The World Bank COVID19 Response, Recovery and Resilience in Education Project (COVID19 RRREP) (P174223) REPORT NO.: RES51944 RESTRUCTURING PAPER ON A PROPOSED PROJECT RESTRUCTURING OF COVID19 RESPONSE, RECOVERY AND RESILIENCE IN EDUCATION PROJECT (COVID19 RRREP) APPROVED ON JULY 20, 2020 TO ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF PAKISTAN EDUCATION SOUTH ASIA Regional Vice President: Hartwig Schafer Country Director: Najy Benhassine Regional Director: Lynne D. Sherburne-Benz Practice Manager/Manager: Mario Cristian Aedo Inostroza Task Team Leader(s): Elena Maria Roseo, Juan Baron The World Bank COVID19 Response, Recovery and Resilience in Education Project (COVID19 RRREP) (P174223) ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ASPIRE Actions to Strengthen Performance for Inclusive and Responsive Education Program COVID-19 RRREP COVID-19 Response, Recovery and Resilience in Education Project GoP Government of Pakistan GPE Global Partnership for Education MoFEPT Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training PCU Project Coordination Unit PDO Project Development Objective PREP Pandemic Response Effectiveness in Pakistan project SHIFT First Programmatic Securing Human Investments to Foster Transformation Development Policy Credit TPD Teacher Professional Development WB World Bank The World Bank COVID19 Response, Recovery and Resilience in Education Project (COVID19 RRREP) (P174223) BASIC DATA Product Information Project ID Financing Instrument P174223 Investment Project Financing Environmental and Social Risk Classification (ESRC) Moderate Approval Date Current Closing Date 20-Jul-2020 31-Aug-2022 Organizations Borrower Responsible Agency Islamic Republic of Pakistan Project Development Objective (PDO) Original PDO The Project Development Objective (PDO) is to strengthen federal and provincial capacity in the education sector to: (i) respond to and recover from the COVID-19 crisis in the short term; and (ii) lay the foundations for resilience to face future crises, with a focus on disadvantaged areas and vulnerable populations. OPS_TABLE_PDO_CURRENTPDO Summary Status of Financing (US$, Millions) Net Ln/Cr/Tf Approval Signing Effectiveness Closing Commitment Disbursed Undisbursed TF-B3319 20-Jul-2020 25-Nov-2020 25-Nov-2020 31-Aug-2022 19.85 14.58 5.27 Policy Waiver(s) Does this restructuring trigger the need for any policy waiver(s)? No The World Bank COVID19 Response, Recovery and Resilience in Education Project (COVID19 RRREP) (P174223) I. PROJECT STATUS AND RATIONALE FOR RESTRUCTURING PROJECT STATUS 1. The COVID19 Response, Recovery and Resilience in Education Project (COVID-19 RRREP) (P174223) assists the Government of Pakistan (GoP) in supporting the short and medium-term response and recovery needs under the COVID-19 pandemic. As a member of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), Pakistan received a US$ 19.85 million grant under GPE’s COVID-19 Accelerated Funding Window, and the Local Education Group designated the Bank as the Supervising Entity for the grant. The project aims to protect gains in access to education and learning, prepare for return to school, and increase the resilience of the system to future shocks through alignment and effective coordination between federal and provincial governments for an improved education planning during emergencies. The project design is simple, focused and deemed of highest priority to restore supply and demand of education services. Activities under the project are selected and implemented by provinces, while funds and procurement are managed centrally by the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training (MoFEPT). 2. The project was approved by GPE’s Board on May 29, 2020, by the World Bank on July 20, 2020, and became effective on Nov 25, 2020. The Project Development Objective (PDO) is to strengthen federal and provincial capacity in the education sector to respond to and recover from the COVID-19 crisis in the short term, and lay the foundations for resilience to face future crises, with a focus on disadvantaged areas and vulnerable populations. The project has three components to achieve its objectives: (i) Response to the urgent crisis by ensuring learning continuity (Subcomponent 1.1), Protecting students' and teachers' health, safety and wellbeing (Sub-component 1.2), and developing and implementing Distance Learning Competency Standards and Assessment Framework (Sub-component 1.3); (ii) Recovery once schools reopen through the promotion of safe schools (Sub-component 2.1) and supporting teachers and students in preparation for the recovery (Sub-component 2.2); and (iii) Resilience of the education system to respond to future crises through strengthening planning for system disruption (sub-component 3.1) and resilience, monitoring and evaluation (sub-component 3.2). In November 2021, by request of the Government, with endorsement from the National Education Partners Group, and approval of the GPE, the Project was Restructured (Level 2 Restructuring) to lengthen its closing date by 9 months, from November 2021 to August 2022 to account for delays due to COVID-19 as well as lengthy government processes required to put in place the fiduciary and staffing systems of the project. 3. The project’s implementation has advanced at a steady and stable pace, achieving considerable progress despite the challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and as mentioned in the Rationale section. Implementation is in full swing, and the project is advancing towards the achievement of its objectives and targets. Factors that had previously impacted implementation of the key activities have been resolved (including the ability to work with provinces for school-level activities following less unpredictable school closures due to the pandemic, a redirection of the Ministry’s focus away from immediate emergencies, the advancement of important precursor technical work, and the completion of lengthy government processes required for proper functioning of the project). To date, of the total grant value to GoP of USD $19.85M, USD $14.58 million have been disbursed from the WB to the MoFEPT (73.5% of grant proceeds). Of these funds, $9.75 million have been spent, an additional $1.45 million have been committed, and procurements for an The World Bank COVID19 Response, Recovery and Resilience in Education Project (COVID19 RRREP) (P174223) additional $4.8 million are currently being finalized; the remaining $3.85 million are being programmed and expected to be fully committed by August 2022. Further details on achievements under the grant are included below. Should the 3 months extension request be granted, the project is expected to fully utilize the grant resources and meet its Development Objectives. 4. Component 1 – Response, is underway and making progress. At the national level, the project is supporting the broadcasting of distance learning content through state-run Television and Radio to respond to the disruptions since the pandemic began (expected to have reached approx. 5% of households and millions of children across the country so far). Radio and Tele-school broadcasting are underway leveraging existing TV-friendly educational content created by local ed-tech firms which is aired throughout the day on a dedicated channel to maximize impact and scale of distance learning efforts. The Ministry is simultaneously airing the content on various print and social media to increase the outreach in hard-to-reach areas. MoFEPT has also conducted an extensive assessment of existing distance learning content for grades 1-12 to ensure its alignment with the Federal and Provincial SLOs. For the development and acquisition of additional distance learning content for primary and secondary grades to be broadcast via TV and online, the procurement process is ongoing and the contract is expected to be signed by end of June. A national multi-media communications campaign in multiple local languages with messaging on education continuity, reenrollment, and positive conflict resolution to cope with some of the socio-emotional impacts of the COVID crisis, all with a focus on gender is in full swing and estimated to have reached over 20 million people so far. In consultation with Provinces, reading and learning materials have been selected for distribution to 9,000 primary schools in lagging districts, and procurement is ongoing for a targeted distribution by July. These materials are expected to benefit approx. 3 million students in lagging districts. 5. Component 2 – Recovery, is also underway and making progress. The safety protocols for safe school reopening developed by GoP National Command and Operations Center and adopted by Provinces are being successfully implemented across schools in Pakistan. Procurement and distribution of hygiene supplies to 12,000 schools for safe school functioning across the country is underway, with expected school level-distribution to be finalized by July, 2022 (the original activity planned for distribution to Provincial warehouse levels, but upon request from Provincial education departments, materials will be distributed by the Project at school level). Teacher training is ongoing, and 5,159 of 15,000 teachers have been trained so far via the ‘Targeted Instruction Program (TIP); the training of remaining teachers will focus on remedial education, distance learning strategies, and formative and summative assessment practices. The project is also currently supporting technical work curated by the MoFEPT to design an assessment framework for out of school children and map-out pathways for subsequent certification and their inclusion in mainstream education. Technical studies meant to aggregate feedback form vulnerable groups especially women are underway to better inform programming that can be most effective in supporting learning recovery. 6. Component 3 – Resilience, is advancing. An inter-provincial project Steering Committee was formed and convened to discuss the key aspects of the implementation of project activities. Provinces have been engaged on all aspects of the project’s implementation, and greater coordination between Provinces and Federal has been fostered. The project is also supporting data use and strengthened capacity of key federal agencies such as the National Education Assessment The World Bank COVID19 Response, Recovery and Resilience in Education Project (COVID19 RRREP) (P174223) System (NEAS) and the Academy of Education Planning and Management (AEPAM) in establishing a datacenter for improved policy making, planning and resource allocation, which will in turn help support standardization of data collection in education. 7. In addition, due to restrictions posed by the pandemic, high turnovers within Federal and Provincial Governments, and vacancy of the Project Director position within the Project Coordination Unit (PCU) since Project effectiveness, the WB has provided enhanced implementation support to the MoFEPT, closely coordinating with and providing technical assistance to the PCU on an ongoing basis to support sustained progress of key project activities. This has included weekly implementation meetings with the PCU to identify and resolve implementation bottlenecks, focused technical assistance and reviews of activities, and enhanced procurement support. RATIONALE FOR RESTRUCTURING 8. The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly impacted the education system across the country, affecting over 40 million students and impacting project activities. More than 1.53 million cases of COVID-19 have reported in Pakistan since March 2020, along with over 30,000 deaths. Since the start of the pandemic, educational institutions across Pakistan were closed four consecutive times from March 2020 until September 2021, totaling closures of over 8 months. For the little time schools were open, uncertainty reigned over the next spell of closures, and the Ministry’s focus was turned towards emergency planning. This context greatly impacted the project’s execution for its first 12 months, especially for many school-level activities which were greatly delayed as a consequence of closures. 9. In addition, three factors have directly impacted implementation and lead to a needed extension: (i) Changes in Government Leadership over the past five months have redirected Provincial attention and affected MoFEPT’s ability to effectively coordinate with provincial departments for ongoing critical technical work for which response times have been delayed. The last two months have seen several changes in government positions at both federal and provincial levels which have had an impact on implementation. Furthermore, over the last six months, 3 out of 4 provincial Education Secretaries have been changed along with other key staff. Further changes in senior bureaucratic leadership are expected to continue impacting the project’s progress in the coming months although this is not expected to prevent the completion of activities within the revised timeframe. (ii) Provinces have requested MoFEPT’s support to achieve national school-level delivery of activities (under the Project’s original plan, items such as COVID-19 related hygiene supplies for safe school functioning, as well as the distribution of learning materials were planned to be distributed by MoFEPT at Provincial district levels); nation-wide school level distribution requires important additional work in terms of procurement, logistics and management which the MoFEPT is already undertaking but which will require additional time. (iii) Long procurement processes due to lengthy internal Ministerial processes, slower than expected technical input from provinces, and some procurements having to be recast due to inadequate market responses. While all key procurements are now underway and expected to be finalized ahead of August 2021, a three-month extension will be required to enable the completion of activities beyond August. The World Bank COVID19 Response, Recovery and Resilience in Education Project (COVID19 RRREP) (P174223) 10. The proposed Restructuring will not change the original PDO of the project, and the project will retain all existing implementation arrangements. GoP requested an extension of the project closing date on March 18, 2022, and it was approved by the National Education Development Partners Group on April 21, 2022, and by the GPE on May 6, 2022. The extension of closing date will not raise the overall risk assessment of the project, which will be maintained as moderate. II. DESCRIPTION OF PROPOSED CHANGES 11. The project closing date will be extended by 3 months, from August 31, 2022 to November 30, 2022, to support the MoFEPT in its endeavor to successfully complete project activities and ensure safe school functioning, distance learning and learning continuity, and build resilience at the system level. III. SUMMARY OF CHANGES Changed Not Changed Loan Closing Date(s) ✔ Disbursement Estimates ✔ Implementing Agency ✔ DDO Status ✔ Project's Development Objectives ✔ Results Framework ✔ Components and Cost ✔ Cancellations Proposed ✔ Reallocation between Disbursement Categories ✔ Disbursements Arrangements ✔ Overall Risk Rating ✔ Legal Covenants ✔ Institutional Arrangements ✔ Financial Management ✔ Procurement ✔ Implementation Schedule ✔ The World Bank COVID19 Response, Recovery and Resilience in Education Project (COVID19 RRREP) (P174223) Other Change(s) ✔ Economic and Financial Analysis ✔ Technical Analysis ✔ Social Analysis ✔ Environmental Analysis ✔ IV. DETAILED CHANGE(S) OPS_DETAILEDCHANGES_LOANCLOSING_TABLE LOAN CLOSING DATE(S) Original Revised Proposed Proposed Deadline Ln/Cr/Tf Status Closing Closing(s) Closing for Withdrawal Applications TF-B3319 Effective 30-Nov-2021 31-Aug-2022 30-Nov-2022 30-Mar-2023 OPS_DETAILEDCHANGES_DISBURSEMENT_TABLE DISBURSEMENT ESTIMATES Change in Disbursement Estimates Yes Year Current Proposed 2020 0.00 0.00 2021 13,500,000.00 10,965,000.00 2022 6,350,000.00 8,885,000.00 .