Learning Enhancement and Acceleration in Primary Education in Bangladesh (WB-P512645)

Regions
  • South Asia
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Countries
  • Bangladesh
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Financial Institutions
  • World Bank (WB)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Proposed
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
B
Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."
Voting Date
Oct 30, 2026
Date when project documentation and funding is reviewed by the Board for consideration and approval. Some development banks will state a "board date" or "decision date." When funding approval is obtained, the legal documents are accepted and signed, the implementation phase begins.
Borrower
Government of Bangladesh - Directorate of Primary Education
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Education and Health
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Loan
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 300.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Project Cost (USD)
$ 1,246.88 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Bank Documents
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ WB website

Updated in EWS Sep 16, 2026

Disclosed by Bank Feb 10, 2026

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Project Description
If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

According to the Bank’s website, the objective of this project is to improve foundational literacy and numeracy for all children in participating schools, reduce learning disparities across districts, and strengthen capacity in Bangladesh's primary education system.

The proposed US$300 million project aims to enhance foundational literacy and numeracy (FLN) for all children and strengthen education system capacity from pre-primary to grade 5. It will improve FLN and teaching practices through a national rollout of the FLN package with teaching materials, teacher professional development, structured pedagogy, and mentoring. To reduce inequities, it will support targeted learning acceleration programs, improving quality pre-primary education with an initial phase in the lagging districts. The project will also strengthen education system performance by enhancing teacher and school leadership, improving accountability and budget execution, and aligning resources with PEDP5 priorities. Technical assistance will support the provision of expertise in key areas, provide implementation support and monitoring of results.

Early Warning System Project Analysis
For a project with severe or irreversible impacts to local community and natural resources, the Early Warning System Team may conduct a thorough analysis regarding its potential impacts to human and environmental rights.

The operation is a hybrid PforR with a small IPF component, and the overall Environmental and Social (E&S) risk is assessed as Moderate. For the PforR component, an Environmental and Social Systems Assessment (ESSA) identified moderate and manageable risks associated with small-scale upgrading and maintenance of school WASH facilities, including worker and student safety, fecal sludge and construction waste management, water quality testing, and ensuring accessibility and privacy-sensitive facilities. SEA/SH risk is rated Low due to limited labor influx and strong oversight arrangements.

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.

Total Project Cost: US$ 1246.88 million
World Bank Lending: US$ 300.00 million

Private Actors Description
A Private Actor is a non-governmental body or entity that is the borrower or client of a development project, which can include corporations, private equity and banks. This describes the private actors and their roles in relation to the project, when private actor information is disclosed or has been further researched.

Asian Development Bank (ADB): ADB will serve as a financing partner for PEDP5, with a tentative contribution of US$320 million. ADB’s support will subscribe to a unified set of DLIs and a harmonized disbursement modality, under which pooled Development Partner (DP) funds will be disbursed directly to the Government treasury. ADB’s financing is expected to start from the second year of implementation.

European Union (EU): EU has indicated interest in financing PEDP5 through Technical Assistance (TA) support, with a tentative contribution of US$11.3 million.

UNICEF: UNICEF will finance PEDP5 with a tentative contribution of US$5 million focusing on both technical assistance and implementation support.

UNESCO: UNESCO will finance PEDP5 with a tentative contribution of US$1.8 million focusing on both technical assistance.

Global Partnership for Education (GPE): The Global Partnership for Education (GPE) System Transformation Grant (STG)— approximately US$49 million—will focus on reforming teacher professional development in Bangladesh. The program emphasizes strengthening the regulatory framework, policies, and strategies for teacher development, alongside improvements in pre-service preparation and the expansion of longer-duration diploma programs such as the Diploma in Primary Education (DPEd/BTPT). UNICEF and UNESCO will serve as grant agents, and the STG will operate as a parallel initiative to PEDP5, with complementary objectives in strengthening teaching quality across the system.

Others: (JICA, FCDO, IsDB, UNDP, DFAT GAC, WFP, China): As per the PEDP5 design, development partners (DPs) and other sector partners who are not directly financing PEDP5 will coordinate through a consortium, aligning with program systems and a common support framework. These partners will contribute to technical assistance, program implementation, and policy dialogue, with progress reviewed regularly against agreed actions and targets.


Contact Information
This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

CONTACT POINT - World Bank

Task Team Leader: Matiullah Noori
Title: Senior Education Economist
Email: mnoori1@worldbank.org

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

To submit an information request for project information, you will have to create an account to access the Access to Information request form. You can learn more about this process at: https://www.worldbank.org/en/access-to-information/request-submission

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF THE WORLD BANK

The World Bank Inspection Panel is the independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who believe they are likely to be, or have been, adversely affected by a World Bank-financed project. If you submit a complaint to the Inspection Panel, they may investigate to assess whether the World Bank is following its own policies and procedures for preventing harm to people or the environment. You can contact the Inspection Panel or submit a complaint by emailing ipanel@worldbank.org. Information on how to file a complaint and a complaint request form are available at: https://www.inspectionpanel.org/how-to-file-complaint

How it works

How it works