Document of The World Bank FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Report No: 25808-GUI IMPLEMENTATION COMPLETION REPORT (PPFI-P8100; PPFI-P8101; IDA-27190) ON A CREDIT IN THE AMOUNT OF SDR 28.5 MILLION (US$ 42.5 MILLION EQUIVALENT) TO THE REPUBLIC OF GUINEA FOR A EQUITY AND SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT PROJECT June 18, 2003 Human Development II Country Department 11 Africa Region This document has a restricted distribution and may be used by recipients only in the performance of their official duties. Its contents may not otherwise be disclosed without World Bank authorization. CURRENCY EQUIVALENTS (Exchange Rate Effective ) Currency Unit = Guinean Franc (GF) GF1 = US$ .001 US$ 1 = GNF 1,971 FISCAL YEAR January 1 December 31 ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS AfDB African Development Bank CAS Country Assistance Strategy CIDA Canadian International Development Agency (Agence canadienne de développement international) CMA Contract Management Agencies CNCESE Student Evaluation Unit CRE Unit for school improvement (Cellule de rénovation éducative) DNEE Department of Primary Education (Direction nationale de l'enseignement élémentaire) DNES Department of Secondary Education (Direction nationale de l'enseignement secondaire) DPE Prefectoral Education Office (Direction préfectorale de l'éducation) DPS Prefectoral Health Offices (Direction préfectorale de la santé) EFA Education For All FRR Financial Rate of Return GER Gross Enrollment Rate GDP Gross Domestic Product IDA International Development Association IEC Information, Education and Communication INRAP National Institute for Research and Pedagogy (Institut national de la recherche et de l'action pédagogique) IRE Regional Education Inspectorate (Inspection régionale de l'éducation) ITA International technical assistance MDG Millenium Development Goal M&E Monitoring and Evaluation MEPUFP Ministry of Pre-University Education and Vocational Training (Ministère de l'enseignement pré-universitaire et de la formation professionnelle) NGO Non-Governmental Organization PASE Education Sector Adjustment Program (Programme d'ajustement sectoriel de l'éducation) PEAE Equity and School Improvement Project (Projet équité et amélioration des écoles) SAAF Department of Financial and Administrative Affairs (Division des affaires administratives et financières) SC-PASESteering Committee for the Education Sector Program (Comité de pilotage du PASE) SNIES School Construction Unit (Service national des infrastructures et des équipements scolaires) SSP Statistics and Planning Service (Service des statistiques et de la planification) ST-PASE Technical Secretariat for the Education Sector Program (Secrétariat technique du PASE) SVT Secondary Vocational and Technical Education VET Vocational Education and Training UNICEF United Nations Children's Fund USAID United States Agency for International Development VHF Very High Frequency WHO World Health Organization Vice President: Callisto E. Madavo Country Director: Mamadou Dia Sector Manager: Alexandre Abrantes Task Team Leader: Michael Drabble GUINEA EQUITY AND SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT CONTENTS Page No. 1. Project Data 1 2. Principal Performance Ratings 1 3. Assessment of Development Objective and Design, and of Quality at Entry 2 4. Achievement of Objective and Outputs 7 5. Major Factors Affecting Implementation and Outcome 17 6. Sustainability 18 7. Bank and Borrower Performance 20 8. Lessons Learned 22 9. Partner Comments 24 10. Additional Information 30 Annex 1. Key Performance Indicators/Log Frame Matrix 31 Annex 2. Project Costs and Financing 32 Annex 3. Economic Costs and Benefits 36 Annex 4. Bank Inputs 39 Annex 5. Ratings for Achievement of Objectives/Outputs of Components 41 Annex 6. Ratings of Bank and Borrower Performance 42 Annex 7. List of Supporting Documents 43 Annex 8. Comments from Government on ICR 45 Project ID: P001087 Project Name: EQUITY AND SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT Team Leader: Michael Drabble TL Unit: HDNED ICR Type: Core ICR Report Date: June 18, 2003 1. Project Data Name: EQUITY AND SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT L/C/TF Number: PPFI-P8100; PPFI-P8101; IDA-27190 Country/Department: GUINEA Region: Africa Regional Office Sector/subsector: Primary education (68%); Secondary education (13%); Central government administration (9%); Tertiary education (6%); Health (4%) Theme: Education for all (P); Gender (P); Rural services and infrastructure (P); Child health (S); Social analysis and monitoring (S) KEY DATES Original Revised/Actual PCD: 02/09/1993 Effective: 01/05/1996 01/05/1996 Appraisal: 03/09/1995 MTR: 03/05/1999 03/05/1999 Approval: 05/09/1995 Closing: 06/30/2001 06/30/2002 Borrower/Implementing Agency: GOVERNMENT/Ministry of Pre-University Education and Vocational Training (MEPUFP) Other Partners: STAFF Current At Appraisal Vice President: Callisto E. Madavo Jean-Louis Sarbib Country Director: Mamadou Dia Eduardo Locatelli Sector Manager: Alexandre V. Abrantes Ok Pannenborg Team Leader at ICR: Aminata Maiga-Toure Robert Prouty ICR Primary Author(s): Michael Drabble 2. Principal Performance Ratings (HS=Highly Satisfactory, S=Satisfactory, U=Unsatisfactory, HL=Highly Likely, L=Likely, UN=Unlikely, HUN=Highly Unlikely, HU=Highly Unsatisfactory, H=High, SU=Substantial, M=Modest, N=Negligible) Outcome:S Sustainability:L Institutional Development Impact:M Bank Performance:S Borrower Performance:S QAG (if available) ICR Quality at Entry: Project at Risk at Any Time: No 3. Assessment of Development Objective and Design, and of Quality at Entry 3.1 Original Objective: The overall objectives of the project are as follows: (i) increasing primary school enrollment and completion rates, with a strong focus on girls and students in rural areas; (ii) improving teaching and student learning at primary and lower secondary schools; and (iii) strengthening education system management. These objectives are totally relevant and in agreement with the Government of Guinea's long-term support strategy for education. Indeed, the Government of Guinea adopted its National Program for Education for All in 1990 which defined three main priorities: (i) increasing access to education and expanding the gross primary enrollment from 28 percent to 53 percent by the year 2000; (ii) improving quality of education; and (iii) increasing the efficiency of resource use within the sector. This program was sustained through a ten-year multi-donor sector investment (Education Sector Adjustment Program or PASE). The International Development Association (IDA) financed project "Equity and School Improvement" supported the implementation of the second phase of this ongoing education sector reform. Objectives of the project were clear, realistic, and important for the country and sector as explained above and for the Bank's country assistance strategy (CAS). Indeed, this project responded adequately to the CAS (March 1994) which stressed the central role that human resources play in the economic development of Guinea and thus, the need for a strong commitment to human resource development. In particular, the CAS called for long-term support to the education sector, including greater attention to the institutionalization of programs designed to enhance girls' education. The current project's design drew on the lessons learned from the third IDA intervention in the education sector: the 1990-94 PASE. In particular, the need to situate a complex range of interventions within a coherent policy matrix with intense supervision and the importance of a long-term framework for education support (i.e., 10 to 15 years). For instance, girls' issues. key to an increase in schooling, were defined in such a way that they became integral to the reform process. By the total amount of the credit involved and the number of components to be implemented, the equity and school improvement project was complex and ambitious. It was demanding and challenging for the Ministry of Pre-university Education and Vocational Training (MEPUFP), which was in the driver's seat with extensive responsibilities to: (i) implement activities related to sector planning and education improvements; and (ii) coordinate and evaluate overall project implementation. To support the MEPUFP in this task, the technical secretariat of the PASE became an integral part of the MEPUFP (its staff are civil servants) with responsibilities to coordinate the day-to-day activities of the project and monitor project implementation and outcomes. Other operational services of the MEPUFP, such as the Department of Financial and Administrative Affairs (SAAF); the Department of Primary Education (DNEE) and the National Institute for Research and Pedagogy (INRAP) for instance were assigned well-defined responsibilities in implementing project activities while other activities such as civil works were contracted out to NGOs acting as Contract Management Agencies (CMA). Finally, the project included activities to build capacity in administrative divisions at central and local levels as well as technical assistance to transfer skills to MEPUFP staff as a strategy to effectively address some its most apparent institutional weaknesses. With regard to risk, in addition to the institutional weakness mentioned above, the second main risk identified was the failure to attain project goals if the budget allocation for the sector, in particular the recurrent costs were not met. To mitigate this risk, the project agreed with the Government to reach targets on public spending for education and on the share of public funding allocated to primary education (to be increased from 35 percent in 1995 to 40 percent in 2000). Furthermore, the Government agreed to recruit - 2 - additional teaching staff as a measure to support the increase in primary enrollment and improve quality. 3.2 Revised Objective: The original project objectives was not revised 3.3 Original Components: The project consisted of the following three parts with a total of nine components: A. Increase primary school enrollment and completion rates (US$29.3 million) including the following two components: 1. Build and rehabilitate primary schools (US$28.0 million). The credit financed: (a) construction of 600 primary school classrooms; (b) the rehabilitation of 1,200 primary school classrooms; (c) school furniture for the 1,800 classrooms to be constructed or rehabilitated; (d) related fees for the management of works by NGOs; (e) fees for short-term technical assistance to oversee overall progress; and (f) a series of school rehabilitation seminars in each of the regional capitals. The design of this sub-component was adequately related to the first development objective of the project as it sought to increase the supply of school places by building and rehabilitating classrooms. The purpose was to add enough classrooms to meet the projected increase in primary enrollment by 270,000 (from 471,000 in 93/94 to 740,000 in 99/00). Priority was given to complete primary schools offering six grades as well as the construction of three-classroom schools to expand multigrade in order to boost enrollment specifically in rural areas. Schools which do not provide a six-grade primary education cycle results in higher dropouts and a lower primary completion rate. The construction of separate latrines for boys and girls, the rehabilitation of dilapidated classrooms, the provision of furniture were to contribute in improving: (i) schooling environment; (ii) enrollment; and (iii) quality of teaching and learning. The main innovation in the design of this component was that the MEPUFP role was shifted from that of a school builder to that of a manager and planner (it was tested during the first phase of PASE). The objective was to considerably speed up construction and rehabilitation of schools and classrooms which was held back in the previous project by the weak institutional capacity of the MEPUFP's civil works unit (Service national des infrastructures et des équipements scolaires - SNIES). In its new role, the SNIES was responsible for programming, overall management of school properties, and development of norms and standards for construction and rehabilitation while NGOs would compete to become CMAs (i.e., responsible for civil work procurement and monitoring execution of civil works). 2. Improve community-level capacity for school maintenance and upkeep functions (US$1.3 million). The project financed: (a) training of schools and community personnel in maintenance and upkeep through the intermediary of local NGOs; (b) training for SNIES staff and personnel working in the regional office; (c) incremental operating cost for establishing SNIES regional antennae in Lower and Middle Guinea; and (d) training of a maintenance person at each of the VET institutions. The design of this component is related to the first development objective of the project as it sought to strengthen the communities' ownership in newly built and/or rehabilitated classrooms to ensure that school infrastructure are properly maintained and last longer. This is a key incentive to impact on parents' willingness to send their children to schools as they feel that they have a stake in their school. This component aimed at reinforcing SNIES' capacity in its new role/mandate of manager and planner of civil works and quality control (i.e.: enforce norms). It is, thus, directly linked to the previous component. B. Improve teaching and student learning (US$18.7 million) including the following three sub-components: - 3 - 3. Provide textbooks at both the primary and lower secondary levels (US$13.7 million). The credit financed 17 different titles for primary education (the six-year French series; the six-year math series; the four-year science series; and one civil education) and 20 different titles for lower secondary education. Specifically, the project financed: (a) printing and distribution to DPEs of approximately 2.4 million primary school textbooks; (b) purchase and distribution of approximately 572,500 lower secondary school textbooks; (c) printing and distribution of approximately 44,000 primary school teachers' guides; (d) development, printing, and distribution of approximately 12,500 lower secondary school teachers' guides; (e) training and regional seminars on textbook management and use; and (f) provision of foreign short-term technical assistance to help establish the technical and pedagogic specifications of the bidding documents and to assist Government in bid evaluation. The design of this component is directly related to the achievement of the project's second development objective. Indeed, provision of textbooks and teachers' guides in primary and lower secondary education with a ratio of one book per student in key subject matters as well as training for teachers in adequately using textbooks contribute to improving teaching and student learning. This ensures that school children have access to pedagogical materials and that teachers know how to use these materials adequately and effectively. Design of this component was also complex and challenging for the borrower, because it aimed at achieving multiple outputs in a very short period of time with several donors involved into the process. For instance, this component sought to edit quite a large number of new titles in primary and lower secondary (37 in total) to ensure that Guinean children have access to the most relevant teaching content, while at the same time setting up a rental scheme system by which school communities will acquire the financial capacity to replace and buy additional books as enrollment increases. Intense consultations were carried out among donors and with the Government in order to design this component and to agree on responsibilities for each donor involved (for instance USAID was to finance the preparation/adaptation of the primary school textbooks as part of the process to help the Ministry overhaul its curriculum content). 4. Support primary school staff development and school improvement (US$3.2 million). The credit financed: (a) small grants averaging US$750; (b) foreign short-term technical assistance, most of which was provided by African nationals from countries within the region; (c) training activities; (d) travel expenses for trainers and coordinators; (e) motorcycles for regional-level trainers; (f) equipment and furniture; (g) annual seminars to disseminate results of the pilot programs at the national and regional levels; (h) incremental salaries for support services at the regional level; and (i) general operating costs. This small grant program and its additional supporting measures provide an incentive for teams of teachers and school directors to prepare pedagogical projects focusing on improving instructional leadership, personnel management, teaching quality and girls' enrollment. For the first time, small grant in cash is directly transferred to teaching staff and schools. They have full control over the use these funds. This component is the cornerstone of quality improvement in Guinean schools. It seeks to make the classroom the focus of change in teaching and learning methods. It is, thus, strongly related to the project's second development objective. This is a very innovative approach for the education sector in Guinea. Many countries have since followed this example and set up identical programs to foster quality improvement at the school level. A bottom-up approach, as well as a competitive process, were the two main mechanisms used to motivate teaching staff in looking for home-grown solutions to quality issues dealing with teaching, learning, and classroom management. 5. Increase student learning capacity through a school-based micronutrient supplement and deworming program (US$1.8 million). The credit financed: (a) one year of pilot testing and baseline data collection; (b) purchase and distribution of antihelminths and iodine supplements for an estimated total of 1 million children; (c) studies and ongoing - 4 - operational research and impact evaluation; (d) training and workshops; and (e) a vehicle, equipment, and operating costs for the Department of School Health. This component focuses on the readiness of children to attend school and to learn. Indeed, Guinean children suffer from a high level of parasite infection and deficiency in iodine and iron which impact negatively on their learning capacity. This means that enhancing teaching and learning by providing small grants for teachers and textbooks is not enough if schoolchildren's health status is not significantly and permanently improved. Design of this component included a careful step-by-step implementation from a limited pilot testing, a detailed evaluation and thorough review of impact at mid-term to a nation wide expansion. This program was to serve as a pilot within the West Africa region and was to provide lessons for future school health interventions. C. Strengthen education system management (US$4.7 million) including the following four sub-components: 6. Create the capacity for systematically monitoring student learning (US$1.2 million). The credit financed: (a) development and printing of six curriculum-based tests of student learning and establishment of a test item bank; (b) pilot applications of each test on a limited scale; (c) two testing cycles for each six tests; (d) short-term training of personnel responsible for testing and evaluation; (e) a total of 20 weeks of foreign technical assistance; (f) refurbishing of a building, with equipment and furniture, for the evaluation unit; and (g) publication and distribution of test results. Building a capacity within the MEPUFP to assess and provide information on student learning outcomes is a key instrument to effectively guide policy making. Indeed, this helps policymakers in the education sector to focus programs on interventions which most likely contribute to improving teaching and learning. Furthermore, by including in the design of this component a requirement to conduct two sets of tests, the project sought to obtain data needed to measure the impact of the project activities on student learning outcomes. It also aimed at ensuring that staff responsible for conduction of student assessments fully master the various steps involved in a complex process: from developing test items, to carrying out the tests and analyzing and, interpreting results in a meaningful way. 7. Develop a viable communication system within the sector (US$0.9 million). The credit financed: (a) radio communications for subprefectoral, prefectoral, and regional offices; (b) training in the use of new communication systems; and (c) establishment of internet links for central and regional offices. Poor communication between the MEPUFP's operational services (regional and prefectoral offices) creates inefficiency and delays, thus, increasing the cost to conduct business. Ensuring quick and reliable communication within the entire education sector contributes to building capacity. Design of this component was fairly simple as it mainly required the procurement and installation of the new communication equipment, and then training people in their use. USAID was also to provide support in setting up internet in MEPUFP's offices. 8. Improve sector planning, budgeting, and monitoring (US$1.6 million). The credit financed: (a) equipment and furniture for the eight regional education offices; (b) short-term technical assistance for the development of methodology guides; (c) training and initial establishment of teams to audit the SAAF; (d) training of key personnel and equipment in school mapping unit; (f) study visits; (g) beneficiary assessment to be carried out before the mid-term review; and (h) incremental operating costs. - 5 - This component was to contribute in building capacity in the Statistics and Planning Service (SSP) and in the SAAF. These two operational services can play a key role in the management of the overall education system, if they have an adequate capacity to produce key, reliable and up-to-date education data and financial information that can effectively be used by managers and policymakers alike. Capacity was to be built at the central and local levels (regional and prefectoral education offices) to allow for a gradual devolution of management and administrative tasks (e.g., enhancing budget allocation and school construction decisions.) An audit unit is to be established to oversee accounting procedures and disposition of funds at the prefectoral level. Although the rational was sound and outputs were clearly identified (set up an internal audit unit and produce statistical data), very few details were provided on the design and conditions of implementation of this component. USAID also intervened in strengthening the SSP, in particular on the school map activity. 9. Support pre-investment studies for establishing closer Ministry/private sector links (US$1.0 million). The credit financed: (a) pre-investment studies of private sector primary schooling; (b) policy-dialogue workshops for private school operators and Ministry personnel; (c) pre-investment studies of Vocational Education and Training (VET) programs; (d) training; and (e) operating costs for the commission on VET school relevance. Improving the efficiency of education management in Guinea calls for suppressing barriers to the development of the private education sector and vocational training. A larger more dynamic private sector can usefully contribute to the expansion of schooling in Guinea. A vocational training sector with strong links with the labor market might contribute in improving the education system's external efficiency. There was a lack of cohesiveness in the design of this last component in which private education sector and VET were juxtaposed without any clear rationale. Moreover, it was not spelled out how a series of studies and policy dialogue initiatives were to have a positive impact on improving the management of the education system. 3.4 Revised Components: Eight of nine components of the project remained unchanged. The last component was slightly altered after activities in vocational education and training were transferred to another Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) financed project. 3.5 Quality at Entry: Quality at Entry is rated satisfactory. There were no quality at entry criteria available during project preparation, but the quality at entry is satisfactory, because: (i) as stated in section 3.1 above, the project objectives were clearly aligned with the CAS at the time of appraisal; (ii) the project was built on lessons learned through fifteen years of World Bank funding for education in Guinea: Education Sector Adjustment Credit (CR. 2155-GUI, 1990-94), and Education Project (Cr. 849-GUI, 1978-84) and a Second Education Project (Cr. 1341-GUI, 1983-90); (iii) the project was designed to support implementation of the Government's ongoing education sector reform (National Program for Education for All designed in 1989 provided the overall strategic framework on which to anchor the project); and (iv) a strong complementary and integration with other donors' interventions in the education sector was sought during project preparation and was maintained during implementation. The Staff Appraisal Report (SAR) documented the project and the sector background particularly well. For instance, the SAR provided a detailed description of medium, and long-term benefits expected from the project. In particular, the SAR strongly established the link between provision of quality education services and its potential to reduce poverty. The SAR rightly stressed that emphasis in primary education, - 6 - particularly in rural areas, has been shown elsewhere to be one of the most effective ways of tackling poverty issues. By the same token, the utmost need to sharply decrease and then progressively eliminate the gender gap and the rural versus urban discrimination in school enrollment became a transversal issue in the SAR. With regard to key performance indicators, the SAR included a detailed list of 17 monitorable outcome and output indicators with yearly targets for the five-year duration of the project. The link between indicators and the first project development objective on access is well established both with outcome, output, and input targets. Regarding the second project development objective, the SAR includes one outcome indicator: the repetition rate in primary education. Others indicators provided are input indicators, such as number of textbooks and School small grant project (Projet de petites subventions aux écoles - PPSE). However, the establishment of a national student evaluation system was meant to provide additional indicators to assess progress in improving education quality. There are no specific indicators for the project's third development objective. But, the degree of effectiveness of the MEPUFP in implementing the project will provide some indication of the strengthening of the education system management. 4. Achievement of Objective and Outputs 4.1 Outcome/achievement of objective: Overall achievement of outcome objectives under the Equity and school improvement project (Project équité et amélioration des écoles - PEAE) was satisfactory. This project effectively contributed to improving equity in access to education and in enhancing schooling conditions/environment. As a result, the project actively participated in the development of human capital resource which plays a key role in the economic development of Guinea and in poverty alleviation. Two out of three project development objectives (PDO) were achieved. The project largely surpassed its outcome objective in terms of an increase in enrollment and completion rates in primary education (first PDO). The increase in schooling of girls and students in rural areas was particularly significant. The project achieved most of its third objective in terms of strengthening education system management. On the negative side, however, the improvement of teaching and learning at primary and lower secondary education levels (second PDO) was unsatisfactory. Indeed, despite a successful implementation of a small grant school program to support the teaching staff's professional development, students' learning outcomes remained largely inadequate. The surge in enrollment in primary education was faster and larger than initially expected by the Education Ministry and consequently reduced its capacity to effectively and significantly improve education quality. However, the impressive gains in access to education (GER in primary more than tripled during the '90s) with a continuous strengthening of education system management compensate for the shortcomings on education quality and justify the satisfactory assessment on achievement of outcome objectives for this project. A more detailed assessment of each outcome objective follows. Achievement of the first project outcome objective was highly satisfactory. The project contributed to a 28 percentage points' increase in gross enrollment rate (GER) in primary education during its six-year implementation period (from 44 to 72 percent in 2002). This is an additional 19 percentage points compared with the initial target of 53 percent set for 2000. This clearly sets Guinea on the right path to achieve the EFA and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The increase in the percentage of primary students who are girls was also spectacular. The initial target of 37 percent for school year 2002/01 was surpassed by 15 percentage points (from 33 to 52 percent). Girls' enrollment rose from 19.7 to 63 percent during the same period. It is clear that the project's approach consisting of making girls' enrollment a central focus and recurring concern in all the project's activities was successful. Moreover, the Equity Commission set up in the early 90s' played a key role during project implementation by keeping continuous pressure on stakeholders in support of girls' enrollment through information and mobilization campaigns. - 7 - In conclusion, the gender gap in education is rapidly closing. In addition, although the enrollment gap between rural and urban areas remains quite large, the GER in primary education in rural areas increased to 36 percent in 2000 (it was 27 and 28 percent, respectively, in High and Middle Guinea in 1995). The provision of school inputs (e.g., textbooks, additional teachers and marginally more female teachers) and the construction of school facilities (twice as many as initially planned) created the right incentives and conditions to encourage and meet an increasing demand for education. Finally, despite the lack of an outcome target for the primary completion rate in the SAR, estimations of proxy indicators showed that the internal efficiency of primary education improved significantly during the period. For instance, the percentage of children who reached the sixth grade rose to 44 percent in 2000/01 from 29 percent in 1995/96. Furthermore, the percentage of children who enter the first grade of lower secondary education rose to 78 percent in 2000/01 from 68 percent in 1995/96. Achievement of the second project outcome objective was unsatisfactory. The repetition rate in primary (only outcome indicator tracked and available in the SAR to measure improvements in students' learning outcomes) worsened during the period. It remained slightly above 20 percent in the last year of the project (from a baseline of 22 percent) while reaching as much as 28 percent in the fourth year of the project (target was 14 percent by end of project). It is clear that a direct and significant increase in schooling inputs during the period (although textbook-pupil ratio significantly worsened after 1999) did not translate in an automatic reduction of the repetition rate, as initially thought. Moreover as mentioned previously, the surge in enrollment created additional pressure on education quality. The Government and the World Bank took this into account and made the improvement of education quality a central feature and key priority of the follow-up project. In fact, other indicators besides the repetition rate, should have been included in the SAR in order to assess improvements in student achievement. For instance, the 1998-99 students' evaluation conducted in grades 2, 4, and 6 showed that little is learned in each grade. Moreover, only a small percentage of students score at a mastery criterion of 75 percent set by the test developers, and the percentage decreases by grade. The data suggest that the vast majority of students are functionally illiterate at the end of grade 6. Despite this negative assessment on student achievement, the project did contribute to improving the proficiency of teaching staff. This was mostly achieved through a very innovative and successful small grant school improvement program. This activity sought to render teachers directly responsible to look for home-grown solutions to teaching and learning issues faced in their schools and classrooms' day-to-day practice. Teachers nationwide developed several hundred projects. Although this program was not thoroughly evaluated in terms of its impact on student achievement, it is clear that it created conditions favorable to quality improvement in teaching and learning. Achievement of the third project outcome objective is satisfactory. As mentioned in section 3.5, there were no outcome or impact indicators to assess progress made in this area, and none were developed during the implementation of the project. Thus, the evaluation of a better managed education system stems from an analysis of outputs indicators from components 6, 7, 8, and 9 (see section 4.2). The following projet components had the greatest impact on strengthening the management of the education system: (i) school mapping and statistical data processing and (ii) vertical and horizontal communication system between Ministry's offices at the center and in the regions . First, the project, in partnership with donors (USAID), contributed to building up the Education Ministry's capacity to regularly collect and analyze education data and published statistical yearbooks (as well as the school map providing crucial information on schools and population localization). Availability of data in a timely manner helped to inform policy making in the education sector. It also contributed to a better management of school inputs, such as deployment of newly trained teachers in response to the rapid increase in enrollment. It also played a key role in preparing the follow-up World Bank-financed project Education for All (a three-phase Adaptable Program Loan) and in getting Guinea selected into the EFA Fast Track Initiative launched in June 2002. Second, improved communication between the center and 10 regional and 38 sub-regional offices as well as communication - 8 - between regions and sub-regions contributed to making significant efficiency and effectiveness gains in day-to-day operational activities. It not only played an important role in supporting implementation of project activities, but it also strengthened the overall management of the education system. Coordination between operational services at the central and local levels was enhanced. Other capacity-building activities, such as: (i) setting up a system to assess student learning outcomes, and (ii) the decentralization of budgeting and accounting system partially achieved their outputs. For example, the education system did not benefit from the setting up of the student evaluation system, because: (i) a second testing of student achievement was not conducted to enable a series' comparison; (ii) data produced from the first testing were not exploited by the Education Ministry to design specific interventions to support quality improvement in primary education. The Education Ministry canceled its plan to decentralize budget execution. It was only as the project was nearing its end, that some activities were undertaken, in particular to devolve budget execution to regional offices and to revive the audit unit. The follow-up World Bank-financed project will support this decentralization. 4.2 Outputs by components: Of a total of nine components, six achieved and/or exceeded their output targets equivalent to 68 percent of total project financing. The project did not achieve its output target for the component on textbook provision (the second largest component in terms of financing). Nevertheless, 1,000,000 textbooks were purchased and distributed to schools; equal to 43 percent of the initial prevision. This does not take into account textbooks procured by the African Development Bank (AfDB). Overall, the achievement of outputs for the PEAE was satisfactory. 1 Build and rehabilitate primary schools (US$28.0 million) The overall output of this component was satisfactory. The component produced most of its anticipated outputs with limited problems. The project far exceeded its output target for the construction of new classrooms. A grand total of 1,264 classrooms were built instead of 600 initially planned. By the end of 1998, the target of 624 primary classroom was achieved and at the Government's request, IDA approved a second phase of the classroom construction program. A new batch of 600 primary classrooms were then built, including 40 lower secondary classrooms as a pilot in the context of the upcoming World Bank-financed project Education for All. Most new classrooms include school furniture; administrative office; small storage area; separate latrines for boys and girls; and water wells. In conformity with the project's first development objective to reduce inequities in access to education, most primary classrooms were built in rural areas and the priority in site selection was given to incomplete primary schools with the construction of multigrade, three-classroom schools (i.e., two grade levels by classroom). By building 600 additional classrooms (rather than carrying out its rehabilitation program), the Education Ministry made a clear choice to increase its supply in order to accommodate the surge in primary enrollment. This component also included an important rehabilitation program. The output objective for this activity was not achieved. Of a total of 1,200 primary classrooms, only 51 were rehabilitated in 1998 and an additional 32 lower-secondary classrooms in 2001 (pilot for the upcoming EFA project). Rehabilitation of classrooms was given up mid-way through the project, because of a lack of agreement between the SNIES, Education sector Adjustment project - Technical secretariat (Secretariat technique du Programme d'ajustement sectoriel de l'éducation - ST-PASE) and NGOs (acting as CMAs) on what needed to be rehabilitated and how to proceed. In fact, NGOs favored a rehabilitation of primary schools as a whole rather than single classrooms as initially planned by the Education Ministry. Furthermore, the Education Ministry decided that building new classrooms was a more urgent priority with the surge in primary enrollment. It, then, requested from IDA the non-objection to use the funds allocated to the classroom rehabilitation program for the construction of additional classrooms. Furthermore, SNIES did not develop, as initially planned, a school rehabilitation and maintenance manual. Only one national seminar on this - 9 - issue, while several were initially scheduled, took place at the beginning of the project. Now, the only reference document available that can be used by local communities is a set of standardized norms prepared during project preparation. In addition to classroom rehabilitation, an emergency fund was set up through the project to be used exclusively for urgent repairs of school roofs. A total of 866 primary classrooms were targeted and 693 were completed. This fund was completely depleted in the first year of the project implementation. IDA decided not to replenish the Emergency Fund. Activities were, thus, interrupted. Limited transparency seemed to have been an issue in the handling of the Emergency Fund as well as in the school rehabilitation program mentioned above. In transferring the responsibility to carry out the civil works to CMA, the project adopted a very innovative approach. Under the previous education project, the Education Ministry was directly responsible for building classrooms. Less than 300 classrooms were built over a three-year period which demonstrated the Ministry's low capacity in this area. The number of classrooms built in six years using the CMA's procedure far exceeded initial projections. However, other issues emerged with the CMA's approach. First, supervision missions pointed out that many NGOs acting as CMAs did not fully comply with IDA procurement procedures for civil works. In some cases, CMA directly sub-contracted the civil works to local NGOs and small construction firms without any formal bidding. At the same time, these CMA often completed their civil works program according to the approved norms and ahead of schedule, while it took longer for those following the regular procurement procedure. Second, a series of issues emerged between the SNIES, the SSP, CMA and the project Coordination Unit (ST-PASE) particularly during the implementation of the second phase of the civil works program. Probably the most important issue and the one that must be urgently corrected is the lack of coordination, miscommunication, and absence of effective quality control between the various actors. In fact, it seems that the SNIES was not able to fulfill its role to select the new construction sites or to effectively oversee the work of CMA. Contrary to what was initially planned, and although the SNIES received some equipment, it was not reorganized between two divisions: Operations and Programs. This certainly undermined its overall effectiveness. In a few instances, because of a delay in updating the school map and miscommunication between local authorities (i.e., DPE and IRE) sites previously selected were already taken, further disorganizing the overall civil works planning. Despite these difficulties, using CMAs enables a significant decrease in the unit cost for new classrooms which was almost divided by two during the implementation of the project (from US$17,500 in 1995 to US$9,000 in 2001-02). Corrective measures were taken to improve coordination in the follow-up project. Finally, an assessment of civil works carried out by CMAs is on going. 2 Improve community-level capacity for school maintenance and upkeep functions (US$1.3 million) The overall output of this component was unsatisfactory. Indeed, a maintenance function has not been systematically set up in the schools where classrooms were built. As initially planned, most communities were mobilized by local NGOs contracted by CMAs before the beginning of civil works. By the same token, most communities contributed up to 10 percent to the construction costs in local materials. But their involvement often stopped there. In favor of communities and local NGOs, it is important to point out that the training initially planned for schools and communities in school maintenance did not take place. Furthermore, the SNIES was not reinforced with new personnel in the regional antennas (IRE). This automatically reduced its capacity to support both communities and school personnel to develop maintenance plans. Finally, the SNIES did not established standardized rehabilitation and maintenance norms as discussed in the first component. This will be done with the follow-up project. 3 Provide textbooks at both the primary and lower secondary levels (US$13.7 million) - 10 - The overall output of this component was unsatisfactory. The output objective was to improve the textbook-pupil ratio from one per seven pupils to one per pupil in French, math, and sciences. There were almost no textbooks in schools before 1995. This objective was almost achieved in 1999, the last year when textbooks were procured by the project. In 1999, the textbook-pupil ratio was one textbook per two pupils in French and math (in primary education) and one textbook per four pupils in physics and social sciences (in lower secondary education). After 1999, and despite the provision of French textbooks by the AfDB, the situation in terms of the number of textbooks available in classrooms quickly deteriorated. For instance, towards the end of the project, the textbook-pupil ratio was one per 17 pupils in math in sixth grade and on per two pupils in math in fourth grade. On average, there are more French textbooks than math textbooks. In some DPEs, no textbook can be found (e.g., one math textbook for 1,166 pupils in Lelouma). At least five reasons explain why this output objective was not achieved. The first is that after 1999 no textbooks were procured by the project. Although new quantities were evaluated in 2000 and bidding documents prepared, this procedure was never completed (despite an one-year extension of the credit closing date). In fact, the last procurement of primary textbooks was canceled because of a lack of transparency in the distribution of textbooks. Textbooks procured by the AfDB after 1999 rarely reached the schools, but were often sold in local markets instead. The second reason is that the initial forecast in terms of an increase in school enrollment was significantly underestimated. Even if the last procurement of textbooks had been completed, the textbook-pupil ratio would not have been achieved. In fact, as early as 2000, this ratio was scaled back to one textbook in French, math, and science per three pupils. This objective was not achieved either. The third reason was that the rental scheme to replace lost and damaged textbooks did not function. Thus, despite the distribution of more than 1 million textbooks between 1996 and 1999, less and less textbooks were available each year in classrooms (input targets were 2.4 million textbooks in primary and 572,500 textbooks in lower secondary). The fourth reason, the preparation and adaptation of primary school textbooks as part of a process to help the Ministry overhaul its curriculum content was not completed. The Ministry's National Institute for Research and Pedagogy (INRAP) was often recalcitrant to involve the private sector to either review textbook content and/or distribute textbooks. A total of 17 different titles were to be prepared for primary education. Funding for this activity was to be provided by other donors (USAID, AfDB). During the course of the project, only four new titles were edited (math 1st, 2nd, and 5th grade, and science 4th grade) by INRAP. French titles for primary education were not edited, but were procured directly by the AfDB (initially to be procured by the project). Thus, the shortfall to edit all new 17 textbook titles significantly delayed the procurement of textbooks in primary education and explain why many titles were missing. The same situation did not occur in lower secondary, because INRAP contracted out the editing of textbooks. The final reason, coordination between donors for the editing, publishing, and distribution of textbooks turned out to be more complex and contentious than it was at first envisioned. This resulted in fewer new textbooks designed and fewer procured. A series of activities was more successfully conducted by INRAP to support an effective use of textbooks in classrooms. They included the preparation, publishing, and distribution of teachers' guides in primary and lower secondary schools and the training of teachers. Approximately 17,500 teachers' guides were developed for the four titles edited by INRAP (this fell short of the 17 teachers' guides for 17 titles). In addition, 2,500 pedagogical kits to teach math and sciences in primary education were procured. 10,000 teachers' guides in French, math, physics, and sciences for lower secondary schools were additionally developed by INRAP. Several staff from INRAP, DNEE and Secondary Education Division (DNES) participated in short training abroad. As a result, the Ministry's capacity (especially INRAP) to evaluate, edit and develop textbooks and teachers' guides has been significantly strengthened during the project. However, in 2001 it was decided that the editing of textbooks would be contracted out to the private sector. - 11 - INRAP became mostly responsible for preparing the 'cahier des charges' and quality control. INRAP in collaboration the DNEE, DNES, and pedagogical advisors in IREs and DPEs, organized several workshops to train teachers to use new textbooks. INRAP also undertook some studies to assess how teachers used textbooks, especially in lower secondary education. As mentioned previously, the textbook rental scheme was set up by the MEPUFP to ensure that damaged and lost textbooks would be replaced and new textbooks would be purchased following an increase in enrollment. The World Bank opposed this rental scheme because it fosters iniquity and it was equivalent to the introduction of a tuition fee, but the Ministry prevailed. Sustainability of the textbook provision partly depended on this rental scheme and on parents' sensitization to maintain textbooks in good condition. INRAP with IRE and DPE personnel carried out several seminars for school staff on how to effectively manage textbooks. Guidelines were produced by INRAP to explain how to keep textbooks in good conditions. The textbook policy established by the Ministry stated that all students will have access to textbooks regardless of their parents' income, but that parents will pay an annual rent of GNF1,000 (reduced to GNF500) per pupil to acquire textbooks for one year. Revenue from the rent was to be managed by school management committees. Although in most cases this rent was effectively paid by parents (even when all textbooks were not available), the revenue was not left under the control of school committees as originally planned, but was transferred to DPEs and IREs. These funds were invested in "credit union" that later declared bankruptcy. As a result, funds from the rental scheme have not been redistributed. Failure to keep and use the funds from the rental scheme at school level explains why the stock of textbooks got progressively depleted. The new World Bank-financed project EFA abolished this rental scheme. 4 Support primary school staff development and school improvement (US$3.2 million) The overall output of this component was satisfactory. This component was highly innovative and it was probably the first time that it was done in Africa. The component produced most of its anticipated outputs. More than half of the primary teaching staff participated in school-based activities aimed at assessing their teaching practices; evaluating students' learning aptitude; developing pedagogical projects; implementing these projects and assessing their impact on student learning. As a result, participating teachers built capacity to identify and solve by themselves problems directly affecting teaching and learning. Many teachers drastically changed their behavior (specifically teachers' attitude became less discriminatory and more supportive of gender equality). This small grant staff development and school improvement program (PPSE) has been the most promising approach implemented during the project to effectively and efficiently impact on the quality of teaching and learning in primary schools. Several conditions explain the success of the PPSE. First, the classroom and school were the locus of change in a bottom-up approach. Teachers from the same school or schools in the vicinity were encouraged to set up and work within a school improvement unit (CRE). More than 1,200 CREs were established during the project. This was an important success factor, because it contributed to making teachers responsible for finding home-grown solutions to teaching and learning difficulties and issues they face in the classroom (research-action process). A sense of ownership in the process and commitment to achieving results were encouraged and sought among teaching staff. This approach is quite different from more traditional in-service teacher training activities (more passive attitude from teachers who receive training often in a formal setting). Second, the project developed a support system for CRE and approved PPSE at the levels of IRE and DPE. Existing personnel from these structures were assigned the responsibilities to facilitate the work of teaching staff within CRE and supervise implementation of PPSE. The project invested heavily in training of these personnel (300 staff were specifically trained to carry out the supervisor's assignment). The project organized regional and national workshops to assess progress in terms of implementation of the PPSE. Third, grants were only attributed by prefectoral and regional juries - 12 - to the most innovative projects and those with potentially the greatest impact on teaching and learning. This created a good emulation/competition among CREs. Four, approved PPSE received a small grant (GNF750,000) with no strings attached (the only requirement was to justify expenses). This is an important incentive for schools that usually do not have any operating budget. Finally, the PPSE program was progressively expanded to the entire country rather than starting with a country-wide approach from the beginning. An experimentation phase was conducted between 1995 and 1997 with 10 DPE. Then, the program was successively generalized in two phases taking place in 1997/98 and early 1999. In the first year of the program 54 PPSE were awarded compared with 319 in the school year 2000/01. Approximately 6,000 primary teachers participated in the implementation of a PPSE. Of course, this gradual approach enabled a learning by doing for the DNEE responsible for leading and implementing the PPSE. Furthermore, and more importantly, it provided sufficient time to train enough facilitators and supervisors. In the least successful features of this activity, it is important to stress that the DNEE has not yet been able to complete a thorough assessment of the PPSE (this assessment is on-going under the follow-up project). Data were collected by each DPE and IRE before project close, but they have not yet been compiled and analyzed. The dissemination and generalization of the most successful new teaching and learning practices has not yet been carried out. In other words, the Ministry has not been able to draw lessons from the PPSE to overhaul the curriculum, reform teacher training, and/or edit textbooks. This was a key element of the Ministry's strategy to improve education quality in primary education. Thus, in most cases the impact of successful PPSE was limited to each beneficiary school and did not impact the entire education system. Another shortcoming inherent to the design of the program itself and already evoked previously, is that because PPSE are granted on a competitive basis, some CREs that have not been awarded a PPSE after two successive submissions, are easily discouraged and stop applying. This is partly compensated by a system of quota which ensures that each region implements PPSE for a given school year. However, motivating and mobilizing school staff to set up CREs and prepare PPSE must be a continuous effort. 5 Increase student learning capacity through a school-based micronutrient supplement and deworming program (US$1.8 million) The overall output of this component was unsatisfactory. Despite the distribution of drugs to fight parasitic infections including iron and iodine supplements to approximately 1 million children (one-third of whom were not previously enrolled in schools), parasitic infections have not been significantly eradicated nor the deficit in iodine eliminated in 80 percent of pupils. In fact, studies to assess children's health status in relation to parasitic infections and deficiency in iodine and iron were not undertaken at the end of the project. Thus, although the impact of parasitic infections as well as iodine and iron deficiencies on children's achievement in schools is clearly established, it was not possible to state that this program significantly improved the health status of children and contributed to improving learning among school-children. It is important to stress that the quantity of antihelminths drugs and iodine provided was insufficient to meet the needs of the school-age population. This explains why the output objective was not achieved. This is due partly to the project's failure to procure additional drugs after 1999. As a result, stocks in health centers are now completely depleted and the school health nutrition practically came to a halt. Despite a one-year extension of the project closing date partly justified to complete the last purchase of drugs (the other reason was to complete the civil works program), World Health Organization (WHO) and IDA remained locked in a dispute over the contractual arrangements to procure and deliver medicine while such contractual arrangements had been approved twice in the past. Even prior to this dispute, repetitive difficulties in procuring drugs between 1996 and 1998 hampered the implementation of the school-health program. Furthermore, a series of studies initially planned was not undertaken. The purpose of these studies was to - 13 - collect further information on the health and nutritional status of the school-aged population in order to prepare future school-health interventions (studies to be conducted on HIV-AIDS, malaria, and hunger) and to assess the impact of the current program. Another objective of these studies was to better coordinate the intervention of various donors involved in school-health and health programs aimed at children. By the same token a national Information and Education Campaign (IEC) was not carried out, because the consultants responsible for developing the campaign could not be recruited. Although eradication of parasitic infections was not achieved, the project nonetheless succeeded in establishing a nation-wide, school-based nutrition and health program. This was a significant achievement for a program initially conceived as a pilot and that by itself would deserve a satisfactory rating. This is a crucial accomplishment. The main actors in this network are prefectoral health offices (DPS), local health centers, school personnel, and school parent associations. Medicines are distributed by DPS and stored in health centers. One school staff filled a form countersigned by a representative in order to collect the medicines in the health centers and deliver them to children. For this purpose 38 school health teams were established. The program trained 12,785 teachers; 3,813 members of school parent associations, and 875 health personnel in distributing these medicine. Guidelines were produced to help teaching staff. After a preliminary study to identify seven areas of high prevalence in parasitic infection and deficiency in micronutrients, a pilot intervention was carried out, followed by an expansion in three phases to cover the entire country (completed in 1999). As previously mentioned one-third of the children treated were not enrolled in schools. As a result of the delivery of medicines, many parents decided to send their children back to schools. Communities demonstrated a strong commitment and ownership in the program. Several awareness campaigns were carried out to change people's behavior. These IECs stress the importance of good hygiene, use of latrines, and availability of drinkable water to improve health status. 6 Create the capacity for systematically monitoring student learning (US$1.2 million) The overall output of this component was satisfactory. The component produced most of its anticipated outputs with limited problems. The project built the capacity of the Ministry's Evaluation Unit (CNCESE) to assess student learning outcomes in French and math in primary education. An important international technical assistance (ITA) was funded to train the staff of the CNCESE and to support them in carrying out three assessments of student learning outcomes in 2nd, 4th, and 6th grade. The CNCESE developed a data-bank of test items based upon a careful study of the primary school curriculum. A pilot student assessment was carried out which provided information to refine the preparation of six curriculum-based tests in French and math. The ITA supported the CNCESE in coding and recording the results as well as in analyzing learning outcomes. The latter were used to establish baseline indicators of teaching and learning quality which were included in the next World Bank-financed EFA project. One shortcoming, however, is that the assessment of student learning outcomes was conducted only once in 2nd, 4th, and 6th grade and not twice as initially planned. As a consequence, it was not possible to evaluate the impact of project activities on student learning outcomes. This second round of testing will be carried out under the follow-up project. 7 Develop of viable communication system within the sector (US$0.9 million) The overall output of this component was satisfactory. The component produced most of its anticipated outputs with limited problems. A more viable system of communication was developed and contributed in improving the overall management of the education system. The most successful output of this component was the establishment of a radio network between the Ministry of Education central office in Conakry and the IREs and DPEs. A total of 10 regional and 38 prefectoral antennas were connected with the capital Conakry. The Very High Frequency (VHF) radio system proved to be an excellent alternative to an unreliable telephone system which does not cover the entire country. Staff in the regions and prefectures - 14 - received training in using the radio equipment. The benefits of this new system have been immediate, particularly in terms of greater efficiency and productivity as well as gains in transaction time. Horizontal communication between IREs and DPEs, difficult before the setting up of the radio communication network, is now well developed and exceeds vertical communication between the center and the peripheries. Finally, although it was not initially included in the project's financing, since 1998 the Ministry of Education has published a quarterly information letter on education issues. The circulation averages 2,500 and is financed by the project. This letter contributes to improving communication between the various stakeholders in the education sector as well as disseminating and sharing knowledge. It is, thus, an important part of the Ministry's new communication system. A less successful realization of this component was the networking with internet of central offices of the Ministry of Education with five IREs. Internet connection was, in fact, limited to a few offices of operational services in Conakry. Furthermore, due to difficult phone connections, the use of internet is not yet widespread or used for anything else than to surf the web and not for communication between colleagues for work purposes. Developing an intranet with email addresses for key personnel at the central and regional level would have been more effective to reinforce a viable education system and would have complemented the radio communication system. Internet/intranet will be further developed under the follow-up project. 8 Improve sector planning, budgeting and monitoring (US$1.6 million) The overall output of this component was satisfactory. The component produced most of its anticipated outputs with limited problems. Support from donors (USAID, the French cooperation, etc) played a key role in helping SSP achieve its output objectives. The most successful activity of this component was the reinforcement of the Ministry's capacity to monitor the education system and to effectively elaborate and use monitoring tools, such as education statistical yearbooks and a school map. The SSP is the unit of the Ministry of Education responsible for publishing both the statistical yearbook and school map. Regarding the former, the SSP developed forms to collect education data. These forms are sent to school directors by IREs and DPEs one month after the beginning of the school year. Staff at the school level still need support to properly report education data. Completed forms are then sent back to DPE and IRE and finally to the SSP central office in Conakry. DPE and IRE undertake a control of the quality on education data collected. Trained personnel were assigned in each IRE and DPE to carry out these tasks. Contrary to the original design, DPEs and IREs have not yet acquired the capacity to enter data in the computer application developed for this purpose. Nor do they have the capacity to elaborate reference documents at the regional level. Lack of equipment at local antennas did not enable a delegation of tasks (computer equipment for DPEs was procured and set up just prior to project close). This situation creates further delays in preparing the final document and reduces the capacity of local antennas to undertake useful micro-planning activities. With regard to school mapping activities, the SSP, in partnership with international donors (Association for the Development of Education in Africa -ADEA, United Nations Children's Fund -UNICEF, United Nations Development Program - UNDP, USAID), successfully prepared a school map and is currently working to computerize this document to enable rapid updating (school map is updated once every two years). The school map provides information which is summarized in the statistical yearbook. Staff at the SSP participated in training abroad. Finally, both instruments regularly serve to provide information for decision making and education management, such as the selection of school sites or forecast in staffing needs and deployment of teachers. Regarding the setting up of an audit unit at the Ministry of Education, the component did not totally fulfill its output objective. This audit unit was set up in 1994 before the launch of the project with a staff of four. The objective of this audit unit was to oversee accounting procedures and disposition of funds at the prefectoral level. However, soon after the project became effective, delegation of credits to DPEs was - 15 - canceled following allegations of bad financial management (this was the reason an audit unit was created!). Delegation of credits to DPEs was reinstated in fiscal year 2001. During the interim, and at the request of the SAAF, the audit unit carried out budget and accounting tasks incompatible with its functions. Audits must be strictly separated from the daily financial management of the Ministry in order to keep their independence and legitimacy. In 2001, the audit unit was able to resume its operations. At the end of 2001, the unit effectively audited credits delegated to DPEs (delegation of credits in 2001 was quite small with FGN2 billion, but increased rapidly in 2002 and 2003 with, respectively, FGN14 billion and FGN18 billion). Additional staff and equipment will be required if the audit unit is to continue its mission. 9 Support pre-investment studies for establishing closer Ministry/private sector links (US$1.0 million) The overall output of this component was satisfactory. With regard to the private education sector, the project achieved most of its output objective which consisted of developing a legal framework in order to enable the development of the private education sector. This created the legal conditions for the Ministry to start working and supporting private schools. Practically, personnel at IRE and DPE levels were assigned the responsibility for supporting and supervising private school operations. As a result, the Ministry publishes an annual list of accredited private schools which is very useful to guide parents' choices. In addition, the Ministry conducted a series of awareness activities such as a national day for private education meant to increase private school visibility. Currently, the private education sector accounts for an estimated 20 percent of enrollment in primary and 10 percent in secondary. The second output objective of this component was not achieved, because the activities in vocational education and training were transferred to a CIDA-financed project. 4.3 Net Present Value/Economic rate of return: Not applicable 4.4 Financial rate of return: Neither a financial rate of return (FRR) nor other financial indicators were calculated for the PEAE. 4.5 Institutional development impact: The institutional development impact directly attributed to the project was modest. Nevertheless, it is important to take into consideration in this assessment that the Education Ministry was confronted with unparalleled challenges with a three-fold increase of primary enrollment during the past decade. Despite some shortcomings, the Education Ministry has continuously sought to improve the delivery of education services and its effectiveness in the management of scarce financial and human resources. A more detailed assessment follows. The project contributed to developing the institutional capacity of the Ministry's IREs and DPEs. Staff in these offices were trained, working conditions were improved. Office equipment (computers) was acquired, and particularly communication equipment which improved the circulation of information. All this contributed to making these units more effective. However, decision making and day-to-day responsibilities in the management of education services must be further decentralized to reap the full benefit of this new institutional capacity. At the central level, some of the Ministry's operational services were directly responsible for implementing project's activities. Overall, their institutional capacity increased during the project. Their staff participated in training financed by the project. International technical assistance was provided and equipment procured. For instance, the SSP was adequately reinforced with equipment, training, and technical assistance. Its effectiveness was increased as demonstrated by the regular production of education data. But, improvements in institutional capacity - 16 - remain on the whole, fragile. They often rely on a few key staff who have the ability and motivation to lead their operational service. A change in leadership often jeopardizes previous achievements. The follow-up project will further support the institutional development of the education system. An indirect benefit from delegating civil works to CMAs was to reinforce the institutional capacity of local NGOs. In 1995, the MEPUFP had a very poor track record in building schools. It was thought that delegating civil works outside the education ministry would contribute to greatly increasing new construction. In the meantime, there were very few local construction firms able to do the job. This is one reason why this task was delegated to NGOs. Finally, education and health ministries learned to work together in delivering the school health interventions financed by the PEAE. This was extremely beneficial for the preparation of the HIV-AIDS Bank-financed project. 5. Major Factors Affecting Implementation and Outcome 5.1 Factors outside the control of government or implementing agency: During the late 1990s, sporadic intrusions of rebel forces from Sierra Leone and Liberia affected delivery of education services. 5.2 Factors generally subject to government control: Overall the Government demonstrated its commitment to the PEAE and to the objectives that it sought to achieve. For instance, as spelled out in its statement of education sector policy (cf. Annex 3 of SAR), the Government successfully maintained and even exceeded in fiscal years 1997 and 1998, the share of the Ministry of Education budget in the State operating budget at 17.5 percent. Furthermore, quantitative targets in yearly recruitment of teachers were also exceeded, even if the deployment of teachers was not fully satisfactory. Training new teachers in sufficient number to meet the increase in primary enrollment was identified early on as a serious bottleneck for the project (output from teacher training colleges was limited to 200-300 teachers per year). To address this issue, in 1999 the Government successfully negotiated a new IDA credit (a three-year LIL project) aimed at training 6,000 new teachers (mostly students with 11 years of education). These new recruits received a nine-month, practice-based course completed by a three-month, summer intensive course. They were recruited as contractual teachers in order to limit the financial impact on the national budget. Nevertheless, some of the following factors subject to Government control affected the implementation and outcome of the project: l From its inception, the project suffered in its implementation from a delay in mobilizing the counterpart funds (later resolved). Furthermore, the Ministry of Finance allocated credit lines in the MEPUFP's budget for the counterpart funds. These credit lines did not always match the project expense categories and activities. Thus, use of the counterpart funds was sometimes difficult. Counterpart funds was rated unsatisfactory twice during the project. l Deployment of new teachers in rural areas has been a recurrent problem. This process was poorly managed and it mostly stemmed from of overlapping responsibilities between the Ministry of Finance and MEPUFP, thus reducing accountability. Furthermore, payment of contract teachers was often sporadic and led to increased instability. 5.3 Factors generally subject to implementing agency control: As mentioned earlier, implementation of project activities was the responsibility of various operational services of the MEPUFP. This approach was tested under phase 1 of the PASE. The overall project implementation structure was already in place during project preparation and included a Steering - 17 - Committee (SC-PASE) and a ST-PASE (see section 3.1). Leadership and ownership in implementing the project directly depended on the Education Ministry's political and technical authorities. Any changes in staffing directly impacted, positively and negatively, on how well the project was implemented. By the same token, limited financial resources created additional obstacles on the operational services to implement the project's activities adequately. However, as mentioned in section 4.5, the operational services of the Education Ministry benefited from ITA and training. Finally, integration and coordination of project's activities was sometimes difficult because of the various actors and stakeholders involved as well as the number of project activities. There were no issues with the project's financial management. There were some implementation delays principally with regard to textbooks and drug provision. On the latter, procedural issues related to direct contracting with WHO and the World Bank did not enable the procurement of drugs, despite full support from the Borrower and the task manager. Regarding textbook, the project did not succeed in overcoming difficulties with the distribution of textbooks and delays in editing new textbooks. The follow-up project will address these issues. The ST-PASE was responsible for the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) of the project. It updated the yearly targets of the project's key performance indicators. The SSP collected education data in order to evaluate the increase in primary school enrollment and changes of the repetition rate. Other operational services provided data on project outputs. Although overall this M&E was satisfactory, it did not produce any outcome indicator for the strengthening of the education system management. 5.4 Costs and financing: The cost of the project was estimated at US$53 million of which US$8.6 million was to be provided by the Government of Guinea, U$$0.19 million by the communities and US$42.5 million by IDA. The project was implemented between May 1995 and June 2002 with an one-year extension of the credit closing date. At completion, 83.52 percent of the IDA funds (US$35.5 million) were disbursed, while counterpart funds contributed to US$1.2 million or 14 percent of what was initially planned. Communities contributed labor, materials, and cash which were not recorded by the project's accounting system. Delay in mobilizing counterpart funds did not have an impact on the project's financing. Two reallocations of credit proceeds were approved in July 1999: following the MTR, and in March 2002. Both reflected the need to fund additional classroom construction and reduce credit proceeds for textbooks. This had no impact on costs and financing of the project. Finally, it is worth noting that the unit cost for construction of classrooms was divided by two between the beginning and the end of the project. 6. Sustainability 6.1 Rationale for sustainability rating: The project sustainability is rated as likely. The increase in primary enrollment and completion rates is unprecedented. The Education Ministry successfully addressed demand issues in education. It is highly likely that enrollment will continue to increase. The follow-up project and the participation of Guinea in the EFA Fast Track Initiative will provide additional resources and various incentives (e.g., technical assistance) to achieve the EFA goals and MDGs by 2015. Although gains in education quality are not yet satisfactory, the PPSE program for school staff development and school improvement built the foundation for further quality improvement. This activity - 18 - instituted a process of research-action among teachers which will continue and expand with limited investment from the Education Ministry. Regarding textbooks, it was already decided to eliminate the rental scheme to ensure that all children have access to the required number of textbooks free of charge. To address the Government's inability to produce and distribute high quality textbooks, it was decided that the follow-up project will support the privatization and distribution of textbooks. However, significant improvement in teaching and learning will require continuous efforts and investments over a 15-to-25 year period which exceeds the length of this project. Once again, the follow-up project will continue to support the Education Ministry in this area. The situation is comparable for the strengthening of education system management. By implementing the project and taking full responsibility for it, operational services from the Education Ministry built up their institutional capacity. Although institutional strengthening is uneven from one service to another, these early gains will be maintained over time and reinforced as the Education Ministry starts implementing the follow-up project. One key factor of sustainability in terms of the institutional framework is that there is no difference in status and salary between personnel in ST-PASE and the Ministry's employees. They are all civil servants, thus contributing to a certain stability among staff implementing the PEAE. Others factors that explain the likely sustainability of the project are listed below: l On the social side, the demand for education among parents remains strong. Cultural and socioeconomic barriers to education have been significantly reduced. Additional multigrade schools, schools built in rural areas, deployment of several thousand new teachers, especially female teachers, have all contributed to an unprecedented increase in primary enrollment. The gender gap has been seriously reduced and enrollment gap between urban and rural areas is also diminishing. l On the economic side, Guinea's macroeconomic situation is also improving. The current economic policy framework scenario projects real growth at 6.1 percent for 2002-2004 (vs. 1.8 percent in 2000), a fall in inflation from 6.8 percent to less than 3 percent for the same period. This will directly contribute to lowering the opportunity cost of schooling (especially in rural areas) and in increasing the rate of return to primary education. Both are key factors that impact parents' decision to enroll their children in school. l On the political side, critical to the sustainability of the project is the commitment and capacity of the Government to continue delivering education services. This means ensuring that school inputs are sufficient in number and meet quality standards. The Government already demonstrated its commitment to the education sector by reaching its target in terms of share of national budget allocated to education. By the same token, the share of MEPUFP's budget allocated to primary education has regularly increased in the last 5-7 years. Regular flow of funding is an important sustainability factor of activities supported by the project. l On the institutional side, the project contributed to training and upgrading skills of many Ministry personnel. Study tours were organized; ITA was provided to support operational services in their functions and in the implementation of the project. Finally, equipment was purchased in order to facilitate operational tasks and improve efficiency. The direct beneficiaries of these actions were the operational services of the MEPUFP at the central and local levels. By building institutional capacity, the project contributed to increasing the sustainability of its activities. Some project activities will not be sustainable unless the Borrower steps in (these activities will be supported by the follow-up project). l The maintenance and upkeep functions of new (and existing) school constructions has not been established. Social mobilization and ownership were inadequate. Unless the capacity of SNIES staff in DPEs and IREs is further strengthened and communication and coordination between NGOs and communities is improved, the sustainability of civil works might be jeopardized. The follow-up - 19 - project will allocate funding for the renovation of 1,000 run-down classrooms carried out by the SNIES. A country-wide census of renovation needs will be undertaken and updated on a continual basis. Finally, capacity-building will be provided to prefectoral, regional, and local governments to ensure compliance and ownership. The Emergency Fund will also be reactivated. It will be used exclusively when catastrophic damages require urgent repairs. An annual budget will be allocated to avoid depletion of the fund (as for the first Emergency Fund under the PEAE which was depleted in the first year). School maintenance will be reactivated. A small-scale maintenance program will be tested by SNIES. It will support training, awareness, and demonstration activities. l The school-based micronutrient supplement and deworming program will not be sustainable unless delivery of drugs can resume. 6.2 Transition arrangement to regular operations: Transitional arrangements have been made through the World Bank-financed Guinea EFA project (SDR 55.7 million). This follow-up project will finance several of the components included in the PEAE and will support the same development objectives. Improvement in quality of education will be at the core of this new operation. This is particularly relevant, because impact on learning outcomes of the PEAE were deemed inadequate (several additional indicators were selected to monitor progress in quality improvement). Increase in access and institutional strengthening are also two key priorities of this EFA project. On the former, the objective remains to improve enrollment and ensure that children have access to a complete primary cycle. On the latter, the focus is on improving management of the education system by increasing responsibilities and resources available at the school level. 7. Bank and Borrower Performance Bank 7.1 Lending: The World Bank's overall performance in lending was satisfactory. Bank's performance in identification was satisfactory. As noted in sections 3.1 and 3.5, identification was consistent with Government priorities as expressed in their National Program for Education for All (1989) and their updated education strategy discussed with donors (1994) as part of the preparation of the current PASE II (cf. Annex 3 of SAR: Statement of Education Sector Policy). Project objectives are also clearly aligned with the CAS. Bank's performance in preparation and appraisal was satisfactory. Preparation had an adequate design. It strongly benefited from: (i) an intensive dialogue, during PASE I implementation with the government's ministerial departments and the principal donors involved into the education sector (matrix of major donors' assistance in the education sector was prepared during appraisal); and (ii) Bank/Government workshops supporting policy development, strategic and financial planning, and investment programming. The project's implementation structure was already in place during preparation. A draft implementation manual was submitted prior to negotiations. Many of the activities to be carried out under this project were extremely innovative and in several cases, had never been tried before in an education project for an IDA country. Both the Government, through the MEPUFP, and the Bank were willing to try new approaches and take risks to ensure that the project would achieve its development objectives and the education service delivery will be improved and expanded. These innovations included, for example: the use of CMAs for civil works; the PPSE approach to improve teaching and learning; the setting up of a school health and drug distribution network to improve health status of school children; and the installation of VHF radio and internet. - 20 - 7.2 Supervision: The Bank's performance in supervision was satisfactory. Supervision missions included the required expertise and local staff who continuously monitored project activities. Frequent changes of Task Team Leaders occurred during project implementation, however, it did not affect the quality and comprehensiveness of supervision. An IDA supervision plan was presented in the SAR. It included the number of supervision mission to be carried out, the skills requirements for each mission and the corresponding number of staff weeks. In its supervision plan, IDA also requested the Government to organize each November a joint annual review mission (often including the participation with other major donors). For these reviews, the Government was to prepare: (i) an annual work program and budget; (ii) a draft budget for the overall education sector for the next year; and, (iii) the status of policy and project monitoring indicators. On average, two supervision missions were organized during each year of the project's implementation, in addition to local supervision from a Senior Implementation Specialist from the Bank's country office in Guinée-Conakry. Reporting of the project's implementation progress was adequate. Output and outcome targets were updated as necessary. Supervision missions quickly detected implementation problems and acted proactively. For instance, to avoid delays and obstacles in implementation of the PEAE, the Borrower and the World Bank addressed education sector issues, such as the lack of trained teachers available in the labor market, recurrent difficulties to pay contract teachers, and obstacles to deploy teachers in rural areas. Another example is the World Bank careful supervision of civil works. The Bank team identified early on the lack of transparency with the use of the Emergency Fund and with the rehabilitation of classrooms. The World Bank closely monitored how CMAs carried out civil works. In April 2000 (a year before the original closing date), the Bank sent a Senior Implementation Specialist to make a detailed assessment of the situation and make recommendations to the Bank and the implementing agency (ST-PASE) to be applied to the second phase of the civil works program (construction of an additional 600 classrooms). On textbook provision, the World Bank was proactive in deciding to interrupt procurement of textbooks with the credit after finding out that the textbooks purchased by the AfDB were found for sale in local markets. The Bank recommended to the Government to review its distribution process. On the negative side, repetitive miscommunication and misunderstanding between the Bank, the Borrower and WHO (selected in direct contracting to provide drugs) led to the cancellation of the last procurement for drugs. It is important to point out that a previous attempt prior to 1999 to procure drugs using a United Nations agency was carried out successfully. The failure to procure drugs after 1999 is clearly a serious shortcoming from the Bank's side (see section 4.2. part 5). 7.3 Overall Bank performance: Satisfactory. See 7.1 and 7.2 above for details. Borrower 7.4 Preparation: The Borrower's performance in preparation is assessed as highly satisfactory. There was close cooperation at the time of preparation between the government and the Bank, partly explained by the government's prior experience in project preparation in the education sector (this was the fourth IDA credit in education since 1978). As indicated in section 7.1, the government updated its education strategy with monitorable indicators and budget projections for the MEPUFP during preparation. At least 30 studies (cf. list annex 7) were used by both the Government and the Bank to prepare this project. The MEPUFP staff prepared the first draft of this SAR themselves. This was an innovation for the region and although there were a few weaknesses, it nonetheless produced a strong ownership of the project. Bank staff and Government - 21 - representatives participated in more than a dozen video conferences to prepare this project in addition to field missions. Finally, as mentioned in section 7.1 the MEPUFP supported the introduction of many ground-breaking innovations in this education project. 7.5 Government implementation performance: Overall, the Government's performance in implementation is assessed as satisfactory. Some issues presented in section 5.2 above were addressed (e.g., counterpart funds). The ministry's ownership in the project remained relatively strong during implementation. Priorities in the education policy agreed to during preparation and overall reform framework were maintained. The ministry through its SC tried with more or less success to steer the education sector and to coordinate the PEAE's activities as well as donors' assistance in the education sector. Successful negotiations of a follow-up IDA credit (EFA project) also demonstrate the government's commitment. Some difficulties, nonetheless, negatively impacted the project, such as: (i) the unfortunate parcelling of the Education Ministry into three ministries (and in particular the placing of teacher education under the vocational training ministry); and, (ii) the inability to replace incompetent personnel in several key operational services. 7.6 Implementing Agency: The implementing agency's performance was satisfactory. Globally, the ST-PASE was successful in ensuring the day-to-day management of the project and coordinating activities carried out by the Ministry's operational services. The ST-PASE was adequately staffed. There were no financial management and audit issues with the project (although ST-PASE had some difficulties obtaining financial records from PPSE.) The project complied with all covenants. On the negative side however, the project's capacity in procurement remained weak (but compliance with procurement policy and procedure was satisfactory). This particularly affected: (i) monitoring of CMAs' compliance (civil works program) with procurement rules; (ii) repeated delays in preparing procurement documents for the provision of textbooks; (iii) the purchase of drugs was not completed, but mostly due to internal bureaucratic hurdles between the Bank and WHO on direct contracting. Finally, although supervision was satisfactory, the ST-PASE was not able to comply with the Bank's two main recommendations to be prepared before closing of the credit: (i) an assessment of the PPSE program and an evaluation of its impact on teaching and learning; and, (ii) an assessment of CMAs effectiveness and quality of civil works executed. Some of these recommendations had been stated since the mid-term review, but the ST-PASE did not follow through. The performance of the Ministry's operational services directly responsible for implementing project activities is assessed in sections 4.3 and 5.3 above. 7.7 Overall Borrower performance: The overall performance of the Government was satisfactory. Two out of three project development objectives were achieved and six out of nine components achieved and/or exceeded most of their outputs. Furthermore, it is important to stress that although the teaching and learning have not significantly improved during the period, the PPSE component was highly satisfactory. Where and when it was implemented it really created momentum to improve quality of education. Finally, despite some shortcomings described in the above sections, the Government strived to implement a very innovative education project. 8. Lessons Learned - 22 - General lessons l Despite low institutional capacity and scare resources, the project demonstrated that rapid and large gains in access and improvement in the internal efficiency of the education system are possible when the Education Ministry sustains its political and technical leadership over the long haul (more than ten year in this case). l As demonstrated by the project, a drastic reduction in the gender gap is better achieved when gender-gap interventions are integrated in each activity of the project rather than as a stand-alone activity. It is also extremely useful to monitor progress in reducing the gender gap through each activity as recommended by the PEAE. l Because the Education Ministry's institutional setting evolves during project implementation, it is important to revise and regularly adjust the objectives and outputs of the capacity-building program supported by the project. Some of the activities planned at appraisal might not be relevant (e.g., development the Ministry's audit unit) when political priorities change. l Building capacity requires more than resources and technical assistance. It is crucial that the Education Ministry discusses and shares its program with the staff. Good and effective communication plays a key role in facilitating implementation and ensuring better compliance with new rules, procedures and behaviors. l The Education Ministry needs a strong mechanism with decision-making power to ensure an effective and efficient coordination between donors' interventions. This is particularly critical when several donors intervene in the same field (for instance textbooks). By the same token, donors must recognize the authority of the Education Ministry over donors coordination. l An institutional mechanism and adequate processes must be set up to ensure that the leadership authority of the Education Ministry will use information produced by its statistic and planning division and student evaluation unit to guide its policy in the sector. Specific lessons on the project's components l In a context where civil works is delegated to CMAs, it is crucial that the project has an effective oversight mechanism to ensure transparency in the execution of civil works and that CMAs comply with the objectives of the program. Ideally, this oversight and quality control mechanism should be in place before project launch. If such capacity does not exist in the Education Ministry (i.e., SNIES needed to be reinforced), then the oversight function must be contracted out to a specialized consulting firm until such capacity is built. l Ownership and participation from local communities is stronger and more meaningful when communities are consulted and participate in decisions related to the construction and/or rehabilitation of school facilities. One area of communities' decision-making might be the possibility given to communities to ask for limited changes to the design of the new facility in order to respond to local needs. Community mobilization must take place early into project's implementation. It will not happen over night, especially if there is a weak civil society participation overall. l Time and capacity to review content and prepare new textbooks are often underestimated. As a result, conflicts sometimes emerge between printing and distributing textbooks to all schools and students that need them and improving quality of teaching by editing textbook content. Using the private sector more extensively through a competitive process to prepare new textbooks might contribute to reducing the time allocated to develop new textbooks. The role of the public sector is probably more appropriate if limited to preparing guidelines and reviewing content. l Textbook rental schemes might work if school communities are fully responsible for managing the funds collected from parents. Furthermore, a financial complement from the national or local government might create an incentive for school communities to both collect and to account for the use of these funds. Another incentive to strengthen the functioning of this system could be to allow schools to use the income from textbook rental indiscriminately as long as the community endorses it. - 23 - l Support measures must be planned for schools and teachers that applied but did not receive a school grant (i.e., PPSE). The idea is to help CREs in preparing a new PPSE application and avoid that, because of a previous failure, they give up the process. Furthermore, an equity mechanism must be included to provide additional grants to the poorest and weakest schools (as in the example of Chile) to avoid that their falling further behind (i.e.: idea of positive discrimination). l Support structures, such as teachers' resource centers, are needed to reinforce the PPSE approach. l To improve the impact of the PPSE, the grant amount must be flexible to take into account specific projects or context of a school community. l All approved PPSE should include indicators to measure quality improvement in relation to the activities supported by the CRE. For instance, a PPSE developing activities to improve reading in 2nd grade, should include simple testing tools to measure students' proficiency level before and after implementation of the PPSE. l It is important to explain to teaching staff and school directors (CRE) that the PPSE approach must be repeated even after completion of a PPSE. One lesson from this PPSE approach is that for education quality improvement to become sustainable, the CRE must continue to work jointly in preparing new and more challenging PPSE, involving more actors into the process.. l Monitoring learning outcomes is most useful when the direct beneficiaries students, parents and teachers are informed of the test results. Comparison over time is key for all actors to assess if progress has been made and if changes in teaching practices, for instance, have had the expected outcome. 9. Partner Comments (a) Borrower/implementing agency: The implementing agency (ST-PASE) on behalf of the borrower prepared the following completion report in september 2002. This report was discussed during the ICR mission on January 2003. A prelimanry version of the ICR translated in French was sent to the government end of May. The government sent some comments which are included in annex 8 of this ICR. République de Guinée - Ministère de l'Enseignement Pré-Universitaire et de l'Education Civique - Secrétariat Technique du PASE Projet « Equité et Amélioration des Ecoles » Rapport d'Achèvement (Septembre 2002) Introduction : Le projet « équité et amélioration des écoles » s'inscrit dans une perspective de complémentarité de l'effort de rénovation et d'extension du système éducatif guinéen. Il est cofinancé par la Banque Mondiale, les communautés bénéficiaires et le gouvernement guinéen. Il se définit dans le cadre de la lutte contre la pauvreté et des grands objectifs assignés au secteur de l'éducation, à savoir la croissance de l'équité, de l'accès à l'enseignement élémentaire, notamment pour les groupes défavorisés, l'amélioration de la gestion du système éducatif et celle de la qualité des enseignements et des apprentissages au niveau de l'école. Ce projet s'inscrit dans le cadre du programme d'appui au secteur de l'éducation (PASE II) et dans la continuité du PASE I (1990-1995) qui était un programme d'ajustement du secteur. Les partenaires intervenant dans le PASE II sont l'USAID, la France, le Canada, l'Allemagne, l'Union européenne, le Japon, l'UNICEF, les nombreuses organisations non gouvernementales et autres organismes indépendants ou affiliés de développement. Les différents partenaires interviennent dans des domaines spécifiques en accord avec le gouvernement selon des mécanismes partagés. Le présent rapport de fin d'exécution se focalisera principalement sur le Projet Equité et Amélioration des Ecoles (PEAE) financé par l'IDA pour - 24 - un montant de 28.5 millions de DTS (équivalent en 1996 à 42.5 millions de dollars US), le Gouvernement de la Guinée (pour 22.9 millions de dollars US)et les communautés (pour 2.3 millions de dollars US). Rappel des Objectifs du Projet : Les objectifs du projet s'inscrivent dans le cadre des objectifs à long terme du programme sectoriel intégré qui sont les suivants : a) augmenter le taux de scolarisation et d'achèvement des études, en mettant fortement l'accent sur les filles et les élèves des zones rurales ; b) améliorer l'enseignement et l'apprentissage au niveau du primaire et du premier cycle du secondaire ; c) renforcer la gestion du système éducatif. Le PEAE visait des objectifs à court terme s'intégrant avec ceux à long terme et qui sont orientés vers : 1- l'accroissement des taux de scolarisation et de réussite au niveau primaire par : a) la construction et la réhabilitation des écoles ; et b) l'amélioration de la capacité de maintenance et d'entretien au niveau communautaire. 2- l'amélioration de l'enseignement et des apprentissages par : a) la fourniture de manuels scolaires ; b) l'appui aux innovations au niveau de l'école dans l'enseignement primaire ; et c) l'augmentation des capacités d'apprentissage des élèves en mettant en oeuvre un programme de déparasitage et de micro nutriments. 3- Le renforcement de la gestion du système éducatif par : a) la création de la capacité de contrôle systématique des apprentissages des élèves ; b) la mise en place d'un système de communication pour le secteur ; c) l'amélioration de la planification, de la budgétisation et de la surveillance sectorielle ; d) l'appui à des études de pré investissement sur l'établissement de liens plus étroits entre le ministère et le secteur privé. De manière globale, il est normal d'affirmer que les objectifs du projet ont été atteints. Cependant, la mobilisation sociale en faveur de l'école et les investissements dans le secteur ont conduit à son expansion qui a entraîné d'autres problèmes qui ont affecté la qualité des apprentissages. Evaluation de l'atteinte des objectifs du projet : Les objectifs du projet ont évolué en même temps que le projet se mettait en oeuvre. Après la revue à mi-parcours du projet, des réajustements ont été opérés, particulièrement dans les domaines des constructions scolaires et le programme de petites subventions. Aussi, suite aux retards enregistrés sur les composantes manuels scolaires et santé scolaire, il a été convenu de prolonger la date de clôture du projet d'une année afin de pouvoir conduire les activités programmées. Dans plusieurs domaines, les résultats quantitatifs du projet ont dépassé les objectifs initialement fixés. Nous présenterons les réalisations à travers les indicateurs de suivi du projet et évoquerons de manière plus détaillée les composantes constructions scolaires ; subvention aux écoles, médicaments et manuels scolaires. 1- Le Taux brut de Scolarisation : Il est à constater que le taux de scolarisation en général, et celui des filles en particulier est en hausse constante au point que les objectifs de fin de projet ont été largement dépassés. Ils sont passés respectivement de 44.58% de TBS en 1994/1995 à 61% en 2000/2001, et 29.28% de taux de scolarisation des filles à 50.00% pendant la même période. De telles réalisations n'auraient pu être possibles sans le programme d'ajustement du secteur de l'éducation (PASE I) et le programme d'appui au secteur de l'éducation (PASE II) qui sont conduits avec nos partenaires. Pour s'en convaincre, il suffit de voir les variations dans les taux de scolarisation des pays de la sous région, ces cinq dernières années. L'augmentation du taux de scolarisation et l'amélioration de la représentativité des filles à l'école ont été rendues possibles grâce, en partie, aux efforts déployés dans les constructions d'écoles et à la campagne de sensibilisation menée par le comité d'équité et aux actions en faveur des écoles privées. Ces efforts ont permis de rapprocher l'école des familles et de libérer les jeunes filles des charges familiales et des risques - 25 - liés aux longs trajets pour qu'elles puissent aller à l'école en même temps que leurs frères. Il est important de continuer la campagne de mobilisation sociale dans le but de toucher la frange la plus démunie de la population ou celle plus difficile à atteindre. Des actions devraient être engagées en directions des élus locaux et des leaders d'opinion pour offrir l'éducation à tous, mais aussi engager des actions pour retenir les filles et les enfants des zones rurales le plus longtemps à l'école. 2- Les constructions Scolaires : Le programme de constructions scolaires, après avoir réalisé 624 salles durant les trois premières années du projet, a connu une extension afin de construire 600 salles additionnelles au primaire, 10 collèges de proximité et de réhabiliter 8 autres collèges ; soit au total 1264 salles de classes nouvelles au lieu de 600 comme initialement programmé. La réalisation d'un tel travail en un temps relativement court se fonde sur l'expérience acquise au cours des années passées. Cependant, il faut reconnaître que cette expérience passée ne peut, à elle seule, garantir la rigueur à observer dans les procédures de passation de marché et de mise en oeuvre du volet. Une réflexion continue doit être engagée et entretenue sur les questions des constructions scolaires, pour répondre aux exigences du travail bien fait et des défis de l'éducation de base pour tous. C'est pourquoi, la réalisation de la seconde tranche de constructions a mis un accent sur les procédures de maîtrise d'ouvrage déléguée aux ONG MOD qui recrutent des ONG d'exécution pour conduire une mobilisation sociale permettant une plus grande appropriation de l'école par les communautés bénéficiaires. Les ouvrages sont tous réceptionnés à ce jour. Il s'est avéré que les ONG dans leur ensemble ont été performantes. Cependant, des améliorations devraient être faites au niveau des documents de procédures afin de les rendre plus flexibles et adaptés au contexte national. Aussi, il serait utile de renforcer le suivi des chantiers par le SNIES pour s'assurer du respect des normes pendant la construction. Un autre problème qui se pose est celui de la fonctionnalité effective des écoles nouvellement construites. Il est vivement souhaitable que des dispositions soient prises pour l'affectation d'enseignants dans les classes nouvellement construites afin non seulement de réduire le nombre de salles de classes sans maître, mais aussi et surtout dans le but de répondre aux attentes des populations qui se sont investies pour la construction des écoles et enfin dans la perspective de l'atteinte des objectifs d'éducation pour tous. 3- Le développement des écoles privées : Le développement des écoles privées, même dans des zones réputées pauvres a largement contribué à l'accroissement du taux de scolarisation. En 2000, les classes privées comptaient pour 24% des effectifs scolarisés dont 45% de filles. Si des améliorations sont intervenues dans l'appui aux écoles privées et dans leur gestion, des efforts restent à faire en vue de la mise en place d'une politique nationale dans ce secteur. L'atteinte de l'objectif d'éducation pour tous ne peut se faire sans une contribution coordonnée et soutenue du secteur privé. C'est pourquoi, il est nécessaire de mettre en place au sein du MEPU-EC les conditions d'élaboration et de diffusion de la politique nationale du sous secteur sur laquelle pourront s'appuyer les interventions des partenaires au développement pour aider à soutenir de manière durable l'enseignement privé. 4-Les Classes Multigrades: Aussi, dans le souci d'adapter l'école au milieu, le volet de classes multigrades se poursuit. Pour 500 classes multigrades prévues au cours du projet, 1265 ont été réalisées qui accueillent aujourd'hui près de 50 000 élèves du primaire. Cette approche a permis de proposer aux communautés un type d'école mieux adapté à la taille de la communauté et de baisser les coûts d'éducation. Ce qui permet à l'état de faire des investissements de nature à rapprocher l'école de la communauté. Cependant, la réflexion sur la pratique de la classe multigrade devrait se poursuivre afin de mieux adapter l'intervention aux besoins des enseignants, de mieux équiper les classes et de trouver des modalités d'incitations plus efficaces. Ces actions de soutien aux enseignants et aux élèves devraient être poursuivies dans le cadre de l'EPT. 5- Planification et carte scolaire : La carte scolaire fait un travail de projection efficace qui permet un - 26 - meilleur suivi des écoles et une planification raisonnée des constructions. Cette planification se fonde sur une collecte de données statistiques qui est en constante amélioration. Ce qui permet de constater qu'actuellement, des outils de plus en plus performants sont à la disposition des différents intervenants dans le secteur comme le témoignent les données statistiques publiées annuellement. Aussi, la décentralisation de la collecte des données statistiques s'est opérée par la dotation des directions préfectorales et des inspections régionales de l'éducation en matériel informatique et outils appropriés pour le traitement de l'information statistique. Il est à espérer que les structures déconcentrées seront autonomes assez rapidement et que la planification se fasse de manière déconcentrée et très affinée en tenant compte des besoins des utilisateurs à la base. Dans le cadre de la synergie des actions des partenaires, l'USAID a aidé à développer un système de positionnement géoréférencé des communautés et des écoles. Ce système en voie de finalisation permettra de mieux cerner les regroupements communautaires et d'adapter la taille des écoles à celle des populations. 6- Redoublements et Abandons scolaires: Les progrès réalisés sur le plan de la scolarisation restent limités eu égard à l'accroissement du taux de redoublement. Le taux de redoublement (20% en 2000/2001 et 21% pour les filles) qui est en hausse fait apparaître des problèmes liés à l'amélioration de la qualité des apprentissages et des enseignements, à la gestion et à l'efficacité du système. Les causes de l'accroissement du taux de redoublement qui pèse sur les coûts d'éducation et, probablement, les solutions aux problèmes doivent se retrouver dans le champ d'intervention du nouveau programme Education Pour Tous. C'est pour répondre à cette préoccupation que le PEPT a intégré des indicateurs de suivi relatifs aux redoublements et aux abandons, de manière à suivre l'impact des stratégies à mettre en oeuvre pour endiguer le phénomène. 7- Manuels scolaires : Il faut souligner que certaines activités liées à la qualité, comme la dotation en manuels scolaires, n'ont pu être totalement menées. Aussi, les actions de formation des enseignants à l'utilisation des manuels restent limitées dans leur impact sur l'amélioration des enseignements. Les prévisions relatives à la dotation en manuels scolaires et au renouvellement des stocks n'ont pu être atteintes. Des problèmes de procédures et de mise en oeuvre se sont posés qui ont empêché la réalisation à temps des activités. Ces facteurs interpellent en faveur d'actions urgentes dans le secteur des manuels qui a un impact certain sur l'amélioration de la qualité des enseignements et des apprentissages. Il faut mentionner le fait que plusieurs manuels programmés sur le fonds IDA ont été acquis sur les fonds de la Banque Africaine de Développement (BAD). Ces changements ont entraîné des retards considérables dans l'exécution de la composante, créant ainsi des réajustements dans la politique et les orientations sur les manuels scolaires. En dépit des retards accusés, plusieurs actions ont été menées dans le secteur des manuels. Plus d'un million de manuels ont été distribués aux écoles primaires et aux collèges, entraînant ainsi une amélioration des ratio livres/élèves, particulièrement au collège. Ces ratio sont actuellement à un livre pour quatre élèves au primaire et de un livre pour deux élèves au collège. Des actions pour une meilleure gestion et une meilleure conservation des manuels ont été développées par la production de boîtes à images et la formation des enseignants. Aussi, les productions des enseignants dans le cadre du PPSE ont été analysées et finalisées en vue d'une diffusion à tous les enseignants du pays. Dans le cadre du programme EPT, il est souhaitable d'envisager un changement de la stratégie de formation des enseignants à l'utilisation des manuels dans une perspective d'un encadrement rapproché fondé sur l'école comme unité, en s'appuyant davantage sur les PEN et les CPMF qui sont formés à ce type d'appui aux enseignants. A cela, il serait essentiel d'encourager les autres projets opérant dans la formation des enseignants à faire de la formation à l'utilisation des manuels. Les actions de production et de diffusion des manuels et des guides doivent être envisagées dans une perspective de production endogène par le secteur privé en vue de combler les déficiences constatées au - 27 - cours du projet. Aussi, le manuel doit être accessible à tous et les produits issus de la location des manuels gérés et utilisés au niveau de l'école pour le renouvellement des stocks conformément à l'esprit du projet. Les fonds issus de la location des manuels n'ont pu être cernés avec précision ; il serait nécessaire d'envisager des mesures permettant de mieux utiliser le produit de la location des manuels ou simplement de supprimer la location des manuels pour favoriser un accès plus équitable aux manuels scolaires. 8- Programme de petites subventions aux écoles : D'autres actions ont eu des effets positifs sur la qualité des enseignements et des apprentissages. C'est le cas du programme de petites subventions d'écoles (PPSE) qui a permis un encadrement rapproché par la mise en place des projets au niveau des collectifs d'enseignants et leur formation vers une autonomie dans la conduite de projets éducatifs et dans l'encadrement et le suivi des élèves. Le PPSE est, actuellement, généralisé à l'ensemble du territoire national. De par sa nature participative et dynamique, le PPSE a apporté un ensemble d'approches novatrices à la formation continue des enseignants. Les questions relatives à l'institutionnalisation des approches du PPSE dans notre système, ont été considérées, particulièrement dans le cadre de l'EPT. C'est pourquoi, il est envisagé de poursuivre les actions de subventions d'écoles à travers le projet de rénovation éducative des écoles de Guinée (PAREEG). Le PAREEG intégrera la décentralisation de la gestion pédagogique et budgétaire ainsi que le projet d'école qui englobera entre autres, les préoccupations de la communauté autour de l'école. 9- Formation et recrutement des enseignants : Dans la perspective d'une amélioration de la qualité des enseignements et des apprentissages et dans celle de l'amélioration de l'accès à l'éducation, le recrutement des enseignants devrait contribuer à améliorer la situation nationale. Il faut reconnaître que le rythme prévu pour le recrutement du personnel a connu des difficultés de démarrage liées aux problèmes macro-économiques. Cependant, la situation est en train d'être corrigée car les prévisions de recrutement de 6 000 enseignants ont été dépassées suite au dernier recrutement. Nous espérons que la situation pourra être corrigée grâce aux efforts consentis pour l'amélioration des salaires des enseignants contractuels. Un autre problème lié au personnel est l'affectation rationnelle des enseignants en tenant compte des besoins réels des écoles et non des desiderata des enseignants eux-mêmes. Il est d'ailleurs impératif que nous nous y penchions parce que nous voulons qualifier notre école et élargir ses capacités d'accueil. Le déficit actuel en enseignants est en train d'être comblé grâce au recrutement de la fonction publique, à l'amélioration substantielle des salaires et à une meilleure gestion des ressources existantes. 10- Mobilisation Sociale : Il y a lieu de mentionner la forte demande en éducation qui se fait sentir partout dans le pays. Les populations sont prêtes à envoyer les enfants à l'école et elles sont prêtes à participer aux charges d'éducation malgré leur faible revenu. Cela se traduit par une explosion du nombre des écoles privées partout dans les centres urbains, même là où on rencontre souvent des poches de pauvreté. Cet engouement pour l'école doit être maintenu et nous avons le devoir d'y répondre à travers une offre d'éducation adaptée aux réalités du milieu, aux besoins des parents et aux espoirs des enfants. Pour les populations qui n'ont pas encore entièrement compris l'importance de l'école, nous devons poursuivre le travail de sensibilisation et d'information engagé par le comité d'équité, tout en rapprochant davantage l'école des préoccupations de son milieu. Aussi, il est souhaitable de continuer les actions en faveur de la jeune fille et des enfants déshérités pour leur rétention à l'école. 11- Santé Scolaire : Toujours dans la perspective d'une amélioration de la qualité et de l'accès, un important volet de santé scolaire a été développé afin de fournir gratuitement des médicaments aux enfants d'âge scolaire. Ce volet qui cible des maladies dont l'incidence est reconnue comme préjudiciable au bon développement de nos enfants, a enregistré des résultats tangibles. Il nous semble important de le poursuivre et l'entretenir pour que les communautés et les enfants intègrent davantage l'école et que le - 28 - milieu scolaire puisse traduire les principales préoccupations du milieu et y apporter des réponses adéquates. La fourniture de médicaments a accusé un retard considérable du fait de l'annulation d'un marché et des réajustements opérés dans les procédures de l'IDA. Ces retards ont persisté à cause de l'insuffisance de communication et à des interprétations divergentes des directives sur la passation des marchés. Il n'a pas été possible de décaisser le montant de $ 735 000 US pour l'achat de la dernière commande de médicaments qui avait reçu la non objection de l'IDA pour une commande à travers l'OMS. Le département de la passation des marchés n'a pas accepté le modèle de contrat utilisé par le passé avec l'OMS bien que ce modèle ait donné entière satisfaction aux deux parties. Cette situation a terriblement pesé sur les performances de la composante santé scolaire. A l'avenir, l'utilisation de la procédure d'AOI sera systématique pour l'acquisition et la distribution des médicaments. 12- Communication : La communication a occupé une place centrale dans la stratégie du ministère ; c'est pourquoi, elle a bénéficié de l'appui du projet qui s'est traduit par la fourniture et l'installation de radio VHF à toutes les DPE et IRE du pays ainsi qu'au MEPU-EC et au MESRS. Ces radio sont aujourd'hui opérationnelles et permettent d'assurer un échange d'informations entre les différents responsables du système éducatif. Aussi, le SINDA a bénéficié d'un appui institutionnel qui lui permet actuellement de collecter, répertorier, classifier, analyser et archiver la documentation du MEPU-EC. Il met à la disposition des utilisateurs une salle de lecture qui permet aux usagers (enseignants, chercheurs et étudiants) d'avoir accès à la documentation du ministère. Le SINDA publie trimestriellement deux bulletins : les recueils des textes de lois et règlements de l'éducation et la lettre d'information du MEPU-EC à l'usage des administrateurs et des enseignants. 13- Suivi des Apprentissages des élèves : La cellule nationale d'évaluation du système éducatif a, à travers l'appui du projet, procédé à l'évaluation des compétences des élèves de 2ème, 4ème et 6ème années. Ces évaluations, conduites avec une équipe d'assistants techniques du CIEP de Sèvres (France), ont permis de renforcer les capacités institutionnelles de la cellule qui est à même aujourd'hui de conduire des évaluations assez complexes des éléments du système éducatif. Les résultats des évaluations ont permis de constituer une base de données à partir de laquelle il est possible d'évaluer les progrès accomplis dans les apprentissages des élèves et de cerner ainsi des lacunes et insuffisances de l'enseignement et de l'apprentissage. Les résultats des études ont été diffusées auprès des différents intervenants et partenaires. 14- Gestion Financière : La perspective de décentralisation de la gestion financière a engendré des besoins d'appui institutionnel de la DAAF qui se sont traduits par la mise en place de la cellule d'audit interne du Ministère qui est fonctionnelle et permet un suivi régulier de la gestion au niveau des structures internes du ministère et de celles déconcentrées. Aussi, les SAAF des IRE et DPE ont reçu un appui dans la gestion des projets et dans la comptabilité publique. Ces différentes formations ont pour but de mettre en place toutes les conditions pour une gestion efficace du système. 15- Suivi des activités : Enfin, il est important de mentionner l'effort fait pour doter les structures centrales et déconcentrées en moyens logistiques. Certaines directions nationales, toutes les IRE et toutes les DPE ont reçu des véhicules tout terrain et certains encadreurs de terrain ont reçu des motos. Ces appuis sont essentiels pour assurer une mobilité à l'administration de l'éducation et contribue ainsi à créer les bases du succès du Programme Education Pour Tous. 16- Gestion et Situation Financière du Projet : le projet a été géré par une unité de coordination relevant du cabinet du ministre. Des relations étroites étaient par conséquent établies entre l'unité de gestion du projet et le système de prise de décision du ministère de manière à faire prendre en considération les orientations du projet dans les stratégies du département. Cette intégration a permis d'institutionnaliser les - 29 - activités du projet tout en conservant une structure de gestion assez légère. Les structures bénéficiaires sont les responsables de l'exécution des activités et l'unité de gestion assure un appui technique au niveau du respect des procédures, du suivi et de l'évaluation d'ensemble des activités. Au niveau de la gestion financière, il faut souligner deux problèmes qui ont influencé l'exécution du projet. Le premier est relatif aux retards enregistrés dans la mise en place des fonds de contrepartie et l'imposition par le ministère de l'économie et des finances de dépenser le fonds de contrepartie selon les lignes budgétaires qui ne correspondent pas souvent aux catégories de dépenses du projet. Les retards dans la mise en place des fonds de contrepartie pouvaient facilement excéder l'année budgétaire et entraîner une impossibilité à envoyer des DRF et donc à effectuer des paiements. La mise en place d'un fonds de contrepartie à remettre au niveau initial annuellement est une nécessité, tout comme celle de mettre un fonds de contrepartie en régie à justifier en bloc et non selon des lignes budgétaires différentes des catégories de dépenses du projet. Le second problème est relatif à la faible limite du plafond du compte spécial fixé à 1.5 millions USD. La maîtrise d'ouvrage déléguée aux ONG pour la construction d'écoles a fait sentir le besoin d'effectuer plusieurs paiements importants à la fois sur le compte spécial. Pris individuellement, ces paiements ne peuvent faire l'objet de paiement direct de l'IDA. Tous doivent être payés localement et dès l'instant où il y a à payer 200 millions de GNF à 10 ONG en même temps, le compte se trouve épuisé et les autres activités bloquées. C'est pourquoi, il est important que le niveau plafond du compte spécial soit rehaussé. Au cours de sa vie, le projet a bénéficié d'un crédit de 28.5 millions de DTS correspondant à 42.5 millions de dollars US (estimation de 1996). Il faut noter que le dollar s'est déprécié face au DTS au point qu'actuellement, le montant du crédit en dollars est inférieur à 42.5 millions de dollars. Au total, 105 DRF ont été émises et payées pour un montant total de 35.575.087,04 USD soit 93.29% % de crédit décaissé. Le solde du crédit sur le compte IDA serait de 2.557.292,62 USD. (b) Cofinanciers: (c) Other partners (NGOs/private sector): 10. Additional Information - 30 - Annex 1. Key Performance Indicators/Log Frame Matrix Components/ 1996-1997 1997-1998 1998-1999 1999-2000 2000-2001 2001-2002 Indicators Est. Actual Est. Actual Est. Actual Est. Actual Est. Actual Est. Actual PRIMARY SCHOOL % % % % % % % % % % % % Enrollment Targets -Increase in gross enrollment (44) (46.5) (47) (50.5) (49) (51) (51) (56.78) (53) (61) (72) -Increase in girls' participation (33) (32) (34) (36) (35) (37) (36) (44) (37) (52) (63) -Additional classrooms to be constructed 100 51 125 273 125 300 125 0 125 640 -Rehabilitated classrooms (780) (780) (780) (780) (780) -Additional teachers in class 240 0 240 0 240 51 240 0 240 32 -Additional teachers positions (1,000) 0 (1,000) (1,000) (1,000) (1,606) (1,000) (1,967) (1,000) (3,214) (1,870) -Additional multigrade (560) (590) (640) classrooms -Additional private school (100) (170) (100) (180) (100) (127) (100) (288) (100) (500) (600) classrooms (200) ND (200) (535) (200) (731) (200) (1234) (200) (2000) (420) Quality Improvement Targets -Printing/distribution of initial 0 0 1,172,000 581,276 649,300 0 540,750 0 0 0 0 stock of textbooks (IDA) -Printing/distribution of teachers' guides 0 0 22,100 0 12,250 0 9,500 0 0 0 0 -Replacement of textbooks (Govt./Community) 0 0 58,600 0 126,250 0 219,650 0 0 0 0 -Small grants awarded 18 54 78 59 189 161 246 314 275 319 512 -Decrease of repetition rate 22 21.9 20 25.4 18 27.9 16 28.0 14 20.0 21.0 SECONDARY SCHOOLS -Printing/distribution of textbooks (IDA) 0 0 572,450 497,776 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -Printing/distribution of teachers' guides 0 0 12,500 10,000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -Textbook maintenance (Govt./Community) 0 0 28,650 0 57,250 0 85,900 0 0 195,000 0 BUDGET -MEPUFP as a percentage of 17.5 19.0 17.5 18.0 17.5 17 17.5 17 17.5 17 17 national operating budget - 31 - Annex 2. Project Costs and Financing Project Financing by Component (in US$ million equivalent) Appraisal Percentage of Project Cost By Component estimate Actual cost appraisal US$million I. Increase primary enrollment and completion rates (a) Build and rehabilitate primary schools 23.5 14.7 63% (b) Improve community-led capacity for school maintenance and upkeep 1.2 0% II. Improve teaching and student learning (a) Provide textbooks to primary and lower secondary schools 11.8 3.2 27% (b) Support primary school staff development plan 2.8 3.5 125% (c) Increase student learning capacity 1.6 11.8 738% III. Improve teaching and student learning (a) Monitor student learning outcomes 1.1 0.6 55% (b) Improve communication systems 0.8 0.6 75% (c) Improve sector planning, budgeting and 1.6 1.0 63% monitoring (d) Support pre-investment studies for 0.9 1.0 111% establishing closer Ministry/private sector links IV. Refunding of PPF 0.3 0.3 100% Base costs 45.6 36.7 80% Physical contingencies 3.4 Price contingencies 4.0 Total Project costs 53.0 36.7 69% - 32 - Project Costs by Procurement Arrangements (Appraisal Estimate) (US$ million equivalent) Total Expenditure Category ICB NCB Other2 N.B.F Cost 1.WORKS (a) School construction and 8.1 6.4a/ 3.5* 18.0 rehabilitation (8.1) (5.3) (13.4) (b) Emergency 1.2b/ 1.2 rehabilitation (0.9) (0.9) 2. GOODS (a) Equipment and vehicles 1.2 0.7* 1.9 (1.2) (1.2) (b) Furniture and Materials 5.0 5.0 (4.4) (4.4) 3. TEXTBOOK (a) Printing of textbooks 9.8 2.9 12.7 (9.8) (9.8) (b) Distribution of textbooks 0.7 0.7 (0.6) (0.6) 4. PHARMACEUTICAL (a) Antihelminths and 0.7 0.1 0.8 Micronutrients (0.7) (0.1) (0.8) 5. SCHOOL GRANTS 1.0b/ 1.0 (1.0) (1.0) 6. CONSULTANT SERVICES (a) Policy support 0.1 0.1 (0.1) (0.1) (b) Project preparation and 4.5 4.5 implementation (4.5) (4.5) (c) Institutional development 0.5 0.5 (0.5) (0.5) (d) Training abroad 0.4b/ 0.4 (0.4) (0.4) 7. MISCELLANEOUS (a) Local training and 2.1 2.1 seminars (2.1) (2.1) 1.2 1.2 (b) Incremental salaries 2.6 2.6 (c) Operating costs (2.4) (2.4) 8. REFUNDING OF PPF 0.3 0.3 TOTAL 19.8 5.7 19.2 8.3 53.0 IDA (19.8) (5.0) (17.7) (0.0) (42.5) - 33 - Project Costs by Procurement Arrangements (Actual/Latest Estimate) (US$ million equivalent) Expenditure Category ICB NCB Other2 N.B.F Total Cost 1. WORKS (a) School construction and 6.2 7.3 13.5 rehabilitation (6.1) (7.1) (13.2) (b) Emergency rehabilitation 1.0 1.0 (1.0) (1.0) 2. GOODS (a) Equipement and vehicles 1.6 1.6 (1.6) (1.6) (b) Furniture and Materials 0.3 0.5 2.0 2.8 (0.3) (0.5) (2.0) (2.8) 3. TEXTBOOK (a) Printing of textbooks 2.3 0.1 0.5 2.9 (2.2) (0.1) (0.4) (2.7) (b) Distribution of textbooks 0.4 0.4 (0.3) (0.3) 4. PHARMACEUTICAL (a) Antihelminths and 0.5 0.5 Micronutrients (0.5) (0.5) 5. SCHOOL GRANTS 3.6 3.6 (3.4) (3.4) 6. CONSULTANT SERVICES 7.2 7.2 (7.2) (7.2) 7. MISCELLANEOUS 2.9 2.9 (2.5) (2.5) 8. REFUNDING OF PPF 0.3 0.3 (0.3) (0.3) TOTAL 4.2 7.2 25.3 36.7 IDA (4.1) (7.0) (24.4) (35.5) - 34 - Project Financing by Component by source (equivalent in US$ million) Components Costs at Appraisal Actual costs Appraisal percentage Com Com IDA Govt. mu. IDA Govt. mu. IDA Govt. Commu Increase primary enrolment and completion rates (a) Build and rehabilitate primary schools 21.5 5.6 1.0 14.2 0.5 66% 9% 0% (b) Improve community-led capacity for school 1.2 0.1 0% 0% maintenance and upkeep 22.6 5.7 1.0 14.2 0.5 0.0 63% 9% 0% Improve teaching and student learning (a) Provide textbooks to primary and lower secondary schools 10.7 2.1 0.9 3.1 0.1 29% 4% 0% (b) Support primary school staff development plan 2.8 0.3 3.3 0.2 117% 61% (c) Increase student learning capacity 1.8 0.1 11.4 0.4 633% 667% 15.3 2.4 0.9 17.8 0.7 0.0 116% 27% 0% Improve teaching and student learning (a) Monitor student learning outcomes 1.1 0.1 0.6 56% 0% (b) Improve communication systems 0.7 0.2 0.6 0.0 83% 0% (c) Improve sector planning, budgeting and monitoring 1.5 0.2 1.0 0.0 65% 13% (d) Support pre-investment studies for establishing closer 0.9 0.0 1.0 109% 0% Ministry/private sector links Sub-total 4.2 0.5 0.0 3.2 0.0 0.0 75% 4% Refunding of PPF 0.3 0.3 97% 42.5 8.6 1.9 35.5 1.2 0.0 83% 14% 0% - 35 - Annex 3. Economic Costs and Benefits The share of primary education in total education expenditures is 44 percent. Salaries consume the major share (87%) of primary education expenditure. About 20 percent of salary expenditure is devoted to non-teaching personnel. Total expenditure on primary education in 2000 amounted to GF 39.7 billion (US$19 million). Average monthly salary of a civil servant is about GF 199,000 (US$95) while that of a contract teacher is GF 80,000 (US$38). Contractual teachers are paid for only nine months in a year. This difference is too great and is depressing the number of teachers entering and staying in the profession, and ongoing HIPC discussions have resulted in tentative agreement to increase the monthly salaries of contract teachers to GF 120,000 and pay them over 12 months, with HIPC funds covering the increases. Distribution of Primary Sector Expenditures, 2000 (million of GF) INDICATOR EXPENDITURE PERCENTAGE Total Expenditure 39.756 100 Salaries 34,612 87 Goods and Services 5,144 13 Guinea has one of the lowest unit cost of primary education in West Africa amounting to GF 59,924 (US$29) annually. In 2001, it had relatively high dropout (4.1% for boys and 7.4% for girls) and repetition rate (28.1% for boys and 31.5% for girls) leading tan efficiency loss amounting to 35% of total primary public education expenditure. Elimination of dropout and repetition would theoretically allow the expansion of primary enrollment by 35 percent without any increase in total expenditures. General secondary education's share in total education expenditures during the year 2000 was estimated to be 32.2 percent of which salaries consume 85 percent. Salaries of non-teaching personnel constituted 41 percent of total expenditure on salaries. Total expenditure on secondary education in 2000 amounted to GF 21 billion (US$10 million). Average monthly salary of a permanent teacher is about GF 209,967 (US$100) while that of a contract (who works part time and get paid for only nine months) is GF 90,000 (US$43). Discussions are under way to increase the working load of contractual teachers, along with their monthly salaries, and to pay them on a 12-month basis. Distribution of General Secondary Sector Expenditures, 2000 (million of GF) INDICATOR EXPENDITURE PERCENTAGE Total Expenditure 21.046 100 Salaries 17,940 85 Goods and Services 3,106 15 The unit cost of general secondary education in Guinea is GF 116,397 (US$55). The dropout and repetition rates are higher for boys and girls in lower and upper secondary leading to a cumulative efficiency loss amounting to 37 percent of total general secondary education expenditure in 2000. On average it takes a boy 5.7 and girls 6.2 years to complete lower secondary school (length of lower secondary is 4 years). The corresponding figures for upper secondary are 5.2 and 5.3 respectively (length of upper secondary is 3 years). Survival rates for lower secondary are 76 percent and 71 percent for boys and girls. For upper secondary, the respective rates are 67 percent and 45 percent. for those who enter lower secondary, about 50 percent of boys and 40 percent of girls eventually complete the cycle; of those who graduate from lower secondary, 60 percent of boys and only 23 percent of girls complete upper secondary schools. - 36 - Secondary Vocational and Technical Education (SVT) share in total education expenditure during the year 2000 is estimated to be 9.6 percent. Salaries consume the major share (50%) of secondary education expenditure while the rest is pent on goods and services, and transfers. Total expenditure on SVT in 2000 amounted to GF 8.7 billion (US$4.1 million). Average monthly salary of civil service teachers was GF 333,333 (Us$159). The unit cost of SVT is estimated at GF 993,024 (US$473) annually. Expenditures Patterns at Different Education Levels: To a significant extent, the share of education in total recurrent budget has been rising to provide the resources required to meet the increase in demand for education. Under the HIPC initiative and EFA- Fast Track Initiative, considerable additional resources are expected to be funded into the education sector. The absolute amount spent on education by the Government has increased from GF 80.3 billion in 1998 to GF 92.9 billion in 2000. Overall education spending by the Government has increased at an average annual rate of 10 percent between 1994-99; a rate that is consistent with the rate of enrollment growth but faster than the average annual growth rate of the Government budget over the same period (6.7%). Consequently the share of education in public spending in Guinea has improved over the period. Recurrent expenditure in education constituted 18.6 percent (GF 90.6 billion) of recurrent Government expenditures in the year 2000 (11% in 1991). During the same year, the Government spent GF 2.3 billion on capital outlay resulting in a cumulative expenditure of GF 92.9 billion on education. The share of education spending in Government recurrent expenditure is lower than in neighboring countries such as Mali (27% in 2000), Senegal (32% in 2000) and Burkina Faso (24% in 2000). Public educational expenditure on all educational levels as a percentage of GDP was 2.0 percent in Guinea in 2000. Guinea spends a lower fraction of its GDP on education than mots neighboring countries. A major portion of education spending (73%) was on wages and salaries out of which GF 48 billion (53%) of recurrent) went to the salaries of teaching staff. GF 17.9 billion (19.8% of recurrent) was spent on salaries of non-teaching personnel in the schools. Spending on goods and services (16%) constituted the next higher share of recurrent expenditure while the share of transfers was 12 percent. The largest single outlay on an item a part from the aggregate wages and salaries was on scholarships. The decomposition of recurrent expenditures between different levels of education is given in the following table. Share of Different Education Levels in Total Public Education Expenditure EDUCATION LEVEL 1998 1999 2000 Primary 65.6% 65.7% 43.9% Secondary General 23.2% Secondary Technical 7.4% 8.9% 9.6% Higher 27.0% 25.4% 23.3% The distribution of expenditures in the above table reveals the disparity in funding between different level of education. Primary education's share in total expenditures is only 43.9 percent while higher education's share, with 1.3 percent of students, is 23.3 percent. Since salaries constitute the major share of expenditures, these differences in per-student expenditure are traceable to disparities in staffing between different levels of education. Differences in student-teacher ratios across education levels result in disparities in per student expenditures. - 37 - Comparison of Unit Cost at Different Education Levels of Education Multiple of Primary Unit Cost Primary Secondary Secondary University General Technical Guinea 1 1.9 16.6 32.0 Mali 1 9.4 14.9 14.2 Senegal 1 4.2 9.0 14.8 OECD 1 1.4 n.a 3.0 - 38 - Annex 4. Bank Inputs (a) Missions: Stage of Project Cycle No. of Persons and Specialty Performance Rating (e.g. 2 Economists, 1 FMS, etc.) Implementation Development Month/Year Count Specialty Progress Objective Identification/Preparation 03/07/1993 2 ECONOMIST (1); EDUCATION SPECIALIST (1) Appraisal/Negotiation 07/26/1994 5 TTL (1); NUTRITION SPECIALIST (1); NGO SPECIALIST (1); ECONOMIST (1); OPERATION ASSISTANT (1) 03/03/1995 4 TTL (1); ECONOMIST (1); IMPLEMENTATION SPECIALIST (1); OPERATION ANALYST (1) Supervision 12/20/1996 3 OPERATIONS OFFICER (1); S HS EDUCATION (2) 03/04/1997 3 EDUCATION SPECIALIST (2); S HS OPERATIONS OFFICER (1) 09/30/1997 2 OPERATIONS OFFICER (1); S HS EDUCATION SPECIALIST (1) 04/15/1998 3 TASK TEAM LEADER (1); S HS OPERATIONS ANALYST (1); SR. EDUCATION SPEC. (1) 11/06/1998 2 TTL (1); OPERATIONS S HS ANALYST (1) 10/12/1999 5 EDUCATION ECONOMIST (1); S S EDUCATION SPECIALIST (3); OPERATIONS SPECIALIST (1) 02/12/2000 6 TASK TEAM LEADER (1); S S CONSULTANT (3); CONSULTANT/PPSE (1); CONSULTANT/FIMG (1) ICR 01/23/2003 2 TASK TEAM LEADER (1); IMPLEMENTATION SPECIALIST (1) - 39 - (b) Staff: Stage of Project Cycle Actual/Latest Estimate No. Staff weeks US$ ('000) Identification/Preparation 69 137 Appraisal/Negotiation 86 150 Supervision 214 426 ICR 9 14 Total 378 726 - 40 - Annex 5. Ratings for Achievement of Objectives/Outputs of Components (H=High, SU=Substantial, M=Modest, N=Negligible, NA=Not Applicable) Rating Macro policies H SU M N NA Sector Policies H SU M N NA Physical H SU M N NA Financial H SU M N NA Institutional Development H SU M N NA Environmental H SU M N NA Social Poverty Reduction H SU M N NA Gender H SU M N NA Other (Please specify) H SU M N NA Private sector development H SU M N NA Public sector management H SU M N NA Other (Please specify) H SU M N NA - 41 - Annex 6. Ratings of Bank and Borrower Performance (HS=Highly Satisfactory, S=Satisfactory, U=Unsatisfactory, HU=Highly Unsatisfactory) 6.1 Bank performance Rating Lending HS S U HU Supervision HS S U HU Overall HS S U HU 6.2 Borrower performance Rating Preparation HS S U HU Government implementation performance HS S U HU Implementation agency performance HS S U HU Overall HS S U HU - 42 - Annex 7. List of Supporting Documents - Projet d'appui à l'enseignement technique et à la formation professionnelle en Guinée, No. 436/18028. Agence canadienne de développement international. Janvier 1995. Annexe opérationnelle. Février 1995. - Annuaire Statistique et Carte Scolaire Informatisée en Guinée. Télématique. Février-Avril 1994. - Participation des jeunes filles dans l'enseignement technique et la main d'oeuvre féminine dans le système d'emploi. Ministère de l'enseignement Pré-Universitaire et de la Formation Professionnelle. Mars 1994. - Orientations stratégiques du Projet IDA (Banque mondiale). Y. Cogne. Juillet 1994. - Enquête sur la scolarisation des filles en milieu rural. Rapport de synthèse. Ministère de l'Enseignement Pré-Universitaire et de la Formation Professionnelle. Mars 1994. Etude portant sur les aspects socio-culturels et socio-économiques de la scolarisation des filles au niveaux primaire - Cas de la Guinée. Ministère de l'Education Nationale. Avril 1991. - Study of Girls' Access to Primary Schooling in Guinea. USAID. June 1990. - Analysis of Barriers and Factors Influencing the Educational Participation of Girls and Rural Children in Guinea. Working Group on Educational Access, Ministry of Pre-University Education and Vocational Training. May 1992. - La Qualité de l'école primaire: une étude de cas sur la Guinée. 1990 - Accès des filles à l'éducation secondaire. Programme Femmes, Sciences et Technique (EST) Projet de Mise en Oeuvre. Y. Cogne, Novembre 1993. - Recommandations pour le développement du système de formation en République de Guinée. K. Klaushenke. Avril 1994. - Planification de la Phase II du Programme de Formation et Perfectionnement en Guinée. Claude Dufour. Janvier 1995. - Les Technologies de l'information et de la communication au Ministère de l'enseignement Pré-Universitaire et de la formation Professionnelle de la République de Guinée. Télémédiatique. Juin-Août 1994. - Collecte des Données et Utilisation des Statistiques - Ministère de L'Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche Scientifique. Télématique. 1994. - Synthèse statistique enseignement primaire. Ministère de l'Enseignement Pré-Universitaire et de la Formation Professionnelle. Octobre 1994. - Mission Report on Private Eduction in Guinea. P. Hebert, L. Hille, F. Lofficial. July 1994. - Mission d'étude du budget, des projections budgétaires et des circuits de financement du secteur de l'éducation PASE II. F. Abillama. Décembre 1994. - Communications et Télécommunications pour le MEPUFP. 1994. - Essai d'étude de l'enseignement primaire privé en République de Guinée. - 43 - - Rapport sur la formation des maître des classes multigrades. M. Moisan, 1993. - Evaluation du Système éducatif guinéen. Théorisation du Modèle. ENESE-CEPEC International. Avril 1993. - Gestion du Personnel dans l'Enseignement secondaire. Rapport de mission. I. Nzamutuma. Juillet 1994. - School Health in Guinea. Mission Report. D. Heyward. February 1995. - "Faisabilité de la mise en place d'une cellule d'évaluation permanente". Rapport de mission. E. Barrier et D. Robin. Mai 1994. - Procès-Verbal de la réunion de travail ayant regroupé la Commission du Ministère de l'Enseignement pré-universitaire et de la formation professionnelle, la Banque mondiale et l'USAID sur la composante manuels scolaires. Septembre 1994. - Programme de Petites Subventions d'école: Projet de Manuel Opérationnel. J. Schwille, M. Dembele. 1989. - Documents produits par l'atelier sur le Programme de Petites Subventions d'Ecole (PPSE) en Guinée. J. Schwille M. Dembele, 1994. - Le Programme de Petites Subventions d'Ecoles (PPSE) en Guinée. J. Schwille, M. Dembele, 1995. - Mission report on NGO sector in Guinea, C. Malena, July 1994. - 44 - Additional Annex 8. Comments from Government on ICR The following are some comments received from the governments on the ICR report (translated in French). OBSERVATIONS SUR LE PROJET DE RAPPORT D'ACHEVEMENT DU PROJET PEAE (PASE 2 : Crédit 2719 Gui) Objet : Commentaires sur le projet de rapport d'achèvement du PEAE CR2719 GUI. Composante « Construction/réhabilitation des Infrastructures et Equipements Scolaires » : Au plan conceptuel, on note des affirmations qui reflètent une lecture qui, sauf erreur de traduction de l'Anglais au Français, ne correspond pas a l'esprit et aux critères du projet. Il s'agit notamment : 1. Page 7, paragraphe A.1 du document, il est écrit que « ...le rôle du MEPU-FP est passé de celui de constructeur d'écoles à celui de gestionnaire et planificateur ...». Le MEPU-EC n'a jamais été constructeur ; c'est la maîtrise d'ouvrage consistant en la gestion des contrats telle qu'effectuée par le MEPU-EC qui a été déléguée à des ONG et institutions a but non lucratifs. Les constructeurs demeurant toujours les entreprises et autres sociétés spécialisées en la matière dans le respect des procédures prescrites. l Il est affirmé que dans son « nouveau rôle,... SNIES était chargé de la programmation et de la gestion des biens des écoles... » Le SNIES n'est pas chargé de la programmation. C'est le SSP qui s `en occupe. Le SNIES ne gère pas les biens des écoles. Il est chargé de la gestion du patrimoine bâti de l'Education. l Il est fait référence au prétendu « ...manque de compétence institutionnelle ... » du SNIES : il convient mieux de remplacer cette expression par « l'inadéquation de la structure du SNIES aux nouvelles tâches qui lui sont dévolues ». En effet la structure organisationnelle proposée pour ce service par l'UNESCO-BREDA au terme d'un audit fonctionnel financé par la Banque n'a pas été meublée ». 2. Page 13, paragraphe 4.2, ("Résultat par composante », il est affirmé au troisième sous- paragraphe que « La rénovation des salles de classe a été abandonnée en milieu de projet a cause d'un désaccord entre le SNIES qui assurait la coordination et les ONG, agences d'exécution des contrats sur le concept même de « rénovation ». Il n'y a jamais eu de désaccord au sens polémique du terme. Il y a plutôt un constat de diversité d'interprétation du concept de réhabilitation, entraînant des résultats inégaux d'un site à un autre, d'une typologie de bâtiment a une autre, d'un établissement à un autre, d'un prestataire à un autre. Et même d'une région à une autre. l C'est au constat de cela qu'il a été envisagé en accord avec les missions de la Banque mondiale, d'organiser des ateliers à l'intention des partenaires de terrain et des prestataires du projet. Le dossier préparé à cet effet, a été soumis à un premier atelier à Boké pour cette région et les résultats de l'atelier ont été ajoutés au dossier. Il était prévu de le démultiplier au niveau des autres régions. La notion de réhabilitation telle que véhiculée par le SNIES aurait permis entre autres : l De ne pas se contenter de rénover un bloc de salles de classe et d'omettre le manque de latrines, de point d `eau, de mobilier et, le cas échéant, de bornage, de clôture, etc. l De tenir compte de l'état de dégradation des parties d'ouvrage pour décider de la rénovation ou de la démolition pour des questions de sécurité de confort minimum et de coût. l De distinguer les bâtiment à rénover librement de ceux qui sont à restaurer (colonial notamment) ... - 45 - l De donner une classification typologique des infrastructures et équipements scolaires en Guinée (colonial, communautaire, type officiel etc.) et de décider le type d'intervention en connaissance de cause... 3. Au même paragraphe, il est noté : « Une conséquence préjudiciable est que le SNIES n'a pas élaboré... le manuel de procédure de rénovation et de maintenance ». Encore une fois, il s'agit de « réhabilitation d'écoles » et non de rénovation tout court. En plus des éléments de normes dont il est fait référence, il faut ajouter que le SNIES fait des extraits du dossier produit pour les ateliers en vue d'orienter les prestataires et partenaires de terrain. Du niveau d'exécution des volets de la composante 4. Page 14, avant le paragraphe 2, il est affirmé que « le SNIES n'a pas été en mesure de jouer son rôle ». Il faut plutôt rappeler que le rôle du SNIES et ses Antennes régionales devait se limiter à la réception technique en fin de travaux, conformément aux clauses des contrats passés avec les AEC. Cette situation est entrain d'être corrigée dans le cadre du PEPT en cours. 5. Réhabilitation des infrastructures et équipements scolaires : Une phase expérimentale de ce volet a été menée en 1997 sur la base des prescriptions techniques du SNIES fondées sur les données transmises par les DPE et les Antennes Régionales. 9 écoles en ont bénéficié pour un total d'une cinquantaine de salles de classe. Ce sont les résultats de cette phase pilote qui ont servi d'inspiration pour rédiger le dossier des ateliers de réhabilitation. Dossier disponible au SNIES et actuellement exploité par les prestataires de terrain d'autres projets du MEPU-EC et les Antennes. 6. Fonds d'urgence : Sur 886 salles de classe, 693 ont été réparées dans les règles de l'Art et dans le respect des clauses des contrats avec la collaboration des DPE et des Antennes du SNIES. 7. Concernant le PPSE, (Page 12, fin du 2eme paragraphe) : Il serait utile de revoir ce paragraphe en relation avec ce qui est aux pages 16 et 17, point 14. Dans cette dernière référence, l'avis est même très positif sur le PPSE, bien qu'une évaluation d'impact n'ait été conduite. Des avis et des faits sont là pour attester le succès de ce programme. L'objectif de cette composante n'est pas de réduire les redoublements, mais d'améliorer les apprentissages. Il se trouve que les apprentissages peuvent s'améliorer alors que les redoublements augmentent. Les redoublements dépendent en effet de plusieurs facteurs. Ce qui aurait mieux permis de cerner l'impact du PPSE aurait été les évaluations de la Cellule Nationale d'Evaluation, mais malheureusement elles n'ont pas été réalisées deux fois comme prévu pour apprécier l'effort consenti. 8. Concernant la Composante Santé Scolaire et Nutrition : (Page 18, Paragraphe 1) Ajouter en fin de paragraphe ce qui suit : Cependant, par rapport aux recommandations du Forum de Dakar, il a été (i) mis en place une équipe multisectorielle ; (ii) une formation pratique pour la prévention du VIH/SIDA a l'école pour la sous région a été organisé en mai 2000 ; (iii) des outils pédagogiques pour les classes de 6e , 8e et 11e années ont été produits (Fiches pédagogiques, guides pour enseignants, des modules de formation, le programme minimum et les boites à images). Aussi, une étude d'impact a été menée en collaboration avec la Division des Maladies Transmissibles de l'OMS/Genève. Elle a abouti entre autres à la conclusion que des avantages nutritionnels importants ont été obtenus au cours des trois années de mise en oeuvre du programme. Cette amélioration nutritionnelle est surtout remarquable par rapport à l'accroissement du taux d'hémoglobine qui est connu comme étant en relation étroite avec une amélioration de la croissance, de l'attention des enfants et de leur rendement scolaire. - 46 - 9. Concernant la Composante Amélioration de l'enseignement et de l'apprentissage de l'élève (Manuels scolaires) : La mise en oeuvre du PEAE et l'intervention importante de la BAD, ont permis d'améliorer de façon significative les taux de disponibilité et d'utilisation des manuels dans les écoles élémentaires et du premier cycle du secondaire. L'INRAP n'a pas été et n'est pas récalcitrant a l'implication du secteur prive dans le secteur des manuels. Cependant, toutes les conditions de la mise en oeuvre de cette option ne sont pas réunis. C'est pourquoi l'INRAP a entamé la réorientation de son personnel en formant une équipe d'auteurs a l'élaboration des devis pédagogiques et a l'évaluation des manuels. Aussi, des retards sont enregistrés dans la finalisation de la politique du manuel scolaire. - 47 - - 48 -