Bangladesh : Primary Education Sector Development Program

Education / Education sector development

The TA have the following outputs:

(i) situation analysis based on rapid assessment of PEDPII implementation and lessons learned;

(ii) a macro/sector plan for the proposed PESDP including a common policy and financing framework and joint partnership agreement to provide options for coordinated financing from the Government and interested DPs including ADB under a program based approach; and

(iii) a program design proposal which includes clusters of pooled and parallel financing modalities to support the Government?s education for all program through flexible implementation arrangements with a particular focus on targeted capacity development to support quality and equity at school level.

The TA is being implemented in two parts: the first part involved two individual international consultants that worked with other interested development partners to assist the Government to develop a program and policy framework, joint financing agreement and help firm up the remaining tasks to support the preparation along with complementary support from other development partners to move forward jointly. This first part was implemented in Nov-Dec 2009. The second part started around mid February 2010 and is ongoing. It will continue for about 7 months.

A. Introduction

1. The design work for the Primary Education Sector Development Program (PESDP) will take more than 7 months to complete. It has two phases. The first phase will be funded by development partners, and may start by January 2009. The second phase will start in February 2009 and will be completed about July 2009. Phase 2 will be supported by Asian Development Bank (ADB) and comprises major activities required for designing the program, including reviewing and confirming some of the activities and findings in phase 1. The PPTA will be implemented in a flexible manner. The scope and financing of activities will be adjusted to accommodate contributions from other development partners as appropriate. In case development partners do not support some activities in phase 1, or if additional activities for designing the program are needed during PPTA implementation, a lump sum amount has been allocated for individual consultants to be fielded as necessary during phase 2.

B. Phase 2: The ADB Program Preparatory Technical Assistance

2. To implement the TA, ADB will employ international (23 person-months) and national consultants (63 person-months), for a total of 86 person-months. They will work as a team to achieve the tasks noted in the respective terms of references. At this stage, other interested development partners may finance consultants in parallel to undertake additional analysis of the basic education subsector and supplement the TA work.

3. ADB will engage the consultants through a firm, using quality- and cost-based selection criteria, as well as on an individual basis in accordance with the Guidelines on the Use of Consultants (2007, as amended from time to time). Under a firm, 7 international (18 person-months) and 13 national consultants (46 person-months) will be engaged. The Government will provide a qualified counterpart team of at least three specialists to assist the TA consultants. The consultants will provide their own equipment.

4. The TA team will submit (i) an inception report within 1 month of the fielding of consultants, including a TA implementation plan; (ii) a preliminary report including situation analysis and lessons learned within 2 months; (iii) a preliminary design including a common policy, financing, and monitoring framework within 4 months; and (iv) a final report within 7 months. The team will work closely with the PEDP II consultants to ensure a shared understanding and progress of the interventions.

(i) Specialists in Education Planning, Management, Monitoring and Evaluation-Team Leader and Deputy Team Leader (1 international, 6 person-months; 1 national, 6 person-months). The team leader will (a) coordinate the work of all TA consultants; (b) be responsible for the timely preparation and dissemination of all reports and outputs; (c) lead in identifying and analyzing key sector parameters including sector growth rates, challenges, coverage targets, performance and constraints in meeting EFA goals; and will determine the inputs and reforms required and the associated costs of financing such a package; (d) from the rapid assessment, other consultants' inputs, the prioritized list noted in the proposed National Plan of Action II (NPA II), and in accordance with the PEDP II Macro Plan, synthesize the individual outputs to carefully analyze the trade-off between equity and quality and develop a simple and coherent policy framework encompassing key priorities (quality, equity, management, financing, monitoring and evaluation, regulatory and legal aspects) for the subsector; (e) within the sectorwide approach framework, develop a coherent program design with proposed reforms and interventions including institutional arrangements, capacity development, and entry points and modalities for technical assistance needs; and (f) propose that key reforms be sequenced and piloted where scaling up needs to be done cautiously, and propose further development where gaps are evident.

(ii) Education Quality Improvement Specialists (1 international, 2 person-months; 1 national 2 person-months for curriculum and instructional materials; 1 national for 2 person-months for teacher development). The consultants will (a) review all reports on "learning quality" and identify priorities and options to strengthen policies, institutional arrangements, and human resource capacity to develop and implement a national primary teacher quality framework with focus on recruitment and managing teacher supply and demand, quality of teacher training programs, classroom performance monitoring, teacher registration and support for primary education cadre development, policy matters such as minimum standards for teacher quality and equivalence with other providers; (b) identify national and local expectations and explore options for developing a national basic education curriculum framework, articulating knowledge and skills in mapping nonformal, formal, and other types of programs; (c) improve the quality of basic instructional learning materials, including textbooks, for articulation with the curriculum, for incorporating authentic examples and illustrations, etc.; (d) advise on cost-effective options, without compromising quality, for providing teaching resources, such as primary education journals, information technology to support primary training institutes; and (e) build the capacity of upazila (subdistrict) resource centers.

(iii) Access and Inclusive Education Specialists (1 international, 3 person-months; 1 national, 4 person-months). The consultants will (a) review relevant reports, the inclusive framework, and initiatives such as PEDP II access and inclusive activities, Reaching Out-of-School Children project, Basic Education for Hard-to-Reach Urban Working Children project, stipends, school feeding program, Chittagong Hill Tracts, and related support in reference to indigenous and tribal children, etc., and assess impact on the poor considering their vulnerability (dropping out and nonparticipation); (b) review the implication of the above for policy options and measures to improve the school-level improvement plans (SLIPs) and upazila primary education plans (UPEPs) and as a vehicle to promote community and NGO involvement in planning and decision making to improve the effectiveness of inclusive programs in schools; (c) review ECE programs and suggest options for DPE to develop a national policy and regulations to ensure equity and equivalence in minimum standards; (d) propose mechanisms for private partners to deliver services within a national framework; and (e) propose reforms to ensure synergy between different initiatives particularly at the service delivery level through integrated planning, budgeting, capacity development, and monitoring.

(iv) Management and Capacity Development Specialists (1 international, 2 person-months; 1 national, 6 person-months). The consultants will (a) review the organizational and institutional analyses reports and experiences of the entire education sector and other sectors (health, local government, etc.) and determine the key issues and existing gap, the status of decentralization and devolution in the basic education subsector; (b) propose options for strengthening the results-based management monitoring and decision-making process, standard operating procedures, and expedite decision making particularly at DPE, BNFE, and MOPME to ensure the necessary synergy to jointly address EFA goals; (c) from lessons in PEDP II, identify key leadership capacity constraints and suggests ways to support, streamline, strengthen, and decentralize; (d) propose interventions including institutional arrangements, capacity development, and technical assistance options, differentiating the roles, responsibilities and mutual accountabilities, associated value addition, increasing capacity through public-private partnership (PPP), incentives, use of information communication technology, etc.; (e) propose options to strengthen the EMIS to support data- and evidence-based planning, management and performance auditing; and (f) from PEDP II experience, propose arrangements for implementing the Program, including development partner coordination and for improving the roles and responsibilities of the program liaison unit.

(v) Public-Private Partnership Specialists (1 international, 1 person-month; 1 national, 2 person-months). Drawing on relevant partnership experiences in Bangladesh and other countries, the consultants will (a) review the arrangements for improving social services in Bangladesh including established procedures, standard agreements, reporting and governance mechanisms, quality of service, partnership durations, and exit strategies; (b) identify areas for PPP and determine how such PPP can be operational for direct service delivery, selected technical support, assessment and evaluation, social mobilization, research, communication, etc.; and (c) review current legal arrangements and requirements, and recommend a regulatory policy and procedures that may be necessary to facilitate PPP with DPE.

(vi) Decentralization Specialist (national, 3 person-months). The consultant will (a) review progress made on SLIP and UPEPs under PEDP II and analyze strengths and weaknesses, identify critical elements to support institutionalization of SLIPs and UPEPs as regular instruments to provide direct funding to schools to improve quality, equity, and management; (b) review the capacity of SLIP and UPEP cells and the DPE's human resource development plan and identify options for strengthening knowledge and skills for nationwide implementation; (c) develop a 5-year plan for institutionalizing SLIPs and UPEPs and increasing the absorptive capacity of participating schools to evolve into effective schools; (d) review current policies and regulations for working with districts, upazilas, and schools, and suggest options for reforming them to further support the implementation of SLIPs and UPEPs; and (e) propose mechanisms to include other innovative schemes to provide resources to schools and communities to enable them to plan and implement programs for improving the quality of education based on their needs.

(vii) Infrastructure and school Mapping Specialist (national, 6 person-months). The consultant will (a) review the infrastructure needs, school mapping, and geographic information system, and propose a school mapping exercise covering all children and all types of institutions providing basic education in one district; (b) identify in the mapping exercise the demand for new and additional facilities to enroll out-of-school children and review infrastructure needs to meet the requirements for a single shift; (c) prepare a priority list of facilities for repair and maintenance in existing schools and determine if there is need to rationalize the system; (d) from experience in one district, develop a manual of procedures to replicate similar mapping in other districts; (e) develop a cost- and time-bound strategic plan to complete school mapping in all districts, including the training requirements for a team to implement the action plan; (f) review current designs for local suitability and cost-effectiveness, explore options for using local material and community labor; and (g) extending the PEDP II work, develop a detailed plan for implementing and institutionalizing the maintenance program for existing infrastructure and give the associated funding requirements.

(viii) Public Finance Economist (1 international, 3 person-months; 1 national, 6 person-months). The consultants will (a) review and assess the macroeconomic context and its implication for the PESDP and EFA based on NPA II; (b) review the public education expenditure, medium-term budget framework, and any other policy document related to primary education financing and identify areas that need to be strengthened to ensure sufficient and continuing support for the program and EFA; (c) prepare a sustainable subsector financing plan for primary education based on public expenditure analysis, enrollment projections, and minimum service standards; (d) evaluate the cost-effectiveness of different policy options that will most efficiently implement the program; (e) indicate areas for long-term improvement in subsector financial planning and management in the context of broader government planning, budgeting, and financial management systems; (f) identify adjustment costs arising from policy actions proposed under the program; prepare an economic and financial justification for PESDP, and analyze subsector financing as part of the overall sector analysis under the direction of the team leader; and (g) prepare detailed cost estimates for PESDP, in the COSTAB format and compatible with the Government's development program pro forma requirements.

(ix) Financial and Fiduciary Risk Management (1 international, 1 person-month; 1 national, 2 person-months). The consultants will (a) review the World Bank country financial accountability assessment and the public financial management reforms supported by the Department for International Development of the United Kingdom; (b) review and assess the budget processes, fund and cash flow management, financial reporting and internal control for the primary education subsector; (c) from a results-based management perspective, review the budgetary control process, including establishment of ceilings, comparison with actual expenditure, timely reporting, and adherence to budget guidelines; analyze the impediments to effective decentralization of financial powers to schools; and propose options for achieving this objective; (d) assess the financial management capability of MOPME and DPE in accordance with guidelines in the Financial Management Analysis of Projects and with particular reference to internal control, staffing requirements and skills, accounting hardware, software and training needs; (e) assess the capacity of external auditors to provide timely report in accepted auditing standards; and (f) identify and incorporate innovative features from the World Bank's sector-wide approach in the health sector.

(x) Gender or Social Development Specialist (national, 3 person-months). The consultant will (a) review inclusive education activities within MOPME, focusing on mainstreaming gender and the disadvantaged, and related mechanisms to assess the impact of the interventions on gender equality; (b) conduct a full social analysis to ascertain social and gender issues affecting the sector to enable formulation of a gender strategy including a program-specific gender action plan; (c) through consultation with students, teachers, management, development partners, school management committees, and parent-teacher associations, identify options to improve equality of women and the disadvantaged, e.g., to modify curriculum contents for students and teachers' education to make them inclusive, develop grievance protocol for resolving discrimination against minority or ethnic groups and children with disability; and (d) from the PEDP II experience of developing public awareness, identify targeted support using disaggregated data to increase the effectiveness of interventions.

(xi) Resettlement Specialist (national, 2 person-months). The consultants will (a) review the Government's policies and guidelines and assess DPE and Local Government Engineering Department's current practice under PEDP II and other relevant procedures for the resettlement of displaced people; (b) prepare a resettlement framework as required in line with ADB's policies on resettlement and considering policies on indigenous peoples and gender and development; (c) define mechanisms for disclosing resettlement information to affected persons and redressing grievances; (d) propose options for screening sample subclusters and prepare resettlement plans for selected subclusters that will require land acquisition, change in land use, relocation, or restricted access resulting in permanent or temporary socioeconomic impacts.

(xii) Stakeholder Consultation Specialist (national, 2 person-months). The consultant will review the needs identified in the inception report, and propose and facilitate the required workshops and seminars.

(xiii) Pool of International (5 person-months) and National (17 person-months) Consultants. The length of service of consultants may be extended and the type of expertise modified depending on a mutual agreement between MOPME and ADB. Individual consultants, e.g., an environmental specialist, may be hired, if needed, using funds for the pool of international and national consultants.