Punjab Government is planning to launch Punjab Education Development Programme (PEDP), which will be completed with the total cost of $3.440 billion with the financial assistance of World Bank and other international donor agencies to increase in net enrolment rates at primary, middle and secondary levels.
Increase in completion rates at primary level; Improvement in gender parity at primary, middle and secondary levels and for improvement in measurement of and additional support for student learning outcomes at primary and elementary levels. According to an update project report of World Bank, International Development Association (IDA) will provide US $350 million for Punjab Education Development Programme, while British Department for International Development (DFID) will provide US $90 million. Remaining amount will generate by the Punjab Government from own resources.
WB report stated that this project proposes to provide technical and financial support to the medium term education programme of the Government of Punjab, which has the objectives of: (i) enhancing the quality of school education to improve student learning outcomes; (ii) improving and expanding access through improvements in school participation and completion rates and reduction in gender and regional disparities. Underpinning the programme is strengthening of school management and governance in the education sector.
In the past, WB report said, support to the education sector was provided through Development Policy Credits (DPCs). However, the current weak macroeconomic situation at the national level is not conducive for a DPC. Important sector wide reforms are already under implementation. In addition to the Bank, two bilateral development partners want to support the programme. Due to these reasons, the team considers the programme more suitable for support under a Sector Wide Approach financed through a Specific Investment Loan (SIL). This programmatic approach will not only enable continuation of the reforms initiated through the PEDP series, but will deepen the focus on implementation and results by linking disbursements to performance. The World Bank anticipates providing $350 million over a three year period to this programme. This will be accompanied by proposed DFID parallel financing of $140 million over five years ($30 million/year), and additional support from CIDA through possible co- financing arrangements. In total, $405 million is expected for the first 3 years, approximately $135 million yearly (about 8-10 per cent of total government education expenditure).
According to WB report, the main pillars of the Government's programme are: i) enhancing the quality and relevance of education to improve student learning outcomes; (ii) improving and expanding access through improvements in participation and completion rates and reduction in gender and regional disparities; and (iii) strengthening service delivery mechanisms through improved management and governance in the education sector. The Government is implementing the following programmes aligned with these three pillars:
To enhance quality, ongoing and proposed interventions by the Government include: (i) Teacher Professional Development through the Continuous Professional Development programme, which has established a system for training and on-site support for teachers; (ii) Teacher Recruitment & Rationalisation through a merit and contract-based facility specific policy; (iii) Performance Based Incentives for Teachers and Heads of Institutions, to give incentives to teachers on the basis of performance, and also focus on development of head teachers; (iv) Textbook Development and Printing Reforms: to develop multiple textbooks for each subject and grade in all subjects on an open competitive basis; (v) the government is setting up an independent school examination system to conduct universal examinations and will institute programmes to provide targeted support to poor performing schools. On the access side, key interventions include (i) the Female Stipend Programme under which over 350,000 girls are receiving the stipend in grades 6-10 of the 15 target low literacy districts of Punjab; (ii) provision of free textbooks to students - for the academic year 2008-09, a total of 28.6 million books have been distributed covering pre grade 1 to grade 10; (iii) each school to be provided the full range of missing facilities through a Whole School Improvement approach; (iv) Upgradation programme to increase access to elementary and secondary levels; (v) Support to the low cost private sector, through the Punjab Education Foundation (PEF) to expand access and improving quality of education, especially in undeserved areas (PEF is already supporting over 400,000 students enrolled in low fee private schools). To support management and governance, key interventions include (i) implementing a comprehensive monitoring system at district and provincial levels; (ii) strengthening of district education capacity; (iii) education management reforms; and (iv) mobilisation of local communities and capacity building of school councils.
According to WB report this project will support the Punjab government programme under two components: including 1. Programme Financing (This component will account for about 95 per cent of the total financing provided by the Bank and development partners. The development partners will appraise the full sector programme, and will select 5-6 Eligible Expenditure (EE) items (out of a range of overall expenditure items) in consultation with the government that respond most directly to the desired outcomes of the programme. Examples of EEs include stipends, textbooks, grant to PEF, performance bonuses for teachers, and teacher salaries.
Determination of eligibility of disbursements will be based on: i) expenditure reports (this requires adequate financial reporting arrangements); and ii) performance reports to track accomplishment of agreed disbursement linked indicators (this requires a strong and credible internal M&E system, with periodic third party monitoring). An agreed percentage of EE will be disbursed contingent on achievement of agreed disbursement linked indicators and achievement of agreed level of expenditures (eg, 70 per cent of allocation) by the government.
2. Capacity Building and Technical Co-operation: Support will be provided to strengthen existing capacities for implementation and monitoring. About 5 per cent of the project could be allocated in two sub-categories: i) Capacity building of provincial and district education teams, and strengthening school council capacity (development partners could consider disbursing against the approved government programmes in these areas). ii) Technical assistance including workshops, training, and evaluation of ongoing programmes and development of new initiatives.
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