Primary Education Development Program - Phase III

This project aims to support Bangladesh’s national primary education system so that girls and boys in all districts have access to better quality education. The project also works to ensure that children from pre-primary through grade five at government and non-government registered primary schools have better success at school. The project aims to ensure that children have access to schools that are conducive to learning. This means building toilets classrooms and new schools that meet the needs of students especially for girls and children with special-needs. It also means purchasing textbooks and recruiting and training qualified teachers. The project also helps reach disadvantaged students by offering pre-primary education. The project expects to recruit 24 000 teachers train 11 000 teachers per year build 127 000 toilets and 34 070 classrooms and repair replace or provide 39 000 sources of drinking water. The project works to improve the operation of the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education. It also works to improve the planning and running of pre-primary and primary schools by providing training in leadership and management practices and by conducting school census reports and learning assessments. As with all budget support initiatives Canada is working in close cooperation with other donors and the Government of Bangladesh to promote effective transparent and accountable country systems; increase donor coordination and harmonization; and strengthen mutual accountability. Budget support also fosters greater policy dialogue among donors government and partners thus helping to strengthen efforts for effective focussed aid as well as long-term development results. This initiative is continuously monitored and evaluated in coordination with other donors. Other donors supporting this initiative include: the Asian Development Bank the World Bank the United Kingdom the European Union Australia Sweden Japan and UNICEF.

The expected intermediate outcomes of this project include: (i) Improved planning and management of government schools at the pre-primary and primary level; and (ii) Improved learning achievement of girls and boys at government primary schools.