@#&OPS~Doctype~OPS^dynamics@afpidaprcoverpage#doctemplate Report No: PIDIAF0157 Project Information Document (PID) Appraisal Stage | Date Prepared/Updated: 14-May-2025 The World Bank Primary Education Improvement Project (P171973) – Additional Financing Request 1 @#&OPS~Doctype~OPS^dynamics@afpidaprbasicinformation#doctemplate BASIC DATA A. Product Information Main: Primary Education Improvement Project (P171973) Operation ID Product/Financing Instrument P171973 Investment Project Financing (IPF) Beneficiary Country/Countries Geographical Identifier North Macedonia North Macedonia Practice Area (Lead) Education Borrower(s) Implementing Agency North Macedonia Ministry of Education and Science Additional Financing Request 1 Estimated Appraisal Date Estimated Board Date 05-May-2025 12-Jun-2025 Development Objective Original Development Objective (Approved as part of Approval package on 11-Dec-2020) The PDO is to improve conditions for learning in primary education. Components Improving Learning at the School Level Reform of the Monitoring and Evaluation of the National Progress in Learning Enhancing Teacher, Multi-Professional Support Teams, and School Leader Competences Sector management, Project management and M&E @#&OPS~Doctype~OPS^dynamics@afpidaprprojectfinancing#doctemplate COSTS & FINANCING (US$, Millions) SUMMARY Proposed Last Approved Addition Total Page 1 The World Bank Primary Education Improvement Project (P171973) – Additional Financing Request 1 Total Operation Cost 25.00 16.17 41.17 Total Financing 25.00 16.17 41.17 Of which IBRD/IDA 25.00 16.17 41.17 FINANCING DETAILS World Bank Group Financing Last Approved Additional Financing Total International Bank for Reconstruction and 25.00 16.17 41.17 Development (IBRD) International Bank for Reconstruction and 25.00 16.17 41.17 Development IDA Resources @#&OPS~Doctype~OPS^dynamics@afpidaprenvsocrisk#doctemplate Other Decision (as needed) B. Introduction and Context Country Context 1. The Government of North Macedonia requested1 additional financing (AF) from the World Bank in the amount of US$16.17 million (EUR 15 million2) to scale up and strengthen activities that have been successful under the parent project. This funding will further increase the project’s development effectiveness by focusing on deepening efforts under the parent project to improve learning conditions for the most disadvantaged children in primary education, targeting declining literacy performance identified by recent national assessments and aligning new activities with the Government's education priorities outlined in the 2024–2028 Government Work Program, which includes digitization and extending the school day. 2. Building on the platform of successful activities implemented under the parent project, the AF will introduce second- generation reforms, advancing digital transformation of the primary education sector and diversifying and strengthening professional development opportunities for teachers, including with specialized training in literacy instruction and effective remediation strategies for struggling students. Activities will also support the necessary infrastructure for single-shift schooling (SSS) and piloting whole day schooling (WDS) to support the Government priority to extend the school day. Sectoral and Institutional Context 3. North Macedonia's primary education system faces several challenges despite recent advancements. The 2022 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results show declining performance in reading, mathematics, and 1 The AF was requested on December 3, 2024. 2 EUR 1 = US$1.0823 on August 5, 2024; based on the exchange rate sourced from the Enterprise Data Catalog for all World Bank currencies. Page 2 The World Bank Primary Education Improvement Project (P171973) – Additional Financing Request 1 science compared to 2018, and the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS 2021) reveals below-expected performance among fourth graders. Literacy results from national assessments are particularly low, hindering the development of foundational and transferable skills. Significant investments in digital infrastructure and learning environment improvements have been made, but teachers are yet to fully benefit from digitalization in the classroom. Many schools operate on double shifts and require extensions to allow longer school days.3 While evidence points toward the positive effects of increased instruction time as a major factor influencing students’ achievement, students in North Macedonia had among the lowest levels of instructional time among PISA-participating countries in 2018, and by the time students are 14 years old, they will have had nearly 900 hours less instruction than students on average across the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries.4 Addressing these instruction time and literacy skills are a key focus of the primary education strategic reform agenda outlined in the Concept for Primary Education and the 2024–2028 Government Work Program. 4. The AF aims to sustain, expand, and sharpen the focus of ongoing reforms initiated under the parent project to address root issues more effectively and support new government priorities. It will support school-level interventions, system-level reforms, sector management, and monitoring and evaluation (M&E). The AF will build on the success of the parent project’s activities by expanding school improvement plans (SIPs) and upgrading basic school infrastructure. At the same time, it will support more complex interventions that reflect shifts in government priorities by addressing the root cause of limited instructional time by building new classrooms for SSS and using SIPs to pilot WDS with extracurricular and remedial activities. The AF will help develop the national best practice WDS model and support the gradual rollout of the WDS model by the Government. The SSS plays a pivotal role in assisting governments to transition schools from operating on two or three shift schedules to a single shift schedule. This transition is essential as it lays the groundwork for the successful scaling up of the Whole Day School (WDS) model following its pilot phase. By consolidating school shifts, the SSS ensures that schools can provide a more comprehensive and uninterrupted educational experience, which is a critical factor in the effective implementation and expansion of the WDS initiative. The AF will introduce computer-based testing (CBT) for the National Examination Center (NEC) and provide targeted support for teacher professional development, especially on improving literacy, thereby more directly addressing the ‘pain points’ identified by PISA and PIRLs. The Ministry of Education and Science (MoES) will continue strengthening sector and project management, including M&E, to sustain the results achieved through the project. C. Proposed Development Objective(s) Original Development Objective 5. The PDO is to improve conditions for learning in primary education. Current Development Objective n.a. Proposed New Development Objective 6. The PDO remains the same as the original. D. Project Description 7. The project design with the AF is a package of comprehensive reforms that address key strategic gaps in primary education, with a focus on improving the learning environment. The activities described below encompass both system-level interventions to be implemented at the national level and targeted interventions to be implemented as a school-level pilot. 3 UNESCO. 2024. Education Sector Analysis - North Macedonia. 4 See: PISA 2018 results and UNESCO. 2024. Education Sector Analysis - North Macedonia. Page 3 The World Bank Primary Education Improvement Project (P171973) – Additional Financing Request 1 8. While all the components and subcomponents in the parent project are retained under the proposed AF, not all of them will receive additional funds. The AF will finance only Subcomponents 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 3.2, and 4.2 as presented in the following paragraphs. The AF will also support the financing of a newly added Subcomponent 2.3. The activities under the remaining components and subcomponents in the parent project will continue with the financing from the parent project only. Changes to each component will be as detailed in the following paragraphs: 9. Component 1: Improving Learning at the School Level (Original financing: US$17.5 million; AF: US$10.57 million). The AF aims to scale activities under the parent project and introduce second-generation reforms that will further enhance learning environments. • Subcomponent 1.1: School Improvement Plans (SIP) and Grants (Original financing: US$2.59 million; AF: US$0.20 million). The parent project focused on improving the SIP process and financing associated school enhancements. With the SIP system now established and proven effective, there is confidence in its model. The AF will build on this foundation by supporting more ambitious SIPs, contributing to the gradual operationalization of the WDS model in selected schools. The WDS pilot was selected as it extends the school day and is a critical reform priority under the Concept for Primary Education and the 2024–2028 Government Work Program. It also helps improve the school environment, further contributing to the PDO. To capitalize on the extended school day and ensure that more hours translate into better learning, the WDS model also supports an enhanced learning environment by fostering collaborative, interdisciplinary, and experiential learning and integrating extracurricular and project-based activities embedded within the broader community. Through an open call, schools that best demonstrate how they plan to incorporate WDS activities or various forms of extended school stay into their SIPs will be supported to implement their plans. An amount of up to US$10,000 will be available to schools to enhance the learning environment for WDS activities, including equipment, didactic materials, and additional resources to support diverse learning needs and extracurricular activities. By building on the SIP process, which was a key focus of the parent project, this activity will further strengthen the role of schools as the frontline of the reform process and enhance learning environments. This initiative will serve as a pilot, and its evaluation will inform future scaling up of the WDS nationwide. In total, an estimated 20 schools would benefit from grant support under this subcomponent. Given the time frame of the AF, only schools that are already operating on a single-shift schedule will be eligible. To further expedite the activity, the required didactic materials and equipment will be procured centrally by the Project Management Unit (PMU). Selected schools will receive technical assistance (TA) to help them better structure the school day, design programs aligned with students’ interests, and organize free period and extracurricular activities in line with the official rulebooks in this area created by the MoES. Furthermore, they will receive guidance on structuring remedial classes to support students who need additional help. The preparation for this TA and associated materials and resources will commence before the schools are selected to further accelerate implementation. As part of the pilot, training will be provided for school directors to strengthen managerial capacities for WDS activities, while teachers will gain skills in project-based learning, formative assessment, critical and collaborative thinking, developing individualized learning plans, and tracking student progress— particularly in key areas such as literacy and numeracy, to address the declining results in these areas. The pilot will be evaluated, and the results will be used to inform a scale-up. In addition to reviewing the success of the pilot in providing quality programming, the effect of extended school hours on female labor force participation will also be examined. • Subcomponent 1.2: Improving the Learning Environment (Original financing: US$14.48 million; AF US$10.27 million). The parent project supported the upgrade of the basic physical learning environment through centrally procured investments. The AF will continue to support school infrastructure upgrades but will more specifically focus on the transition to SSS, thereby more directly tackling the challenge of short school days consistent with Page 4 The World Bank Primary Education Improvement Project (P171973) – Additional Financing Request 1 recent government reform priorities. The AF will support infrastructure upgrades for 20 schools pre-selected by the MoES as meeting the minimum conditions necessary for transitioning to a single-shift school schedule. In addition to upgrading learning environments, the project will integrate robust climate adaptation and mitigation measures into the construction of new classrooms. Specifically, the AF will finance schools that need new classrooms to transition to SSS. These new classroom constructions will, where feasible, feature energy- efficient systems such as light-emitting diode (LED) lighting, solar panels, high-performance insulation, smart thermostats, energy management systems, and double-glazed windows, designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and lower energy consumption, with the goal of not only meeting but exceeding the requirements of North Macedonia’s Law on Energy Efficiency. The schools will also build toilets that meet gender-sensitive standards. The targeted schools will be in high-density urban areas and serve many vulnerable students. The transition to the single-shift school model aligns with the optimization plan for the primary school network, which has already been developed by the MoES under the parent project. Furthermore, the project will consider incorporating rainwater harvesting systems and improved drainage solutions to manage stormwater effectively, thereby mitigating risks from extreme weather events, such as floods, and water scarcity. The design and construction processes will emphasize the use of sustainable and locally sourced materials, while landscaping will incorporate native and drought-resistant plant species to promote local biodiversity and enhance resilience to climate fluctuations. • Subcomponent 1.3: Promoting Accountability through Information Sharing (Original financing: US$0.43 million; AF: US$0.10 million). The objective of AF under this subcomponent will be to implement the ‘My School’ transparency tool, as a strategic progression from the parent project, which successfully completed the design phase. This represents the logical next developmental step in deploying the system across the educational landscape. The ‘My School’ tool involves sharing simple descriptive statistics for each school including school profile, financing, conditions of the school, management of the school, efficiency and performance, details of the SIP and progress toward SIP objectives/targets, and so on, like a ‘school report card’. This information empowers parents, communities, and the MoES to identify gaps at the school level, advocate for change, and monitor progress in achieving change. 10. Component 2: Reform of the Monitoring and Evaluation of National Progress in Learning (Original financing: US$2.3 million; AF: US$1.5 million). The parent project supported the rollout of the first ever national assessment in primary education. The proposed AF aims to continue strengthening reforms in the assessment of student learning, by introducing computer-based administration of the national assessment program (NAP) as a second-generation reform envisaged in the Concept of National Assessment for Primary Education. • Subcomponent 2.1: Development of a National Assessment Program (NAP). No changes proposed. • Subcomponent 2.2: Maximizing Use of NAP Results at the Ministerial and School Level. No changes proposed. • Subcomponent 2.3 (new): Transition to Digital Assessment of Student Learning Achievements (AF: US$1.50 million). While the parent project focused on introducing a national paper-based assessment program for students in Grades 3 and 5, the proposed AF under this subcomponent will go further by supporting the transition to digitalized testing of student learning outcomes for Grade 5. This transition to digital testing aims to enhance the flexibility of scheduling and locations for testing, increase the utility of the data, and lead to cost savings while also bolstering the assessment process. Introducing a CBT (digital) format for assessment can also contribute to enabling the overall digital transition of schools—a key priority under the Government’s new reform effort—in all its components (students, teachers, and so on) by equipping schools with more digital infrastructure. The AF will support the digital administration of the Grade 5 assessment by developing Page 5 The World Bank Primary Education Improvement Project (P171973) – Additional Financing Request 1 comprehensive test software, procuring at least 200 portable computers, training the NEC staff, migrating test content, and conducting a pilot study in select schools. 11. Component 3: Enhancing Teacher, Multi-Professional Support Teams, and School Leader Competencies (Original financing: US$ 3.40 million; AF: US$3.00 million). The parent project helped establish a national system for the professional development of teachers. The AF takes a more targeted approach, addressing specific ‘pain points’ identified through the Teach Primary Education Observation Tool (TEACH), national assessment results, and government priorities. • Subcomponent 3.1: Implementing Teacher, Multi-Professional Support Teams, and School Leader Standards. No changes proposed. • Subcomponent 3.2: Modernizing In-service Professional Development (Original financing: US$2.60 million; AF: US$3.00 million). The AF is well-positioned to build upon the reforms introduced under the parent project, which included the introduction of a catalog of professional learning courses based on teacher standards, accreditation of training providers, delivery of trainings, and monitoring of training provision. As a continuation of this, the AF will support two additional cycles of in-service trainings, amounting to 16 hours of professional development. These cycles address key educational challenges identified through national assessments and the TEACH baseline report: improving reading comprehension due to poor test performance and developing digital and green skills. These programs will be conducted as programs of national interest, which fall under the mandatory training requirements of the Law on Teachers and Professional Associates in Primary and Secondary Education. The in-service training on reading comprehension will target classroom teachers in Grades 1–5, while the training on digital and green skills will target subject teachers in Grades 6–9. This will be the first time that mandatory training of national interest will be conducted in the country. • Subcomponent 3.3. Introducing changes to Pre-service and a new Teacher Selection. No changes proposed. 12. Component 4: Sector Management, Project Management, and Monitoring and Evaluation (Original financing: US$1.80 million; AF: US$1.10 million). Under the proposed AF for Component 4, additional resources will be used for project management costs and M&E activities to support the implementation of all the additional activities. The MoES will continue to be responsible for executing project activities, leveraging its existing structures with support from the established PMU. Decision-making will be conducted by the MoES in coordination with the Bureau for Development of Education (BDE), NEC, and the State Education Inspectorate (SEI). @#&OPS~Doctype~OPS^dynamics@afpidlegalpolicyandscreeningrisk#doctemplate Legal Operational Policies Policies Triggered? Current Projects on International Waterways OP 7.50 No Projects in Disputed Area OP 7.60 No Summary of Screening of Environmental and Social Risks and Impacts The environmental risk of the parent project and AF is rated as Moderate. As the activities to be supported by AF are similar in nature with those supported under the parent project, the associated risks remain minor and can be easily avoided or minimized through standard mitigation measures. The risks are due to the implementation of activities Page 6 The World Bank Primary Education Improvement Project (P171973) – Additional Financing Request 1 under Component 1, envisaging minor refurbishment or extension of the existing school facilities within the existing footprint, including, inter alia, minor classroom extension; the upgrade of electricity; lighting; connectivity; improvement of sanitary conditions; community spaces for teachers and learners; and painting, wiring, refurbishment of floors, etc., and will be associated with generation of some amounts of construction waste, dust, noise and temporary disturbance to teachers, students and communities during the implementation of the minor refurbishments. The environmental risks are addressed by the development and implementation of site-specific ESMPs or ESMP Checklists. The social risk of the parent project and AF is rated as Moderate. Considering the fact that the parent project and AF finance only minor civil works related to the refurbishment of existing school facilities in public ownership, no permanent or temporary land acquisition or asset loss is expected. Thus, ESS5 will not be relevant. Refurbishment activities imply minor civil works that are expected to be carried out by local companies hired by the PIU. Thus, minor labor risks mostly concerning OHS issues are expected. The major social project risk is related to the possibility of vulnerable and disadvantaged groups being excluded from the project benefit. This risk will be addressed through a two-tier approach: (i) through the environmental and social due diligence for each sub-project (ESMP/ESMP Checklist screening protocol for schools with more children coming from the vulnerable groups) that will assess the risk and propose adequate mitigation measures, which will, consequently, be integrated into project designs and (ii) through the stakeholder engagement processes. E. Implementation Institutional and Implementation Arrangements 13. Implementation arrangements will be maintained. The AF will be implemented over 23 months, with the MoES as the key implementing agency. The MoES will be accountable for the execution of project activities and implementation would rely on its existing structures, with the additional support of the existing PMU. Decisions will be made by the MoES in coordination with the BDE, NECs, and schools. The PMU will be maintained with the staff, functions, roles, and responsibilities as described and as required for the implementation of activities under the parent project and AF. @#&OPS~Doctype~OPS^dynamics@afpidisdscontactpoint#doctemplate CONTACT POINT World Bank Bojana Naceva Senior Education Specialist Borrower/Client/Recipient North Macedonia Dejan Nikololovski Head of International Financial Relations Department dejan.nikolovski@finance.gov.mk Page 7 The World Bank Primary Education Improvement Project (P171973) – Additional Financing Request 1 Implementing Agencies Ministry of Education and Science Biljana Trajkovska Adviser biljana.trajkovska@mon.gov.mk FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT The World Bank 1818 H Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20433 Telephone: (202) 473-1000 Web: http://www.worldbank.org/projects @#&OPS~Doctype~OPS^dynamics@afpidapproval#doctemplate APPROVAL Task Team Leader(s): Bojana Naceva Approved By Practice Manager/Manager: Rita Kullberg Almeida 12-Apr-2025 Country Director: Xiaoqing Yu 14-May-2025 Page 8