Nepal: Supporting School Sector Development Plan

Education / Education sector development - Secondary

Building on its extensive experience in education, ADB will support the government''s SSDP through results-based lending (RBL). Program-based lending was the appropriate modality to support the School Sector Reform Program (SSRP) which preceded SSDP. The RBL modality is most suited to support the SSDP because (i) the government has demonstrated strong leadership and commitment to implementing reforms in critical areas; (ii) the program requires greater emphasis on translating policies already in place to implementation; and (iii) the JFPs have agreed on a single results framework and a common disbursement-linked indicators (DLIs) framework with the government which increases harmonization, reduces administrative burden and enables effective focus on results. ADB and other JFPs have coordinated due diligence assessments, harmonized key DLIs, and agreed on joint program reviews. A program action plan (PAP) will support timely DLI achievement. ADB's due diligence assessments provide reasonable assurance for effective achievement of results through RBL, with measures to strengthen program systems.

The SSDP builds on achievements and lessons from the SSRP. Midterm and final evaluations of the SSRP noted that while much progress had been made in access and equity in basic education, quality needed a stronger focus. The SSDP will support comprehensive interventions to improve the quality of basic education and expand access to quality secondary education. The SSDP will ensure that all newly built schools and classrooms meet disaster risk resilience standards. The National Reconstruction Authority is implementing a large-scale post-earthquake program for reconstruction and retrofitting of schools in 31 districts, including an ADB project.

ADB has been a leading development partner in education and the program will build on this experience. ADB funding will provide much-needed financial leverage for more investments to improve access to and quality of school education, with particular focus on secondary education. ADB financing will add value through key initiatives, such as the model school program, examination reform, provision of subject teachers, and improved school grant management system. The program will catalyze capacity building and system strengthening in the sector. ADB and other JFPs will adopt strong mitigation measures to address risks in public financial management, procurement, social and environment safeguards, and governance in school education. ADB will facilitate innovative knowledge solutions to implement key SSDP components such as (i) ICT-enriched teaching and learning; (ii) teacher professional development; (iii) activity-based pedagogy for math, science, and English; and (iv) model school development.

Access to basic and secondary schools improved

Quality of school education improved

Model school program pilot tested

School system governance and management improved

Output 1:

i.The math, science and English kits are at the final stage of approval by CDC.

ii. This will be updated in November when consolidated information will be shared by the government.

iii. A revised pro-poor scholarship scheme has been approved and it has been rolled out to schools in various districts in the academic year of 2017-2018.

Output 2:

i. Kits development has been completed in collaboration with the Curriculum Development Center and will be made available in 1500 schools in 2019-2020 academic session.

ii. Discussions have begun to scope out standardization of grade 10 and grade 8 examinations.

Output 3:

i. First round of review of 100 school improvement plans for model school program intervention is nearing completion. The government expects to approve the plans by November 2018.

ii. web-based EMIS with disaggregated data for gender and social groups is in progress.

Output 4:

i. First round of EMIS verification completed in 2017 which showed not a significant difference based on third-party verification.

ii. Percentage of recurring audit observations in SSDP no more than 5.0% of total expenditure- this output needs to be revisited given that fund flow, expenditure recording has been changed due to federalization.

The implementation of the loan is undertaken in close coordination with the Ministry of Education and 8 other Joint Financing Partners (JFPs). Regular consultations on implementation are ensured through ongoing review missions. Joint Review Missions with other JFPs are also organized to monitor the progress of achievement of the DLIs.

Extensive consultation is also ongoing given the restructuring of government into federal structure