewed and assessed during project preparation. Community-contracting will be the expected procurement approach. School design will include appropriate ventilation, lighting, clean water/sanitation facilities and ramps for disabled students. 10. List of factual technical documents: 11. Contact Point: Task Manager Luis Benveniste The World Bank 1818 H Street, NW Washington D.C. 20433 Telephone: 202.473.8495 Fax: 202.614.0935 12. For information on other project related documents contact: The InfoShop The World Bank 1818 H Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20433 Telephone: (202) 458-5454 Fax: (202) 522-1500 Web: http:// www.worldbank.org/infoshop Note: This is information on an evolving project. Certain components may not be necessarily included in the final project.