MODELO LÓGICO DE PROGRAMACIÓN

The Second Primary Education Development Programme (known as PEDP II) was launched as a sequel to PEDP I with the aim of expanding access to quality primary

education for all eligible children in Bangladesh. More than two dozen separate projects carried out under the umbrella of PEDP I had been seen as suffering from weak coordination and duplication. To overcome these identified weaknesses, a "macro plan" for PEDP II was jointly formulated in 2002-2003 with the participation of the concerned ministry, directorates and Development Partners (DPs). It was visualized as a Sector Wide Approach (SWAP) for the major public sector development initiatives in primary education. It covered the period July 2004 to June, 2009, but was officially launched by the Prime Minister on 8 September 2004. PEDP II is financed jointly by the Government of Bangladesh (GOB) and 11 DPs, with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) serving as the lead agency.

Programme Content

The PEDP II implementation mechanism consists of a Programme Coordination Unit headed by the Director General of Primary Education and supported by a team of international and national consultants and a Programme Liaison Unit managed by ADB on behalf of the development partners. In practice, all decision-making is subject to approval and referral to the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education, which is the de facto operating agent. The focus on the public sector and formal primary education of PEDP II has deliberately excluded the possibility of the involvement of the non- government sector in planning and implementation of PEDP II or the opportunity for promoting synergy between government and non-government providers of education or between formal and non-formal modes of programme delivery.

Recognising the fact that Bangladesh has made significant progress in increasing enrollment in the decade of the 1990s without tangible improvement in quality of education, the emphasis of PEDP II has been on primary education goals that combine access and quality. The programme has four major components: (i) Quality improvement through organisational development and capacity building at the central and field levels, (ii) Quality improvement in schools and classrooms, (iii) Quality improvement through infrastructure development, and (iv) Improving and supporting equitable access to quality schooling, paying attention to children with special needs and others chronically neglected or left out by the public system. The PEDP II programme characteristics, as enumerated in the macro plan, includes:

•A focus on both quality and access to primary schooling.

•A guarantee of essential primary school quality levels (PSQL) to safeguard the rights of all children to a basic level of inputs in the primary school.

•A child-centred approach, defining key interventions in terms of the requirements for the child to access, persist and achieve in school.

•School-level and school-focused interventions concentrating on improving both the quality and quantity of resources.

•Development of the upazila education office and the upazila resource centre (URC) as key outreach and support mechanisms.

•Systemic reform, capacity building and organizational reform at all levels in order to ensure the most effective and efficient delivery of primary education nationwide.

•Integration of the PEDP II programme within the organisational and operational systems of the Ministry and DPE to ensure that policy, procedures, processes and resources are harmonised to support project activities and to ensure institutionalisation and sustainability.

•Coordination and integration of the activities and projects of development partners within PEDP II (PEDP II Final Plan p. 45, January 2003)

Progress

In the first two years of the five year programme, the major activities undertaken have been in respect of personnel and physical infrastructure. Some 11,000 staff employed under PEDP I projects with development budget allocations have been brought under the revenue budget, thus ensuring their continuation as government personnel. The recruitment of 14,200 new teachers has been undertaken for the government primary schools. The C-in-Ed training of primary teachers has continued as has the printing and distribution of textbooks for primary school students. Progress has been made in the construction of 35,000 new classrooms. The Joint Annual Review Mission (JARM) 2005 identified 32 items under 8 key activity areas that need special attention and effort for their expeditious implementation. While the majority of these activities are underway and have made progress in the past year, certain activities still need to be closely monitored according to the review. These particularly include organizational and institutional analysis, action plans for inclusive education, development of an HRD Plan, and operationalization of SLIPs (School Level Improvement Plans) and UPEPs (Upazila Primary Education Plans).

Significant progress has not been made in respect of most of the quality imperatives of the programme in the first two years of implementation. JARM pointed out that compliance with the following assurances, to which the government is committed, is now important for achieving the access-with-quality goals for primary education envisaged in PEDP II:

•Establishment of the primary education cadre (a dedicated civil service sub- category for primary education);

•Filling of vacancies in Primary Teacher Training Institutes (PTIs), district primary education offices (DPEOs), Upazila Education Offices (UEOs), and Upazila Resource Centers (URCs) with simplified procedures to expedite the process;

•Completion of the draft decentralization/devolution plans for comments and finalization, with focus on effective implementation of school improvement plans (SLIPs), Upazila Primary Education Plans (UPEPs) and school support funds;

•Strengthening of the National Academy for Primary Education (NAPE) as an apex training and research institute;

•Restructuring of the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) especially the Primary Curriculum Wing; and

•Implementation of innovation grants.

Along with the above activities, JARM also emphasized the formulation of the HRD strategy, preparation of the innovation grant manual, development of the communication strategy, and adoption of the inclusive education strategy. All these are critical steps to ensure that implementation of field level activities will begin in earnest in FY 2006-2007 in order to demonstrate progress in key areas of quality change before the mid term review in 2007.

5.1.2 Reaching Out-of-School Children (ROSC)