Report No. PID8291 Project Name India-Rajasthan Second District Primary (@) Education Project Region South Asia Regional Office Sector Primary Education Project ID INPE55455 Implementing Agency Address Government of India, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, 39-B, North Block, New Delhi - 110001 Contact Person: Mr. Rahul Bhatnagar Tel: 3015839 Fax: 3012477 Email: rahul@finance.delhi.nic.in Environment Category C (Not Required) Date PID Prepared May 4, 2001 Projected Appraisal Date May 11, 2001 Projected Board Date June 28, 2001 1. Country and Sector Background: In 1991 literacy in India was only 52 percent and one-third of children in the age group 6-11 years were out of school. The Government of India understood the task of universalization of primary education seriously and explored the possibility of resource support from bilateral and multilateral donors. The World Bank extended for the first time assistance to the Uttar Pradesh Basic Education Project in 1993 and supported the national District Primary Education Program (DPEP) in 1994, followed by a series of DPEP in India. This project is seventh in the series. Government of Rajasthan recognizes that primary education is key to poverty alleviation and growth, and has sought to make it an investment priority despite its current difficult fiscal situation. This effort is evident in recent improvements in literacy across the state. The literacy growth rate between 1991 and 1997 was the highest in Rajasthan at 16.5 percent compared to the other educationally backward Hindi speaking states. Preliminary analysis the 2001 Census also reveals that Rajasthan witnessed the highest increase in overall literacy rates across India for the last decade at 22.53 and 23.94 percent for males and females respectively. Low and inequitable enrollment: Social stratification and poverty have resulted in a severe disparity in access to and participation in primary school, particularly in rural areas and for girls, SC and ST students. Low efficiency (repetition, dropout and retention): Dropout and repetition rates in Rajasthan are high, and retention is poor. Government figures indicate that for every 100 children enrolled in Class I in DPEP districts, only 43 children completed Class V after five years. The dropout rate for girls is 4.22 percentage points higher than for boys. Poor teaching and learning outcomes: Achievement levels in Rajasthan are low. The average score on a Baseline Assessment Survey (BAS) in mathematics and language for Class II students is about 50 percent, and worse for Class IV students at below 40 percent. Inadequate pedagogical support and weak management: In January 1999, the management of elementary education was shifted in Rajasthan from the Department of Education (DOE) to the Panchayati Raj Department (PRD). This structure has the potential to facilitate and strengthen decentralized authority and resources to the local level which could lead to improved community and school-based management. However, several weaknesses emerged during the first 18 months, and may persist. The links between the technical and administrative support functions of the two departments only exist in a loosely defined relationship and needs to be strengthened. Government Strategy: The GOR is acutely aware and deeply concerned about educational backwardness in the state. According to recent bank studies (Rajasthan Economic Update and Education Finance in the 1990s) from 1992 until 1998, its strategy had been primarily focused on increasing access to primary educational opportunities through increased allocations to elementary education; building public-private partnerships to facilitate greater community involvement in the primary schooling process; and supporting innovations which would break through social, economic and cultural traditions to generate more demand. The Shiksha Karmi (SKP) and the Lok Jumbish (LJP) Programs constitute two such schemes established with assistance from Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) , now supported by the Department of International Development (DFID) of the UK. Physical access to schooling received a boost in July 1999 when the state sponsored scheme which opened nearly 12,000 community schools, called Rajiv Gandhi Swarna Jayanti Pathshala (RGSJP) scheme, across the state, 9000 of which are in DPEP districts. In addition to taking steps to eradicate issues of access and equity, in 1998, the first phase of Rajasthan DPEP was developed to cover ten districts, becoming effective in October 1999. 2. Objectives To assist the Government of Rajasthan (GOR) in its efforts to build state, district and local capacity to ensure that all 6-10 year old children in nine districts, especially from socially and economically disadvantaged groups, have access to a five year primary education cycle of appropriate quality. It is expected to result in increased enrollments and community involvement in primary education, improved teacher performance, greater learning and higher completion rates of the primary cohort. It is the second phase of an ongoing project, Rajasthan DPEP, which currently finances efforts in ten undeserved districts of the states. 3. Rationale for Bank's Involvement The Bank's experience in India in implementing large-scale education reform, and design of external assistance strategies to these programs has resulted in it becoming one of the most important sources of technical support and external funding in India's progress towards universal primary education. This support has served as a catalyst to make primary education a priority at the national level, and mobilized a range of national and state level non- project initiatives. In addition, the Bank has been instrumental in mobilizing and coordinating financial and technical support form other donors in the sector (DFID, European Commission, and the Royal Government of -2 - Netherlands and UNICEF). 4. Description (i) Expanding access, retention and enrolments. This component of the project would include targeted interventions to reach marginalized groups such as establishing alternative schools, short-term bridge courses to reach out-of-school and dropout children, establishing ECE centers, providing residential facilities for migratory children and services/appliances for children with mild to moderate disabilities. The project would also provide parateachers to new and overcrowded schools, giving preference to hiring female teachers, and train SMCs in community mobilization and awareness building, for which NGOs would be contracted where feasible. (ii) Improving quality and achievement. This component of the project includes the following activities to be financed under the Credit: (i) instituting a holistic pedagogical renewal approach for continuous support for teacher development for all teachers, parateachers, and ECE workers which includes training in interactive and child-centered learning activities, establishing supportive school and locally-based supervision mechanisms, and providing need-based content training; (ii) provision of teaching and learning materials (TLM), teacher guides, student workbooks being developed to support the new textbooks and pedagogy; (iii) development and provision of school libraries for all primary schools; (iv) distance learning programs; (v) improving teachers' capacity to assess student progress; and (vi) improving the physical school environment by empowering SMCs to manage school improvement plans and activities. (iii) Building capacity to manage primary education at the state, district and local levels. This component includes the following: strengthening the SPO to meet the expanded scope of DPE; establishing and strengthening DPOs with a project coordinator, four program officers, financial and accounts professionals, and support staff; establishing and staffing BRCs and CRCs for teacher training and on-site professional support; providing training and professional development opportunities to SIERT and DIET faculty; further strengthening the Center for Educational Management as it develops as supported in the first phase of Rajasthan DPEP; and building capacity at the district and sub-district level for monitoring and evaluation through the EMIS and FMS systems. 5. Financing Total Project Cost US $87.50 million, IDA $74.34 million 6. Implementation Implementation period: September 1, 2001 through December 31, 2006 Executing agency: GOR through an autonomous registered society called Rajasthan Council of Primary Education (RCPE) established on November 3,1997 Project coordination: Elementary Education Bureau of the Department of Elementary Education and Literacy (DEEL) at the Ministry of Human Resource Development, GOI Project Oversight: Elementary Education Bureau, GOI - 3 - The project will be implemented according to the framework established in the DPEP Guidelines, as adopted by the GOI in 1993 and amended from time to time, and the agreed Project Implementation Plan (PIP) prepared by the state. General oversight and coordination of project implementation would be provided by the Elementary Education Bureau (EEB, formerly the DPEP Bureau) in the Department of Elementary Education and Literacy (DEEL) of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) of the GOI. Implementation of the specific project activities will be the responsibility of the Rajasthan Council of Primary Education, established in November 1997 for preparation and implementation of the first phase of Rajasthan DPEP. 7. Sustainability The financial requirements have been considered in the context of two scenarios of economic growth rates, each resulting from a set of fiscal reform projected at a constant proportion (2.1 percent) of state GDP and then netted for anticipated real increases in teacher salaries. Under the partial reform scenario, in the year following the completion of all three projects, the anticipated increase in allocations might be just below the additional liabilities required to sustain the projects, but in the following year they should be more than sufficient and the surplus will grow. Under the bold reform scenario, the situation is healthier and the anticipated increase in the allocation should more than cover the additional liabilities. The ability to sustain the proposed and existing projects will be the very minimum required of state resources for the basic education sector. While the three projects (Rajasthan DPEP I and II and Lok Jumbish) will enable the provision of schooling to be increased in every district in the state, they will not provide all of the facilities required for universalization. By the time the full responsibility for the DPEP and Lok Jumbish projects fall on the government, universalization would require an increase allocation to primary education from 2.1 percent to between 2.4 and 2.6 percent of the GDP. 8. Lessons learned from past operations in the country/sector DPEP has been operational since 1994. The lessons which have emerged through the various DPEP projects over time have confirmed the strengths of some of the initial design assumptions. More specific lessons from DPEP and, more specifically, the first phase of Rajasthan DPEP include: (i) establishing an autonomous State Implementation Society has facilitated the flow of funds and streamlined management procedures and provided flexibility in procedures for effective projects implementation; (ii) while the quality of initial preparation is important, it is tenuous until tested against field realities; and (iii) it was initially assumed that each DPEP project would learn about initial project implementation from its predecessors to avoid delays in start up which has not been the case across the series of projects. The lessons are that building state and district capacity take time, and much can be done in the preparation process to refine plans. Continuity of competent and committed project staff for life of the project is critical to the quality of implementation for which political will of the borrower is required. 9. Program of Targeted Intervention (PTI): Yes 10. Environmental Aspects (including any public consultation) Issues: The proposed project would not raise any significant environmental issues. -4- 11. Contact Point: Task Manager: Susan Hirshberg The World Bank 1818 H Street, NW Washington D.C. 20433 Tel: (202) 458-1953 Fax: (202) 522-3408 12. For information on other project related documents contact: The InfoShop The World Bank 1818 H Street, NW Washington D.C. 20433 Tel: (202) 458-5454 Fax: (202) 522-1500 Web: http://www.worldbank.org/infoshop Note: This is information on an evolving project. Certain components may not be necessarily included in the final project. This PID was processed by the InfoShop during the week ending May 18, 2001. - 5 -