ERIC ED517691: The Sector-Wide Approach in Bangladesh Primary Education: A Critical View. CREATE Pathways to Access. Research Monograph No. 57

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by  ERIC

Consortium for Research on
Educational Access,
Transitions and Equity
The Sector-wide Approach in Bangladesh
Primary Education: A Critical View
Manzoor Ahmed
CREATE PATHWAYS TO ACCESS
Research Monograph No. 57
January 2011
Institute of Education and Development,
BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh
The Consortium for Educational Access, Transitions and Equity (CREATE) is a Research Programme
ConsortiumsupportedbytheUKDepartmentforInternationalDevelopment(DFID).Itspurposeistoundertake
researchdesignedtoimprove accesstobasiceducationindevelopingcountries.Itseekstoachievethisthrough
generatingnew knowledge and encouragingitsapplicationthrougheffective communicationand dissemination
to national and international development agencies, national governments, education and development
professionals,non-governmentorganisationsandotherinterestedstakeholders.
Access to basic education lies at the heart of development. Lack of educational access, and securely acquired
knowledgeandskill,isbothapartofthedefinitionofpoverty,andameansforitsdiminution.Sustainedaccess
to meaningful learning that has value is critical to long term improvements in productivity, the reduction of
inter-generational cycles of poverty, demographic transition, preventive health care, the empowerment of
women,andreductionsininequality.
TheCREATEpartners
CREATEisdevelopingitsresearchcollaborativelywithpartnersinSub-SaharanAfricaandSouthAsia.The
leadpartnerofCREATEistheCentreforInternationalEducationattheUniversityofSussex.Thepartnersare:
TheCentreforInternationalEducation,UniversityofSussex:ProfessorKeithMLewin(Director)
TheInstituteofEducationandDevelopment,BRACUniversity,Dhaka,Bangladesh:DrManzoorAhmed
TheNationalUniversityofEducationalPlanningandAdministration,Delhi,India:ProfessorRGovinda
TheEducationPolicyUnit,UniversityoftheWitwatersrand,SouthAfrica:DrShireenMotala
TheUniversitiesofEducationatWinnebaandCapeCoast,Ghana:ProfessorJeromeDjangmah,
ProfessorJosephGharteyAmpiah
TheInstituteofEducation,UniversityofLondon:ProfessorAngelaWLittle
Disclaimer
The research on which this paper is based was commissioned by the Consortium for Research on Educational
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Department for International Development (DFID) for the benefit of developing countries and is coordinated
from the Centre for International Education, University of Sussex. The views expressed are those of the
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Copyright©CREATE2011
ISBN:0-901881-64-3
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The Sector-wide Approach in Bangladesh
Primary Education: A Critical View
Manzoor Ahmed
CREATE PATHWAYS TO ACCESS
Research Monograph No. 57
January 2011
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Contents
Preface.......................................................................................................................................vi
Summary..................................................................................................................................vii
1.TheSearchfor anEffectiveCooperationModality...............................................................1
2.EmergenceoftheSector-WideApproach(SWAp)...............................................................3
3.SecondPrimaryEducationDevelopment Programme(PEDP II) as aSWAp......................5
3.1Goals andFocus................................................................................................................5
3.2ThePrimaryEducationSystem........................................................................................6
3.3Progress in Access and LearningOutcomes.....................................................................7
3.4DPEAssessment...............................................................................................................8
4.SWAp,MultipleProvisions andAssistanceModality........................................................12
4.1Premises, Assumptions andAmbivalence......................................................................12
4.2Contradictions inPEDP IISWAp..................................................................................13
4.3Civil SocietyStakeholder’s Perspective.........................................................................16
4.4AGovernment Perspective.............................................................................................20
4.4.1DPEConcept Paper(Prog3).....................................................................................20
4.4.2Government PolicyFramework –TheNew EducationPolicy................................22
4.4.3DPE’s PreliminaryProgrammeDocument..............................................................24
5.Elements ofaPragmaticProgrammeApproach forPrimaryEducationinBangladesh.....26
5.1Consensus BuildingonProcess andContent.................................................................26
5.2Roles andContributionofNGOs...................................................................................27
5.3BroadPolicyIssues andPolitical Decisions...................................................................28
5.4ASchematicForaPragmaticProgrammeApproach.....................................................29
6.Conclusions andRecommendations....................................................................................33
6.1Conclusions: ModalityofCooperationandProgrammeManagement..........................33
6.2Recommendations..........................................................................................................34
References................................................................................................................................37
Appendix 1...............................................................................................................................39
List of Tables
Table1: CompletionRates inDifferent Types of PrimarySchools, 2008(percentages based
onreconstructedcohort analysis)...............................................................................................8
Table2: MeanNumbers ofCompetencies AchievedbyGrade5Students, 2008(out of27
testedcompetencies)..................................................................................................................8
Table3: PEDP IIProgress onSelected Indicators.....................................................................9
List of Figures
Figure1: PercentageDistributionofPrimarySchool Students bySchool Type,2008
(includingnon-formal primaryeducationprogrammes)............................................................7
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Listof Acronyms
ADB AsianDevelopment Bank
BANBEIS Bangladesh BureauofEducational InformationandStatistics
BIDS Bangladesh Instituteof Development Studies
CAMPE CampaignforPopularEducation
CIDA Canadianinternational Development Agency
CREATE Consortium forResearch onEducational Access Transitions andEquity
DP Development Partner
DPE DirectorateofPrimaryEducation
EFA EducationforAll
EMIS EducationMonitoringInformationSystem
GNP Gross National Product
GOB Government of Bangladesh
GPS Government PrimarySchool
ICT InformationandCommunicationTechnology
LENPA LearningNetworkonProgrammeBasedApproaches
MDG Millennium Development Goal
MoPME MinistryofPrimaryand Mass Education
NAPE National AcademyforPrimaryEducation
NCTB National Curriculum and TextbookBoard
NFPE NonFormal PrimaryEducation
NGO NonGovernmental Organisation
NPED National PrimaryEducationDevelopment
OECD OrganisationforEconomicCooperationandDevelopment
PBA ProgrammeBasedApproach
PEDP PrimaryEducationDevelopment Plan
PIU Project ImplementationUnit
PLU Project Liaison Unit
PMU ProgrammeManagement Unit
UNESCO UnitedNations Educational ScientificandCultural Organisation
UPE Universal PrimaryEducation
UPEP UpazilaPrimaryEducationPlan
URC UpazilaResourceCentre
RNGPS RegisteredNonGovernment PrimarySchool
SAPE SectorassistanceProgrammeEvaluation
SIP Sector Investment Programme
SLIP School level Improvement Plan
SMC School Management Committee
SWAp SectorWideApproach
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Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Professor Keith Lewin for his comments and suggestions on earlier
drafts of this monograph. I also thank Dr. Benjamin Zeitlyn for going over the text
meticulouslyandmakingvaluablesuggestions inrespect ofbothsubstance andstyle.
I have benefited greatly from formal and informal discussion with my CAMPE colleagues
and the members of the Education Watch Group who had helped formulate the CAMPE
position paper on the next phase of primary education development in Bangladesh, upon
which I have drawn extensively. I have also benefited from conversation and meetings with
officials at the Directorate of Primary Education and those responsible for implementing
PEDPII. However, I remain responsible for the content and the conclusions and
recommendations presentedinthemonograph.
I wish to acknowledge the assistance of Justine Charles in preparing this monograph for
publication.
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Preface
Sector Wide Approaches have been the favoured modality or channelling external assistance
to education for over a decade. Where development partners provide substantial flows of
finance it has proved attractive to try and integrate sources of funding into common basket
arrangements. In principle these kinds of arrangements should reduce transaction costs and
harmonise inputs into a single national programme that can be managed efficiently. It should
also enhance sustainabilitysince SWAps do not have end dates in the same sense that project
aid generally does. This approach is consistent with the Paris accords injunction to avoid
duplication across development partners and ease the burden on recipient governments of
dealingseparatelywith large numbers of donors. PEDPII, the support programme for primary
schoolinginBangladesh, has aspiredtoSWAparrangements.
Access to education in Bangladesh has improved considerably over the last decade but
remains far from universal. Fewer than half of all children access and complete lower
secondary school after the short primary school system finishes at Grade 5. National
assessments indicate considerable cause for concern about achievement levels and the wide
variation in quality between schools and districts. PEDP II has fallen short of its aspirations.
The development of its sequel provides a unique opportunity to learn from the successes and
failures of PEDP II and establish new modalities that may have more effect on sustained
levels of educational access to basic education. Amongst the opportunities that need
exploringin depth are needs to adopt a less rigid and more flexible approach to planningover
the lifetime of the next assistance programme, expand the opportunities for stakeholder
participation in the SWAp and its implementation, work to ensure that committed resources
are actually disbursed on time, decentralise – or at least pilot on scale schemes - down to
Upazilla level to plan and manage the mobilisation of resources to enhance access, support
multiple providers in delivering educational services within an appropriate regulatory
framework. The risk is that development partners and government remain within their
existing comfort zones and fail to grasp the opportunity to adopt new and more effective
practices.
Keith Lewin
DirectorofCREATE
Centrefor International Education
UniversityofSussex
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Summary
This monograph, in the CREATE Pathways to Access series, is about the modality of
cooperation and programme management in primary education in Bangladesh, based
specifically on the experience of the Second Primary Education Development Programme
(PEDP II). It is not intended to be an assessment of PEDP II accomplishments, but key
information and a brief discussion about progress in the substantive programme objectives in
primary education development in Bangladesh have been presented in order to understand
howthemodalityof cooperationandmanagement has worked.
Having examined the characteristics of the Sector-Wide Approach (SWAp) as it has been
applied in PEDP II and how it has helped or hindered achievement of the programme goals,
the on-going discourse on the appropriate scope and features of the next phase of primary
education development is reviewed. This is particularly relevant as PEDP II winds up and a
new programme for primary education development from mid-2011 begins to be designed.
Conclusions are drawn on the basis of CREATE research activities which have illuminated
the issues and concerns that have surfaced in implementing PEDP II. Recommendations are
made about the modality of cooperation and management that would be congruent with and
supportive of future strategies and key actions to advance universal primary education with
equityandquality.
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