Myanmar : Support for Post-Primary Education Development

Education / Education sector development

The policy and advisory technical assistance (PATA) directly supports Myanmar's Comprehensive Education Sector Review (CESR), which is led by the Ministry of Education (MOE)coordinating involvement by relevant government agenciesand support by multiple development partner organizations (DPOs). As the first rigorous and comprehensive assessment of the education sector in 2 decades, the CESR will be fundamentally important in helping the government more precisely pinpoint sector challenges and providing a strengthened evidence base for needed reforms and investments. In particular, the CESR process will culminate in the formulation (by around end of 2014) of a costed National Education Sector Plan (NESP) as unified framework for prioritized and sequenced investments by both the government and DPOs. The CESR process consists of 3 phases, focusing on: (i) rapid assessment (Phase 1), (ii) in-depth analysis (Phase 2), and (iii) NESP formulation (Phase 3). The NESP will include (i) a 1-year plan covering FY2015, and (ii) interim planning for education sector investments during FY2016-FY2020 and input into formulation of the national multisector Sixth Five-Year Plan.

More specifically, the PATA directly supports MOE and other agencies in undertaking analysis, policy dialogue, and planning related to the post-primary education (PPE) subsectors consisting of the secondary education subsector (SES), technical and vocational education and training (TVET), and higher education subsector (HES) under the umbrella of the government-led, DPO-supported CESR. In particular, the PATA will provide flexible, needs-tailored support for in-depth analysis and policy dialogue and advice during CESR Phase 2, and formulation of viable PPE elements within the broader CESP to be approved at the end of Phase 3.

Inputs under the PATA TA involve close cooperation with a small number of other DPOs supporting PPE-related elements of the CESR (e.g., GIZ and UNESCO), while support for secondary education curriculum reform is closely dovetailed with JICA support for primary education curriculum reform. More generally, the PATA is closely harmonized with and complement other DPOs' support (largely focused on primary, pre-primary, and nonformal education), and also complements and builds on foundational analysis, capacity development, and other front-end support under ongoing ADB capacity development technical assistance CDTA 8187-MYA (in partnership with Australia).

The Government of Myanmar has recently stepped up efforts to strengthen the education sector, recognizing the vital role of an educated population and workforce as a prerequisite for sustained economic growth and poverty reduction. In addition to increased budgeting, this is reflected in the government's critical decision in early 2012 to undertake the CESR, which will culminate in the noted CESP to guide sector investments by the government and DPOs. In recent years, education sector development in Myanmar has been obstructed by a dearth of data (particularly affecting PPE subsectors), and the lack of concrete quantitative targets, hence the CESR will be vitally important in developing evidence-based, prioritized and sequenced sector planning as well as longer-term strategies and reforms.

The education sector has made important progress in recent years, perhaps particularly in primary education (grades 15) where despite persistent gaps and challenges the net enrolment ratio (NER) reached roughly 90% in school year SY2009/2010. At the same time, progress has lagged in PPE levels, and SES, TVET, and HES face particular challenges in key aspects of equitable access, education quality and relevance, and subsector management. As Myanmar undergoes dramatic and accelerating socioeconomic transformations, these subsectors must play a particularly critical role in promoting inclusive growth and poverty reduction, meeting rapidly evolving labor market needs, and rebalancing and equipping the economy to modernize and climb the technological ladder into higher value-added sectors and successfully enter into global markets as well as the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in 2015. Development of evidence-based policies, planning, and investments to address such gaps thus represents an urgent priority.

Viable and sequenced education planning implemented

Post-primary education subsector plans and priority investments embedded in new CESP

In-depth PPE subsector analyses completed

PPE policy and planning frameworks strengthened

Preliminary feasibility analyses completed for high-priority PPE subsector investments

The TA made significant contributions to analysis, policy dialogue, and planning under the CESR process, complementing support under TA 8187 as part of ADB's lead role in supporting post-primary education (secondary, TVET, and higher education) within Myanmar's CESR. For example:

(i) Under Output 1, the TA supported (in some cases jointly with support from other DPs) the CESR Team's preparation of 5 CESR Phase 2 technical annexes, and cross-fertilized with an additional CESR Phase 2 supplementary annex prepared by ADB staff working with the CESR Team.

These 6 technical/supplementary annexes prepared (in some cases in collaboration with other development partners) as part of CESR Phase 2 are posted at http://www.adb.org/projects/47177-001/main#project-documents

(in addition to 6 additional input reports for CESR Phases 1 and 2 supported under TA 8187, posted at https://www.adb.org/projects/46369-001/main?page-1=1#project-documents ).

(ii) Under Output 2, in coordination with support from other DPOs, the TA also supported Myanmar's development of the National Education Strategic Plan (under Phase 3 of the CESR), which is expected to be refined and finalized by the incoming government. The TA extension and increased resources also allows the TA to provide additional policy and planning support based on priorities to be identified by the incoming government. In close coordination with JICA support to primary curriculum reforms, the TA also supported MOE's drafting of the Basic Education Curriculum Framework, and MOE's preparation for lower and upper secondary education reforms, expected to be rolled out as part of the NESP with ADB support (see output 3). As another example, the TA (complementing broader ADB-DFAT support via the Mekong Business Initiative) also supported drafting of the human capital pillar of the government's Private Sector Development Framework and Action Plan (PSDFAP), and subsequently the new Working Committee on Building Myanmar's Human Capital Base established under the PSDFAP, which includes officials from several ministries, UMFCCI, and other private sector entities; and

(iii) Under Output 3, analytical and policy dialogue work under the TA have helped lay the foundations for the Equipping Youth for Employment Project (EYE), which will support the government's implementation of key reforms and NESP programs in the SES and TVET subsectors, including reforms of SES curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment, as well as reforms to shift TVET towards demand-driven and competency-based approaches.

[Original] Subject to further review, the TA will support indicatively 45.0 person-months of international and 60.0 person-months of national consultants, who will have expertise in secondary education subsectors (SES), technical and vocational education and training (TVET), and/or higher education subsectors (HES), who will be recruited as individuals and engaged by ADB in accordance with the Guidelines on the Use of Consultants (2010, as amended from time to time). Advertisements for initially required consultant positions are expected to be posted via ADB's Consultant Management System (CMS) Consulting Service Recruitment Notice (CSRN) in June 2013, with additional recruitments later in the TA. The TA will also flexibly mobilize short-term resource persons to provide specific expertise, as needed.

[March 2017 Update]: additional inputs expected to total 15 person-months of international and 20 person-months of national consultants were mobilized in February 2017 to augment the TA's support to the Ministry of Education in developing reformed secondary education curriculum. Two additional individual consultancies (for SES and TVET advisors) will be advertised by early March.