According to bank's website, the approved project, funded entirely by a System Transformation Grant by the Global Partnership for Education, will support the Government of the Punjab with improvements in school enrollment and retention, provision of early childhood education (ECE) and foundational learning at the pre-primary and primary levels, remedial and non-formal learning opportunities for children who have not acquired foundational skills at the primary level, and inclusive education for children with disabilities. Project components include:Component 1: Improved access to formal, nonformal and special education This component will support the government to (i) expand and improve its ECE delivery in primary schools, (ii) increase the number of non-formal education institutions for middle school-aged out of school children, and (iii) make schools more accessible for children with special needs through inclusive infrastructure in 7,000 schools and 300 special education schools.Component 2: Improved learning outcomesThis component will support the government to (i) improve learning resources and delivery of foundational learning across all primary schools and (ii) introduce remedial learning in 4,000 primary and 4,000 middle schools reporting low levels of foundational learning. It will also support improvements in teacher observation and coaching, with a focus in particular on language of instruction and teacher support in multigrade settings. A content development hub will be established in the government's teacher training institution to develop digital content for schools, teachers and managers. Component 3: Enhanced system capacity and data systems This component will support the government to (i) standardize data collection and reporting (including learning data and student identifiers) across the school, non-formal and special education department, (ii) establish a gender cell in the School Education Department to support gender-focused and gender-responsive planning, service delivery and oversight, (iii) introduce more equitable school budgets and support financial and administrative autonomy of schools, (iv) establish a Research and Innovation Hub to pilot innovations to improve access and equity. Component 4: Behavioral change for improved education outcomes This component will support the government to engage education communities through interactive online and offline content to influence them to play a more proactive role in their children's schooling and to encourage enrolment and retention. Communications content will be developed through the content hub.Component 5: Technical Assistance and Evaluation This component will cover technical assistance, research and evaluation for the project. It will include targeted technical assistance to the SED, SpED and L&NFBED, studies to track progress and inform course correction and third party verifications.

Environmental and Social Risk: S

Total Project Cost: US$ 0.00 million

Commitment Amount: US$ 47.36 million 

Task Team Leader: Koen Martijn Geven 

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