The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors on Saturday approved $300 million to help Bangladesh improve learning outcomes and teaching quality, reduce the dropout rate in secondary education, recover from learning losses incurred during the Covid-19 pandemic, and introduce complementary online learning blended with in-class education to build system resilience.
“Bangladesh has made remarkable progress in education over the years and was among the first few developing countries to achieve gender parity in lower secondary school. But the prolonged school closure during the Covid-19 pandemic has had a profoundly negative impact on learning and forced many poor girls to leave school,” said Abdoulaye Seck, World Bank country director for Bangladesh and Bhutan.
“The World Bank will continue to help Bangladesh recover from learning losses by improving learning outcomes and teaching quality so that students graduate with the skills they need to live a rich and fulfilling life and strive in society.”
The Learning Acceleration in Secondary Education (LAISE) Operation will support the government’s Secondary Education Program. With an aim to accelerate learning, the program will have a focus on core subjects such as mathematics, English and Bangla for grades 6 and 8, as these are foundational for future learning. It aims to increase the proficiency of Grade 8 students in mathematics to 65 per cent from the current 28 per cent and Bangla to 90 per cent from 66 per cent.
To reduce dropout rates, the program will provide stipends to 8 million students and ensure that 5,000 institutions have active sexual harassment and prevention committees in place. Further, about 7,200 schools will have programs to improve reading proficiency, and 15,000 teachers will receive training to enhance their teaching skills. The program will also support mental health counselling and help prevent gender-based violence in at least 30 per cent of targeted schools.
To recover from learning losses during the Covid-19 pandemic, the program will support digitization and phased rollout of the newly approved curriculum and additional remedial classes for learning recovery.
It will also support the government’s blended education masterplan —a combination of in-class and online learning— and offer personalized resources to students so they can learn at their own pace.
“To keep children in secondary schools in climate-vulnerable regions, the program will take additional steps beyond providing stipends and help those who have dropped out to re-enrol,” said T M Asaduzzaman, World Bank senior education specialist and Team Leader for the project.
“In climate-vulnerable areas, blended teaching will help keep learning on track even if schools are forced to close due to floods or cyclones. The program will also mainstream climate education into the curriculum to foster climate-smart mindsets and behaviours.”
The credit is from the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA), which provides concessional financing and has a 30-year term with a five-year grace period.
The World Bank was among the first development partners to support Bangladesh. Since independence, the World Bank has committed about $40 billion in grants, interest-free and concessional credits to the country. Currently, Bangladesh has the largest IDA program in the world with a total of $16.07 billion commitment to 56 ongoing projects.
