The World Bank China: Guangdong Compulsory Education Project (P154621) REPORT NO.: RES51424 RESTRUCTURING PAPER ON A PROPOSED PROJECT RESTRUCTURING OF CHINA: GUANGDONG COMPULSORY EDUCATION PROJECT APPROVED ON OCTOBER 31, 2017 TO PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA EDUCATION EAST ASIA AND PACIFIC Regional Vice President: Manuela V. Ferro Country Director: Martin Raiser Regional Director: Daniel Dulitzky Practice Manager/Manager: Tobias Linden Task Team Leader(s): Andrew B. Ragatz The World Bank China: Guangdong Compulsory Education Project (P154621) ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS BBT – Ban Ban Tong DOE – Department of Education DOF – Department of Finance EMP – Environment Management Plan ICT – Information and Communication Technology MTR – Mid-Term Review PDO – Project Development Objective PMO – Project Management Office PPMO – Provincial Project Management Office STEP – Systematic Transaction Exchange of Procurement The World Bank China: Guangdong Compulsory Education Project (P154621) BASIC DATA Product Information Project ID Financing Instrument P154621 Investment Project Financing Original EA Category Current EA Category Partial Assessment (B) Partial Assessment (B) Approval Date Current Closing Date 31-Oct-2017 30-Jun-2023 Organizations Borrower Responsible Agency PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA Project Development Objective (PDO) Original PDO The project development objective is to improve learning facilities and teaching quality in selected public primary and junior secondary schools in project counties. OPS_TABLE_PDO_CURRENTPDO Summary Status of Financing (US$, Millions) Net Ln/Cr/Tf Approval Signing Effectiveness Closing Commitment Disbursed Undisbursed IBRD-87910 31-Oct-2017 16-Jan-2018 02-Apr-2018 30-Jun-2023 120.00 86.22 33.78 Policy Waiver(s) Does this restructuring trigger the need for any policy waiver(s)? No The World Bank China: Guangdong Compulsory Education Project (P154621) I. PROJECT STATUS AND RATIONALE FOR RESTRUCTURING A. Project Status and Rationale for Restructuring 1. This Restructuring Paper is to support approval of a Level 2 restructuring for the China – Guangdong Compulsory Education (IBRD Loan No. 87910-CN) to: increase five end targets in the Results Framework. These changes are expected to reflect the achievement of the Project Development Objective (PDO) up to the Mid-Term Review in April 2022 and the expected achievement within the remaining project life till the project closing date of June 30, 2023. This would be the first time the project is restructured. 2. Background. An IBRD loan in the amount of US$120 million for the project was approved by the Board on October 31, 2017. The project became effective on April 2, 2018. The PDO is to improve learning facilities and teaching quality in selected public primary and junior secondary schools in project counties. This project comprises four components: Component 1. Improve School Equipment and Facilities; Component 2: Strengthen the Training and Assessment System for Teachers and Principals; Component 3: Pilot Reforms to Improve Equity and Quality of Education; and Component 4: Project management, monitoring, and evaluation. The total project cost is estimated at US$300 million, with the Loan providing US$120 million and counterpart funding making up the remaining US$180 million. (i) Progress Towards Achievement of the PDO. At the MTR, progress towards achievement of the PDO was rated as Satisfactory. The PDO was assessed as relevant and close to being fully achieved. The first PDO indicator, “Share of project classrooms where ICT is used”, has already reached 100%, while the end target is 70%. The second PDO indicator, s “The proportion of trained teachers whose teaching practice meet the minimum threshold in targeted competences”, is close to being achieved and it is expected that the targets for both disaggregated indicators for backbone teachers and teachers trained will be met. There are 19 intermediate results indicators, of which 15 have been achieved or overachieved and four indicators on track to be achieved by December 2022. (ii) The overall Project implementation progress is satisfactory. At the MTR, the DOE expressed its continued commitment to the project and endorsed the implementation plan for the last 12 months of the project. The DOE and Department of Finance (DOF) expressed their wish to scale up the project pilots beyond the project period. Since September 2021, the Provincial Project Management Office (PPMO) accelerated the implementation of all activities, particularly the pilot initiatives to improve equity and quality of education. The management of the PPMO was greatly strengthened and the PPMO was fully staffed with dedicated specialists in project management, monitoring and evaluation, financial management, procurement, and safeguards. The DOE approved the decision to keep the PPMO staff till the Project closing date in 2023, ending the problem of high turn-over of the PPMO staff which affected the Project implementation in the first few years. A consulting firm was also hired in early 2022 to supplement the capacity of the PPMO and provide support to the PMOs in the sixteen Project counties. All activities under the Project components were launched as envisioned in the Project Appraisal Document, except the development of digital educational content for students. The government decided to include this in a large government program which was launched in 2019 and completed in 2021. There is a saving of about USD13.6 million which was allocated to scale up the project activities under each component. The project has one disbursement category, so there is no need to reallocate the funds. The savings will be used for training of teachers and procurement of BBT for the remote schools in the project counties. The IBRD Loan is expected to be fully utilized by the Project closing date of June 30, 2023. (iii) Implementation Progress by Component 1 The World Bank China: Guangdong Compulsory Education Project (P154621) Component 1: Improve School Equipment and Facilities - As of April 1, 2022, a total of 34,450 BBT were procured and installed. The feedback on the BBT from the teachers and students have been very positive. The construction of 958 classrooms and 5,200 teachers’ temporary housing is financed by the counterpart funds under the Project. The government investment for this subcomponent is USD100.8 million. The construction of classrooms and teachers’ temporary housing has faced many challenges in procurement and the rising prices of building materials and labor in the past years. By May 2022, all construction works were initiated and 65% of them have been completed, and the remaining works are expected to be completed prior to June 30, 2023. Component 2: Strengthen the Training and Assessment System for Teachers and Principals - The Project supports improvements in existing training content for in-service and pre-service training of teachers and development of new training content. By March 2022, 14 sets of training contents for in-service training of teachers were developed. The material was used to train 20,767 teachers and principals in the following areas: principals’ knowledge and skills enhancement, backbone teachers’ knowledge and skills enhancement, multi-subject teaching approaches for teachers from the rural areas and ICT training for BBT allocation classes. The five-year program to train multi-subject teachers for rural primary schools in the project counties has made great progress. A total of 2,394 student teachers were enrolled in the program in 2019 and 2020. These students will finish the five-year program and go back to teach in the rural primary schools in their counties. This pilot is financed by the counterpart funds as the training will continue beyond the Project closing date and the students will graduate in 2024. The pilot received high praises from the rural schools in the Project counties. It was assessed by the Guangdong DOE as one of the successful models which is now integrated as part of the implementation policy in Guangdong Province. By May 2022, 90 percent of the training financed by the project were completed. Component 3: Pilot Reforms to Improve Equity and Quality of Education - To improve equity, the project is financing four separate pilots: (1) a pilot focusing on left-behind children, and (2) a pilot focusing on inclusive education - One hundred schools with left-behind children and 50 schools with mildly disabled children in sixteen counties were selected to pilot initiatives focused on improving equity and the quality of education. The pilots encountered initial difficulties in hiring of the consulting firms. In October 2020 the 150 selected schools entered into agreements with the PPMO to pilot the initiatives for three years. A workshop was held in April 2022 to showcase the successful initiatives, promote learning among all schools, and speed up the implementation of all activities under this subcomponent. (3) a pilot to provide mobile labs - The pilot to provide mobile labs to schools in hard-to-serve areas was delayed for three years because the PPMO faced many difficulties in the procurement of mobile lab services, primarily because there was only one supplier in the country. However, by the end of the MTR, the PPMO reached an agreement 16 mobile labs. The mobile labs were intended to help solve the problems of shortage of lab teachers, the labs in small village schools, reagents, and chemical materials for classroom testing. The feedbacks from the students who attended the classes and the teachers and principals were very positive. The mobile labs help to broaden the horizon of the students and motivate their interests in science. The use of the mobile labs is an important pilot activity under the project to improve equity and quality of education. The DOF supported the pilot and the PPMO will evaluate the pilot for impact, efficiency and cost effectiveness. (4) a school partnership pilot - The school partnership program was launched in 2020, and 1,000 schools were selected to participate. Under this program, 500 schools in sixteen Project counties receive support from 500 schools located in the developed areas of the Pearl River Delta and the urban areas of the Project counties. The supporting schools have provided “one-to-one” partnership assistance to the receiving schools by sending their best teachers and principals for improving the quality 2 The World Bank China: Guangdong Compulsory Education Project (P154621) of teaching and school management. The experience from the first year was very positive. All pilot activities are expected to be completed prior to June 30, 2023. Component 4: Project management, monitoring and evaluation - The PPMO has a team of staff in charge of monitoring and evaluation. Through the project, 75 teachers from sixteen counties, the teacher training universities, and the PPMO were trained as classroom observers. They used TEACH, a tool developed by the World Bank experts. The baseline survey was carried out successfully in 2019, and the mid-term survey will be completed in July 2022. The Project used TEACH to identify the strength and weaknesses in classroom teaching in selected schools in sixteen counties. The baseline survey report showed that the teachers would need to improve social and collaborative skills, as well as critical thinking skills. During the MTR, the World Bank team elaborated the World Bank’s COACH initiative and reached an agreement with the PPMO to pilot COACH in selected schools in sixteen project counties. The COACH initiative focuses on helping countries improve their in-service teacher professional development (TPD) programs by providing tools and guidance. COACH builds on the information collected by TEACH. While TEACH is a tool that helps identify teachers’ professional development needs, COACH helps countries leverage these insights to tailor the support teachers receive to improve their teaching, which eventually help to improve student learning. 3. Procurement. The performance of project procurement is rated satisfactory. The Project has been in compliance with the World Bank’s Procurement Guidelines and Consultant Guidelines. There is no significant issue relating to the procurement or contract management. The updated procurement plan was prepared and submitted in STEP system after the MTR. The PPMO should start the procurement of goods and equipment required for classrooms for left- behind children and disabled children, and the procurement of batch IV of BBT as soon as possible. Procurement post review is scheduled for June 2022. By May 2022, 70 percent of the procurement activities have completed. 4. Financial Management. The financial management is rated Moderately Satisfactory. The project is in compliance with the World Bank financial management procedures. To monitor Project implementation and disbursement regularly, the PPMO is recommended to prepare quarterly disbursement projections for 2022 and 2023. In addition, the variance analysis should be conducted by all county Project Management Offices regularly to identify the bottlenecks and take remedial actions to ensure all activities can be executed as planned. The analysis result should be reflected in the semiannual progress report submitted to the Bank. There is no outstanding audit report, and the next IFR is not yet due. 5. Environmental and Social Safeguards. The environmental and social safeguards rating is Satisfactory. The project is in compliance with OP/BP 4.01 and OP/BP 4.12. Since the construction of the classrooms and teachers’ dormitories is conducted within the existing campuses, the safety of the students and teachers during the construction phase is the top priority of the county PMOs, schools and contractors. The environmental management trainings were organized for the contractors before the civil works start. It is observed that all construction sites are appropriately isolated from other part of the campus to ensure the minimum adverse impacts on the students. The mitigation measures in the Environmental Management Plan (EMP) have been taken timely by the contractors. The PPMO staff, the relevant contractors, and construction supervisors confirmed that no severe or serious incidents occurred during this supervision period. There are no social safeguard issues on resettlement under the project. 3 The World Bank China: Guangdong Compulsory Education Project (P154621) 6. As noted above, Component 3 includes activities to support the most disadvantaged students and improve equity in the project counties. These activities started slowly but are now underway and additional activities are being planned with the resources from the cost savings. Evaluations are planned to inform policy and scale up. 7. Compliance with Covenants. The project is in compliance with legal covenants. 8. Citizen Engagement. The project has established and implemented various mechanisms to ensure proactive and robust engagement with affected persons and stakeholders. The environmental and social assessments consulted multiple stakeholders as a way of informing project design and identifying mitigation measures. In addition to the existing grievance mechanism of the Guangdong Department of Education, the PPMO established a grievance mechanism to receive complaints under the project to ensure that the project direct beneficiaries are satisfied with the project investment, a survey was conducted in late 2021 by an independent group of experts in 160 schools with a total of 45,349 students, teachers, and student parents who are the project direct beneficiaries in sixteen counties. The survey shows that BBTs help the teachers in preparing the classes, sharing their experiences with other teachers, learning from master classes given by experienced teachers, and improving their classroom teaching quality; BBTs also help the students to increase their interests in classroom learning through interactions with teachers and other students, and easy access to a large resource of knowledge. RATIONALE FOR RESTRUCTURING 9. A Level 2 restructuring is being proposed to reflect the achievement of the Project Development Objective (PDO) up to the Mid-Term Review in April 2022 and the expected achievement within the remaining project life till the project closing date of June 30, 2023. 10. Risk assessment. The overall project risk remains as Moderate. II. DESCRIPTION OF PROPOSED CHANGES B. Description of Proposed Changes 11. Summary of the proposed changes: (i) Direct Project Beneficiaries were increased from 554,800 to 1,990,000 (Intermediate Results Indicator Number 1). The direct project beneficiaries have reached 1,920,000 by April 2022 due to procurement of additional BanBanTong (BBT) using costs savings through International Competitive Bidding (ICB). As the project plans to purchase more BBT in 2022 using additional savings, the end target of this indicator is proposed to be 1.99 million by June 30, 2023. (ii) Total number of classrooms with ICT installed was increased from 15,200 to 36,450 (Intermediate Results Indicators Number 2). The reason to increase of this end target is the same as above. (iii) Total number of training courses developed was increased from 3 to 14 (Intermediate Results Indicators Number 3). The project supports improvements in existing training content for in-service and pre-service training of teachers and principals as well as the development of new training content and training delivery models. The project has overachieved this indicator to reach 14 set of training content by April 2022. The change of this end target is to reflect the current status of the project achievement. 4 The World Bank China: Guangdong Compulsory Education Project (P154621) (iv) Total number of training courses approved by the expert panel from 3 to 14 (Intermediate Results Indicators Number 4). The reason for this change is the same above. (v) Total number of teachers trained from 23,600 to 50,800 (intermediate Results Indicators Number 5). The project finances teachers’ training in the use of ICT. As more ICT were installed in the classrooms, the project provided training to more teachers. 12. These changes were discussed during the last mission, and the PPMO will be requested to revise the Project Operations Manual to incorporate the updated results framework upon approval of this restructuring. III. SUMMARY OF CHANGES Changed Not Changed Results Framework ✔ Implementing Agency ✔ DDO Status ✔ Project's Development Objectives ✔ PBCs ✔ Components and Cost ✔ Loan Closing Date(s) ✔ Cancellations Proposed ✔ Reallocation between Disbursement Categories ✔ Disbursements Arrangements ✔ Disbursement Estimates ✔ Overall Risk Rating ✔ Safeguard Policies Triggered ✔ EA category ✔ Legal Covenants ✔ Institutional Arrangements ✔ Financial Management ✔ Procurement ✔ Implementation Schedule ✔ Other Change(s) ✔ 5 The World Bank China: Guangdong Compulsory Education Project (P154621) Economic and Financial Analysis ✔ Technical Analysis ✔ Social Analysis ✔ Environmental Analysis ✔ IV. DETAILED CHANGE(S) . 6 The World Bank China: Guangdong Compulsory Education Project (P154621) . Results framework COUNTRY: China China: Guangdong Compulsory Education Project Project Development Objectives(s) The project development objective is to improve learning facilities and teaching quality in selected public primary and junior secondary schools in project counties. Project Development Objective Indicators by Objectives/ Outcomes RESULT_FRAME_TBL_PDO Indicator Name PBC Baseline Intermediate Targets End Target 1 2 3 4 5 Improve learning facilities Share of project classrooms where ICT is used 0.00 0.00 0.00 30.00 50.00 70.00 70.00 (Percentage) Improve teaching quality The proportion of trained teachers whose teaching practices meet a minimum 0.00 70.00 threshold in targeted competencies (Non- cumulative) (Percentage) The proportion of trained backbone teachers whose teaching 0.00 0.00 60.00 70.00 70.00 practices meet a minimum threshold in 7 The World Bank China: Guangdong Compulsory Education Project (P154621) RESULT_FRAME_TBL_PDO Indicator Name PBC Baseline Intermediate Targets End Target 1 2 3 4 5 targeted competencies (Non-cumulative) (Percentage) The proportion of teachers trained in ICT whose teaching practices meet a minimum 0.00 0.00 60.00 70.00 70.00 threshold in targeted competencies (Non- cumulative) (Percentage) PDO Table SPACE Intermediate Results Indicators by Components RESULT_FRAME_TBL_IO Indicator Name PBC Baseline Intermediate Targets End Target 1 2 3 4 5 Component 1: Improve School Equipment and Facilities Direct project beneficiaries 0.00 26,600.00 134,591.00 300,576.00 549,592.00 554,800.00 1,990,000.00 (Number) Action: This indicator has been Revised Total number of 0.00 0.00 1,591.00 7,976.00 17,592.00 22,800.00 260,000.00 teachers (Number) 8 The World Bank China: Guangdong Compulsory Education Project (P154621) RESULT_FRAME_TBL_IO Indicator Name PBC Baseline Intermediate Targets End Target 1 2 3 4 5 Action: This indicator has been Revised Students benefiting from direct interventions to 0.00 26,600.00 133,000.00 292,600.00 532,000.00 532,000.00 1,730,000.00 enhance learning (Number) Action: This indicator has been Revised Total number of classrooms 0.00 0.00 760.00 3,800.00 8,360.00 15,200.00 36,450.00 with ICT installed (Number) Action: This indicator has been Revised Component 2: Strengthen the Training and Assessment System for Teachers and Principals Total number of training courses developed 0.00 0.00 2.00 3.00 3.00 3.00 14.00 (Number) Action: This indicator has been Revised Total number of training courses approved by the 0.00 0.00 2.00 3.00 3.00 3.00 14.00 expert panel (Number) Action: This indicator has been Revised Teachers trained (Number) 0.00 50,800.00 Action: This indicator has been Revised 9 The World Bank China: Guangdong Compulsory Education Project (P154621) RESULT_FRAME_TBL_IO Indicator Name PBC Baseline Intermediate Targets End Target 1 2 3 4 5 Total number of targeted backbone 0.00 0.00 30.00 200.00 450.00 800.00 800.00 teachers and principals trained (Number) Total number of targeted ICT teachers 0.00 0.00 1,520.00 7,600.00 16,720.00 22,800.00 50,000.00 trained (Number) Action: This indicator has been Revised Participant satisfaction with quality of training content 0.00 0.00 (Non-cumulative) (Percentage) Participant satisfaction with quality of backbone 0.00 0.00 60.00 65.00 70.00 75.00 75.00 training content (Non- cumulative) (Percentage) Participant satisfaction with quality of ICT 0.00 0.00 60.00 65.00 70.00 75.00 75.00 training content (Non- cumulative) (Percentage) Participant satisfaction with quality of principal 0.00 0.00 60.00 65.00 70.00 75.00 75.00 training content (Non- cumulative) (Percentage) Proportion of trained teachers who pass the 0.00 0.00 knowledge test after 10 The World Bank China: Guangdong Compulsory Education Project (P154621) RESULT_FRAME_TBL_IO Indicator Name PBC Baseline Intermediate Targets End Target 1 2 3 4 5 training (Non-cumulative) (Percentage) Proportion of trained backbone teachers who pass the knowledge test 0.00 0.00 70.00 70.00 75.00 75.00 75.00 after training (Percentage) Proportion of trained ICT teachers who pass the 0.00 0.00 70.00 70.00 75.00 75.00 75.00 knowledge test after training (Percentage) Component 3: Pilot Reforms to Improve Equity and Quality of Education Total number of activity and resource room teachers 0.00 0.00 trained (Number) Total number of teachers trained who 0.00 0.00 15.00 30.00 60.00 100.00 100.00 will manage activity rooms (Number) Total number of teachers trained who 0.00 0.00 26.00 52.00 78.00 100.00 100.00 will work in resource rooms (Number) Policy paper capturing recommendations based on 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 pilots and their evaluations (Number) 11 The World Bank China: Guangdong Compulsory Education Project (P154621) RESULT_FRAME_TBL_IO Indicator Name PBC Baseline Intermediate Targets End Target 1 2 3 4 5 Guidance based on policy paper issued by 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.00 1.00 Department of Education (Number) IO Table SPACE Click here to enter text. 12 The World Bank China: Guangdong Compulsory Education Project (P154621)