Bangladesh: Secondary Education Sector Investment Program - Tranche 2

Education / Education sector development

ADB and the Government of Bangladesh are working together to help secondary school students gain the skills needed to obtain quality jobs and move the country forward.

The Secondary Education Sector Investment Program is helping Bangladesh's secondary schools become more efficient, equitable and higher-quality. This includes the use of information and communication technology, as well as vocational programs, teacher training and the improvement of exams. Poor students are being assisted under the program and equity between the education of girls and boys is a key focus.

The Bangladesh economy has grown rapidly and poverty has declined sharply. This is due in part to the progress the country has made in increasing enrollment in basic and secondary education. Despite the achievement, Bangladesh has a formidable task ahead in making secondary education more efficient, equitable, and relevant to the economy's needs. Each year, two million young people enter the job market and many of them do not have the skills needed to help propel Bangladesh to the next level of development.

Bangladesh needs to invest more in education to transform the rising working-age population into a productive source of skilled workers. Seizing this opportunity would help the country meet its goal of becoming a middle-income country by 2021.

Quality and relevance of secondary education enhanced

Equitable access and retention of secondary education increased

Secondary education management and governance strengthened

The National Evaluation and Assessment Center (NEAC) Concept/strategy paper has been finalized, and the Act for parliament's approval has been drafted, translated in Bangla and submitted to MoE. Enactment of the law is awaited which requires significant iteration by a number of government agencies, and finally by the Ministry of Law and Parliamentary Affairs. Completion of the training programs is dependent on the COVID-19 situation. Six lots out of 10 under the two ICB packages (GD-50a, Lot 2, 3, 4 and GD-50b, Lot 1, 4, 5) are under evaluation and CPTU clearance.

Transfer of directly recruited human resources under SESIP (T 1 & T2) to revenue budget through appropriate authority's approval is awaited.

A plan for training of the Head Teachers/Supers of secondary schools/ madrasahs on effective delivery of curriculum developed. According to the plan, a training manual developed, printed and distributed in June 2017. MT Training commenced in October 2017 and completed in April 2018. A total of 25866 (F 1051) HTs/Supers trained in the zonal headquarters. Total number of Female HTs in the secondary schools is 1285 which is less than 6% of the total HTs.

A refurbishment plan for science equipment developed in June 2018 by the individual consultant on science teaching. The plan is being implemented after approval.

Distribution of science equipment to 10,000 schools/madrasahs selected under Tranche 2 [schools 7281 (Girls: 1012 and madrasahs 2719 (Girls: 322)] covering five zones has been completed under package no. GD-39. Supply of furniture has also been completed in the selected schools/madrasahs of seven zones.

A Pre-vocational and Vocational Implementation Plan (PVIP) developed and approved by SHED, MoE. PVV program has commenced in 640 selected schools [548 (Girls' school-5)] and madrasahs (92) from January 2020.

Results of national public exams (JSC, SSC, HSC) are being reviewed starting from 2015. Meanwhile, review of results of public exams for the years 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018 completed.

A Resource Teachers Program (RTP) Plan has been developed under SESIP and approved by SHED, MoE. Selection of institutions (total 1000; Girls: 30) done and teacher recruitment completed in Feb 2018. The schools were selected from the underprivileged areas based on the Composite Deprivation Index of Ministry of Public Administration. The RTs (total 1,000) fielded in the selected schools in March 2018.

Development of a student tracking system is delayed due to delay in the approval of the second revised DPP. TOR has been developed for the deployment of a firm.

A plan for student award program at upazila level was prepared in October 2017. Revision of DPP was required for the implementation of the program as the fund allocation in DPP was not considered sufficient as planned. The implementation was also subsequently delayed given the late approval of the revised DPP. Furthermore, the Planning Commission advised to drop this activity from the revised DPP on the assumption that the procurement was not possible to be completed during the stipulated project period (currently December 2020). The package, thus, has also been dropped from the 18 months procurement plan with due approval from ADB.

TOR for deployment of a firm to conduct national campaign and gender sensitivity awareness was developed in 2018. However, revision was required for completion of the program as the fund was not considered sufficient to complete the task. Delayed approval of revised DPP also delayed the implementation.

Furthermore, the delayed approval of the revised DPP also impacted on the timely implementation. Thus, the Planning Commission had advised against undertaking the activity during the DPP approval process on the assumption that the activity was not viable to be completed during the stipulated project period. The package has also been dropped from the 18 months procurement plan with concurrence from ADB.

Delayed implementation for non-availability of sites. Only five sites are available out of targeted twenty-five offices. Work order issued for five sites and work commenced in four sites. However, site problem prevailing in one site. Site searching going on for other sites.

The Secondary Teacher Development Strategy has been approved by SHED on 21 Dec 2019 that included proposal for placement of subject based teachers.

A total of 512 officers under DSHE have been trained in PPR (including e-GP) in different categories i.e. TEC & TOC member, & officers related to procurement. Out of them, female participants were only about 10% (52), as very few female officers in this sector traditionally involved in the procurement area, especially in e-GP.

The DSHE Capacity Development Plan based on a systematic institutional assessment was submitted to SHED and a meeting was convened on 07 June 2018. Later on the national consultant developed the report according to the decisions taken in the meeting. DSHE needs to consider the recommendations for implementation under SESIP Tranche III/SEDP.