Secondary Education Support Programme

Mahashram Sharma Joint Secretary Ministry of Education Nepal September, 2013

The views expressed in this paper are the views of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), or its Board of Governors, or the governments they represent. ADB does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this paper and accepts no responsibility for any consequence of their use. The countries listed in this paper do not imply any view on ADB's part as to sovereignty or independent status or necessarily 1 conform to ADB's terminology.

SESP: A Profile
Timeline: 2003- 2009 Financing: US $74.8 million: US $30 million grant from Danida; US $30 million loan from ADB; and US $14.83 million provided by the Government for mainly recurrent expenditure. Project Implementation Strategy: About 80% of the budget was implemented at district level through District Education Offices and at school levels: intensive and focused interventions (10 project intensive districts-PIDs) and general interventions (65 districts). Project Implementing Agencies: While the Ministry of Education was the Executing Agency, the SESP was implemented by the Department of Education with the support of the key educational agencies such as the National Centre for Education Development (NCED), Curriculum Development Center (CDC), and Office of the Controller of Examinations (OCE).
2

 Policy Objective: To expand quality secondary education suitable for the need of national development. Main Intermediate Objectives: i) improve the quality and relevance of public secondary schooling; ii) improve access to public secondary schooling with a particular emphasis on girls and students from poor and disadvantaged groups and districts; and iii) develop the institutional capacity and management of central and district educational institutions and public secondary schools based upon a decentralized system of planning and management.
3

SESP: Objectives

SESP: 4 Components
1. More Equitable Access to Secondary Education Esp. for Girls and Disadvantaged Groups (DAGs) in educationally lagging districts 2. Improved Curriculum Development, Continuous Assessment and Accessible Instructional Materials 3. Sustainable System of Teacher Education and Development 4. Institutional Management and Capacity Building.
4

SESP: Expected Outcomes

To raise the Gross Enrolment Rate (GER):o Lower secondary (grade 6-8): from 55% to 65%; Secondary (grade 9-10) : from 35% to 55% To raise the participation of girls, minorities, poor students and students with special needs/disabilities: o Girls: from 40% to 50% in both lower secondary and secondary education To ensure improved pass rates of girls and disadvantaged students in grade 8 and SLC

SESP: Key Features

Interventions to educationally lagging districts (Access) Improving learning environment aiming to improve access to secondary education (Access) Targeted interventions to disadvantaged students priority for girls and students at risk (Access)
Safe hostels for girls from remote regions Scholarships for girls, minority and disabled students Rental allowance for female teachers

Improvement in curricular aspects (Quality) Emphasizing teacher training (Quality) System development with a view to strengthen the capacity (individual, organizational and systemic) (Management)
6

SESP: Key Gender Equality Results

Improved Equitable Access of Girls to Secondary Education: Participation of girls in lower and secondary schools increased from 40 to 47.2% (target 50%) and Girls Grade 8 pass rate increased from 74% to 83.6% 40,000 scholarships (out of 60,000) were targeted to girls in 65 districts; (Overachieved) 5,000 scholarships targeted to girls in 10 PIDs Feeder hostels renovated and supported 113 general toilets and 65 toilets for girls constructed Curriculum and curricular materials revised and updated from gender perspectives Capacity development of education managers Provided incentives for female teachers: 125 female teachers took rental allowance to teach at schools in remote regions (Underachieved)
7

Achievements: GER in Lower Secondary

Achievements: GER in Secondary

Achievements: GPI in GER

10

Achievements: Dalit Enrolment

11

Achievements: Students Retention Rates by Ethnic Groups (Lower Secondary)

12

Achievements: Students Retention Rates by Ethnic Groups (Secondary)

13

Achievements: SLC Pass Rate

14

15

SESP: Challenges Encountered

Political unrest negative consequences on programme implementation Slow economic growth: adverse impact on peoples lives Absence of local elected bodies issues of local governance and accountability Inadequate capacity development -Individual, organizational and systematic Insufficient focused monitoring and supervision Inability to create enabling environment for disadvantaged groups through scholarships (the amount is not adequate to cover the indirect costs of schooling) Recruitment of female teachers for remote regions
16

Lessons Learned
Infrastructure development to increase access to safe and clean classrooms and to safe toilet facilities and feeder hostels for girls contributed to increased participation of girls and ethnic minority and disadvantaged groups. Targeted scholarships for girls, ethnic minorities, disabled and poor students contributed to increased participation in secondary schools. Improving Teacher Competencies through setting minimum entry qualifications, reforming training programs and training untrained permanent teachers in the system increased quality of education. Expansion of schools and teachers led to 40% additional schools and appointment of new secondary teachers increasing access to lower and secondary school education.
17

SESP: Sustainability of Results

SESP improved along the way by aligning to national reporting requirements and removing other donor specific requirement. SESP followed the principles of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness. SESP was largely implemented trough existing, national structures. The lessons learned, good practices and experience generated from implementing SESP were fed into the design, implementation and fine-tuning of the SSRP.

18

SESP Lessons for School Sector Reform Program

Sector Wide Approach Harmonization of aid Capacity development Focus on school front line service delivery unit Targeted interventions for girls and students at risk Integrated approach for quality improvement learning environment, curriculum and curricular materials including assessment, teacher development, and capacity development
19