Page 1 PROJECT INFORMATION DOCUMENT (PID) APPRAISAL STAGE Report No.: AB3257 Project Name Elementary Education (SSA II) Region SOUTH ASIA Sector Primary education (100%) Project ID P102547 Borrower(s) GOVERNMENT OF INDIA Implementing Agency Government of India, Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Human Resource Development Shastri Bhavan New Delhi, India 110001 Environment Category [ ] A [X] B [ ] C [ ] FI [ ] TBD (to be determined) Date PID Prepared August 13, 2007 Date of Appraisal Authorization August 20, 2007 Date of Board Approval December 20, 2007 1. Country and Sector Background 1. India, a country of over a billion people with a per capita GDP of about $720, has made strong progress in reducing poverty and enhancing access to education. Poverty rates have fallen from 46% living below the MDG $1/day PPP measure in 1987 to 34% in 2004/5 . In 2002 India through its 86 th constitutional amendment made elementary education a fundamental right of every child, thus reflecting its deep commitment to education. The Federal Government followed up on this by launching a nation-wide Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS), Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) with the aim to provide quality elementary education 1 to all children by 2010. In 2004, the Bank, along with the Department for International Development (DFID) and the European Community (EC) pooled approximately USD 1 billion which was expected to be 30 percent of the Government�s own resources, and committed their support to the SSA for a four year period, through an Elementary Education Project. Due to accelerate disbursement and implementation, the credit was disbursed nine months in advance. The Development Partners (DPs) have been requested now for a second phase of external support to the program, which is still ongoing and will continue till 2010. 2. The Elementary Education Project, within SSA, had ambitious objectives - to increase enrolments, to reduce out-of-school children by at least 9 million between 2004-7, narrow existing gender and social gaps, and enhance the quality of education of all elementary school students. Data show that significant progress has been made in access and equity: � From a baseline of 25 million out of school children in 2003, the numbers have reduced to about 9.6 million in 2006, thus exceeding the project target. There is also a steady movement towards universal enrolment with about 185 million children currently enrolled at the elementary level in all types of schools, including Education Guarantee Scheme (EGS) Centers and Alternative and Innovative Education (AIE) Centers, which is a significant increase from the 160 million enrolled 1 Elementary education is defined as grades 1-8. Primary education is a subset of elementary education and is defined as Grades 1-5. Page 2 in 2002. This increase in enrolment is particularly evident in previously under -served rural areas. During this period, Net Enrolment Rates (NER) at the elementary level have risen by 10 percent to about 85 percent; � The transition rates from primary to upper primary have improved from 75 percent in 2002 to 83 percent in 2006; and � With regard to equity, there has been a significant reduction in gender gaps, and for children belonging to marginalized groups such as Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST), minorities, children from economically lowest strata, and educationally and economically laggard States. This increase in attendance has been more remarkable during the period 1999-2000 to 2004- 2005 compared to previous periods. Analysis of the National Sample Survey (NSS) education rounds shows that the gender gap in the Age Specific Attendance Rate (ASAR) among 6-13 years age group have narrowed tremendously (from 18 percentile points in the mid-1980s to 5 percentile points in 2004-05), and so have the rural-urban gaps (from 24 percentile points to 6 percentile points in 2004- 05). The ASAR gap between Scheduled Tribe (ST), Scheduled Caste (SC) and the general community has also been narrowing. The most remarkable reduction in ASAR gaps has been between the richest and the poorest economic quintiles (based on monthly per capita expenditure quintiles) � from 42 percentile points in the mid-1980s to around 15 percentile points in 2004-05, with the progress during the SSA years associated with a noticeable acceleration in this trend. 3. While overall there has been notable progress since 2002, India is still some distance from the goals it has set for itself within the SSA Framework (2002) of universal primary school enrollment and completion and the elimination of all gender and social disparities by 2007; universal completion and elimination of all disparities in elementary education by 2010; and ensuring education of satisfactory quality for all children. GoI estimates that about 9.6 million children, which constitute the �hardest to reach� category, are still out of school � most of these live in just a handful of states, namely: Bihar, UP, Jharkhand and West Bengal. There has been considerable variation in achievement of access and equity goals across States and Districts. Furthermore, while it is heartening that more and more children are now coming into school, dropout rates remain high in many states, there is often low student and teacher attendance and the quality of education is still poor � as reflected in the low mean achievement scores revealed by the baseline surveys, for grades 3, 5 and 7, conducted by the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT). These low levels of learning are corroborated by more recent data from other sources (e.g. the independent Annual Status of Education Reports 2005 and 2006, and reports of state managed learning assessment systems including those from Andhra Pradesh, UP, Rajasthan and Orissa). These reports also show considerable variation in learning achievements across schools and across social categories. Hence, the quality with equity challenge is significant, and likely to erode the gains in access and equity, if not tackled in the near future. 4. There were several reasons underlying poor quality of education in the early years of SSA. These included limited emphasis on classroom processes, on teacher accountability and on the content and methodology of teacher training. There was also inadequate accountability of schools to locally elected bodies and Village Education Committees (VECs)/Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs), and inadequate emphasis on monitoring and evaluation of quality initiatives and building in lessons learned into improving program design. However, as the program has evolved to emphasize education quality, addressing these issues has become a key priority. 5. Recognizing this, the thrust of SSA implementation in the 11 th Plan Five Year Plan (2007-12) will be on quality improvement within an overall framework of equity�. Enhanced focus is being given to interventions aimed at reducing dropout, improving attendance and measuring and enhancing quality. 2. Objectives Page 3 6. The project�s development objective is to significantly increase the number of 6-14 year old children, especially from special focus groups, enrolled, regularly attending and completing elementary education and demonstrating basic learning levels. 7. This will be measured by the following Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): 2 � Reduction in the number of out of school children from 13.4 million to 4.9 million; � Enrolment shares of girls, SCs, and STs, in primary and upper primary maintained or increased relative to their share in the population at the national and state levels; � Attendance rates of students at primary and upper primary level increases from 70% and 75% respectively to 85% and 90%; � Retention rate at primary level increases from 71% to 75%; � Transition rate from primary to upper primary increases from 83% to 89%; � Learning levels adequately and regularly monitored; � Improvement in learning levels at Grade 3. 3. Rationale for Bank Involvement 8. The Government of India (GoI) has requested the Bank (as well as DFID and the EC) for further assistance in addressing this ambitious agenda. SSA II is envisaged as the second phase of donor support to the Government�s continuing SSA program. The rationale for Bank support is compelling. First, the Bank and other Development Partners have supported the elementary education sub-sector in India over the past decade through the GoI�s District Primary Education Program (DPEP), and SSA I. The Bank�s 2004 Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) highlights the importance of supporting SSA � both in terms of meeting GoI�s development and poverty reduction goals, as well as moving towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on a global scale, particularly Universal Primary Education and Gender Equality and Women�s Empowerment. Secondly, continuing support for SSA could facilitate the broadening and deepening of the quality agenda, the success of which is critical to achieving the goals of the program. Third, supporting the achievement of high quality elementary education is a critical foundation for higher levels of education and skills which are likely to have a significant impact on economic development. Finally, while the Development Partners� financial contribution will only be a small slice of the Government�s own resources, past experience indicates its value addition in terms of bringing in not only global experience by way of technical assistance, but also contributing to greater rigor and efficiency in implementation, monitoring and evaluating the program. 4. Description 9. SSA II is the second phase of the Development Partners� (DPs) support to the Government�s ongoing and evolving SSA program. SSA is a ten year Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) of GoI running from 2001 to 2010. The project will finance State and District Annual Work Programs which support the above Project Development Objective. The key thrust and categories of activities financed under SSA II include: 10. Improving quality : The thrust on quality in the second phase of the program is reflected broadly in the proposed quality enhancement framework with a clear focus on capacity building and ensuring basic learning skills. The framework has the following main pillars: ensuring basic 2 While the SSA target is universal elementary school enrolment and completion � achieving 100 percent enrolment and completion is unrealistic. The aim is to come as close to achieving the targets as realistically feasible. Page 4 provisioning to create enabling learning conditions for all children; capacity building and academic support to state and sub-state structures; monitoring learning outcomes and research and evaluation of quality initiatives. 11. Universalizing access and promoting equity: A combination of demand and supply side interventions are being financed to enable the hard to reach to attend school. These include the establishment, construction and extension of primary and upper primary schools in districts where access is still an issue, and provision of teachers. Demand-side interventions include provision of free textbooks, providing stipends for girls and SC/ST students, residential schools for girls where access and security issues persist and mid-day meals (including through convergence with other programs outside of SSA). Financial subventions are also provided to private aided schools to encourage them to subsidize enrolment of students. 5. Financing Source: ($m.) BORROWER/RECIPIENT 9212 International Development Association (IDA) 500 DFID/EC 375 Total 10087 6. Implementation 12. The World Bank, DFID and EC will appraise the project jointly, and will be pooling their funds to support the program from 2007/8-2009/10. Of the approximately $7.3 billion total project cost, States will contribute 50 percent, GoI will contribute 37 percent and DPs 13 percent (the DPs will provide their support in the form of reimbursements of a proportion of eligible GoI expenditures on SSA). Within the external pool of around $900 million, IDA will provide 55 percent, DFID 30 percent and EC, 15 percent. Similar to agreements reached under SSA I, the DPs have agreed with GoI on common technical and financial indicators as well as reporting formats, relying on GoI monitoring and reporting systems, which will be strengthened wherever required. The MoU agreed among the DPs and GoI to guide interaction amongst themselves in support of SSA, will be renewed for SSA II. The DPs will join GoI in reviewing implementation twice a year. 13. The program will also include a Technical Cooperation (TC) Fund which will provide support for enhancing learning assessments and research and evaluation of quality initiatives. 14. The implementation arrangements for SSA have three mutually supporting structures at all levels of the society: (i) policy direction and oversight; (ii) management and implementation; and (iii) technical support. The National Mission chaired by the Prime Minister, sets policy and exercises oversight. State Legislatures through State Missions chaired by the Chief Minister, and the District Committees, chaired by the District Collector, perform the equivalent function at their respective levels. The Department of School Education and Literacy (DSE&L) of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) issues norms and guidelines, appoints appraisal teams, convenes Project Approval Board (PAB) meetings to appraise State and District AWP&Bs, and organizes technical support groups to enhance capacity and address emerging issues. 7. Sustainability Page 5 15. Several factors are important for program sustainability. First, it is important that the Central and State Governments remain committed to meeting the objectives of the program. The significant success in meeting the access and equity objectives by and large across the board, and the sharpened focus on quality, are clear indicators of the emphasis both the Central and State Governments are giving to elementary education. 16. Second, it is crucial to build capacity to implement and manage the program. Evidence suggests that the institutional arrangements for SSA are generally working well, but there are capacity and sustainability issues in many States to implement the program. These are being addressed in various ways. For example, ending parallel implementation systems (between SSA and State Government structures) at the District level as a priority is included among expected outcomes of the AWPB process. Some States have moved faster, having integrated their SSA structures with those of the general education system. Institutional capacity has also improved greatly in recent years with the filling of most vacancies. Furthermore, closer integration of the program structure with the PRI institutions, is likely to promote greater local accountability and effectiveness in program implementation 8. Lessons Learned from Past Operations in the Country/Sector 17. SSA has evolved considerably over the past few years, building on the lessons of its own experience, as well as that of other Centrally Sponsored Schemes in the country. With more and more children now entering school, the focus of the program in the next phase of operation is clearly on quality with equity. The design of the second phase of the DP�s support to SSA has also benefited from the lessons learned from previous and ongoing Bank support to the education sector� at the national and state levels � as well as broader engagement in supporting education reforms in the region. The following are some of the lessons from the SSA I ICR that have informed SSA II: � A Centrally Sponsored Scheme like SSA can provide a powerful vehicle to mobilize ownership and commitment of stakeholders at all levels to a common mission. As the government�s flagship program in elementary education, with political commitment at the highest level, SSA has served as a powerful vehicle to mobilize stakeholders at all levels (communities, districts, states, and national) around the objective of ensuring that every child is included in the education system regardless of social category, disability status or gender. The backbone has been the AWPB process which has facilitated decentralized district strategies to improving outcomes � within a context where national and state governments have provided the financing and technical support, set and monitored standards and targets, and facilitated the sharing of experiences of districts and states. SSA now has an important role to play in mobilizing ownership and commitment to the objective of achieving quality with equity. � Inputs are necessary but quality with equity requires sufficient focus on classroom processes and outcomes. Provision of inputs � such as adequate physical facilities, free textbooks, and teacher training � are necessary for achieving quality education but need to be accompanied by greater attention to classroom processes and interaction as well as outcomes. As a result of insufficient focus on the latter, even basic language and mathematics skills are not successfully imparted to many students. SSA has begun to address these issues in various ways, including monitoring of classroom processes and learning, priority to learning in early grades, remedial teaching, encouraging states to develop quality improvement innovations that emphasize improved pedagogy, needs based training and local academic support to teachers to address the different and diverse needs of their classrooms. � All efforts to improve quality will only produce results if there are effective teachers in the classrooms. Teachers are vital to the success of SSA, and efforts to improve quality will not succeed unless there are sufficient, committed and capable teachers in all the classrooms supported by the program. Teacher provisioning was a significant challenge in many states until recently and was a key Page 6 focus area in the early years of SSA. Relatively less attention was paid to issues such as teacher accountability or the content and relevance of teacher training. With a few exceptions, most States now have the requisite number of teachers, and the focus is now on improving teacher quality and accountability. Since teacher management is a state level issue, SSA is supporting this through its focus on strengthened monitoring of teacher presence and effort (including by communities), improved and more flexible teacher training linked to performance standards and needs, as well as dissemination of good practice on teacher recruitment, deployment, support and career development. � Facilitating greater use and validation of data by third parties and strengthening capacity to monitor learning outcomes will further improve reliability and usefulness of monitoring efforts while there is also need to build capacity to evaluate the impact of interventions. While various data, assessment and evaluation systems have emerged, benefiting from concerted efforts in this area, initially under the DPEPs, and subsequently under SSA, there is room to further improve their reliability and usefulness in informing policy. Several steps are being taken to improve quality of data including rigorous third party validation, and triangulation of data from various sources. Special focus is being given to student assessment and evaluation programs for quality initiatives � central to any strategy to improve quality with equity. These will be supported through a Technical Cooperation (TC) Fund which will enhance capacity at both the Center and State levels for undertaking these activities and feeding their results back into policy and programs. � Only the hardest to reach remain out of school � the challenge is now attendance, retention and equity of learning outcomes. While there have been significant gains in access to elementary education, and in enhancing the access of disadvantaged groups � girls, SCs/STs, and minorities and children with special needs, the 9.6 million children still outside the education system will be the most difficult to bring into the system and to retain, as they typically belong to the extremely disadvantaged and marginalized groups. This is now being addressed through the planning process described above with its emphasis on responding to differentiated needs, which focuses greater attention and resources on special focus districts and groups (girls, SC, ST, Muslims, CWSN), urban areas, and upper primary education. Furthermore, SSA is also emphasizing the issue of retention of children in school through strengthening of community participation in monitoring attendance, and improved school and teacher quality. � Flexibility to support differentiated needs is central to addressing the challenges in diverse local contexts. A norms-based approach to planning and resource allocation has been well suited to the need to achieve equitable access in rural and underserved areas. However, the SSA experience has increased the recognition of the need for a differentiated approach. The program is evolving and has begun to respond more flexibly to the special needs of diverse States while also linking funding with performance against agreed targets. In the over 300 special focus districts (SFD) �which have lower than average EDI status, greater than average gender disparities, concentrations of SC, ST and Muslim populations and high numbers of out of school children (OOSC) � the AWBP process prioritizes access and equity. In addition, there is flexibility to support quality enhancement measures identified by States where requirements of school building and teachers are generally met. Furthering decentralization requires considerable efforts at capacity building at all levels � and particularly at village and community levels � to support quality. It is recognized that lower tiers of governments, communities and Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) have an important role to play in the successful implementation. The capacity of these entities needs to be enhanced to ensure that they play their roles effectively. This is being addressed through various initiatives including � provision of technical support to States/Districts with weaker capacity, training of SMCs/VECs members on roles, responsibilities and mechanisms to ensure quality in schools, sharing of information on school outcomes and fostering stronger links between education and PRI Departments. � The SWAp, pioneered under SSA I, has facilitated partner harmonization, strengthened sectoral management capacity, and reduced transactions costs. SSA was the first SWAp in India and provides a model for effective development assistance. The SSA Results Framework has provided a Page 7 common performance assessment framework for the Government and Development Partners. Procedures have been harmonized through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with common formats, withdrawal claims, and Joint Review Missions (JRMs) to minimize transaction costs. GoI�s financial management and procurement procedures have been used and strengthened over time. This approach will be continued in SSA II. 9. Safeguard Policies (including public consultation) Safeguard Policies Triggered by the Project Yes No Environmental Assessment ( OP / BP 4.01) [x] [ ] Natural Habitats ( OP / BP 4.04) [ ] [ ] Pest Management ( OP 4.09 ) [ ] [ ] Physical Cultural Resources ( OP/BP 4.11 ) [ ] [ ] Involuntary Resettlement ( OP / BP 4.12) [ ] [ ] Indigenous Peoples ( OP / BP 4.10) [x] [ ] Forests ( OP / BP 4.36) [ ] [ ] Safety of Dams ( OP / BP 4.37) [ ] [ ] Projects in Disputed Areas ( OP / BP 7.60) * [ ] [ ] Projects on International Waterways ( OP / BP 7.50) [ ] [ ] 18. Environmental Assessment (OP/BP 4.01). The nature of activities proposed under the project does not pose significant environmental risks. Environmental mitigation measures proposed under the project would help in enhancing project benefits and in avoiding/minimizing adverse impacts on environment. 19. Indigenous Peoples (OP/BP 4.10). The SSA framework calls for special attention to the needs of tribal children. Mitigation measures proposed under the project will lead to enhanced access to quality elementary education for these children. 10. List of Factual Technical Documents 11. Contact point Contact: Amit Dar/Venita Kaul Title: Lead Education Economist/Sr. Education Specialist Tel: (202) 473-3430/5785+351 Fax: Email: Adar@worldbank.org ; vkaul@worldbank.org 12. For more information contact: The InfoShop The World Bank 1818 H Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20433 Telephone: (202) 458-4500 Fax: (202) 522-1500 Email: pic@worldbank.org * By supporting the proposed project, the Bank does not intend to prejudice the final determination of the parties' claims on the disputed areas Page 8 Web: http://www.worldbank.org/infoshop