PROJECT INFORMATION DOCUMENT (PID)
APPRAISAL STAGE
Report No.: 86365
Project Name / Access to Quality Education ProjectRegion / Middle East and North Africa
Country / Republic of Djibouti
Sector / Education
Lending Instrument / Specific Investment Loan (SIL)
Project ID / P145323
Recipient(s) / Government of Djibouti
Implementing Agency / Project Implementation Unit (Service de la Gestion des Projets)
Ministry of National Education and Vocational Training
Environmental Screening Category / [ ]A [X]B [ ]C [ ]FI [ ]TBD (to be determined)
Date PID Prepared / August 21, 2013
Date of Appraisal Authorization / August 22, 2013
Estimated Date of Board Approval / November 25, 2013(*)
(*) GPE projects are not submitted for approval to the Board but to the GPE Secretariat Board. The GPE Secretariat Board is expected to meet in November. Negotiations and RVP approval follow GPE approval, and are therefore expected in December 2013.
I. Introduction and Context
A. Country Context
Djibouti is a country whose economy is largely dependent on its port activities and foreign direct investment (FDI). Although the country is demographically small with limited resources, Djibouti has shown positive economic growth rates of 4.8 percent on average from 2008-2012, and was designated an “IDA III” country in July 2012, meaning it is no longer eligible for IDA grants.[1] During the same five-year period, FDI constituted 15 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on average. The overall unemployment rate is approximately 48.4 percent including discouraged workers[2], and is estimated at above 70 percent for young people.[3] The Government of Djibouti is exploring ways to diversify its economy through the development of the private sector and industries such as tourism, fishing, transport, and energy production. In order to boost growth in these sectors, the Government aims to overcome deep structural barriers such as the lack of basic infrastructure, the high labor cost relative to worker productivity, and the lack of skilled workers through greater investments in infrastructure, private sector development, and human capital.
Djibouti is endowed with a large portion of young people who could act as engine for economic growth and social development. Of Djibouti’s estimated population of 864,617, 38.5 percent are estimated to be under the age of 15. Lacking in natural resources, Djibouti’s development will need to profit from its human resources. According to the latest UNDP rating, Djibouti ranks 164 out of 186 countries in its Human Development Index (2013). However, over the past ten years, the Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) in primary education increased from 32 percent in 1999/2000 to approximately 61percent in 2012 while the 2012 poverty profile developed by the government suggests a rate of 82.8 percent for the GER. .[4] Girls’ attendance in primary school also significantly improved with a girl/boy ratio rising from 0.55 in 2005 to 0.88 in 2011. Secondary enrollments tripled during the same period. Despite these important advances, Djibouti is not likely to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment, or reducing child mortality by 2015.[5]
Djibouti acknowledges the important role of education and devotes about a fifth of its national budget to the sector. In 2010, 19.8 percent of the national budget and about 8 percent of GDP went to education, which is high relative to regional and global averages. Djibouti’s National Development Initiative 2007 (Initiative nationale de développement social, INDS) highlights improvement in management of the sector to increase access, quality and relevance of education as a priority. The second pillar of the INDS aims to develop human resources and improve access to basic services, in particular by: (i) improving access to education while increasing the quality of education services; (ii) reducing gender and geographic disparities in the sector; and (iii) improving the management of the sector.
B. Sectoral and Institutional Context
The education system in Djibouti has been undergoing reforms to increase access, enhance quality, and improve management of the sector. Djibouti’s education system consists of 2 years of preschool, 9 years of basic education (5 years primary and 4 years middle school), 3 years of general secondary education, 2-3 years of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) and 4-5 years of higher education and research. School attendance is compulsory for ages 6 to 16 years. In 2010, the Ministry of National Education and Vocational Training (Ministère de l’Education nationale et de la formation professionnelle, MENFOP) developed a 10-year National Education Strategy (Schéma directeur) (2010-2019) and a series of action plans focusing on improving access, equity, quality, and efficiency of the education system. This project has been prepared in parallel with the Government’s Education Action Plan (2013-2016), as per Global Partnership for Education (GPE) guidelines.
Access to education has improved, but Djibouti still faces serious challenges in the quality of its education and relevance to the country’s development needs. There are 159 primary schools in Djibouti, defined as grades one through six, 65 of which are in the capital, Djiboutiville. This represents an increase of 44% in the number of primary schools built and functioning since 2003. Only 37 of the total number of primary schools are private, representing 14 percent of primary education service provision. There are 63,368 primary students in the public and private system combined, of which 46% percent are female, and they are served by 1,550 public primary school teachers.[6] The performance of students at the primary level indicates low levels of learning, as shown on national math and French language exams at the end of second and fifth grades. The small size of the private sector and a saturated public sector may explain the demand-side constraints to employment. There is wide consensus among stakeholders that young people do not have the required skills for the labor market. A study done by the MENFOP in 2007 concluded that: (i) the TVET training system did not provide graduates with practical knowledge; (ii) enterprises were not consulted in the design of work internships; (iii) theoretical courses were out of date; and (iv) youth lacked the necessary skills to understand how companies are organized and managed. At the other end of the spectrum, early childhood education (ECE) enrollments are at less than 2 percent of the student population estimated for this age cohort; there are six private kindergartens in the country (Djibouti Annuaire Statistique MENFOP 2012-2013). There has been some interest at the policy level in ECE but relatively little public service provision and light regulation of private providers to date.
Cognizant of these challenges, the 10-year National Education Strategy for 2010-2019 focuses on improving the efficiency of the education system and the quality and relevance of education with a focus on results. A series of diagnostic studies was conducted in recent years to assess the performance of the sector over the past decade and the progress made in reforming the sector, supported by multiple donors as well as by the MENFOP. These included in-depth analyses of all levels of education as well as the administrative structure and management capacity. One study financed by the French Development Agency (Agence française de développement, AFD) was a situation analysis of the school system (RESEN, 2009); USAID financed an assessment of student performance in reading in the primary grades; the World Bank financed an organizational audit of the Ministry of Education; other studies undertaken by the MENFOP and other donors include an impact evaluation of social mobilization. Moreover, a Medium Term Expenditure Framework was prepared in 2009 to cover the period 2010-2013. Based on these studies, the new National Education Strategy (2014-2016) focuses on establishing an efficient system that concentrates on results and ensuring access to education for all, guaranteeing quality and relevance of education and training (Plan d’action de l’éducation 2014-2016, MENFOP forthcoming). The Plan d’actions strategy is widely supported by the donor community and it links to essential regional and global education and human development strategies, e.g. the World Bank’s Learning for All Education Strategy 2020.
Access to education continues to be a major challenge, and varies with gender, income and location. The official United Nations estimate for the net enrollment rate (NER) for Djibouti is 54.2 percent, but this is based on population data from 2009 and there is currently a lack of consensus on the actual NER and other key education statistics. The World Bank is working together with its partners and the Government to resolve this lack of clarity.[7] The net intake rate (total) is estimated at 45 percent, with small but persistent differences between intake rates for boys (47 percent) and intake rates for girls (42 percent). The net intake rate is the number of new entrants in the first grade of primary education who are of the official primary school-entrance age, expressed as a percentage of the population of the same age.[8] The fact that the net intake rate is lower than the net enrollment rate implies that some students are entering grade one at an older age than expected, which indicates there is an access issue, and that some are repeating the first grade, which is a quality issue.[9] Djibouti’s net intake rate is in line with estimates for some other low income countries such as Cote d’Ivoire (45 percent), Mauritania (44 percent) and Yemen (50 percent). Nonetheless, there are significant equity issues by gender, income and location. There is a 21 percentage point difference in gross enrollment rate between the richest quintile and the poorest quintile in primary school. These wealth-correlated enrollment disparities increase as the system moves into middle, secondary and tertiary education. While of smaller magnitude than income-correlated differences, the percentage of girls in the primary student population in urban areas is 47%, while in rural areas it is 44%, indicating grater gender-based inequity in access in rural areas.[10]
Demand for schooling exceeds supply, particularly in urban areas. Fifty-five percent of public primary schools operate on a double-shift schedule, representing a great excess of demand for basic education services relative to current available supply (Annuaire Statistique, 2012-2013). The President and the Ministry have identified the elimination of the double-shift as a national priority, despite the large costs involved. Double-shifting is undesirable since the total numbers of classroom-hours for each shift are constrained, and the second-shift students work in often uncomfortably hot classrooms. Perhaps as a result of these factors, there is evidence that student achievement scores are lower in double-shift schools as compared to single-shift schools in Djibouti.[11] Double-shifting is largely an urban phenomenon, although some demand challenges exist, particularly in rural areas. Attempts to increase demand have been implemented, for example through enrollment-conditional transfers of foodstuffs for female students under an existing WFP program. While demand-side constraints are important, this GPE-financed project does not attempt to directly address them given (i) continuing and large supply-side constraints and (ii) the need to focus the investment in order to improve the chances of success.
Education system quality is another major challenge, both in terms of student learning outcomes and teacher training. About 5 percent of students in the primary system repeat a grade each year, but this figure reaches 8.5 percent at the end of the primary school cycle in fifth grade. Two analyses of national assessments[12] of student learning outcomes in reading conducted in 2009 and 2010 on a sample of second grade students showed that about 7 students out of 10 did not master basic reading either well or at all. It appears that the students perform at a level below what is required for all children to begin the transition from ‘learning to read’ to ‘reading to learn’ by the end of third grade. The mean score on the math portion was 11 points out of a possible total of 20 points, with very high heterogeneity (standard deviation of 5.9 points, more than half of the mean). This relatively weak performance in reading and math in early primary is linked to teacher training, among other challenges. Teachers are the frontline service providers in an education system, and one measure of system quality is the level of teacher preparation. Only 10 percent of public primary school teachers hold a university level degree, while 50 percent hold a baccalaureate degree, signifying the completion of 13 years of primary and secondary education. An additional 35 percent hold a BEPC or “Brevet d’études du premier cycle,” roughly equivalent to a high-school diploma and slightly below the baccalaureate credential.[13] Teachers holding a baccalaureate degree are required to complete one year of pre-service training at the national teacher training center, the CFPEN (Centre de formation des personnels de l’education nationale), while those with a BEPC are required to complete two years of pre-service training. The relationship between pre-service teacher training and student achievement is not simple or direct, but a new competency-based teacher qualification framework has been introduced for teachers pursuing pre-service training, along with significant investments by the MENFOP and other donors into the national pre-service training institute.
C. Relationship to CAS
The World Bank's Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) for Djibouti highlights improvements of the education sector as one of the key priorities, and education is expected to be a focus of the upcoming Country Policy Strategy (CPS). The 2009 CAS[14] is framed around three themes: supporting growth; supporting human development and access to basic services; and supporting governance and public sector management. The CAS identifies the weaknesses in the education system and specifies planned assistance to (i) further expand access to basic education, especially in rural areas and for girls, including by reducing dropout and repetition rates; and (ii) enhance the quality of education, especially by increasing teacher training and the availability of school books. A well-functioning education system will benefit the country as a whole in terms of better development of its human resources and the contribution of a better educated population to the social and economic development of the country.
II. Proposed Development Objective(s)
The Project Development Objective is to improve the learning environment and instructional practices of teachers in the first three years of primary education. Component 1 of the project seeks to increase access and improve the learning environment through the construction of one school and the extension and rehabilitation of selected schools in the rural areas of Arta, Dikhil, Tadjoura, and Ali Sabieh, based on a set of selection criteria. Component 2 focuses on improving student performance through investments in teaching and learning materials, as well as training for teachers, pedagogic counselors, school directors and inspectors. This component will further support investments in the expansion of pre-primary education. Component 3 provides supplemental financing to the existing project management unit, which supports multiple donor projects.