Nicaragua basic education project (BASE)

The evaluation covered the period 1994-7/96. The mid-term evaluation found initial advances impressive, but restricted primarily to just 68 of the 5,000 primary schools in the country. The schools were developed as models and potential training centers for other teachers. Decentralization, which gives real power and funds to the community, has also advanced methodically in an autonomous school program which currently covers less than 500 schools. In a parallel effort, the Ministry of Education (MED), with BASE support, is reconcentrating functions from the central office to 19 departmental offices (DDEs). In addition to advances in decentralization and reconcentration, innovative solutions are now in place in budgeting, accounting, finance, teacher pay, evaluation, research, and human resource development. These are supported by a sophisticated Management Information System (MIS) that reaches down into the DDEs. On the substantive side, 46,000 new child-centered teacher guides and manuals are now in place, 426,000 textbooks are at school level, and 18,000 teachers (almost 100%) have received some training. But teachers still do not apply the new curriculum, preferring rote teaching methods, the blackboard, textbook, and copybook. Changing this is the central challenge facing the second phase of the project. It is recommended that the project focus all of its energies and funds upon a single goal in the second phase: improving the quality of classroom learning. To reach this goal three mechanisms are proposed. (1) The project should develop simplified, practical pamphlets that demonstrate to a largely untrained teacher how to plan for the use of a broad range of good materials available and how to make learning more active, practical, and participative at the classroom level. (2) The project should also develop a continuous teacher training program that combines visits of mobile teams to classrooms, the establishments of training centers, distance training techniques, and face-to-face training. A plan is suggested so that teachers in almost daily contact with the new curriculum ideas can gradually assimilate this into daily practice. This program would use the 68 model schools, the Normal Schools, and nucleus schools as training hubs. The projected target group includes supervisors, principals, and lead teachers so that they can support the teachers. (3) A systematic development of community support for schools is proposed. All the administrative and technical forces of MED should be brought into this process. The main strategy underlying these efforts is to move from micro to macro, to reach out from the 68 model schools with an expansion plan to include all 5,000 schools. (Author abstract, modified)