- Rationale
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Secondary education is at a critical stage. Previously, secondary education was highly restricted and designed to prepare a few elite people for top government and private industry jobs. The growing local economy in Bangladesh, and linkages with the global economy have created demand for a productive workforce that is prepared for local production and commercial markets. Further, secondary education of girls will increase their chances to obtain paid employment, higher earnings, greater agricultural productivity, improved family health, and qualification for higher education. The secondary education system therefore needs to adapt to recent changes in the economy. The Project aims to lay the foundation for a reoriented secondary education system that is relevant to this growing formal market as well as to social needs. The Project will support interventions that will improve the quality of learning that takes place, including a reform of the system so that it prepares students for the world they will enter upon completion of secondary school. The Project is also designed to improve access of girls and poor students in underserved areas to quality secondary education. The Project is formulated as a sector loan within the framework of the Government's Secondary Education Sector Development Plan (SESDP), 2000-2010, and associated policies, and with the aim of long-term involvement in the subsector. The Project will cover six years of the SESDP and will focus on laying the foundation for a comprehensive and systemic reform of secondary education, including policy and institutional reforms and capacity building.
- Objectives and Scope
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The overall objective of the Project is to assist the Government in implementing its SESDP. Under SESDP, the Project will help strengthen institutional capacity of the Ministry of Education (MOE) to plan, manage, and monitor the secondary education system and to improve the use of scarce educational resources by assistance to (i) policy support and strategic planning, (ii) decentralized management, and (iii) performance-based management. To help build support systems for improved quality, the Project will (i) strengthen the capacity for curriculum development, (ii) privatize textbook production, (iii) reform the examination system, (iv) improve teacher education, (v) strengthen school management and supervision, and (vi) establish a school improvement fund for schools in underserved areas. The Project will help expand equitable access to secondary education by providing (i) new secondary schools or classrooms in underserved areas, and (ii) stipends for girls.
- Policy Dialogue
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Policy dialogue has focused on (i) reform of the education system; (ii) performance related subventions; and (iii) the continuation of the program to provide stipends for girls. The policy matrix agreed to by the Government as part of SESDP identifies a number of policy reforms in the areas of management, quality and equitable access.
- Environment Category:
C
- Environment Impact and Mitigation
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Environmental implications were reviewed, and no significant adverse environmental impacts were identified.
- Social Aspects and Remedies
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Nationally, about 40 percent of the rural population is very poor and 57 percent is poor. Differences in poverty between geographic areas depend more on area characteristics than on differences in the characteristics of households located in these areas. The Project has a pro-poor focus. About 60 percent of the total project cost will be provided to improve equitable access through school construction and stipends for females. New schools and classrooms will be constructed for students in rural, underserved areas where most of the students will be poor. The Project's stipends for females program is targeted at rural schools in the most disadvantaged thanas. The quality of secondary education is poor, particularly for schools in rural areas and disadvantaged urban areas. Dropout rates are higher and pass rates lower in rural areas. This represents a major wastage in private investments. The Project's focus on quality improvement and links between school performance and subventions will in the long term contribute to reduced inequities among beneficiaries. Improved quality, including improved internal efficiency, will also reduce the cost of secondary education, thereby freeing up resources to encourage school enrollment and attendance among the poor.
- Benefits and Beneficiaries
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Primary beneficiaries will be approximately 10 million students (about 4.5 million girls) enrolled in secondary education between 2000 and 2010 who will benefit from improved quality of education, thus graduating with better examination scores and more appropriate and employable skills. About 765,000 person-years of education will be provided for girls living in disadvantaged thanas, and 35,000 poor students in underserved areas will be able to enroll in new secondary schools. The focus on girls and underserved populations will redress current disadvantages and lead to more equity in access to wage and self-employment income opportunities. Secondary education graduates of improved quality will contribute to human development and improved status of women by increasing the number of students qualified for higher education, improving living standards and health, reducing population growth, and providing people with the means to engage in productive employment.
- Public Consultation
- Arranged by Bank and TA Consultants
- Date for Consultation : April-July 1998 through field visits, surveys and focus group discussions, including 40 secondary schools in five different zones.
- Groups Consulted : Staff from MOE and DSHE, teachers, head teachers, administrators, community members, and parents.
- Beneficiary Participation in Formulation
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Representative beneficiaries at the central, district and village level were consulted during project preparation through a series of visits and workshops. In addition, the formulation of SESDP involved consultation with a large number of stakeholders and communities.
- Beneficiary Participation in Implementation
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DSHE staff, communities, schools, head teachers and school management committees (SMC) will play key roles in the design and pilot testing of models for decentralized management, school performance based management, and school supervision. Communities, head teachers and SMCs will be driving forces in the identification and implementation of activities financed by the school improvement funds.
- Consulting Services
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Management Advisory Services, Training, Fellowships, and Consulting Services:
A contract will be entered into between the Government and a lead firm or organization in association with international link institutes for the provision of management advisory services, international and in-service training, fellowships, research, and policy studies. Prequalification, evaluation, and ranking of firms/organizations will be in accordance with arrangements satisfactory to the Bank. Prequalified firms/organizations will be invited to submit technical proposals. All firms meeting a minimum threshold for technical merit will be invited to submit a financial proposal. The overriding consideration in the evaluation for the award of the contract will be quality; however, due consideration will be given to the price. Taking into account the number of consultants to be recruited, the expertise needed to evaluate link institutes, and the necessity to accelerate the award of the contract for this Project, the Government has requested, as an exception to the Bank's usual procedures, that the Bank directly undertake the prequalification, evaluation, and ranking of the lead firm or organization. The Government will remain responsible for the negotiation of the contract. For prequalification criteria, see Procurement Notices in ADBBO.
- Procurement
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Procurement Notice
Loan BAN 1690: Secondary Education Sector Improvement Project
1. The People's Republic of Bangladesh has received a loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to finance a Secondary Education Sector Improvement Project. The Project will focus on laying the foundation for a comprehensive and systemic reform of secondary education in Bangladesh, including policy and institutional reforms and capacity building and will support interventions that will improve the quality of learning that takes place, preparing students for the world they will enter upon completion of secondary school.
2. A lead firm or organization will be retained for the provision of a combination of management and consulting services, international and in-service training, fellowships, research and policy studies, and other related goods and services (management advisory services) for the project. The lead firm or organization will associate with appropriate link institutes that will provide contracted services, and with appropriate domestic consultants (a consortium). The lead firm or organization will manage the overall implementation of the contract and all services to be provided. Approximately 93 person-months of international consultants and 221 person-months of domestic consultants will be required for capacity building in the secondary education subsector. Specialist services, studies, fellowships and training in the disciplines of curriculum development, teacher training, assessment, and management will be provided through the link institutes. Consortiums will be prequalified on the basis of relevant experience, expertise, and technical capabilities, and only prequalified consortiums will be invited to submit proposals. Prequalification is open to lead firms/organizations and link institutes from eligible member countries of the Bank.
3. Prequalified bidders will be invited to submit a proposal. The technical proposals will be evaluated to determine which bidders would be capable of implementing the Project to meet predetermined standards. The bidder that meets the standards and submits the lowest evaluated bid will be invited for contract negotiations.
4. The Government has requested, as an exception to the usual procedures, that the Bank directly undertake the prequalification, evaluation, and ranking of the lead firm or organization. The Government will remain responsible for the negotiation of the contract. The consortiums should not be affiliated with contractors anticipated to bid for other supply and/or service contracts under the project. Furthermore, the Bank has introduced measures to ensure that no corrupt or fraudulent practices are employed in competing for, or in executing a Bank-financed contract.
5. The prequalification of consortiums will be based on the following criteria:
For the lead firm or organization:
(i) Experience in managing large education projects (US$3million or more) in South Asia/South East Asia or in developing countries at similar economic development stage as Bangladesh.
(ii) Experience in managing education contracts in association with other firms, organizations or institutes.
(iii) Demonstrated capacity to provide staff resources and expertise (e.g., names, qualifications, and relevant managerial/technical experience over the last ten years of key personnel for the project).
(iv) Past and present major work of similar nature (must have acted as lead firm for at least two projects of a similar nature in the last ten years).
(v) Current contract commitments/works in progress to show that sufficient capacity exists to manage the proposed project.
The lead firm will identify appropriate internationally recognized link institutes which will be part of its consortium. The criteria for the link institutes include:
(i) The experience in relevant discipline(s), (i.e., curriculum development, teacher training, student assessment, and management) as indicated by faculty availability, courses provided, students enrolled, PhD/MA candidates produced, and research published.
(ii) Availability of appropriate and sufficient staff resources and expertise (e.g., number of faculty and percentage of PhD among faculty).
(iii) Past and present work of similar nature (each institute must have been involved in at least two projects of a similar nature in the past ten years, i.e., provision of specialists, training, research, and management of projects).
(iv) The percentage of the foreign student intake, provision of suitable facilities, and special features to facilitate the learning and supervision of foreign students.
(v) Demonstrated experience in programs of cooperation with other institutes (e.g., percentage of faculty/student exchange), preferably from developing member countries of the Bank.
(vi) Experience of working in education in Bangladesh, South Asia, or Asia.
6. Firms interested in being prequalified for the project should submit their prequalification application to the Bank. The application should provide information addressing the prequalification criteria described above. The prequalification application should not exceed 20 pages and be submitted before 31 December 1999 to:
Gudrun Forsberg
Senior Education Specialist
ADB/AWEH
PO Box 789
0980 Manila
Philippines
Fax: (632) 636-2310
E-mail: gforsberg@mail.asiandevbank.org
Prequalification: Evaluation Criteria
Lead firm or organization (300 points)
(vi) Experience in managing large education projects in South Asia/South East Asia or in developing countries at similar economic development stage as Bangladesh. (90 points)
(vii) Experience in managing education contracts in association with other firms, organizations or institutes. (60 points)
(viii) Demonstrated capacity to provide staff resources and expertise. (50 points)
(ix) Past and present major work of similar nature. (80 points)
(x) Current contract commitments/works in progress to show that sufficient capacity exists to manage the proposed project. (20 points)
Link institutes (700 points):
(vii) The experience in relevant discipline(s). (170 points)
(viii) Availability of appropriate and sufficient staff resources and expertise. (120 points)
(ix) Past and present work of similar nature. (150 points)
(x) The percentage of the foreign student intake, provision of suitable facilities, and special features to facilitate the learning and supervision of foreign students. (90 points)
(xi) Demonstrated experience in programs of cooperation. (90 points)
(xii) Experience of working in education in Bangladesh, South Asia, or Asia. (80 points)
- Contacts
- Bank
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Gudrun L. Forsberg
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Principal Education Specialist
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RSAN
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Tel. No.:
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(632) 632-6878
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E-mail:
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- Executing Agency
- Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education
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Contact Person
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Prof. Naiyar Sultana, Director General
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Tel. No.
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(880-2) 9563390 / 9553542
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- Remarks
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None
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