7. A Coordination and Strategic Planning
7.1 The key challenge for NPA II is to contextualize EFA and MDG targets into a realistic road-map of approach, targets and responsibilities. The shift from a projects approach to a program or sector-wide approach (PEDP II) with an emphasis on quality has transformed coordination within government, between government and development partners (DPs) and amongst DPs into a strategic challenge. Unless the coordination and strategic planning challenges of a paradigm shift from access to quality are adequately addressed, the benefits of a shift to a program approach may not materialize. It is also important that a flexible, lesson-learning approach be adopted in program review and adjustment.
7.2 A particular challenge lies in the fact that while MOPME is responsible for implementing NPA II, critical agencies such as National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB), Bangladesh Bureau of Educational Information and Statistics (BANBEIS), Bangladesh Madrasah Education Board (BMEB) are outside its administrative control. Globally, UNESCO deals with all EFA matters but the National UNESCO Commission has no direct linkage with MOPME. This anomaly calls for review and early resolution. Ministries with which enhanced coordination will be critical include Women and Children Affairs, Education, Health and Family Welfare, Social Welfare, Local Government and Rural Development (LGED/DPHE/Union Parishads), and, Finance and Planning.
7.3 With the adoption of the National Strategy for Accelerated Poverty Reduction (PRS, 2005) there is also a challenge of aligning NPA II activities with the implementation of the broader MDG-based PRS goals. The multi-stakeholder sectoral monitoring committee established within MOPME under the monitoring framework on PRS implementation can be utilized to pursue the goals of such alignment.
7.4 There is also a need for coordination between NGO programmes, mostly under the NFE canopy, targeted at never-enrolled and dropout children, out-of-school adolescents, illiterate youth and adults and parallel programmes within the public sector. Outputs of NGO programmes is not reflected in the official data thus leaving a dent in the actual progress achieved in education. Strengthening the professional capacity of the public sector to provide policy guidance for NGO programmes so as to better achieve EFA and MDG goals is also a priority.
7. B Mobilizing Resources
7.5 The complex and multi-dimensional targets of achieving EFA within NPA II requires substantial resources. GOB has been consistently giving high priority since the initiation of NPA I to educational commitments in the allocation of its budgetary resources (around 70 percent of the program budget in the General Education Project of early 1990s and of PEDP I of late 1990s). However, the scale of resource requirements for the ambitious goals of NPA II implies the need for donor assistance over and beyond GOB resources. Development Partners have been particularly supportive of Bangladesh’s commitment to and achievement on EFA goals and have been generous in extending resources to support well-planned interventions in the light of their commitments made at the Dakar World Education Forum. The need for such support remains imperative for the whole period of NPA II and the case for such support has been further strengthened by the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness through harmonization. The challenge for GOB is to formulate the claims for such resources through credible indicators of progress on existing programs and compelling new plans, which address gaps in existing program focus vis-à-vis the broad NPA II vision.
7.6 However, neither GOB resources nor donor assistance will suffice to meet the resource requirements of all aspects of NPA II goals. There is thus a core issue of intensifying social mobilization for sustained community involvement and ownership on many of the NPA II goals, in particular in the NFE sub-sector. Inspiration can be drawn from innumerable examples where communities have provided space for community learning centers or their construction, mats, benches, blackboards, lanterns, wall charts and time of local community leaders, in organizing and managing the centers.
7. C System Reorganization
7.7 GOB has adopted a determined but realistic approach in strengthening systemic capacities towards achieving EFA goals. The focus has been both on introducing incremental measures with critical results potential and on systemic reorganization where relevant. GOB has brought about procedural reforms that have resulted in faster flow of information. It has also built 14200 new class-rooms and recruited 14200 new teachers to meet the goal of putting 1 teacher in each classroom. School Management Committees are being strengthened and empowered with responsibilities of overseeing the classroom construction and other associated activities. A groundbreaking initiative has been the decision to introduce terminal examination or assessment at the end of grade V in December 2006 to ensure that children going for secondary education are fully prepared for it.
7.8 With regard to administrative reorganization, GOB has established the Bureau of Non-Formal Education (BNFE) with a new organizational orientation of professional management and partnership development in place of the Directorate of Non-Formal Education (DNFE) that was abolished in 2003. Government is also seriously reviewing the option of creating a special cadre or sub-cadre for Primary and Mass Education System as well as developing a separate group of women teachers with special training and skill for Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE). A critical challenge will be to develop a training and recruitment strategy to address the enhanced focus on the teaching of English.
7. D Partnership Development
7.9 Both the World Conference on EFA at Jomtein and the Dakar Framework have rightly emphasized the importance of governments working with a variety of partners to achieve the challenging goals of EFA. NGOs have played an important role in Bangladesh in extending access through NFE methods targeted to poor children. NPA II envisages newer challenges of partnership development. Two critical areas in the NFE sub-sector where the role of partners such as NGOs, CBOs and local governments will be critical are i) scaling up ECCE, and, ii) extending access to ‘missing poor’ i.e. children in remote locations and facing social exclusion. However, with the paradigm shift from issues of access to issues of quality, new programmatic roles may also be opening up for appropriately prepared NGOs and professional groups in the critical areas of i) innovative teacher training, ii) capacity building of URCs, and, iii) analytical data-bases. Other relevant areas may also become evident in the course of NPA II implementation.
7. E Data-Base and Use of Statistics
7.10 The importance of quality and credible statistics for program formulation and performance and outcome monitoring can hardly be over-emphasized. There are three dimensions pertaining to the question of statistics which are of relevance here: i) collection of data, ii) organization of the data into analytical information, and iii) utilization of the information for management, monitoring and program development. An MIS facility already exists for the formal primary education sub-sector but not for the NFE sub-sector. Critically, however, there has been inadequate policy emphasis on the importance of quality statistics and its effective utilization. An important challenge for NPA II will be to put in place a comprehensive policy vision and a commensurate institutional strategy to address the three dimensions of statistics mentioned earlier.
7. F Considerations on Programme Costing
7.11. GOB currently allocates in excess of Taka 3,000 crores (around half a billion US dollars) annually on primary and mass education sector. Realizing all of the goals of NPA II is likely to require an increase of at least 50 percent over this current outlay. For the period 2003-2015, this would tentatively imply a financing requirement of around 8 billion US dollars. Since 2003, GOB with support from DPs has been implementing PEDP-II, a multi-component program with a time horizon mid-way into the NPA II framework (i.e. 2009). An extended costing and financing exercise incorporating both agreed commitments since 2003 and requirements beyond 2009 to 2015 as well as new requirements on identified gaps such as on skill education for primary school-leavers is a policy priority.
7.12 An operationally important consideration will be the relative sub-sectoral allocation between the formal primary education sector (UPE component) and the non-formal education sector (ECCE and NFE components). Given the fact that the emerging challenge is one of quality and the greatest area of concern on quality achievements is in the formal primary schools, it is the UPE component which will require the greater share of resources. The relevant allocation ratio between the formal primary education sector (UPE and part of ECCE component) and the non-formal education sector (part of ECCE and NFE components) could be worked out on the basis of clientele population. This comes to 18 million school-age children vs nearly 24 million out-of school children, illiterate adolescents and young adults. Since primary school children engage in longer term study compared to shorter duration NFE courses for out-of-school population, it is suggested that budgetary provision for basic education be enhanced by about 50 percent over present level and the enhanced amounts be allocated in the order of UPE:: ECCE/NFE 7: 3. However, detailed programming and costing exercise may change this later to some extent. A tentative budget estimate is given in the next chapter.