The World Bank KENYA GPE COVID 19 LEARNING CONTINUITY IN BASIC EDUCATION PROJECT (P174059) Project Information Document (PID) Appraisal Stage | Date Prepared/Updated: 18-Jun-2020 | Report No: PIDA29332 Apr 26, 2020 Page 1 of 9 The World Bank KENYA GPE COVID 19 LEARNING CONTINUITY IN BASIC EDUCATION PROJECT (P174059) BASIC INFORMATION OPS_TABLE_BASIC_DATA A. Basic Project Data Country Project ID Project Name Parent Project ID (if any) Kenya P174059 KENYA GPE COVID 19 LEARNING CONTINUITY IN BASIC EDUCATION PROJECT Region Estimated Appraisal Date Estimated Board Date Practice Area (Lead) AFRICA 13-May-2020 10-Jul-2020 Education Financing Instrument Borrower(s) Implementing Agency Investment Project Financing The Republic of Kenya Ministry of Education Proposed Development Objective(s) To enhance access to online and distance learning for all students in primary and secondary schools and facilitate a smooth transition in the return to school for targeted vulnerable students. Components Component 1: Expanding existing remote learning opportunities for learning continuity for all students in basic education Component 2: Facilitate smooth transition back to school for vulnerable students and girls Component 3: Project Coordination, Communication, and Monitoring and Evaluation OPS_TABLE_FCC The processing of this project is applying the policy requirements exceptions for situations of urgent need of assistance or capacity constraints that are outlined in OP 10.00, paragraph 12. Yes PROJECT FINANCING DATA (US$, Millions) SUMMARY -NewFin1 Total Project Cost 10.80 Total Financing 10.80 of which IBRD/IDA 0.00 Financing Gap 0.00 DETAILS -NewFinEnh1 Apr 26, 2020 Page 2 of 9 The World Bank KENYA GPE COVID 19 LEARNING CONTINUITY IN BASIC EDUCATION PROJECT (P174059) Non-World Bank Group Financing Trust Funds 10.80 Education for All - Fast Track Initiative 10.80 Environmental and Social Risk Classification Moderate Decision The review did authorize the team to appraise and negotiate Other Decision (as needed) B. Introduction and Context 1. On March 13, 2020, Kenya reported the first case of COVID-19. As of June 18, 2020, Kenya has reported four thousand and forty four (4,044) confirmed cases and continues to be vulnerable to a more widespread outbreak. The Government of Kenya (GoK) has taken actions to control the spread of the pandemic by: (i) suspending arrivals from all affected countries and stating that only citizens or foreigners with permits can enter the country; (ii) ordering those who enter the country to self-quarantine for 14 days; and (iii) closing all educational institutions; as well as on March 22, 2020 by (restricting social gatherings, and imposing new standards for public transport. The GoK also urged organizations to adopt home based work and use of mobile money to avoid cash transactions. 2. On March 15, 2020, Kenya’s Ministry of Education (MoE) announced closure of the country’s 30,000 primary and secondary schools indefinitely to mitigate the impact of COVID-19. The tertiary level education institutions were also closed. Like in many other countries, the closure of schools was unexpected and unplanned. In Kenya, this decision means about 14 million learners have their studies interrupted. More than 310,000 teachers are adapting to this new reality. Additionally, most MoE staff are working remotely, with only critical staff executing their duties from within the Ministry premises. Without major effort to counter the effects, the school closings will lead to learning loss, increased dropouts, and higher inequality. The economic shock is expected to exacerbate the damage, by depressing education demand and supply as it harms households, exacting long-run costs on human capital and welfare. Country Context 3. Kenya is facing a significant economic slowdown owing to the COVID-19 global pandemic. Kenya’s medium- term growth prospects will be impacted by COVID-19, and much remains uncertain about the magnitude of the potential impact. Although the Kenyan economy has important sources of resiliency, the COVID-19 Apr 26, 2020 Page 3 of 9 The World Bank KENYA GPE COVID 19 LEARNING CONTINUITY IN BASIC EDUCATION PROJECT (P174059) shock is expected to reduce growth in 2020 with large impacts on services (travel, tourism, events), agricultural exports, and slowdown in remittances. Measures being taken to slow the rate of infection (“social distancing�), including home confinement, travel restrictions, closure of schools and entertainment spots, suspension of public gathering and conferences, and a nightly curfew, are expected to affect both production and consumption across all sectors of the economy. 4. Kenya’s economic growth will be negatively impacted by COVID-19 shocks. Productivity in key economic sectors is likely to be severely constrained by the measures taken by the Government to slow down the spread of the pandemic. The inability of poor households to cope with adverse shocks and their limited financial resilience will have severe long-term implications, as reduced spending on food, education, and health can dramatically slow human capital accumulation. With poor, vulnerable and marginalized household relying on blue-collar jobs, their ability to finance expenditures related to basic services such as health and education, will be compromised. The Government has introduced a fiscal stimulus to address economic fallout associated with COVID-19, effectively pausing the planned fiscal consolidation. The stimulus included on the expenditure front, additional spending to strengthen the health systems to handle corona infections, measures to provide relief to households (through cash transfers) and protect businesses. Sectoral and Institutional Context 5. The COVID-19 crisis is expected to impact the education sector in many ways: • Government’s fiscal space for expenditures for ‘Free’ Primary Education (FPE) and ‘Free’ Day Secondary Education (FDSE) will be reduced. Kenya spends about 20 percent of the government budget (or 6 percent of GDP) on education. These investments have resulted in substantial expansion in access to education at all levels. For instance, introduction of universal FPE and FDSE has had significant impact on improved access and transitions at basic level (Annex 2). As the Government’s resources are increasingly strained from lower revenues and increased expenditures associated with the pandemic and its response, education sector expenditures are likely to be impacted. Cuts in education investments may worsen the quality of schooling and exasperate the current teacher shortage estimated at about 100,000; • Student dropout could rise, impacting the already low transition rates to secondary education. Likelihood of school dropouts will be significantly higher for families affected by widespread unemployment and income loss. this tests households’ ability to pay to keep students in school. High costs were the leading reason respondents cited for non-attendance1. While primary education is universally affordable, secondary education often remains too expensive despite the introduction of Free Tuition Secondary Education in 2008. Secondary education is much more expensive than primary education, with median household expenditure per child enrolled in a public school close to 50 percent of the poverty line. Targeted support will be essential for creating equal opportunities for children from all socioeconomic backgrounds; • Poor and vulnerable households will be less able to pay for educational inputs and school meals. Expenditures on key educational inputs are likely to drop, potentially exacerbating the supply- 1 2015/16 Basic Report Kenya Integrated Household Budget Survey (KIHBS) Apr 26, 2020 Page 4 of 9 The World Bank KENYA GPE COVID 19 LEARNING CONTINUITY IN BASIC EDUCATION PROJECT (P174059) side shocks from school closures and (later) reduced school quality. Contracts for teachers who are employed by the parents/ Board of Management (BoM) are likely to suffer; and school feeding programs may close when parents are unable to pay the lunch levy. Over 1.6 million learners rely on the Government supported school meals program, while most girls in public upper primary schools are supported with sanitary towels through the Government’s sanitary towels programme.; and • Student mental health is likely to suffer from fear of COVID-19 and stress of social distancing. Depression among students has a lasting impact on their learning and development. Parents and teachers are unlikely to have the capacity to adequately respond to students’ mental well-being during the pandemic, given that they are also subject to elevated stress and anxieties and may not have the technical capacity to respond. In addition, students benefit from existing psycho- social support from the guidance and counselling arrangements at the school level. 6. The MoE, through KICD, has identified key challenges with the remote learning initiatives, within the CBC framework for sustainability that would need to be addressed: a) High dependency on ‘traditional’ classroom teaching and learning methods, and slow adaptation of educational technologies; b) Inadequate access to remote learning meaning that teaching, and learning are interrupted when traditional classroom methods are not available; c) Inequality between the public and private schools that have adopted a system of learner -teacher remote interaction for continued curriculum delivery and assessment during the COVID-19 period, and inequality among learners from various regions and households; d) Return to normal schooling after the current COVID-19 pandemic will find learners at different levels of learning, which has implications on school level assessment, and performance in the high stake national examinations scheduled to begin from October 2020; e) Inadequate monitoring and evaluation arrangements for the existing remote learning interventions and targeted interventions for the unreached students; and f) The emergence of content, apps and platforms that have not been verified by KICD and being marketed and offered to Kenyans is likely to create some confusion in curriculum delivery and assessment. C. Proposed Development Objective(s) Development Objective(s) (From PAD) 7. To enhance access to online and distance learning for all students in primary and secondary schools and facilitate a smooth transition in the return to school for targeted vulnerable students. Key Results 8. Project Development Objective (PDO) Level Indicators: • Students supported with remote learning interventions (online and distance programs) (male, female) (%) • Teachers trained in using remote learning methodologies (online and distance learning Apr 26, 2020 Page 5 of 9 The World Bank KENYA GPE COVID 19 LEARNING CONTINUITY IN BASIC EDUCATION PROJECT (P174059) methods) (number) • Students, previously enrolled in pre-school, primary and secondary schools, who return to school once the school system is reopened, disaggregated (male, female) (%). • Students provided access to school meal and nutrition for at least 151 learning days in a year (male. Female) (number) These indicators will be further disaggregated by grades (pre-school, grades 1 to 12), by sub-county, and by subject specialization to provide more granular reporting on progress towards achieving the objectives D. Project Description 9. This project will have three components (with subcomponents). Below is a brief explanation of each component: a) Component 1: Expanding existing remote learning opportunities for learning continuity for all students in basic education. This component has three sub-components: • Sub-Component 1: Support access and delivery of online content to all students in primary and secondary school through: (i) enhancing existing radio education channels and partnerships to reach all regions; (ii) adding new programming to the existing Government-run Education Television (EDU TV) daily transmission schedule, and establish new partnerships with other faith based, community and privately- owned TV providers to include EDU TV; (iii) strengthening the Kenya Education Cloud (e- cloud) for curation of additional content to cover core subjects in all grades; and to upgrade the e- cloud portal to make it more efficient, and to increase its capacity to support over 15 million users; and (iv) adapting online content for access via mobile phones; • Subcomponent 2: Teacher training in interactive remote learning methodologies to ensure teachers play a role such as in design and delivery of the online lessons; developing activities for students to do remotely or at home; designing simple learning plans to support parents to home school; and being on call for interaction with students and parents; and • Subcomponent 3: Create an integrated monitoring and evaluation system for remote learning interventions, and to provide support for parents and caregivers to monitoring student learning to establish utilization of the remote education services through radio, TV and e-cloud, and to provide simple tips and help desks to parents and caregivers as they support learners at home, especially while using radio, TV and mobile phones. b) Component 2: Facilitate smooth transition back to school for vulnerable students and girls. This component will support three sub-components: • Subcomponent 1: Support to the existing National School Meals program (SMP) with a ’top up’ grant for targeted nutrition support of selected schools within informal settlements, arid and semi areas; and expand provision of school meals to additional schools within the informal settlements in urban centers, and special needs schools; • Subcomponent 2: Provision of on online based Psychosocial support services to promote psychosocial well-being of learners, and to provide psychosocial support. Apr 26, 2020 Page 6 of 9 The World Bank KENYA GPE COVID 19 LEARNING CONTINUITY IN BASIC EDUCATION PROJECT (P174059) c) Component 3: Project Coordination, Communication, and Monitoring and Evaluation to support monitoring school attendance in all schools; to conduct a learning assessment to identify students who need targeted support, and to inform development of remedial programs for these children; to build capacity of MoE to conduct virtual meeting during the COVID-19 period; and to support overall project management, communication, monitoring and evaluation. . . Legal Operational Policies Triggered? Projects on International Waterways OP 7.50 No Projects in Disputed Areas OP 7.60 No Summary of Assessment of Environmental and Social Risks and Impacts . E. Implementation Institutional and Implementation Arrangements 11. Like the Kenya GPE PRIEDE project, the project implementation will be mainstreamed into the government education management system. The MoE, State Department of Early Years and Basic Education (SDELBE), will be the main implementing agency for the project. The Principal Secretary (PS) in charge of the SDELBE, who is also the MoE’s accounting officer, will have the primary responsibility for efficient and effective implementation of the project for achievement of the stated development objectives. All the key decisions, including financial and procurement, related to the project implementation will be vested with the PS. 12. The Directorate of Projects Coordination and Delivery (DPC&D) will oversee the overall Project implementation. The DPC&D will be instrumental in the project’s operational matters: it coordinates with the National Treasury, Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) and the MoE’s internal Finance Department for timely flow of funds and processing of withdrawal applications; ensures compliance with fiduciary and safeguard requirements of the projects; and carries out necessary M&E. The DPC&D is empowered by the PS to take some day-to-day decisions required for the project implementation. 13. The existing Kenya GPE PRIEDE Project Coordination Unit (PCU), which is under DPC&D will be primarily responsible for the day to day project management and coordination, communication, safeguards, fiduciary and monitoring and reporting. The PCU is functional and has the capacity to also implement this project, considering that some of the key project activities (for this project) will be directly executed and monitored by the TSC, KNEC and KICD. These agencies are implementing entities of the PRIEDE and SEQIP projects, therefore have experience with World Bank procedures. The PRIEDE PCU is currently composed of technical component leads and their deputies; accountants; procurement officers; a communication officer; an ICT officer; and a safeguards officer. Each component lead will be assigned the Apr 26, 2020 Page 7 of 9 The World Bank KENYA GPE COVID 19 LEARNING CONTINUITY IN BASIC EDUCATION PROJECT (P174059) responsibility to coordinate with a relevant implementing agency or Directorate2 to collect monitoring data to inform project progress reports and updating of the results framework. . CONTACT POINT World Bank Ruth Karimi Charo Senior Education Specialist Borrower/Client/Recipient The Republic of Kenya Implementing Agencies Ministry of Education Dr. Belio Kipsang Principal Secretary ps@education.go.ke FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT The World Bank 1818 H Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20433 Telephone: (202) 473-1000 Web: http://www.worldbank.org/projects APPROVAL Task Team Leader(s): Ruth Karimi Charo 2 The results framework includes responsibility for each component lead. Apr 26, 2020 Page 8 of 9 The World Bank KENYA GPE COVID 19 LEARNING CONTINUITY IN BASIC EDUCATION PROJECT (P174059) Approved By Environmental and Social Standards Advisor: Practice Manager/Manager: Country Director: Camille Anne Nuamah 29-Jun-2020 Apr 26, 2020 Page 9 of 9