Third Primary & Second Education
Report No: ; Type: Report/Evaluation Memorandum ; Country: Malaysia; Region: East Asia And Pacific; Sector: Primary Education; Major Sector:
                                                    Education; ProjectID: P004324


         The Third Primary and Secondary Education Project supported by Loan 3536-MA for US$141 million was
 approved in FY92. It closed on schedule in FY96. A total of US$4.5 million was canceled due to implementation
 delays. The Implementation Completion Report was prepared by William Cooper for the East Asia and Pacific
 Region Office. The Borrower’s comments are included as an appendix.

         The project supported the human resource development goals of Malaysia’s Sixth Development Plan
 (1991-95) through providing support to primary and secondary education. There were three main components: the
 promotion of teaching quality through training, improved curricula, distance learning and innovations in maths and
 science teaching ; expansion of equitable access to education through school class and housing construction; and
 improvements to education management capacity through training and management information systems (MIS).

          Despite some implementation delays, the project achieved or exceeded most of its objectives. Transition
 rates from primary to secondary schooling have risen from 86.7 percent to 92.5 percent between 1990 and 1996.
 The proportion of degree-qualified teachers also increased by one third. Teacher training activities resulted in 330
 short course and 45 postgraduate degrees completed. Shortfalls in teacher training college construction, distance
 learning technology adaptation and delays in TA recruitment mean that some of the targeted outcomes must be
 achieved after project completion under continuing government-financed programs. School construction received
 greater emphasis than anticipated at appraisal, and classroom and housing targets were exceeded with 10,555 new
 school classrooms and 4,140 housing units built (140 percent over target). Given the objective of expanding
 equitable access, greater attention could have been paid to the equality aspects of the project, that is the extent to
 which the project improved education access in poorer, remoter districts and to girls. Achievements in
 management efficiency in the Ministry of Education were mixed: the training of government officers more than
 met targets (2,000 trained overseas vs. 1,300 at appraisal), but the Education MIS was not completed due to
 contractual delays in recruiting TA even though the MIS design and training for implementation was in place.

         No economic rate of return was calculated at appraisal or on completion. The economic benefits of the
 investment are expected to emerge in the future given that the project effectively supported the emergence of a
 technologically up-to-date education system that will equip the country to adjust to its newly acquired industrial
 status.

          OED agrees with the ICR which rates the project’s overall outcome as satisfactory, sustainability as likely,
 institutional development as satisfactory, and Bank performance as satisfactory.

          Major lessons include the need for the Bank to provide adequate supervision to help resolve project
 management difficulties, encourage more timely submission of reports and better diagnose and solve problems
 arising in more complex components; and where a project contains a combination of civil works and human
 development activities it is important not to reallocate funds to the physical works without ample justification
 because this reduces attention to the important institutional goals that may have more far reaching effects.

         The ICR is rated by OED as satisfactory except for the failure to explain why the Bank agreed to reallocate
 funds to construction at the expense of the human development and software components.

           An audit is not planned.