Malawi girls" attainment in basic literacy and education (GABLE) : vol. 1 -- program assistance approval document

The program will consist of a cash grant tied to Government of Malawi (GOM) policy actions. The grant will be used to support the Ministry of Education and Culture"s budget. Local currency will not be generated. Specific program objectives are to increase the financial resources and internal efficiency of the education sector, improve the quality of primary education, and increase girls" access to a gender-appropriate curriculum. To achieve these, the GOM agrees to: (1) increase the share of the budget devoted to education, particularly to primary education; (2) build more primary schools, classrooms, and teachers" houses; (3) train more teachers through efficient utilization of teachers" colleges; (4) provide more learning materials at a lower cost by privatizing procedures for procurement and distribution; (5) reduce repetition in Standards 1-7; and (6) encourage girls" attainment levels in primary school by waiving the fees for girls who do not repeat and by introducing a gender-appropriate curriculum. In addition, the GOM pledges its best efforts to increase the percentage of girls enrolled in secondary schools to at least one-third of the total enrollment. Complementary TA will be provided under project 6120237. PAAD/PP amendment of 9/28/94 authorizes three new tranches of $7 million each and extends the program until 9/98 in order to help the GOM fulfill its new policy of free primary education (announcement of which almost doubled primary enrollment rate). The GOM agrees to: (1) increase budgetary allocations to education, primary education, and primary education learning materials, and increase cost-recovery at the university level as a means to these ends; (2) improve educational quality by implementing a community-based school system for standards 1-4 (with emphasis on isolated areas), increasing the number of primary school teachers and their training, and increasing the supply of primary learning materials and classrooms; (3) improve efficiency by introducing policies to reduce repetition and late entry in all standards and by improving the analytical and planning capacity of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MOEST); and (4) improve relevance for girls through gender-appropriate teacher training and curricula, a scholarship program for secondary school girls, and the introduction of classroom techniques to enhance girls" achievement. (PD-BCK-033)