Document of The World Bank Report No. 15109-PAN STAFF APPRAISAL REPORT THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA BASIC EDUCATION PROJECT FEBRUARY 29, 1996 Country Department II Human Resources Operations Division Latin America and the Caribbean Regional Office Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized
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Document of
The World Bank
Report No. 15109-PAN
STAFF APPRAISAL REPORT
THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA
BASIC EDUCATION PROJECT
FEBRUARY 29, 1996
Country Department IIHuman Resources Operations DivisionLatin America and the Caribbean Regional Office
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CURRENCY AND EQUIVALENT UNITS
US$ 1.00 = 1.00 Balboa (B)
FISCAL YEAR
January 1 - December 31
SCHOOL YEAR
March-December
GLOSSARY OF ACRONYMS
CAS Country Assistance StrategyCEFACEI Community and Family Center for Initial Education (Centro Familiary Comunitario
de Educacion Inicial)COIF Center of Infant and Famnily Orientation (Centros de Orientacidn Infantily Familiar)ERP Economic Recovery ProgramERL Economic Recovery LoanFES Social Emergency Fund (Fondo de Emergencia Social)GDP Gross Domestic ProductGNP Gross National ProductGOP Government of PanamaICB International Competitive BiddingIDB Inter-American Development BankIFARHU Institute for Training and Progress in Human Resources (Instituto para la Formaci6n
y Aprovechamiento de Recursos Humanos)IFI International Financial InstitutionsLIB Lirnited International BiddingMIPPE Ministry of Planning and Economic Policy (Ministerio de Planificaci6n y Politica
Econ6mica)MOE Ministry of Education (Ministerio de Educaci6n)NCB National Competitive BiddingNGO Nongovernmental OrganizationOAS Organization of American StatesPAU Project Administration UnitSOE Statement of ExpensesUNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural OrganizationUSAID United States Agency for International Development
THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA
BASIC EDUCATION PROJECTSTAFF APPRAISAL REPORT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION ....................... I
A. ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL SETTINO ....................... 1B. THE EDUCATION SECTOR ...................................................................................................... 2
(1) The Education System ............................................. 2(2) Key Issues ........................................... 5(3) Government Strategy ........................................... 7
C. LESSONS LEARNED AND RATIONALE FOR BANK INVOLVEMENT ........................................... 8(1) Lessons Learned ........................................... 8(2) Rationale f or Ba nk Involvement ............................................ ,. ................................. 9
2. THE PROJECT ........................................... 10
A. PROJECT CONCEPT AND OBJECTIVES ................................................................................................................. 10B. PROJECT TARGET AREAS ........................................... 10C. PROJECT COMPONENTS ............................................................................................................. 10D. PROJ ECT DESCRIPTION .............................................................................. 11
(1) Component I -Improvement of Quality of, and Expansion ofAccess to, Primary and LowerSecondaryEducation ...................... ,,,..,,,,,..,,.,,.,...11(2) Component 2 -Expansion of Non-Formal Pre-School Education ., 14(3) Component 3 -Institutional Strengthening of the Mvinistry of Education ..................................................... 17
3. PROJECT COSTS AND FINANCING ..................................................... 18
E .DISBURSEMENTS .................................................... 26F. ACCOUNTING AND AUDITING .................................................... 27
4. PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION AND MANAGEMENT .................................................... 27
A. PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION AND MANAGEMENT .................................................... 27B. PROJECT MONITORING AND SUPERVISION .................................................... 28
5. PROJECT BENEFITS AND RISKS .................................................... 29
A. PROJECT BENEFITS AND ECONOMIC RETURNS .................................................... 29B. IMPACT ON WOMEN ................................................................................................................................. .......... 30C. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ....................... 30D. PARTICIPATORY APPROACH ....................... 30E. PROJECT RiSKS ....................... 30F. PROGRAM OBJECTIVE CATEGORY ....................... 3 1
6. AGREEMENTS REACHED AND RECOMMENDATION ............................................ 31
This report is based on the findings of the appraisal and post-appraisal missions that visited Panama in May andJuly, 1995, respectively. Mission members were C. Chiappe (Task Manager); M. Vera, E. Waters, and H. Yang(LA2HR); M. Mathov (OBPIE); C. Benito, J.M. Ezquivel, and B. Hermosilla (Consultants); and F. Fuentes (RUTASocial). It has benefitted greatly from the inputs of Eleanor Schreiber (LA2HR); L.Kebeck contributed to thereport at headquarters. Messrs. Edilberto L. Segura (LA2DR) and Kye Woo Lee (LA2HR) are the DepartmentDirector and Division Chief, respectively, for this operation. Peer Reviewers are C. Valdivieso (ESP) and MPotashnik (LA 3HR).
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PANAMABASIC EDUCATION PROJECT
LOAN AND PROJECT SUMMARY
Borrower: The Republic of Panama.
Implementing Agency: Ministry of Education (MOE).
Beneficiary: Not applicable
Poverty: Program of Targeted Interventions. The project will target thepoorest 185 townships (corregimientos) in the country as definedby housing, education, health and nutrition indicators.
Amount: US$ 35 million.
Terms: Standard amortization term, grace period, and interest rate forfixed-rate US dollars single currency loans with an expecteddisbursement period of 3-6 years.
Commitment Fee: 0.75% on undisbursed loan balances, beginning 60 days aftersigning, less any waiver.
Financing Plan: See para. 3.3
Net Present Value: Not Applicable (see paras. 5.1-5.3)
Map: IBRD No. 27496
Project ID: PA-7832
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BASIC DATA SHEET
A. General Country Data
GDP Per Capita (US$) 2,600 S 1992Area 77 000 Sq. Km. NAPopulation Estimate 2.3 Millions 1992Urban Population (percent of total) 54 % 1992Indigenous Population (percent of total) 8.3 % 1990
B. Social IndicatorsCrude Birth Rate (Per Thousand) 25 Births 1992Crude Death Rate (Per Thousand) 5 Deaths 1992Population Growth Rate 2.1 Annual % 1992Total Fertility Rate 2.9 Births 1992Infant Mortality Rate
(Per Thousand Live Births) 21 Deaths 1992Maternal Mortality Rate
(Per 100,000 Live Births) 60 Deaths 1992Life Expectancy At Birth 73 Years 1992Adult Illiteracy Rate 12 % 1990
C. Basic Education IndicatorsEnrollment Numbers
Pre-school 33,288 Students 1992Primary (grades 1-6) 356,247 Students 1992Secondary (grades 7-12) 201,047 Students 1992University 63,300 Students 1993
E. Public Education ExDenditure DataTotal Education Expenditures as % of GNP 5.5 % 1993
Educ. Expend. as % ofTot. Pub. Expend. 16.4 % 1993
Prescho. and Prim Educ. Expend.as % of Total Educ. Expen. 40.9 % 1992-93Second. Expen. as % of Tot. Pub. Exp. 26.7 % 1992-93Higher Ed. Expen. as % of
Tot. Pub. Exp. 32.4 % 1992-93
F. Annual Unit CostsPreschool and Primary Education 290.0 $ 1992Secondary Education 371.0 $ 1992
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EDUCATION GLOSSARY
Basic Education Two years of pre-school, primary school (gradesl-6) and lowersecondary school (grades 7-9).
Completion Rate For the nine years of basic education, the ratio between the numberof students exiting grade 9 in a given year T and the number ofstudents entering grade 1 in year T-9 as a close approximation ofthe percentage of students of a given cohort to complete the nineyears of basic education.
Dropout Rate Percentage of students who abandon the system without completingthe education cycle.
Educational Attainment Number of years of formal schooling attended by a student.
Educational Achievement Magnitude of achievement in any subject area, generally measuredaccording to national curriculum learning objectives.
Enrollment Rate Percentage of children of any age group or a given age groupenrolled in a certain education level.
Enrollment Rate, Gross Percentage of children of any age group enrolled in a grade level.Percentages may be more than 100 because some pupils areyounger or older than the standard school age.
Incomplete School A school with fewer than the official number of educational grades.
Kindergarten One year before primary (five-year-olds).
Multigrade Classroom A classroom where children of several different grades are taughtby one teacher.
Net Enrollment Rate Percentage of children of a given age group enrolled in theircorresponding grade level.
Nursery School One year before kindergarten (four-year-olds)
Pre-School Two year of education before primary school (nursery andkindergarten).
Promotion Rate Percentage of students enrolled in a given grade who enroll in thesubsequent grade the following year.
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Promotora An educator chosen by the local community, who may or may nothave formal training.
Repetition Rate Percentage of students enrolled in a certain grade who are notpromoted to the next grade and who therefore enroll again in thesame grade the following year.
THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMABASIC EDUCATION PROJECT
1. INTRODUCTION
A. Economic and Social Setting
1.1 The Panamanian economy is among the more prosperous and stable in the CentralAmerican region. Nonetheless, the economy is highly segrnented, between the dynamic,internationally-oriented service sector, which generates about 75 percent of gross domesticproduct (GDP), and the domestically-oriented sector, characterized by policy-induced rigiditiesand low productivity. Panama's wealth has cushioned it from the worst economic consequencesof its failure to undertake structural adjustment. While it has avoided the economic crisis whichhas plagued the rest of Central America, Panama is now paying for economic mismanagement inthe form of missed opportunities. In 1989, the poorest 20 percent of the population received 2percent of national income, the lowest share in Latin America. This group saw its relativeposition worsen since 1980, when it received nearly 4 percent of national income.
1.2 Panama has 2.3 million inhabitants, and although its socioeconomnic indicators are amongthe best in Central America, its two percent annual population growth rate and 2.9 births perwoman are the lowest in the region, while its infant mortality (21 in 1,000), life expectancy (73),and acceptance of family planning are only slightly behind Costa Rica in the six-country CentralAmerican region. Broad public health and social security coverage are responsible for thesefavorable national indicators. However, these statistics mask significant regional differences withinthe country, and wide variations from the mean within each indicator. The population is multi-ethnic, with persons of European, African, Asian, and indigenous descent, the latter groupconstituting 8.3 percent of the population in 1990. The indigenous population is principallylocated in the provinces of Bocas del Toro, Darien, Chiriqui, and in the San Blas region in Colon.These areas have generally unfavorable socioeconomic indicators.
1.3 Analyses carried out by the Ministry of Planning and Economic Policy (MIPPE) indicatethat in spite of gains made during the 1970's and early 1980's, almost 25 percent of Panama'spopulation lives in conditions of critical poverty with social indicators typical of low incomecountries. In the ten poorest districts (out of 67), which account for about 15 percent ofPanama's total population: (a) the average household earned less than US$ 850 per annum, aboutone third of the cost of the basic food basket for a family of five; (b) life expectancy at birth is tenyears below the national average; (c) the infant mortality rate ranges between 50 and 75 perthousand live births, three to four times the national average; (d) 40 to 70 percent of children aged6 to 9 suffer from moderate to severe growth retardation due to chronic malnutrition, comparedto a national average of 24 percent; and (e) almost one third of households do not have access toa protected water supply or basic sanitation (latrine). These pockets of poverty fall into one oftwo types: (a) more remote rural areas with limited natural resources and agricultural potential,including areas inhabited predominantly by indigenous people; and (b) peri-urban (slum)settlements.
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B. The Education Sector
(1) The Education System1.4 The education system in Panama consists of pre-primary, primary, secondary and highereducation with the following distribution of students:
Basic education is defined as two years of preschool, six years of primary school (grades 1-6) andthree years of lower secondary school (grades 7-9).
1.5 It is mandatory that pre-school services be provided, but it is not mandatory that parentssend their children to pre-school. It consists of nursery school (Pre-jardines de Infancia) forfour-year-olds, and kindergarten (Jardines de Infancia) for five-year-olds. Jardines de Infanciaare one-year schooling programs that emphasize readiness for reading and writing. There areabout 33,000 children enrolled in 894 Jardines de Infancia. About two thirds of these are publicinstitutions, and the remainder are private. The majority of kindergarten students attend classes inprimary school buildings. About 45 percent of five-year-olds are enrolled in kindergarten, a figuresignificantly lower than other Latin American countries of similar income level. Pre-schoolstudents in Panama are evenly divided between males and females. The pre-school coverage byprovince reveals an inverse relationship between coverage and provincial poverty (Annex 1).Thus, the current program serves mostly the wealthy provinces and Panama City, with acurriculum developed for implementation by highly educated teachers.
1.6 Panama has developed a pilot program, the Community and Family Center for InitialEducation (CEFACEI), to provide community-based pre-school services for four- and five-year-olds. The CEFACEIs use infrastructure provided by the community and a community educator(promotora), with or without formal training, to provide educational services to 15-21 children.At this time, there are approximately 1,600 children in 88 centers located in rural and marginalurban areas. Up until now, it has operated only in communities that can afford to pay apromotora. The CEFACEI program is an alternative for rural and poor areas where it is difficultto retain highly qualified teachers. Therefore, the curriculum must be presented to poorlyeducated parents and community educators through clear and simple messages conveyed throughappealing educational materials. However, the existing pre-school curriculum is presented inexcessively technical terms that require interpretation by highly trained teachers. The majority ofCEFACEIpromotoras are therefore limited to child care activities. The workplace programs,known as Centers of Infant and Family Orientation (COIFs), are administered by the Ministry ofLabor, and are available for children three to five years old in 70 centers mainly in Panama city
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and other urban areas. The COIFs' principal purpose is to provide child care for parents workingin public offices.
1.7 Primary school is mandatory and free, consisting of six grades and currently servingapproximately 360,000 students. There are approximately 14,300 teachers and 2,700 schools.Only five percent of all primary schools are private. The primary school level is characterized byhigh enrollment ratios, qualified teachers, and low student/teacher ratios. The net enrollment ratein primary school is 91 percent, comparable to that of other countries in Latin America with goodeducation indicators. The gross enrollment rate is 105 percent and also comparable to the rates ofother Latin American countries with strong education systems. There does not appear to be aconsistent correlation between net enrollment and the income level of a province. However, thepoorest region of San Blas has an exceptionally low net enrollment rate of 64.6 percent, which isprobably due to both the poverty level and the difficulty of access to schools in the area. Therelatively large size of its indigenous population has also hindered its integration into the country'spredominantly Hispanic culture. Three out of five Panamanian students who begin primary schooldo not complete the cycle in the anticipated six years, and the repetition rate in the four poorestprovinces is close to 20 percent. Primary enrollment for the country is 47.6 percent female whilethey represent 49.1 percent of the population in the age bracket. Differences appear whenanalyzing the poorest corregimientos of the country', in which female enrollment is 46.9 percent.At the national level, the drop out rate is low, under 2.0 percent. However, when data areanalyzed by corregimientos, the poorest have drop out rates around 6.0 percent. The failure rateis almost 10 percent nationally but, again, goes up to 12.3 percent for the poorest corregimientos(Annex 1).
1.8 The public primary student/teacher ratio is 25. The current number of teachers on thepublic payrol can serve all the projected primary school-age population of 1999. Even theprovince with the highest student/teacher ratio at present would have a ratio of only 31, using thecurrent student/teacher ratio per province. Ratios in eight provinces would still be below 30(Annex 1).
1.9 There is no standard system to evaluate the quality of education. The informationavailable suggests that average quality is low. This is a critical issue since Panama devotes asubstantial amount of economic resources to education. The sector has one of the best paidteaching forces in the region (Annex 2) and fairly good infrastructure, the two most expensivecomponents of the primary school student unit cost. An ample, perhaps excessive, future supplyof teachers is ensured, with over 7,000 students currently at the School of Education of theUniversity of Panama and 1,000 at the teacher training institute (Escuela AIormal).
1.10 Primary school teachers in Panama have good fornal training in subject knowledge; about80 percent of the teachers have Normal School degrees (secondary level) and almost all othershave university-level degrees, many of them pedagogical. Almost all of them attend two-week in-
'Panama has 9 Provinces, 67 Districts, one region and, until 1993, it had 5 10 Corregimientos. In 1993, thecounty seat of the district of Santiago de Veraguas was split, and the new corregimiento of Canto del Llanowas formed, so today there are officially 5 11 corregimientos. This document uses existent data from theoriginal 5 10 corregimientos.
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service training sessions every year of their career. These courses emphasize language and math,but also include other disparate topics such as computer sdcills, folklore dances, and civilprotection, among others, that are indicative of the overall irrelevance and lack of focus of a largepart of the program. Such a program would be more useful if it were more sharply focused on thelearning needs of students. The most extreme example of this is the lack of pre- and in-servicetraining in multigrade teaching techniques, in spite of the fact that almost three quarters of allprimary schools in Panama have multigrade classes. Pre-service and in-service training inmultigrade techniques would maximize the strong pedagogical qualifications that most teachersbring to the job, leading to a higher quality of education in multigrade classrooms.
1.11 Secondary school services are also free, but not yet mandatory. There are about 200,000students, 10,000 teachers, and 223 schools; 17.4 percent of the enrollment and 39.6 percent of theschools are private. Secondary education is organized in two cycles of three years each. The firstcycle (grades 7-9) covers general subjects and is part of the basic education program. The secondcycle (grades 10-12) has two tracks: (a) academic, including science and humanities sub-tracks;and (b) professional-technical, with sub-tracks in commerce, industry, agriculture, homemakingand cosmetology. Over the last five years, the percentage of students in each track has remainedrelatively constant, with about 43 percent of the students enrolled in the academic track and thebalance enrolled in the professional-technical track (Annex 1).
1.12 Administration of the education sector is centralized. The Ministry of Education(MOE) directs pre-school, primary, secondary and adults education. Vocational training is theresponsibility of the National Institute for Vocational Training (INAFORP) reporting to theMinistry of Labor. The two public universities are administratively autonomous. MOEestablishes the norms and procedures for the administration of personnel and physical resources,and defines the curricula, in-service teacher training and supervision. Each province has aregional MOE office with representatives responsible for the administration of personnel andphysical resources, and a supervisor in charge of actions related to curricula, in-service teachertraining and supervision. Public education at all levels is financed by the national Government. Inthe private sector, MOE authorizes the opening of centers for pre-primary, primary and secondaryeducation and regulates their functioning. Private universities must seek approval to open fromthe University of Panama, the largest public institution of higher education.
1.13 Private schooling. Panama has a weak tradition of private schooling. Only 8 percent ofprimary enrollment is private and, at the secondary level, the figure is as little as 17 percent . Atpre-school the situation is somewhat different since the private sector represents almost 30percent of the students. Differences between private and public sector regarding repetition anddropout indicators are noticeable. For the primary private schools, the repetition rate is only 0.7,while the public sector figure is 10 percent. Disparities are also present in the drop out rates withonly 0.2 percent for the private sector and 1.7 percent for the public sector. At the secondarylevel, the issue is not the drop out rate, similar in both sectors, but the failure rate, that is 11.4percent for public and only 6.1 percent for private sector students. The above differences signalthe inequities in the quality of the education, which, in tum, rely heavily on inputs such aseducational materials, well trained teachers and good preparation for entering school.
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(2) Key Issues1.14 Generally good indicators hide the skewed expenditure pattem and managementshortcomings evident in poor quality and inadequate coverage. The gross enrollment rate at theprimary level is 105 percent, but only 28 percent in preschool (ages 3-5) and 77 percent at thelower secondary level (grades 7-9). The skewed resource allocation pattern for education has theeffect of heightening disparities in income distribution. This is a common issue in many countriesin the region where a fixed share of budget resources is constitutionally mandated for highereducation. The Bank has started a policy dialogue with the Government to establish a morerational allocation of budget resources among the different levels of education, and a study of thisproblem has been proposed in the project.
1.15 Education Finance. Overall education spending in Panama has been consistently high inrecent decades, including the period of economic crisis in the second half of the 1980s. Spendingcontinues to be high today, at 5.5 percent of GNP and 16.4 percent of total public expenditures.However, expenditure is disproportionately allocated. Higher education receives almost one thirdof public education resources while serving only 10 percent of public school students. The 1.7percent of total public education expenditures allocated to pre-primary schools is far belowintemational levels (Costa Rica spends 3.6 percent, and Mexico spends 6.1 percent). Subsidiesare disproportionately directed to those attending higher education institutions. Resources arelimited for those attending lower level educational institutions, where representation of pooreconomic groups is broader. Studies in many countries demonstrate that labor earnings arepositively related to the level of education acquired. Therefore, the extent of cost recovery shouldincrease with the level of education. At US$ 1,400, the annual unit cost for higher education inPanama is high in comparison to other middle-income Latin American countries with similar sizepopulations. And yet, university students are charged an annual fee of only US$ 50, that coversonly 3.6 percent of the real cost, and are given grants, regardless of need, to defray livingexpenses (Annex 2).
1.16 Poor quality and inequitable distribution of education. Quality problems are not asobvious in Panama as they are in many other countries in the region. There is a well qualifiedteaching force, and a relatively low ratio of 25 students per teacher. Good textbooks are availablein the market, and teachers can select and recommend to their students those that are mostsuitable for the curriculum. But the quality of education is not evenly distributed. Poor studentscannot purchase their books and usually do not find them in school libraries. Multigrade classesare taught by teachers without specialized training in the methods of multigrade teaching. Sincemultigrade classes are typical of remote rural comnmunities, it is generally the children of the poorwho attend such classes and receive a lower quality education. The consequence is an inefficientsystem in which students take an average of 13 years to complete the nine-year cycle of primaryand lower secondary. When analyzing the poorest corregimientos of the country, inequity isexpressed in the highest drop out and failure rates, and lower female enrollment. Femaleenrollment goes down to 46.9 percent, drop out increases to about 6.0 percent and reaches 29percent in the 24 poorest of the 510 corregimientos. A simnilar situation occurs with the failurerate which is less than 10 percent nationally, goes up to 12.3 percent in the poorestcorregimientos and is over 20 percent in 50 of them. The project will provide textbooks for poorstudents and specialized training and teaching materials for multigrade teachers targeting the
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poorest corregimlentos. It wili also develop a student achievement evaluation system (paras. 2.7-2.13, 2.17-2.19).
1.17 Inadequate pre-primary education services. Inequities also exist in the availability ofeducational benefits for the poor and the disadvantaged. Enrollment rates are high at the primarylevel, but very few children have access to pre-primary educational services, even though earlyeducational experiences have long been recognized as having an important effect in improvingstudent performance at the primary level. Preschool education promotes school readiness, lowersrepetition and drop out rates, and improves academic skills in primary school. Pre-primaryeducation is offered mainly in kindergarten classes attached to the primary schools. Non-formalmodels of preschool education have proven to be highly effective, at a considerably lower costthan the formal models. But the CEFACEIs (para. 1.6) lack an appropriate curriculum for theculture of the disadvantaged. The kindergarten curriculum is not easily handled by unqualifiedcommunity educators, and it does not provide for parental involvement in the early developmentof the child. The Govermment has requested the Bank's assistance to provide low cost pre-primary education services for the poor. The project will expand the CEFACEI system of non-formal pre-primary education and provide it with child-centered developmental activities,adequate educational materials, and practical training for the community educators (paras. 2.21-2.33).
1.18 Unequal access to opportunities for the rural poor. Children in rural areas are oftenforced to drop out of school, unless their parents can afford to send them to the nearest town forthe upper grades of basic education. While the Government considers it desirable for all childrento complete the basic cycle, many are denied access because of poverty. The Governmentoperates a program of scholarships for lower secondary students through IFARHU, and hasagreed to establish a new budget line for scholarships entirely targeted to the poor according tothe project's criteria. Thus 3,500 scholarships, in addition to the current 9,500, each one for athree-year term, will be awarded every year (paras. 2.14-2.16).
1.19 Institutional weaknesses. The MOE has an adequate institutional structure foradministration and supervision of the public school system, at the central, provincial and districtlevels. However, its capacity for information management, planning and policy-making is poor.A proposed reform of the education system has been in preparation since 1979, when aCommission was created for that purpose by the National Assembly. Last June 1995, theNational Assembly passed the Education Law which would: (a) reinforce MOE's role in definingeducational policy; (b) create an advisory body to the MOE, composed of representatives ofparents, the Catholic church, MOE and the teachers union; (c) extend provision of free educationto two years of pre-primary school; and, (d) provide a framework for strengthening the role of thecommunity in education and decentralizing some of the MOE's functions. These objectives arefully consistent with the Government's policy positions as reflected in the Bank's sector report(Report No. 13701-PAN, March 17, 1995), discussed in May 1995. The Government hasrequested the Bank's assistance in strengthening its planning and policy-making capacity byfinancing a series of policy studies to support the medium- and long-term reforms (paras. 2.34 and2.35). It also plans to improve information management.
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1.20 Dilapidated infrastructure. Primary school infrastructure compares favorably with thatof many other Latin American countries, but maintenance has been neglected. At the primarylevel, about 350 classrooms are severely deteriorated and need to be replaced. About 1,700classrooms need varying degrees of repair or rehabilitation (para. 2.20).
(3) Government Strategy1.21 The development goals of the Government of Panama are a globally integrated economyand a more equitable society, driven by sustainable private sector growth. The newAdministration's economic program, "Public Policies for Social Development with EconomicEfficiency", focuses on: (1) private sector development and employment creation; (2) fiscaladjustment and public sector modernization; (3) poverty alleviation and human resourcesdevelopment; and (4) environmental conservation.
1.22 Consistent with the econonic program, the Government's strategy for mitigating povertyand inequality consists of four chief elements. The first is the introduction of conditions that willrevive sustainable growth. In this context, the economic program emphasizes reform policies thatwill mitigate the bias against employment creation and reduce the high cost of the consumptionbasket. In addition, the incentive framework is being altered to encourage increased agriculturalproduction and employment opportunities in the countryside, where most of the poor are located.The second facet is improving efficiency and equity in social expenditures, especially in educationand health, targeting subsidies to the most vulnerable groups. Third is the introduction of socialsafety net mechanisms like the Social Emergency Fund (FES), for the financing of community-generated projects which create employment and provide basic social services to the mostdisadvantaged groups in society. The fourth is institutional modernization and capacity buildingof the public sector for the efficient use of public resources.
1.23 The Government's strategy for the education sector assigns top priority to basic educationand to ensuring equitable access for the poor to the fill benefits of education. In line with thesepriorities, the short-term strategy calls for providing opportunities for poor children in the ruraland urban marginal areas to receive quality educational services, to achieve effective learning, andto complete the nine years of the basic cycle. For the same purpose, the Government has decidedto extend access for the poor to pre-school education, in order to enhance their readiness andincrease their success in basic education, thus reducing grade repetition and promoting efficiencyof educational investments. The project addresses these Government concerns through thereorientation of the scholarship program, the teacher training and textbook programs, and the pre-primary education program (Annex 3).
1.24 In the longer term, the Government is contemplating deeper reforms of the educationsystem involving more equitable financing of educational costs, more active participation ofparents and NGOs in the management and financing of the schools, updating the basic educationcurriculum to make it more relevant to the needs of society and the demands of the economy, anddeveloping MOE's institutional capacity for planning and policy-making. The project wouldsupport these long term goals by: (a) financing studies to support the long-term policy decisions,(b) providing technical assistance for the design and implementation of a Management
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Information System and, (c) providing technical assistance for the design and implementation of aStudent Assessment System.
C. Lessons Learned and Rationale for Bank Involvement
(1) Lessons Learned1.25 Project Design. Successful education projects in Latin America have been characterizedby simplicity and clarity in design. As this is the first Bank loan to the education sector inPanama, it is particularly important that project components be well-focused. The objectives ofeach component should be as independent and measurable as possible, with explicit timetables forkey actions. These lessons have guided the establishment of the project components and themonitoring indicators of this project. The project focuses mainly on basic education comprisingpre-primary, primary and lower secondary education.
1.26 Targeting. The use of poverty indexes has been proven effective in focusing investmentson the poor. However, when a poverty index classifies geographical areas too broadly, such asstates or provinces, pockets with highly uneven poverty levels are created. Therefore, the currentproject refined the poverty index, which originally classified districts by poverty level, so that itcan classify the corregimientos by poverty levels.
1.27 Pre-Primary School. Research and Bank operations have shown that kindergarten andearly childhood development programs can improve school readiness, lower repetition and dropout rates and improve academic performance at higher levels of education. Disadvantaged groups(rural children and children from families with low socioeconomic status) have the most to gainfrom such programs. Reaching the home environment and encouraging parental involvement alsoappear to strengthen the impact of the interventions. The proposed project would expand theinformal CEFACEI model (community-administered pre-primary centers staffed by apromotora)in areas of dense population and train rural mothers to stimulate their pre-primary children inareas of socialization and pre-school learning. The project will also finance the production andbroadcasting of radio programs to address parents and community educators about child rearingpractices. As these activities indicate, the project would focus exclusively on disadvantagedgroups and involve parents.
1.28 Textbooks and Instructional Materials. Experience has shown that well-designedtextbooks play an important complementary role in improving student's academic achievement.The proposed project would therefore provide textbooks in four subjects for the poorest 41pereent of students at the primary and lower secondary levels who have no access to textbooks,as well as teacher guides to accompany the texts. In Mexico and other countries, classroomlibraries consisting of carefully selected titles have proven to be an effective learning tool,particularly in the multigrade environment. The proposed project would therefore provide a smalllibrary of 30 carefully selected titles (including dictionaries, atlases, textbooks and storybooks) toall primary classrooms in the country. Finally, experience has shown that the provision ofinstructional materials (such as pencils, crayons, paper and games), and teacher training in the useof these materials, leads to more active learning and more productive use of the teacher's time.
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The proposed project would therefore provide a package of essential instructional materials to allof the new and existing CEPACEIs, to enhance the quality of pre-primary education.
1.29 Monitoring and Evaluation. Experience in Latin America has shown that the viabilityand sustainability of student achievement improvements depends in large part on theGovernment's monitoring and assessment capacity. As in most developing countries, officialeducational achievement data collection is almost non-existent in Panama. The proposed projectwould create an Education Assessment System to provide the necessary information forimproving the overall quality of the education system. Due to its inherently controversial nature,the establishment of such a system requires strong institutional and public support; the proposedproject would address this issue by incorporating teacher training and a publicity campaign for theevaluation program. In addition to supplying the data necessary to assess systemic weaknesses,the system will permit an assessment of project impact. Scores in year one will reflect achievementlevels without project inputs, and the scores in year five will reflect achievement levels withproject inputs.
1.30 Sustainability. Both the Government's ability to continue financing recurrent costs andthe MOE capacity to manage change have determnined the sustainability of project benefits. Theproposed project addresses both of these issues by: (a) adhering to a simple project design, whichimproves the allocation and use of existing educational resources; (b) educating the public aboutthe importance of different project components; (c) relying on community participation, mostspecifically for the expansion of rural pre-primary education; (d) expanding enrollment throughthe intensive use of existing educational facilities and reorienting the scholarship program towardlower income groups; and (e) strengthening the Ministry of Education's supervisory capacity.
(2) Rationale for Bank Involvement1.31 The Bank Group's Country Assistance Strategy for Panama, discussed by the Board onFebruary 7, 1995, with the Panama Rural Health Project, adopts a selective strategy focused onreviving sustainable growth and poverty alleviation. In human resource development, the Bank'spriorities are to expand coverage and improve the quality of basic education. The strategy callsfor a two-pronged approach. The ongoing Economic Recovery Loan would be the keyinstrument to promote restoration of a viable medium-term fiscal framework and elimination ofpolicy distortions required to mount an efficacious poverty alleviation strategy. The lendingprogram should be devoted to direct interventions in support of poverty alleviation and humanresources development. The Bank recently approved a loan to support a Rural Health Project(Loan 3841-PA) which provides for health care and nutrition supplementation for children andmothers in the same disadvantaged groups targeted by the pre-primary component of theproposed project. The project is fully consistent with the Country Assistance Strategy and theBank's policy objectives. It will focus on poverty alleviation by providing students in the mostdepressed areas of the country with essential educational inputs like textbooks and other learningmaterials, and access to the benefits of pre-primary and basic education. In doing so, the projectwill enhance the efficiency of the basic education system and increase the effectiveness of publicexpenditures on education.
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2. TIHE PROJECT
A. Project Concept and Objectives
2.1 The objectives of the project are to: (a) improve the quality of basic education in theborrower's territory; (b) improve equity of access to preschool education and basic education forchildren in rural and poor urban areas; (c) expand the coverage of pre-school education throughcommunity operated non-formal administrative models; and (d) strengthen the planning, financial,supervision and policy-making capacity of MOE.
B. Project Target Areas
2.2 In order to compensate for poorer children's disadvantages in terms of access to better qualityeducation, the project will focus on corregimientos with the highest levels of poverty according torepresentative indicators: poor housing conditions, less access to educational benefits, and nutritionaldeficiencies. The percentage of indigenous population, as well as poverty-prone, overcrowded urbanareas, has been taken into consideration for targeting.
2.3 Corregimientos were chosen as targeting units so that project interventions can have themaximum effect in poor areas. Targeting, through use of a poverty index, is critical to achievingequity objectives. The project will target 185 corregimientos out of the 510, distributed over the67 districts and covering 41 percent of the school population from grades 1 to 9 (Annex 4). Aneffort will be made to update the poverty index based on outcomes of a planned Living StandardsMeasurement Study to be supported by the Bank.
2.4 Among the 32 poorest corregimientos is the country's most populous (Belisario Porras),an extremely disadvantaged zone on the outskirts of Panama City. However, 50 percent of theschool-aged basic education population lives in the first 238 corregimientos on the list (47 percentof the total number of corregimientos). As a result, a large number of sparsely populated ruralcorregimientos, as well as the most disadvantaged urban population centers, hold top prioritypositions. These also include all corregimientos with a significant proportion of indigenousinhabitants.
C. Project Components
2.5 The project has been organized into three components as follows:
(a) Improvement of Quality of, and Expansion of Access to, Primary and LowerSecondary Education (US$ 44.41 million or 77 percent of total project costs) would include:(i) the provision of training, with an emphasis on multigrade teaching techniques, for primaryeducation teachers; (ii) the provision of textbooks, activity cards for students in multigradeclasses, supplies and educational and instructional materials for basic education; (iii) redesign ofthe scholarship program for primary and secondary education; (iv) development andimplementation of a student assessment system for basic education; and, (v) rehabilitation andmaintenance of primary schools and development and carrying out of a pilot program providing
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for community participation in the rehabilitation and maintenance of schools for PrimaryEducation.
(b) Expansion of non-formal pre-school education (US$ 5.69 million or 10 percent)would include: (i) the expansion of pre-school education coverage through community-operatednon-formal administrative models through, inter alia: (a) the strengthening of the Borrower'sprogram for community and family centers and (b) the implementation of a pilot program for thetraining of the mothers in child development; and (ii) development of a public education programthrough mass media to reinforce the training of volunteers and parents on issues concerning pre-school education.
(c) Institutional strengthening of the Ministry of Education (US$ 7.90 million or 13percent) would include: (i) strengthening of the planning, financial, supervision and policy-making capacity of MOE; (ii) development and implementation of a Management InformationSystem (MIS) for MOE; and (iii) administration, monitoring, evaluation and auditing of theproject.
D. Project Description
(1) Component 1 - Improvement of Quality of, and Expansion of Access to, Primary andLower Secondary Education (US$ 44.4 million or 77 percent of total project costs).
2.6 The objective of this component is to assist the Government in improving the quality andequity of basic education by providing textbooks and teaching materials for the poor andrehabilitating infrastructure where necessary. In addition, it will provide in-service teachertraining in multigrade techniques, and reorient the existing scholarship program to target poorstudents. These improvements will: (a) help reduce the inequalities in the content and quality ofpublic education; and (b) expand access to secondary school for the disadvantaged.
2.7 Subcomponent 1A: In-service Teacher Training (US$ 2.52 million). All multigradeteachers, about 3,800, will receive training in multigrade methodology and the use of classroomlibraries and activity cards. The training offered seeks to counteract the limitations or lack of trainingof teachers working with more than one grade level simultaneously and to enhance teachers' capacityto make good use of learning materials and school libraries. A set of technical materials and teachingactivities will be prepared to contribute to the training of teachers handling several grade levels at thesame time; in the optimum use of activity cards and classroom libraries; in effective distribution ofavailable time; in better use of school and non-school space; in the use of strategies that includecommunity members in educational and curricular efforts; and in the use of active techniques and thedevelopment of varied activities that help students to learn independently.
2.8 The teaching function of provincial and national supervisors will be consolidated to ensuretraining as well as guidance and monitoring of daily practices, in order to institutionalize theproposed actions. A group of 7 national supervisors and 148 provincial supervisors will form thetechnical group in charge of training and monitoring responsibilities of about 3,800 teachers.
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2.9 Two courses will be given in two phases: an intensive course during the vacation period,with 30 classroom hours and 15 hours outside the classroom, plus a feedback session on the sixthday; and a follow-up course comprised of seven Saturday sessions during the school year, sixclassroom hours each session. These courses will be mandatory for supervisors and activeteachers. Each educator will participate in an additional, optional course, based on demand. Themultigrade teaching course will also be given to future teachers before they graduate from teachertraining. The mandatory courses will be: multigrade, teaching methods for specific subjectmatters and a third course, to be determined according to specific needs. Efforts will also bedeveloped to strengthen group working techniques, specifically the preparation andimplementation of activity charts, resources and basic teaching materials (experience charts, feltboards, numbers box, flash cards, pocket charts, logic blocks, etc.).
2.10 A specific workshop will be offered to 80 teachers on the preparation of activity cards tohelp children construct their own individual and/or group learning program and to collect a set ofcards that can later be printed and distributed to all multigrade teachers. Participants will beselected by provinces among multigrade-class teachers who have demonstrated relevant abilitiesand skills. A library course will also be given to multigrade-class teachers and to lower secondaryschool teachers. To supplement this training course, classroom research and readingencouragement will also be planned (Annex 5).
2.11 Subcomponent IB: Provision of Textbooks and Teaching Materials for the Poor(US$ 5.67 million). Textbooks and classroom libraries will be provided under the project.Forty-one percent of all primary and lower secondary students will be provided with textbooks inSpanish, mathematics, social studies and science at the rate of one per student. Only mathematicsand reading-writing textbooks will be supplied to the first two grades. After third grade, science andsocial studies texts will also be included. Beneficiaries will be students from the poorestcorregimientos, as determined by the poverty index created for the project. Materials will beschool property on loan to the students. (Annex 4). Classroom libraries (containing reading andreference books) will be delivered to primary and lower secondary schools of the targetedcorregimientos. All multigrade schools in the country will be provided with textbooks for thestudents and classroom libraries.
2.12 Books and educational materials to be supplied to schools will be purchased on thedomestic and international markets. They will be evaluated to select those that best meet selectioncriteria and to determine the changes that winning publishers should introduce in the specialversions to be distributed under the plan. Under the framework of the Project, the committeestaffs will receive training in textbook evaluation.
2.13 Activity cards guide the student in personal work and group exercises, and teach him/herto consult the classroom library and conduct self-evaluations. Each classroom will also beprovided with a set twice during the life of the project (Annex 6).
2.14 Subcomponent 1C: Reorientation of the Scholarship Program (US$ 12.58 million).IFARHU will establish a new budget line for scholarships entirely targeted to the poor according
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to the project's criteria. Thus, 3,500 additional scholarships, to the current 9,500, each one for athree-year term, will be awarded per year. During negotiatioins MOE provided the documentreflecting the commitment toward reorientation of the criteria to assign scholarships.
2.15 The majority of IFARHU's scholarships have been awarded only on the basis of academicperformance criteria (36 percent of the scholarships go to the best students and 42 percent areawarded through a combined index in which poverty is not heavily weighted). In 1994 IFARHUgave about 1,500 scholarships to primary students and about 8,000 scholarships to secondarystudents. Scholarships for secondary students are usually given to students already registered in aschool. This modality of operation does not provide adequate incentives for sixth-grade studentsin the poorest corregimientos, who are the most likely to drop out. It must be noted that only151 corregimientos of the 510 in the country have secondary schools. Since the scholarships aregiven to those who have already decided to continue schooling, the program is failing to deterdrop out. Under the project, 800 new scholarships of US$ 315 each will be awarded every year,targeted to sixth-grade students in the corregimientos of the project. The scholarship will coverliving expenses for the student, who must relocate in order to attend a lower-secondary school.The program will be advertised in schools before the end of the school year, in order to deterpost-primary drop out.
2.16 Under the project, IFARHU will also award about 2,700 new primary school scholarshipsper year targeted to the corregimientos under the project. Again, the objective is to target thestudents most likely to drop out due to poverty. The main criteria for selection will be that thestudents live in the selected corregimientos. For primary and secondary scholarships, girls will begiven a share no less than 60 percent of the total amount. This will help to reduce the inequalitiesin female enrollment in the poorest corregimientos (see paragraph 1.7). This subcomponent willbe financed entirely with resources from counterpart funding.
2.17 Subcomponent 1D: Development of Student Assessment System (US$ 2.29 million).Achievement tests will be prepared, validated and administered for the four basic subjects:Spanish, mathematics, natural sciences and social sciences. Starting in 1996, these tests will beadministered to a random nation-wide sampling of 10 percent of third and sixth grade students inprimary school and of ninth and twelfth grade students in secondary school. In even years testingwill be administered to third and ninth grade students, and in odd years to sixth and twelfth gradestudents. The results of achievement tests and social and emotional development tests will beused by students, teachers and parents to improve curricular implementation. The assessment willbe carried out annually starting in 1996, with samples from 30 schools from all of the country'sprovinces.
2.18 A test of school readiness in terms of cognitive, emotional and psychomotor skills will bedeveloped and validated for children entering the first grade of primary school. This test will beadministered to a stratified random sample of 5 percent of children entering first grade, beginningin 1998. The data obtained will be used to assess current preschool education programs andthose financed by the Basic Education Project. Beginning in 1999, tests will be developed andvalidated to measure social and emotional variables that complement the assessment of students'
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achievements in primary and secondary schools. These tests will be administered to the samesampling of students who take the achievement tests.
2.19 In order to better understand the factors that affect students' academic achievement,studies will be performed to correlate the contextual variables of the student, teacher, school andcommunity with the outcomes of achievement and social and emotional development tests. Thisresearch will use surveys and interviews that will be administered in parallel with achievementtests, beginning in 1996. A system to assess Educational Quality provides data that should beused to provide feedback on the educational system, thereby indicating any failures that may befound, and to improve education. It is therefore important to ensure that the data produced arebeing properly disseminated and are having a positive effect on the educational system. This workwill be performed beginning in 1997 and each year thereafter (Annex 7).
2.20 Subcomponent lE: Rehabilitation of Educational Infrastructure (US$ 21.34million). Classroom repairs will constitute the bulk of the project work, in addition to the repairof existing complementary rooms. About 350 severely deteriorated classrooms in primary schoolswill be replaced by new ones. It is estimated that about 1,700 primary classrooms will be repaired.A pilot program for school rehabilitation and maintenance under community responsibility willalso be financed for some 15 schools. The subcomponent includes provision and maintenance ofschool furniture. The subcomponent will be executed by the Social Emergency Fund (FES) undercontract with the MOE. The FES is a Government agency, under the direct authority of theMinistry of the Presidency. The institution was created in May 1990. In January 1993, FES wasgiven indefinite tenure. The largest share of FES spending has gone to projects that includerehabilitation of schools, medical facilities and water and sanitation. It has previous experience inpromoting community involvement. The contract will be signed as a condition for effectiveness(para. 6.2(e)). Priorities will be set by the Ministry and resources will be transferred according toschedules for the completion of the works.
(2) Component 2 - Expansion of Non-Formal Pre-School Education (US$ 5.69 million or10 percent).
2.21 This component aims to: i) expand coverage of non-formal pre-school education amongthe poor to increase national coverage from 45.5 percent to nearly 75.0 percent (from 26,000 to43,000 for five year-olds) and ii) improve the quality of non-formal pre-school education.Coverage expansion will be based primarily on the CEFACEI (Family and Community EducationCenter) model. At the same time, a pilot mother-to-mother program for rural areas of scatteredpopulation will also be developed (Annex 8).
2.22 Subcomponent 2A: The CEFACEI Program (US$ 5.26 million).The project aims to open 400 new CEFACEIs, and serve approximately 20,000 pre-primary-agechildren over the life of the project. A pilot Mother-to-Mother program will also be implemented,to benefit approximately 1,800 pre-primary-age children in dispersed, rural communities. Thequality of non-formal pre-school education will be improved through intensive training of MOEsupervisors and promotoras, the distribution of specially designed manuals for promotoras,
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children and parents, and the transmission of radio programs to reinforce the program andencourage healthy child rearing practices.
2.23 A pyramid strategy will be developed for training and supervision of the program, tofacilitate the full involvement of the national, regional, provincial and local levels. The nationalteam will be trained by national and international technical assistance to design the manuals fortrainers and promotoras (one manual for trainers, one for promotoras, one for parents and one foreach child). The national team will train pre-school supervisors at the provincial level. Both teamsshare the responsibility for conducting meetings in each community targeted by the project, toconvey the importance of pre-school education to parents, and form a local CEFACEI Parents'Association.
2.24 The Parents' Association will be responsible for: i) finding a location for the CEFACEI;ii) collaborating in the opening and functioning of the CEFACEI; iii) selecting the promotoraaccording to a profile specified by the Directorate of Initial Education; and iv) paying thepromotoras with the funds received from MOE every three months, the amount determined bythe number of children attending the CEFACEI. Thepromotora will be paid US$90 per child peryear. Implemented gradually, the program will open 100 new CEFACEIs per year. The financialresources to pay the promotoras will be provided by the Government as counterpart funds to theBank loan. The financial resources will be transferred from the Ministry to each Parents'Associations. For that purpose, each Association must register at the MOE to obtain legalpermission to receive funds and pay the promotoras.
2.25 Subcomponent 2B: Mother-to-Mother Pilot (US$ 0.43 million).In rural areas with scattered population mothers will be encouraged to establish teams, under theguidance of a Mother-Leader, and with the help of educational material and radio programs toimprove their child-rearing practices. Training of the mother-leaders will be the responsibility ofthe supervisors and pre-primary education specialists in each provincial office of MOE. Tenregional MOE supervisors will be trained for 10 days in year 1 and ten days in year 2 of theproject. They will train the 120 mother-leaders, chosen by the participating mothers, for sevendays each. Thirty mother-leaders will be trained each year. Each in turn will train 10 mothers ona bi-weekly basis. It is estimated that each participating mother is raising an average of 2children. Therefore, 2,400 children will benefit directly from the project.
2.26 As in the case of the CEFACEIs, a pyramid strategy will be developed for training andsupervision of the program, to facilitate the full involvement of the national, regional, provincialand local levels. Interested communities will then select a woman to be trained as a mother leader.Each supervisor will work with a group of about 15 mother leaders throughout their two-yeartenure. He/she will give an initial six-day training workshop, focusing on the following topics: i)the circumstances of childhood in rural areas and in particular, in each community where themother leaders reside; ii) group dynamics; and iii) analysis of the Mother-to-Mother Program,including materials and implementation. The supervisor will supplement this initial training withfour more three-day workshops over the two-year period, and periodic monitoring of the progressof each mother leader.
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2.27 Each participating mother will be instructed in a series of thematic units and provided witha set of manuals for use with her children. Implementation of the Mother-to-Mother Program willbe gradual, concentrating efforts in only two provinces: Veraguas and Chiriqui.
2.28 Mother-leaders will be paid on a per mother-participant basis, that is, they will receiveUS$ 32 per year for each participating mother they train in bi-weekly meetings over a ten-monthperiod. Funds to pay the mother-leaders will be transferred from the central office of MOE to thebank accounts of the regional MOE offices. MOE's supervisors will monitor the number ofmothers being taught, in order to ensure appropriate payment of the mother-leaders. Thefinancial resources to pay the mother-leaders will be provided by the Government as counterpartfunding for the Bank loan.
2.29 The current curriculum will be revised to stress simple problem-solving, self-care andschool readiness skills. The emphasis will be on an open, flexible curriculum focused on the childwith parental participation. The strategy for producing a simple core curriculum will be to focuson making each concept operational in training manuals. Two types of manuals will be produced:manuals to train the promotoras in the use of the new curriculum, and manuals for the promotorasto use in teaching. The manuals will be adapted to address rural mother-leaders and mothersparticipating in the program, both of which have very little formal education. The adapted manualwill be a simplified, shorter version, relying heavily on drawings and visual messages. Thus, atotal of four manuals will be produced. A special working group will be formed within theDirectorate of Initial Education to produce the manuals with national and international technicalassistance. The project will finance the technical assistance to produce the manuals.
2.30 Radio Programs. The current pre-primary programs, both formal and CEFACEI, fail toinvolve parents, which is crucial, as the dominant share of intelligence develops in early childhood.Radio programs are an alternative to involve parents and enhance their ability to create learningsituations for their children, and it does it in a simple and appealing way. Radio programs alsoprovide promotoras and mother-leaders with effective reinforcement of the training and to thewritten educational materials they will receive. Radio is accessible to large numbers of the poor.Radio is part of their daily life, especially in remote areas. Radio is used in Panama to helpfamilies to communicate messages, for example, messages from travelers from remote rural areasto relatives in the towns. Radio is not as expensive as other media, like TV. Another advantageis the fact that the country, as almost all countries, has human resources acquainted with theproduction of messages for radio.
2.31 A set of 40 radio programs of 5-7 minutes each will be produced by a team of local andinternational consultants during the first and second year of the project. The content of theprograms will be mainly instructions to perform a set of activities geared toward selectedobjectives of early childhood development.
2.32 Local radio stations from the provinces are willing to broadcast the programs. It isexpected that some 11 small radio stations will participate in the project. Most of the stations willprovide the service free of charge. Each program will be broadcast twice every week and, at theend of the 40 th week they will be broadcast again.
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2.33 Integration of Health. Nutrition and Education Services. All of the pre-school childrenwho will benefit from the project will be eligible to receive the nutrition and health servicesprovided under the Rural Health Project financed by the Bank (Loan 3841-PA). This Projectprovides nutrition counseling, health monitoring and supplemental feeding in case of malnutritiondiagnosed at the community level. To accomplish these objectives a health promoter addressesparents and other community members involved in educating children. The CEFACEIpromotoras, the children and their parents will benefit from the counseling and the supplementalfeeding in cases of diagnosed malnutrition.
(3) Component 3 - Institutional Strengthening of the Ministry of Education (US$ 7.9million or 13 percent).
2.34 Subcomponent 3A: Development of Planning and Policy-Making Capacity (US$0.34 million). The project will provide technical and financial assistance to MOE in order tostrengthen planning and policy-making capacity. Studies and technical assistance related toinstitutional and managerial reform will be financed, specifically addressing: (a) how to fostercommunity participation; (b) optimization of budget resource allocation among the different levelsof education and, (c) delegation of MOE functions to provincial offices. These studies andtechnical assistance should help to shape the broad objectives of the new Education Law,regarding community participation and decentralization, and should make recommnendations for amore equitable distribution of resources, outline measures to improve internal efficiency, andexplore ways of raising additional revenue. The findings will be discussed with the Bank and in aseries of seminars in Panama, which will formn the basis for future policy decisions. The terms ofreference, including the dissemination methods, will be included in the Operations Manual. Theproject finances the design and implementation of a social communication campaign to supportmeeting the objectives of the project. Terms of reference will be included in the OperationsManual.
2.35 Subcomponent 3B: Development of a Management Information System (MIS) (US$5.21 million). This subcomponent will finance the design, testing and introduction of an MIS toassist and improve sector planning and personnel management. The MIS will include: humanresources administration, budgeting, accounting, purchasing, warehouses inventories, educationstatistics and school map. Technical assistance will be provided to strengthen the technicalcapacity of the units in charge of statistics and personnel. The subcomponent will finance thetraining of MOE staff for implementing the new procedures and using the software for each of themain areas mentioned above. It will also finance the acquisition of computers and theestablishment of a network.
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3. PROJECT COSTS AND FINANCING
A. Project CostsProject Cost Summary
(USS mifion)
A. Improvement of Quality and Access in Basic EducationIn-Service Teacher Training 2.15 0.12 2.27Educational Materials 1.14 3.90 5.04Assessment System 1.18 0.89 2.07Scholarships for poor students 11.67 - 11.67Pnrinary School Rehabilitation 17.49 0.85 18.34
B. Expanding Non-Formal PreschoolExpanding the CEFACEI Program 4.07 0.76 4.83Mother-to-MotherPilotpram 0.24 0.15 0.39
C. Institutional StrengtheningManagement Information System 1.89 2.79 4.68Dev. Planning & Supervision capacity 0.21 0.10 0.31Policy Making Studies - 0.58 0.58
3.1 The total project cost, including physical and price contingencies, is estimated at US$ 58million equivalent, net of taxes, of which an estimated US$ 11.6 million (20 percent) is foreignexchange (Annex 9). Investment costs are 67 percent of base costs and incremental recurrentcosts amount to 33 percent of base costs. Project costs were estimated at December 1995 pricelevels and include physical contingencies of 10 percent for civil works and 5 percent for goodsand services. Price contingencies are based on a projected intemational inflation rate of 2.6percent per year during the life of the project. These rates have been applied to both local andforeign costs as Panama's currency is directly linked to the US dollar.
3.2 Estimated costs of equipment, furniture, textbooks and didactic materials are based on unitprices of goods procured recently by MOE. Estimates for technical assistance and studies arebased on current rates for local and foreign experts. Cost estimates for training, and operatingcosts are based on current costs or costing standards used by MOE. Estimated construction andrehabilitation costs of schools throughout the country are based on current processes that derivefrom periodic cost analyses for similar standards of construction in corresponding facilities.
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B. Project Financing
3.3 The World Bank and the Government of Panama will finance the project. The followingtable lists the proposed financial arrangements:
(US'S miOion) a
A. Improvement of Quality and Access In Basic EducationIn-Service Teacher Training 2.52 - 2.52Educational Materials 5.67 - 5.67Assessment System 2.26 0.03 2.29Scholarships for poor students 12.58 12.58Priry School Rehabilitation 16.74 4.63 21.34
-. _4_4 VB. Expanding Non-Formal Pre-schoolExpanding the CEFACEI Program 1.12 4.14 5.26Mother-to-Mother Pilot Progr. 0.29 0.14 0.43
C. Institutional StrengtheningManagement Information System 3.80 1.40 5.21Dev. Planning & Supervision capacity 0.34 - 0.34Policy M4aking Studies 0.63 - 0.63Project Coordination & Marnagement 1.65 0.06 1.71
Note: Due to rounding the nwnbers may not add up.
3.4 The Governrment of Panama has requested a single currency loan with standardamortization term, grace period, and interest rate for a fixed-rate US dollar single currency loanbecause: (a) The US dollar is the Panamanian tender and therefore use of the dollar would avoidforeign exchange risk; (b) the fixed rate offers a longer term predictability vis-a-vis LIBOR.Panama is eligible for single currency loans under the expanded SCL program. Including thisloan, Panama will have financed $35 million of its $180 million FY96-98 lending program onsingle currency loans, within the SCL volume guidelines established by the Board.
3.5 Revolving Fund in Local Currency. A revolving fund would be opened in the name of theproject, with an initial deposit from the Government as its up-front participation to the projectfinancing. As a conditionfor effectiveness, MOE willprovide evidence that the revolvingfundhas been established and that the deposit of counterpartfunds in the amount of $250, 000 hasbeen made (para. 6.2(C)).
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C Incremental Recurrent Expenditures and Project Sustalnability
3.6 During the implementation period, the project will add an average of about USS 1.3million per year to the recurrent cost budget of MOE. These incremental recurrent costs wouldbe generated mainly by fees for promotoras and rural preschool children, operation andmaintenance of infrastructure, equipment furniture, and office supplies. Recurrent costs generatedby scholarships for rural poor students will be covered by the education security fund, SeguroEducativo. The incremental recurrent costs would be financed by the Government. TheRecurrent costs under the project, in December 1995 US dollars, are estimated as follows:
3.7 The effect of the recurrent costs on MOE's budget is small and could be easily absorbed byMOE. Based on MOE's ordinary budget for 1995 (excluding investments and the SeguroEducativo) of about USS214.6 million, and the forecast budget increments equivalent, at least, tothe forecast annual growth of GDP (3 percent in 1996, 3.5 percent form 1997 through 2000),impact of these costs on the MOE ordinary budget would be 0.1 percent, 0.4 percent, 0.5 percent,0.7 percent, 0.8 percent, for the successive years of implementation of the project. After projectimplementation, 2001-2010, a yearly average of recurrent costs generated by the project areestimated at US$2 million. This figure amounts to 0.7 percent of the MOEs recurrent costbudget (Annex 10). With economic growth forecast to grow at a minimum of 3.5 percentannually over the medium-term, the project should not present an undue financial burden on theGovernfment.
3.8 The impact of the proposed project on total educational expenditures and the ability of theMOE to finance and sustain the resulting increase in recurrent costs was carefully discussed withthe Government during appraisaL At negotiations the Government agreed to include: () inMOE's budget separate lines coveringfeesfor pre-primary community educators (promotorasand madres ifderes) and operating and maintenance costs of the schools included under theproject; and (ii) in IFARHU's budget a separate line covering the scholarshipsfor Primary andLower Seconday students. As a conditionfor effectiveness, the Government will agree with theWorld Bank to provide evidence that a budget line has been included in the Government 's 1996budgetfor promotoras, scholarships, and operating and maintenance costs (para 6.2(b)).
Figures in parentheses are the respective amounts financed by the Bank.Due to rounding the numbers may not add up.ICB - International Competitive Bidding; NCB - National Competitive Bidding.
I Includes US$5.0 million equivalent, for lump sum, fixed-priced contracts for works valued less than US250,000, to be awarded on a national shopping basis, and US$2.1 million equivalent for direct contractingfor works valued less than USS 50,000 in scattered and distant rural areas.
2 Shopping procedure, includes $870,00 school furniture, $40,000 office equipment, $60,000 vehicles, anddirect contracting $30,000.
3 Transportation and per diem for trainees. Not subject to procurement.4 Includes USS 3.0 million equivalent for textbooks and teachers' guides and US$ 2.1 million equivalent for
classroom library books to be procured following ICB 2-stage procedures.Printing services.Printing services through shopping procedures.
7 Includes contracts for short and long-term consultants in PAU.
3.9 The project would include procurement of civil works for rehabilitation of schoolinfiastructure. The project would also finance the procurement of textbooks, teacher guides,educational materials, training, school furniture, vehicles, and office and computing equipment.Procurement of works and goods will be carried out according to the guidelines for procurementunder IBRD Loans and IDA Credits of January 1995. In addition, the project would financestudies and technical assistance services. For the selection of consulting services the project
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would follow the guidelines for use of Consultants by World Bank Borrowers of August 1981.As discussed below (para. 4.1), the PAU in the MOE will have overall responsibility forprocurement under the project and the unit's staff will include a suitably qualified ProcurementOfficer (Annex 11) who will have specific responsibility for the preparation of standard biddingdocuments and the implementation of procurement according to the Bank's guidelines and theOperations Manual. In addition, for civil works MOE will enter into an agreement with the SocialEmergency Fund (FES), which also has the institutional capacity to ensure that all procurement ofsmaller works is executed in accordance with the Bank's guidelines.
3.10 For the procurement of goods under ICB and ICB-2 stage, the Bank's SBDs of January1995 will be used, with minimal changes acceptable to the Bank to address country- and project-specific issues. For the procurement of works and printing services under national competitivebidding (NCB), SBDs based on similar SBDs of the Bank for such procurement would be used,with modifications as agreed with the Bank. For contracting of consulting firms, the Borrowerwill use standard letters of invitation as agreed with the Bank and, as appropriate, the Bank'sstandard forms of contract for Consultants of June 1995, for complex time-based assignments andlump sum contracts. Small contracts with firms or individual consultants would be contractedunder standard short forms of contract to be agreed with the Bank. For carrying out procurementactivities, the project would include all relevant procedures in its Operational Manual. Atnegotiations the MOE submitted a draft PA U Operational Manualfor Banik's review. As aconditionfor effectiveness, the MOE would agree to put into effect the Operational Manual(including all standard bidding documents) as agreed with the Bank (para. 6 2(d)).
3.11 Civil Works. Civil works contracts would consist mainly of repairs and substitution ofclassrooms and rehabilitation of schools amounting to approximately US$ 18.7 million equivalent.ICB is not expected but would be used when packages equal or exceed the equivalent of USS 1.5million. Contracts for works would be packaged whenever possible in packages of more thanUS$ 0.5 million equivalent and would be awarded following NCB procedures up to an aggregateamount of US$ 11.6 million equivalent. For works valued at US$ 250,000 equivalent or less butmore than US$ 50,000 equivalent, lumpsum, fixed-price contracts will be awarded on the basis ofat least three quotations, up to an aggregate limit of US$ 5.0 million equivalent. For rehabilitationor minor works in scattered, distant rural areas, direct contracting with local contractors may beused for contracts valued under US$ 50,000 equivalent, up to an aggregate limit of US$ 2.1million equivalent.
3.12 Goods and Equipment. The project would finance contracts for goods with a total valueof US$ 4.3 million equivalent. When possible, goods (including computer hardware andsoftware) would be packaged in contracts of at least US$ 250,000 equivalent, and be awardedfollowing ICB procedures. In the evaluation of bids under ICB, a margin of preference inaccordance with Appendix 2 of the Bank's Guidelines may be granted to domestic manufacturers.Awards will be made by individual package or by groups of packages, depending on thecombination that produces the lowest total bid evaluated cost. Contracts for goods costing US$50,000 or less would be procured by local or international shopping procedures on the basis ofprice quotations from at least three qualified suppliers, up to aggregate amounts not to exceed: (i)USS 870,000 equivalent in the case of goods (other than vehicles and computer hardware and
23
software); (ii) US$ 60,000 equivalent in the case of vehicles; (iii) US$ 40,000 equivalent in thecase of computer hardware and software; (iv) US$ 600,000 equivalent in the case of printingservices. Vehicles will be purchased on the basis of price quotations from suppliers with serviceand maintenance facilities in Panama. The request for quotations for these purchases should onlyspecify the type of vehicle and the performance requirements and not a particular vehiclemanufacturer. School furniture estimated to cost less than the equivalent of 2,000 per contractand up to an aggregate of 30,000 equivalent or less may with the Bank's prior agreement beprocured under direct contracting.
3.13 Educational Materials. The project would finance about US$ 7.1 million of educationalmaterials. Separate tender packages of textbooks, teachers guides, classroom libraries andprinting services will be procured. Contracts for textbooks, teachers guides and classroomlibraries, with a total value of approximately US$ 5.1 million equivalent, would be awarded underICB two-stage bidding procedures in accordance with paragraph 2.6 of the Bank's Guidelines.Bids for these materials will be called using bidding documents that describe the two-stageprocedure and are satisfactory to the Bank. At the first stage, the Borrower will invite unpricedtechnical proposals on the basis of a conceptual design and technical specifications statingminimum basic requirements. Samples of textbooks will be required with the technical proposal.During the evaluation of these technical proposals, MOE will ask participating editors/publishersfor technical clarifications and will allow bidders to adjust their proposals to respond fully to therequirements of the bidding documents. MOE will qualify those bidders whose proposals meetthe evaluation criteria or who are willing to modify their proposals to meet the final specifications.At the second stage, bidding documents, amended as required to reflect understandings reachedwith each of the bidders, will be issued to the qualified bidders, inviting them to submit finalpriced proposals. The Borrower will award contracts by packages, on the basis of the criteriastated in the bidding documents. Contracts for printing services for other educational andassessment materials, valued at less than US$ 250,000 equivalent, may be awarded followingNCB procedures acceptable to the Bank up to an aggregate amount of US$ 1.1 millionequivalent.
Training, Technical Assistance and Studies
3.14 The project would finance approximately US$ 8.8 million equivalent to provide training,technical assistance and studies. It would also finance contracts of short and long fixed-termconsultants in the PAU. MOE would employ consultants whose qualifications, experience andterms of reference shall be satisfactory to the Bank. The project will finance cost oftransportation and per diem for participants in training and monitoring. During appraisal broadterms of reference for training programs, technical assistance and studies to be financed under theproject were reviewed and agreed with MOE. For contracting of these services MOE wouldprepare specific terms of reference for each consultancy and use the standard invitation packagesand contracts agreed with the Bank (per para. 3.10).
24
Costs Not Involving Procurement
3.15 Approximately US$ 22.1 million of project costs, or approximately 38.0 percent, wouldnot involve procurement and include fees for promotoras, mother-leaders (community educators),scholarships for students and incremental operating costs financed by MOE and training costs(transportation and per diem) financed by the Bank.
Review by the Bank
3.16 Prior review of procurement procedures and documentation by the Bank would berequired for all tender packages and related contracts under ICB, ICB-2 step and LIB procedures.The Bank would also review the first two NCB tender packages and related contracts for civilworks and printing services, regardless of value, and works packages and related contracts valuedat US$ 500,000 equivalent or more. It is expected that this review would cover nearly 54 percentof contracts by value. All other contracts would be subject to review (ex post) by Banksupervision missions on the basis of random sampling. For these contracts, MOE will follow theprocedures stated in Appendix 1, paragraphs 3 and 4 of the Bank's procurement guidelines. AllTORs for technical assistance and studies would be subject to ex-ante review by the Bank.Documentation for contracts with consultants' firms valued at or above US$ 100,000 and forindividual consultants, valued at or above US$ 50,000, as well as those of a critical nature, solesource contracts, and amendments raising values above these thresholds, would also be reviewedex-ante by the Bank. All supporting documentation for these contracts would be retained by thePCU. During appraisal it was agreed that procedures for ex-ante review to be followed byexecuting agencies would be incorporated in the Operational Manual.
Special Provisions in Procurement
3.17 Country Procurement Assessment. A November 1993 assessment by the Bank ofPanama's procurement procedures indicates that they are not fully compatible with the Bank'sprocurement guidelines. At negotiations agreement was reached that the principles indicatedbelow would govern all procurement of goods and services (para. 6 1 (d)).
A. The following principles of procurement shall expressly govern all procurement of goods,works and printing services for educational and assessment materials under InternationalCompetitive Bidding:
1 . Foreign bidders shall not be required to:(a) have a local representative for purposes of submitting bids;(b) be registered with local authorities as a prerequisite for bidding; and(c) be associated with local contractors or suppliers.
2. Bids may be:(a) submitted at any reasonable time before bid opening, either by mail or courier or in
person; and
25
(b) accompanied by a bid security in the form and amount specified in the standardbidding documents.
3. No provisional award shall be made at the time of bid opening.
4. No minimum number of bids shall be required as a condition to award a contract.
5. Contracts shall be awarded to the bidder whose bid has been evaluated as the lowestresponsive bid, in accordance with criteria clearly set forth in the standard biddingdocuments.
6. After contract award, performance securities shall be provided within the time period, andin form and amount specified in the standard bidding documents.
B. The following principles of procurement shall expressly govern all procurement of worksand printing services for educational and assessment materials under National CompetitiveBidding:
1. Bids may be:(a) submitted at any reasonable time before bid opening, either by mail or courier or inperson; and(b) accompanied by a bid security in the form and amount specified in the standardbidding documents.
2. No provisional award shall be made at the time of bid opening.
3. No minimum number of bids shall be required as a condition to award a contract.
4. Contracts shall be awarded to the bidder whose bid has been evaluated as the lowestresponsive bid, in accordance with criteria clearly set forth in the standard biddingdocuments.
5. Contracts for civil works shall provide for mobilization advances, whenever appropriate.
6. After contract award, performance securities shall be provided within the time period andin the form and amount specified in the standard bidding documents.
7. Price adjustment provisions, acceptable to the Bank, may be included in work contracts.
C. The following principles of procurement shall expressly govern all procurement ofconsultants' services:
1. Foreign consultants shall not be required to:
(a) be locally registered as a condition of participation in the selection process;
26
(b) give any participation in or share of any consulting contracts to any local firm orperson for the purposes of participating in the selection process or receiving an award,except in connection with a joint venture arrangement where: (i) a sufficient number ofcapable domestic firms or individual consultants exist to allow a foreign consultantreasonable freedom of choice; (ii) the contribution of either party to the joint venturearrangement will not be constrained by any prescribed manner or extent of participation;and (iii) the foreign consultant is not required to associate itself with any specific nameddomestic firms or individual consultants;(c) furnish any certificate issued by a local authority about their legal capacity or taxstatus for the purposes of submitting a proposal; and(d) personally submit their proposals.
2. Consultants shall be selected from a short list of firms invited to submit proposals on thebasis of terms of reference, employment conditions and evaluation criteria clearly set forth in therespective letter of invitation.
E. Disbursements
3.18 The proposed project would be implemented over a period of approximately 5 years and isexpected to be completed by June 30, 2001 and to close by December 30, 2001. The loan fundswould be disbursed as follows: civil works, 78 percent of expenditures for rehabilitation andsubstitution; educational materials, office and computer equipment for the MIS, school furniture,vehicles, printed materials and other goods, 100 percent of foreign expenditures, 100 percent oflocal expenditures (ex-factory cost), and 95 percent of local expenditures for other items procuredlocally; printing services, 100 percent of local expenditures. Proceeds of the loan would also bedisbursed for training, consultants, studies and technical assistance and fixed-term staff in PAU at100 percent. Retroactive financing of up to US$3.0 million (8.6 percent of the total loan amount)would be provided to help cover eligible expenditures made after February 1, 1996.
3.19 The Bank may require withdrawals from the Loan Account to be made on the basis ofstatements of expenditure, under such terms and conditions as the Bank shall specify by notice tothe Borrower, for: (a) expenditures for goods, works, printing services, and consultants' servicesunder contracts costing less than the equivalent of: (i) $50,000 in the case of goods, $250,000 inthe case of printing services, and $500,000 in the case of works (except the first two contracts),to be awarded pursuant to the provisions of NCB; (ii) $100,000 in the case of consulting firms'services; and (iii) $50,000 in the case of individual consultants' services; and (b) payments madefor training activities provided under the project, such as: (i) the rental of training facilities; (ii)transportation expenses of trainees and MOE staff to and from the training site and subsistenceexpenses for such trainees and trainers; (iii) fellowships for training courses to be provided in theBorrower's territory or abroad; and (iv) study tours in the Borrower's territory or abroad. SOEsshould contain information as agreed upon with the Bank and supporting documentation relatedto SOEs would be retained by the PCU for periodic inspection by the Bank and external auditors.
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3.20 A Special Account in US dollars with an initial deposit of US$ 2.0 million would beestablished at the National Bank of Panama. The maximum authorized allocation would be US$2.0 million after aggregate disbursements have reached US$ 5.0 million. The Special Accountshould be replenished monthly and should be used for all transactions with a value of less than 20percent of the amount advanced to the Special Account. Normal documentation requirementsapply, except that in addition, a copy of the bank statement from the institution holding theaccount, detailing the transactions made and reconciled by the borrower, would accompany eachreplenishment request.
F. Accounting and Auditing
3.21 MOE and FES will establish and maintain separate project accounts and records forproject expenditures. The PAU will maintain a consolidated account of all expenditures under theproject. These accounts, including accounts for subprojects administered by FES, will be auditedannually by independent auditors, in accordance with appropriate auditing principles, with termsof reference approved by the Bank. The audit reports, which will include a separate opinion onthe adequacy of Statement of Expenditures and on the Special Account.
4. PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION AND MANAGEMENT
A. Project Implementation and Management
4.1 The project will be under the general direction of MOE. The General Secretary hasoverall responsibility for ensuring diligent, efficient and timely project implementation. MOE hasalready appointed a Project Coordinator, to the Bank's satisfaction, for the Project AdministrationUnit (PAU), who reports to the General Secretary. The PAU will be responsible for preparing,monitoring and evaluating the implementation plan. In particular, the Government agreed atnegotiations that the PA U will: (i) conduct Annual Project Reviews, produce an annual projectimplementation review report andprepare an annual implementation plan for the followingyear, starting in July 1997; (ii) furnish to the Bank, during the month of August 1996, a budgetand an investment plan for, and the targets to be achieved in, the implementation of the projectin 1997 and exchange views with the Bank on said budget, plan and targets, by no later thanSeptember 30, 1996; (iii) prepare a project implementation completion review report; and, (iv)processing of documentation requiredfor the procurement of goods (other than furniture andequipment for primary schools, which will be done by FES) and consultants' services under theproject and the disbursement of Loan proceeds (para. 6.1(e)). The PA U will be staffed with,inter alia, a Project coordinator, a Project accountant and a procurement officer, all withqualifications and experience satisfactory to the Bank (para. 6.1 ()). Under the DGE (DireccionGeneral de Educacion), the Curriculum Directorate (Direccion de Curriculo, DC) will implementtwo subcomponents: Provision of Textbooks and Educational Materials for the Poor, and In-service Teacher Training. The Education Assessment System will be the responsibility of the
28
General Directorate for Educational Planning (Direccion General de Planeamiento Educativo,DGPE). Expansion of pre-primary coverage will be the responsibility of the Initial EducationDirectorate (Direccion de Educacion Inicial, DEI) and the scholarship reorientationsubcomponent will be implemented by IFARHU, Institute for Training and Progress in HumanResources (Instituto para la Formaci6n y Aprovechamiento de Recursos Humanos - LFARHU).IFARHU, created in 1965, is an institute with patrimony under MOE's supervision, thatadministers scholarship programs for the secondary and university levels. It has a well-trained,experienced staff. The borrower shall enter into an agreement with IFARHU, satisfactory to theBank, which provides for the provision to IFARHU of the funds, facilities, services and otherresources required to enable IFARHU to carry out the scholarship reorientation subcomponent.To assist in the construction, rehabilitation, equipment and furnishing of primary schoolclassrooms in the rural areas, MOE will enter into agreement with the FES. In existence for 4years, FES has recently been restructured with technical assistance from IDB and UNDP. TheBank's appraisal mission concluded that IFARHU and FES have adequate institutional capacity toimplement their respective subcomponents. Signing of the agreements between IFARHU andMOE on the implementation of the scholarship reorientation subcomponent, and between FESand MOE on the primary school rehabilitation and maintenance subcomponent, respectively,would be a condition for effectiveness (para 6.2(e)).
B. Project Monitoring and Supervision
4.2 Project Monitoring. Outcome and Impact indicators and the Project ImplementationSchedule will guide project management, monitoring and supervision (Annexes 12, 14 and 15.).
4.3 Annual Progress and Investment Plan Review. The annual review to be prepared bythe PAU in July each year, starting in 1997 would focus on overall project implementation,technical assistance, delivery of services (training, educational materials, infrastructure),disbursement and procurement issues. As conditions for effectiveness, MOE will submit adetailed project implementation plan for 1996 for all components (para. 6. 2(a)). Atnegotiations, MOE agreed: (a) to produce an Annual Implementation Plan for the followingyear starting July 1997 and an Annual Project Implementation Report, starting in July 1997.The Annual Implementation Report will include cumulative information from the beginning ofthe project; (b) to conduct annualproject reviews starting in July 1997. The reviews would: (i)analyze the previousyear 's project performance based on an activity report and budgetallocation; and (ii) analyze the proposed subsequent year 's investment plan and budget,including staffing, contracts, annual research plans and their TORs and schedules for deliveryof services (para. 6. 1(a));and (c) furnish to the Bank, during the month of August 1996, a budgetand an investment plan for, and the targets to be achieved in, the implementation of the projectin 1997 and exchange views with the Bank on said budget, plan and targets, by no later thanSeptember 30, 1996 (para. 6.1(b)).
4.4 Mid-Term Review. The third annual review, in 1999, would be the mnid-term review andit would assess project performance regarding output indicators (delivery of services) and processindicators (critical tasks). It would assess the activities and information gathered in order to
29
conduct the impact evaluation at the end of the fifth year of the project. At negotiations theborrower agreed to conduct with the FES and the Bank, under terms of reference acceptable tothe Bank a mid-term review of the implementation of the project and its impact, prepare anaction plan acceptable to the Bank to incorporate lessons learnedfrom the review, andimplement it (para. 6. 1(c)).
4.5 Impact Evaluation. The following is the expected impact of the project on selectedquality, equity, efficiency and coverage indicators. The expected quality improvements are: (a)increment on the levels of achievement in Spanish, Mathematics, Social Sciences and NaturalSciences by 10-15 percent from the baseline to be established in 1996; (b) increment on timespent on learning activities at school after delivering the project inputs; (c) changes in the qualityof interactions between mothers and children, as perceived by the mothers. The expected equityimprovements are: (a) a decrease in the gap between poorest and richest corregimientos inrepetition and dropout rates. Dropout rates in the poorest corregimientos are expected todecrease from 6.2 to the current national average of 4.6. The expected improvement of efficiencywill be a decrease in the average number of years required to complete the basic education cycle(1-9) from current 12.87 to 12 years. The expected pre-primary coverage improvement will be animprovement from current 45 percent to 75 percent (Annex 12).
5. PROJECT BENEFITS AND RISKS
A. Project Benerits and Economic Returns
5.1 The main benefits of the project will be an increase in future earnings due to improvedproductivity, especially for students from low-income family and rural areas. Furthermore, theproject would also produce benefits that would accrue to society at large beyond the projectbeneficiaries which are difficult to quantify, but which would contribute to poverty alleviation,especially in rural areas. The social internal rate of return (IRR) for the improvement of basiceducation quality component (excluding scholarships) is 19%. Given the high percentage of theIRR for this component, it is economically feasible and definitely justifiable to undertake theproject (Annex 13).
5.2 The savings from the preschool component are very encouraging. The annual averagecost per formal preschool child is US$288 based on the Ministry of Education's 1993 data. Withthe CEFACEI program, the cost per child is only US$124. The project would provide preschooleducation for 22,000 preschool-age children during the life of the project. The savings fromCEFACEI program is about US$3.5 million. With the mother-to-mother program, the cost perchild is US$243. This program would benefit 3,000 children in rural areas, thus, the savings fromthis program is US$135,000. Combining the savings from CEFACEI and Mother-to-Motherprograms, the total savings for the component will be US$3.6 million. This is not only significantsavings on public expenditures, but also an efficient way of improving equity in preschooleducation and alleviating poverty, especially in the rural areas.
30
5.3 Another major savings would come from the lower secondary education scholarshipprogram. The rationale of the program is to provide financial support to students from the rurallow-income families, thus allowing them to attend lower secondary schools. The amount perscholarship is US$315 per year. The total costs for secondary scholarship programn would beabout US$3 million over the life of the project. Comparing the costs of building more schools toaccommodate the same number of students, the total cost would be on the order of US$19.5million. Obviously, the cost for building schools is much higher than the cost for scholarships.Savings from the scholarship program compared to the option of building more schools would beabout US$16 million. (Annex 13).
B. Impact on Women
5.4 Approximately half of the children who would benefit from an improved quality ofeducational services would be girls; their access to higher levels of education and better workopportunities would thus improve. The selection criteria for scholarships will benefit girls overboys (at least a 60% awarded to girls) to raise female enrollment. It is expected that the targetededucational inputs will decrease the gap between girls and boys in termns of repetition, drop out,failure rates and enrollment. Further benefits can also be expected, as research has shown thatincreasing the education levels of women has a significant positive effect on the health status andthe educational attainment of children, and also contributes to lower fertility.
C. Environmental Impact
5.5 The project will have no direct environmental effects, and has been classified as C.
D. Participatory Approach
5.6 As the parental role is crucial in early childhood development, this project incorporatesparents in the delivery of the pre-primary curriculum. The project will support community-administered CEFACEIs, and give parents and communities a prominent role in administering thefunds to pay the community educators.
E. Project Risks
5.7 The first risk is the limited managerial and administrative capacity of MOE. This risk willbe attenuated through: (a) the appointment of experienced managers to head the implementationunit; (b) the training of staff involved with the project in administrative tasks; (c) the preparationof a detailed manual of project operating procedures; (d) the establishment of clear and detailedmonitoring indicators for the project and explicit timetables for key actions; (e) the design of asimple procurement and disbursement program for textbooks and infrastructure, the two largestexpenditures. The second risk is the limited capacity of the MOE for planning and implementingprojects on a large scale. This risk will be attenuated through the provision of technical assistance
31
for each component and reliance on external experts (national and international) to implementsome of the components. The provision of technical assistance will strengthen MOE's capacityfor making policy decisions. The contracting of principal activities such as implementation of theevaluation system or textbook production will ensure quality and free the MOE of directresponsibility for implementation.
F. Program Objective Category
5.8 The project falls under the Program Objective Category of poverty reduction and wouldsupport a program of targeted interventions as part of the Government's national policy ofequitable access to education opportunities, by channeling resources especially to poor and ruralareas, thus contributing to poverty reduction and the development of human resources.
6. AGREEMENTS REACHED AND RECOMMENDATION
6.1 During negotiations the Government agreed to:
(a) conduct Annual Project Reviews with an annual project implementation reviewreport and prepare an annual implementation plan for the following year, startingin July 1997 (para. 4.3);
(b) furnish to the Bank, during the month of August 1996, a budget and an investmentplan for, and the targets to be achieved in, the implementation of the project in1997 and exchange views with the Bank on said budget, plan and targets, by nolater than September 30, 1996 (para. 4.3);
(c) conduct a mid-term review in 1999 (para. 4.4);
(d) follow the Bank Procurement Guidelines for all procurement of goods and servicesunder the project and apply the Special Provisions for procurement of goods andconsultant services, which differ from the national procedures, to the projectimplementation(para. 3.17);
(e) maintain within MOE a Project Administration Unit with functions andresponsibilities satisfactory to the Bank (para. 4.1);
(f) ensure that the PAU is at all times staffed with essential staff satisfactory to theBank (para. 4.1);
(g) include: (i) in MOE's budget separate lines covering fees for pre-primarycommunity educators (promotoras and madres lideres) and operating and
32
maintenance costs of the schools included under the project; and (ii) in IFARHU'sbudget a separate line covering the scholarships for Primary and Lower Secondarystudents (para.3.8)
6.2 As conditions for effectiveness the borrower will:
(a) submit a detailed project implementation plan for 1996 for all components (para.4.3);
(b) agree to provide evidence that a budget line has been included in the 1996Government's budget for promotoras, scholarships, and operating andmaintenance costs (para. 3.8);
(c) provide evidence that the revolving fund has been established and that the depositof counterpart funds in the amount of $250,000 has been made (para. 3.5);
(d) put into effect the Operational Manual (para. 3.10); and
(e) ensure that the implementation agreements between MOE and FES and MOE andIFARHU have been signed (para. 2.20).
6.3 Recommendation. Subject to the above assurances and conditions, the proposed projectwould constitute a suitable basis for a loan of US$ 35.0 million to the Republic of Panama.
N/A: Not available.Note: Provinces are listed in order of poverty with the poorest province listed first The Povcrty Index is comprised of threevariables: housing, education and health. (See Targeting Annex for a detailed explanation)Source: MIPPE.
34 ANNEX IEducation Statistics
Table 4: Private and Public Schools and Enrollment by Education Level, 1993
Schools StudentsTotal Percent Private Total Percent Private
N/A.: Not available.Note: Provinces are listed in order of poverty with the poorest provincc listed first. The PovertyIndex is comprised of three variables: housing, education and health. (Sec Annex 1 for adetailed explanation)Source: MIPPE.
Figure 1: Pre-School Gross Enrollment Rate in Selected Countries
100
-goixo
780 -_____ so -70 - -
a 30 e e20
P 1020
E
' 1990Country
Source: UTNESCO, 1993b
Table 8: Primary Education Coverage in Selected Countries (Percent)
Country Gross Enrollment Net EnrollmentPanama' 104 90Chileb 98 87Colombia' III 74Costa Rica' 102 97Venezucla' 99 9 1a 1991b 1992C 1990
Source: UNESCO, 1993b.
36 ANNEX 1Education Statistics
Table 9: Primary Education Coverage by Province, 1993
Province Net Enrollment Poverty IndexSan Bias 64.6 19.1Darien 96.4 29.9Bocas del Toro 98.0 47.3Veraguas 90.9 52.3Chiriqui 89.4 67.9Cocle 97.0 71.8Herrera 84.6 80.1Colon 98.3 84.8Los Santos 92.5 85.7Panama 91.9 94.9Note: Provinces are listed in order of poverty with the poorest province listed first.Source: MOE, Statistics Department.
Table 10: Primary Education Repetition and Drop out Rates for Public and PrivateSchool
Rcpetition Rates Drop out RatesProvince Public Private Public Private
San Blas 18.3 n.a. 3.3 n.a.Darien 22.3 n.a. 3.3 n.a.Bocas del Toro 21.7 0.5 2.0 14.7Veraguas 15.0 15.0 1.7 0.2Chiriqui 10.1 0.5 3.4 0.3Cocie 9.5 0.5 0.7 0.7Herrcra 10.1 0.4 1.4 n.a.Colon 10.3 1.2 1.3 n.a.Los Santos 6.1 n.a. 1.4 4.9Panama 6.8 0.6 1.2 n.a.Total 10.4 0.7 1 .7 0.2n.a.: Not available.Note: Provinces are listed in order of poverty with the poorest province listed first.Source: MOE. Statistics Department, 1992.
37 ANNEX 1Education Statistics
Table 11: Primary Enrollment by Sex, by Corregimiento(percent)
Grade Corregimientos Males Females Total Males Females
Panama en Cifras reports 11,181 classrooms. The Planning Direction of the Ministry of Education reports12,472; 970 classrooms are being used for secondary school; classrooms in use: 11,363+1,817 (second shift)+1,263 (private schools classrooms)= 14,443.
Table 15: Qualirications of Primary Education Teachers, 1990 (Percent)
Primary Other than SpecialProvince Teacher Pedagogy Pedagogy Subjects Other Total
Group 1 90.6 0.4 4.2 0.8 4.2 100.0Group 2 84.3 2.8 9.0 2.4 1.3 100.0Group 3 72.8 3.9 j 16.3 3.8 3.2 100.0Note: The three groups were formed following the poverty map.Group 1 = the poorest provinces (San Blas, Darien, Bocas del Toro).Group 2 = the middle-income provinces (Veraguas, Chiriqui, Cocle, Herrera).Group 3 = the less poor (Colon, Los Santos, Panama).Source: Office of Statistics and Census, Cultural Position, Ministry of Education, 1990.0 0
Table 16: Secondary Gross Enrollment Rates, 1992
Province Gross Enrollment RateSan Blas 20.6Darien 21.1Bocas del Toro 33.8Vcraguas 58.1Chiriqui 61.1Cocle 47.1Herrera 59.6Colon 71.0Los Santos 54.3Panama 73.7Total 63.6Note: Provinces are listed in order of poverty, wvith the poorest province listed first.Source: Comptroller General of the Republic, 1993, and mission estimates.
40 ANNEX 1Education Statistics
Table 17: Secondary Ed cation Student, Teacher and School Ratios, 1993Student/ Student/ Student/ Teacher/ Classroom/Teacher Classroom School Ratio School Ratio School Ratio
Table 20: Secondary Education, Gross and Net Enrollment in Selected Countries
Gross Enrollment Net EnrollmentCountry 1985 1991 1985 1991
Panama 59 64' 47 52'Chile 67 72 n.a. 55Costa Rica 40 67 34 43Venezuela 24 34 16 19Latin America 65 68 51 54Developed Countries 90 91 87 86a 1992.n.a.: Not availableSource: UNESCO, 1993; Panama: Office of Statistics and Census.
41 ANNEX 1Education Statistics
Table 21: Efficiency of the Public Primary Education System: Performance of a Hypothetical Cohort of1000 Students Using Constant Rates of Promotion, Repetition and Drop out
NUMBER OP GRADES IN CYCLE: 6 SCHOOL YEAL 1992
Gr,d-I G.d eS Gr% 3de 2 Gmde 4 GrdeS Grade 6 TOTAL
TIME AVERAGE - CUMULATIVE YEARS I GRADUATES 6.74 yea per graduucCOST AVERAGE - STUDENT YEARS / GRADUATES 7.14 stdent yeam per gradatlTUME EFFICIENCY - GRADUATES 'NO. OF GRADES I CUM YEARS 0.69 output / ycrn awedCOST EPFICIENCY - GRADUATES * NO. OF GRADES I STUDENT YEARS 0.34 output I pIsbs finanoed
STUDENT YEARS - TOTAL STUDENTS ENROLLED IN EACH YEARCUMULATIVE YEARS - GRADUATES IN YEAR ' NUMMER OF YEARS TO GRADUATE
42 ANNEX IEducation Statistics
Table 22: Primary School Student Failure, Repetition and Drop out in Public and Private Schools
Table 24: Efficiency of the Basic Education System grades 1-9: Performance of a HypotheticalCohort of 1,000 Students, Using Constant Rates of Promotion, Repetition and Drop OutNUMBER OF GRADES IN CYCLE: 9 93.02 3.877 SCHOOL YEARs1992
TIME AVERAGE = CUMULATIVE YEARS /GRADUATES 10.11 yean per grmduatnCOST AVERAGE = STUDENT YEARS I GRADUATES 12.87 student yeam per graduateTIME EFFICIENCY = GRADUATES * NO. OF GRADES / CUM YEARS 0.89 output / yean usedCOST EFFICIENCY = GRADUATES * NO. OF GRADES / STUDENT YEARS 0.7 output / places financed
STUDENT YEARS = TOTAL STUDENTS ENROLLED IN EACH YEARCUMULATVE YEARS = GRADUATES IN YEAR * NUMBER OF YEARS TO GRADUATE
44 ANNEX 1Education Statistics
Table 25: Multigrade Schools: Teachers and Students, 1992
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.....:-Ebi e(l)f;;-Eg ;Siride;:'-.-i- ~i:%Mrd :;E-o fg $M utnWi-t-%fi--L It
I. The Government has given a high priority to education sector funding. As a result,Panama ranks high, compared to other developing and Latin American countries, in terms ofpercentage of GDP and total public sector resources allocated to education. However, highereducation receives about one third of these resources, while pre-primary education is given adisproportionately low share. The high share given to university education and the minuscule fee(approximately US$ 50) charged to university students result in an across-the-board subsidy tomany students whose families could afford to contribute to the cost of their studies. The structureof subsector resource allocation favors higher income groups at the expense of lower incomegroups, who would benefit from additional expenditures for pre-primary and primary education.At the same time, pre-primary and primary education, which serve 54 percent of this populationand include a large percentage of poor students, receive only 40.9 percent of total resources.Only 1.7 percent of total public expenditure for education is allocated to pre-primary education, afigure far below international levels.
Table 1: Current Education Expenditure Levels in Selected Countries (percent)
Panama Costa Rica Venezuela Mexico Chilc France SpainPreschool 1.7 3.6 3.3 6.1 6.7 9.5 6.4Primary 39.2 34.5 20.2 28.6 49.4 16.8 22.2Secondary 26.7 21.6 4.5 26.6 14.9 40.4 46.8Higher 32.4 36.1 40.7 14.7 20.6 14.1 16.0Others 1.5 2.8 2.0 11.5 8.2Undistributed _ _2.7 28.5 23.9 6.4 7.7 0.4Total, 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0Years: Panama, 1993; Mexico, Chile, France, Spain 1992; Costa Rica, 1991; Vcnezuela, 1990.Sources: Panama: MOE and mission estimates; other countries: UNESCO, 1993.A It includes Preschool Expenditwe
Totals may not add up due to rounding
Levels of expenditure2. Public expenditure in education, as measured by several indicators, is high in comparisonto other Latin American and developing countries, and even comparable to developed countriesby some indicators. It is 5.1 percent of GNP, the highest percentage in Latin America, and almostas high as the 5.3 percent average for such expenditures in developed countries.
Trends in expenditures3. The level of public expenditure in education remained relatively constant in the periodbetween 1983 and 1991; expenditures as a percentage of GDP and total public sector expenditureremained virtually unchanged. However, there was an abrupt change in public expenditure ineducation in 1992-1993, when the aggregate level of expenditure increased 28.4 percent andexpenditure per capita increased 23.7 percent over the 1990-1991 levels (Table 2). Althoughthere were increases in public expenditure in education as percentages of GDP and total publicsector expenditure in the same period, these increases were a more modest 8 percent and 11
46 ANNEX 2Sector Financing
percent, respectively. These figures reflect an increase in economic activity in 1992-1993 and theGovernment strategy to continue to give a high priority to the education sector.
Table 2: Public Education Expenditure Trends (annual averages in US$)
1983-1987 1990-1991 1992-1993Total (USS million) 251.9 265.9 341.4As % of GDP 5.2 5.1 5.5As % of Public Expenditures 15.2 15.0 16.4Expenditures per Capita 116.3 109.8 135.8Source: Comptroller General of the Republic.
Public Education Financing
Sources
4. The Government's general revenues financed 93.3 percent of recurrent public educationexpenditures during 1991-94. The remaining 6.7 percent was financed from an earmarked tax of2.75 percent on salaries and the income of self-employed persons. General Government revenuesfinanced 62.6 percent of investment expenditures, while external sources financed 37.4 percent.External financing is derived principally from IDB and some small grants from the United StatesAgency for International Development (USAID). IDB has assisted secondary schools in severaloperations over the past twenty-five years that have financed technical assistance, scholarships,and the construction, rehabilitation, expansion, and equipment of secondary schools. It has alsofinanced the Social Emergency Fund (Fondo de Emergencia Social, FES) which is used torehabilitate and renovate primary school buildings.
5. Parental fees and employer contributions are additional sources of funds for pre-primaryschool programs and higher education, but there are no fees for primary and secondary students.Parents of students attending the.public Jardines de Infancia may be required to pay a fee of upto US$ 10 per month. There are neither guidelines on the fees parents are required to pay norrecord-keeping requirements for collections. The principal has authority over the use of funds.The level of fee collection and the importance of fees in the operation of schools are both difficultto evaluate, due to the dearth of records. The Jardines de Infancia have also benefited frommaterials provided by the provinces and families. The informal Family and Community Center forInitial Education (Centro Familiar y Comunitario de Educacion Inicial, CEFACEI) program isfinanced by a monthly parental fee of US$ 2-10 and a small annual grant from the Organization ofAmerican States (OAS). The fees paid by parents cover about 75 percent of the cost of salariesrequired to operate the centers. As in the case of the Jardines de Infancia, there are insufficientguidelines, records, and information about the relative importance of fee payments as a source offinancing for the CEFACEI. The Centers of Infant and Family Orientation (Centros deOrientaci6n Infantil y Familiar, COIF) are located in workplaces and largely supported byemployers.
47 ANNEX 2Sector Financing
6. Students enrolled in Panama's two public universities are charged an annual fee of aboutUS$ 50, which is unnecessarily low. Fee revenues total US$ 2.8 million and cover approximately4.1 percent of total university expenditures.
Allocation
7. The relative shares of public expenditure allocated for the three principal levels ofeducation -- basic (including pre-primary and primary), secondary, and higher education --remained almost constant between 1983 and 1991. However, in 1991-92 there was a significant4.9 percent decline from the preceding two years in the allocation to basic education, and a 6.1percent increase in the allocation to higher education. Although the percentage decline in theallocation of public resources to basic education and the increase in the allocation of suchresources to higher education are not great, they are significant in that they exacerbate an alreadyinequitable distribution of resources. Higher education receives almost one third of publiceducation resources, to serve the 10 percent of students attending publicly-financed schools atthat level.
Table 3: Public Education Expenditure Trends by Level (annual average percentages)
l _________________________ _ 1 1983-87 1990-91 1992-93Pre-primary and Primary 45.1 45.8 40.9Secondary 29.3 27.9 26.7Higher 25.6 26.3 32.4Total 100.0 100.0 100.0Source: Contralorla General de la Repziblica
8. Students at the University of Panama and the Technological University pay an annual feeof about US$ 50. Although there is no family income data for students at the University ofPanama, such data for the 11,000 students at the Technological University, show that about onethird of students come from families with annual incomes over US$ 7,032, the top quintile offamily income in Panama. A similar family income profile could be assumed for studentsattending the University of Panama. It is clear that a major state subsidy is going to students frommiddle- and upper-income families who could afford to pay for all or a substantial part of the costof a university education. In contrast, the fees at private sector universities for upper-incomestudents are about US$ 2,000, for middle-income students, about US$ 800, and for lower-incomestudents, about US$ 500.
Private Education Financing
9. Private school expenditures were estimated to be US$ 77.4 million for 1992, equivalent toabout 24.4 percent of total sector expenditures. Private school expenditures were particularlyimportant at the secondary level, where they accounted for 37.9 percent of total expenditures, andleast important at the higher level, where they accounted for only 8.7 percent of totalexpenditures. Private school expenditure on a per capita basis far exceeded per capitaexpenditure by the public sector on all levels, except in higher education, where public sectorexpenditure exceeded that of the private sector by about 20 percent.
48 ANNEX 2Sector Financing
10. The combined education expenditure of the private and public sector was about 7.4
percent of GDP in 1993. This calculation was based on direct costs and did not include the
indirect costs incurred by families for school supplies, textbooks, uniforms, and transportation.The calculation also excludes the cost of studying abroad, which is fairly common at the higher
education level.
Table 4: Public and Private School Expenditures by Level, 1992
Source: Ministry of EducationNotes:I Teacher with title of first instruction2 Teacher with title of second instruction
13. Based on an international comparison, teacher salaries in Panama are high. If we considerthat in 1992, GDP per capita in Panama increased to US$ 2,367, then a primary school teachersalary fluctuated--according to years of work experience-- between 1.85 and 2.91 times GDP percapita. This number is relatively high when compared with other countries in the region (see Table6), where the average teaching salary is 2.5 times GDP per capita. Only three countries are abovePanama among the 12 cases considered.
Table 6: Teacher salaries in selected Latin American countries
Country Salary/GDP percapita
Mexico 0.9Uruguay 1.0
Peru 1.3Venezuela 1.5Guatemala 1.7Argentina 1.8Ecuador 2.0
Colombia 2.2Panama 2.5
Costa Rica 3.2Brazil 3.2
Jamaica 3.4Source: Lockheed and Verspoor: "Improving Primary Education inDeveloping Countries" World Bank, 1991
50 ANNEX 2Sector Financing
14. Teacher salaries are high within Panama as well. According to a PRELAC report, theaverage income of the eighth percentile of households was US$ 379 in 1989. Incorporating the14% increase in per capita income between 1989 and 1992, a projection of US$ 432 is obtainedfor 1992, when the average liquid salary of teachers was US$ 420. Teachers are clearly amongthe higher wage earners in Panamanian society.
15. Public school teachers in Panama are fortunate not only in salaries but also in workinghours (5 and 1/2 hours 5 days a week for a period of 36 weeks in a school year), social security(complete package), retirement age (approximately 50), and job security and stability. But thesebenefits are not linked to performance criteria, except for a dubious system of points for locationtransfers (traslados). In other words, teachers receive the benefits mentioned independent of thelevel of dedication and effort they put into their work. This shows that the education incentivesystem rewards teachers regardless of their productivity. One anticipated result of this incentivescheme is high fiscal funding, and a glut of teachers with low educational achievement.
16. The policy implications point towards a reform in the incentive system, in order to link thebenefits of teaching to educational achievement. Teachers in Panama should also be subject to thenew norms directed towards decreasing the deficit of the social security system and increasing theretirement age.
Salary System: Incentive for Teacher Union Pressure and Explosion of Costs
17. The basic change in the salary system agreed to in 1993 refers to the concept of"oversalary" (sobresueldo) or salary increase for teachers, based on years of work experience.With the change, the readjustment is made through a higher initial salary level and incrementalincreases over time (see Table 7).
18. There are two main fiscal implications of this new salary scheme. First is the impact ofpaying each teacher according to years of work experience. An estimate shows a 5-10% increasein additional resources needed by the Government for the first year. Second, a skewed effectbecause as teachers get older the salaries paid will increase in relation to the present. In addition,the new salary system creates a heavy fiscal burden for the social security system, because it isbased on the amount of the last salary received, which will be increased from 25% to 37%(provisional).
51 ANNEX 2Sector Financing
Table 7: New teacher salary structure(percentage above base salary)
Working Primary Primary 1 Primary 2 Secondary 3 SpecialSecondary.
Source: Ministry of EducationNotes:I Teacher with title of first instrunction2 Teacher with title of second instrucion3 Beginner
19. The 1993 teacher strike and the conditions for its termination illustrate a perverseincentive for the teacher salary and benefit system in Panama. Teachers now have an incentive toexert pressure on the Government as a group, since their negotiating power depends on thenumber of teachers participating in the strike. In addition, the fact that the benefits obtained favorall of them, ensures a massive, synergistic movement. The overall results for Panamanian societyare negative. Fiscal concessions have a high cost, because they favor the teaching professionwithout guaranteeing an improvement in education. Again this is due to the lack of connectionbetween benefits and achievements in the system.
20. As mentioned above, the policy implication is to link benefits to productivity andeducational achievement. Salary adjustments should be made selectively, rewarding teacher meritand experience.
52 ANNEX 2Sector Financing
Inefficiency of the Teacher Promotion/Transfer System
21. An important component in the working conditions of teachers is location: rural or urban;small or large city; etc. Different from other conditions, location is determined by competition,theoretically based on the achievement and quality of the teacher. Vacancies are publicized by theMinistry of Education for two reasons: (i) new position due to increase in enrollment; (ii)replacement due to retirement, firing or death. The creation of new openings, though, is really dueto pressure from new entrants and incentives given to principals and supervisors.
22. The transfer system is complex and competition-based. It requires each candidate tochoose a maximum of five possible destinations, and to present various elements that contributeto the score. There are three elements: professional formation, experience, perfection andcontributions made to education. These variables in turn make up a complex system ofapproximately 60 items for the score.
23. The process of relocation and transfer is massive. It is estimated that each year around9,000 teachers compete to be transferred and about 12,000 new candidates try to enter thesystem. This implies that during each year, one third of all teachers take part in this competitionand an equivalent of 43% of teachers, already hired, try to enter the system.
24. There are at least three sources of inefficiency in the transfer and appointment system.First, the quality of education inevitably suffers if more than one third of teachers spend a lot oftime and energy each year competing to be transferred to another location. This process forcesteachers to attend workshops (to increase their scores), to travel and visit different locations, tospend time and other resources trying to influence the Ministry to select them and to find outabout applications, etc.
25. A second source of inefficiency derives from the significant administrative cost of thetransfer/appointment system for the Ministry. Each year it must process around 21,000applications, select the candidates and make sure that the vacancies are filled. Workshops andcourses which increase the scores for transfers and appointments represent a third source ofinefficiency. Moreover, the institutions which offer this training are not subject to quality control.
26. The policy implications are two; first, appointments must confront a structural problem ofoversupply of candidates in the system. This in turn is related to the benefits and privilegesteachers receive vis-a-vis the lack of responsibility in their work. Second, the transfer systemgenerates inefficiencies and some inequity, both of which need to be addressed.
53 ANNEX 3Policy Matrix
SECTOR POLICIES AND PROPOSED PROJECT ACTIVITIES
ISSUES POLICIES AND ACTIONS THE PROJECTQuality: need to improve equitable access toquality educational services.Need to improve pre-primary curriculum Curriculum adjustments: more active and child- Supports a new curriculum, in the form of manuals for educators
centered. Proposal of learning situations to be and parents, and radio programs for teachers and parents.developed by parents and educators.
Low quality of multigrade primary education Establishement of an adequate methodology for Provides appropriate teacher-training and educational materialsmultigrade teachers and students. to all multigrade teachers and classrooms.
Lack of textbooks and educational materials. Set a policy for the provision of textbooks and Provides textbooks for 41 percent of the students enrolled ineducational materials for the poor. basic education (1-9 grades)
Need to improve equitable access to the nine Reorient the current scholarship program to target the Provides scholarships that target basic education students fromyears of education. poor, in order to improve the promotion rate from sixth the poorest correginmientos
to seventh grade
Lack of a standardized evaluation system. Institutionalization of the evaluation of student Establishes a standardized evaluation system.achievement.
Coverage: need to provide equitable access topre-primary.Low pre-primary school coverage Develop a cost-effective strategy for the expansion of Supports the expansion of the non-formal CEFACEI model.
pre-primary school coverage. The government subsidizes education services for the poor bypaying the community educator on a per-student basis.
Institutional Strengthening:Weak capacity for planning and formulating Strengthen planning and policy-making capacity within Finances studies to promote the formulation of policy reformspolicy, and outside the Ministry and to encourage the specialization of people in education policy
1. The main objectives of the Basic Education Project are to improve the quality, efficiency and equity ofPanama's basic education system. There is a strong relationship between access to educational materials andthe socio-economic conditions of schoolchildren's famiLies. Children of poorer farnilies cannot buy thebooks, notebooks and other learning materials not provided by schools and therefore they learn less, repeatgrades and eventually drop out.
2. In order to compensate for poorer children's disadvantages in terms of access to better qualityeducation, the project will focus on townships with the highest levels of poverty according to representativeindicators: poor housing conditions, less access to educational benefits, and nutritional deficiencies. Thepercentage of indigenous population, as well as the prevalence of poverty in overcrowded urban areas, hasbeen taken into consideration for targeting.
Methodology for Project Targeting
3. Townships were chosen as targeting units so that project interventions can have the maximum effect inpoor areas. The country's 510 townships (corregimientos) are distributed among 67 districts, which in tumcorrespond to 9 provinces. Township populations vary from 88 inhabitants in Playa Chiquita (Santa IsabelDistrict) to a maximum of 199,400 in Belisario Porras (San Miguelito District). 69% of townships (353)have less than 2,500 inhabitants, while the 34 townships with over 15,000 inhabitants (7%) contain 51% ofthe country's total population (1.2 million out of 2.3 million total inhabitants).
Selection of Indicators
4. Three types of variables per township were used as poverty indicators: (a) housing quality, according tothe 1990 Population and Housing Census; (b) access to education, according to 1993 statistics by theMinistry of Education; and (c) nutritional status, according to the 1994 Census of Students' Height by theMinistries of Education and Health.
5. Housing quality is reflected by the percentage of homes without drinking water and sanitation servicesand with dirt floors. Access to education is gauged by the percentage of children between the ages of 6 and15 who do not attend school and the percentage of students who repeat grades or drop out of school.Nutritional status is indicated by the percentage of the population between the ages of 6 and 15 whose heightis shorter than normal for their age.
6. The total population of school-age children (between the ages of 6. and 15) is used as an additionalvariable to allow the inclusion of townships with high concentrations of disadvantaged urban inhabitants whowould not be detected only by qualitative variables. The percentage of the indigenous population is also usedas a compensating variable to ensure that priority is assigned to small townships with a predominantlyindigenous population.
55 ANNEX 4Targeting
Consistency of Variables
7. Because the variables selected as being representative of poverty conditions are so diverse, they cannotbe directly combined in a composite index. Some represent percentages of the number of homes, others arepercentages of the school-age population, of school enrollment of total population, and yet another representsabsolute population numbers. In order to compute the composite index of poverty, the values of all variableshave been converted to a uniform value scale of 0 to 100. The numbers used in the targeting table are theconverted values, not the original percentages or numbers, which are found in separate tables.
8. The highest original value of each variable (which indicates more unfavorable conditions) is representedby 0 on the converted scale, and the lowest original value of the same variable is represented by 100,regardless of the variable's original value range. For example, for the school-age population variable, thehighest value of 28,889 becomes 0, and the lowest value (16) becomes 100. For the variable of school-agechildren not attending school, the highest value of 86.42% becomes an index of 0, and the lowest value of2.3 5% becomes an index of 100. Intermediate values are calculated using the following formula:
VN = (VMAX - VA)/(VMAX - VMN) x 100
in which:VA is the original value, to be converted to the new scale;VN is the new value resulting in a scale of 0 to 100;VMAX is the highest original value of the variable;V\MIN is the lowest original value of the variable.
9. The formula inverts the order of the values to try to arrange the resulting index in ascending order, fromlowest to highest. This is an arbitrary decision since the same result would be obtained by converting thevalues in the same original order and arranging the values of the resulting index from highest to lowest.1 Theresulting values, converted to a scale of 0 to 100, represent indicators of the relative position of eachvariable's original values within their respective range, and may be combined as such in a composite indexusing arithmetical averages, which could not be done with the original values.
Computation of the Composite Index of Poverty
10. The poverty index is the weighted average of values converted to a scale of 0 to 100 of all variablesused. Equal weight has been assigned to the set of population variables (school-age and indigenous, whichare of a quantitative nature) and to the set of qualitative indicators of poverty conditions (housing, educationand nutrition) in order to ensure that the project's benefits reach the greatest possible number of persons in thepoorest townships in rural and disadvantaged urban areas.
11. The weights assigned to each variable appear in the upper part of each page of the table. The variablefor homes with dirt floors has a weight of 20 because it is considered the most characteristic of extreme ruraland urban poverty. The other housing and educational variables have a weight of 4 each, and the nutritionalvariable has a weight of 10, to complete the combined weight of 50 for this set of variables. The school-age
The formula to convert the values of a variable in the same original order would be:VN = (VA - VIN)/(VMAX - VMN) x 100.
56 ANNEX 4Targeting
population variable has a weight of 40, and the indigenous population variable 10; these two variables add upto 50 and have an essentially distributive function in calculating the index.
12. The result is shown in the attached table, with the 510 townships arranged according to the compositeindex of poverty. The lowest index (45.95, top priority) corresponds to the Penia Blanca township with apopulation of 1,986 in Chiriqui province, while the highest (98.90) corresponds to Otoque Occidente with apopulation of 210 in Panama province.
13. The order of priority resulting from the poverty index allows us to target objectively and safely theinvestments of a basic education project according to selected criteria in order to achieve the proposedobjectives of greater educational quality, efficiency and equity. Among the 32 poorest townships is thecountry's most populous (Belisario Porras), a highly disadvantaged zone on the outsldrts of Panama City.However, 50% of the school-aged basic education population lives in the first 238 townships on the list (47%of the total number of townships), meaning that a large number of scarcely populated rural townships, as wellthe most important disadvantaged urban population centers, hold top priority positions. These also includeall townships with a significant proportion of indigenous inhabitants.
14. The project will target 185 Corregimientos out of the 510, distributed over the 68 districts covering 41percent of the school population from grades I to 9.
57 ANNEX 4Targeting
PANAMA BASIC EDUCATION PROJECT
PROJECT TARGETNOC
RANKING OF CORREGIWENTOS BY POVERTY INDEX
USING INDICATORS OF HOUSING CONDmONS. ACCESS AND QUALITY OF EDUCATION SERIOCES. NUTRITIONAL STATUS.
PROPORTION OF INDIGENOUS POPULATION AND POPULATION DtENSITY OF AGES S TO 15
ALL INDICATORS CONVERTED TO SCALES OF 0-100
RELATIVE 4 4 20 4 4 4 10 40 10 100
HOUSING INDICATORS EDUCATION NDICATOR9 NTRITION TOTAL [ COMPOSITE RANKINO
CORREGUENTO DISTRICT VWTHOUT IATHOUT WITH % POP 16 S IS POP AGE 4-15 POPUL BNDIOE INDEX CU ENROLL
POTABLE SAWTARY DIRT 6-15 NOT SCHOOL SCHOOL BELOW NORMAL AGES NO J aNROLL GRADES
WATER SERVICE FLOOR IN SCHOOL FAILURE DROPOUT HeHT S TO 1 PUL MENT 1-9
HOUS INC OATORtS EOUCATMIONOiCATORS NUTItfiXOH TOTAL rO AtIlOSIT iiAIN11,11
CORREGNUENTO DiSTRiCT WYiTiHOT WITHOUT WiTH POP %o % _1 P; OP AGE i- 15 tJrL ND-CE NMDEX CIO" EHIROLLPOTABLE SANTARY DIRT 6d15 NOT SCHOOL SCHOOL BELOWiiORMAAL AGES NOUS ENROLL GRADES
WATER SERVICE FLOOR IN SCHOOL FAILURE DROPOUT HEiGHT 1 TO 15 POPUL imEwT 1.0
HOUSNGO NDICATORS EDUCATION INDICATORS NUTRITION TOTAL % COMPOSITE RANKING
CORREGOiIENTO DISTRICT WITHOUT WITHOUT WITH S POP 0 ¶ PrOF AGE 6-15 POPUL NDICE INDEX ClaMI ENROLL
POTABLE SANrTARY DIRT 6-15 NOT SCHOOL SCHOOL BELOW NORMAL AGES NOUS ENROLL GRADESWATER SERVICE FLOOR IN SCHOOL FAILURE DROPOUT HEK3HT STO 15 P OP.JL 1MENT 1-6
HOUSOO NDICATORS EDUCATION INDICATORS NuTOmIToN TOTAL CO74tOSITE RAMKIWG
CORREGAIENTO DISTRICT 1ITHOUT WTOUT WY"4 YPOP 10 11 , POP AGE 0-15 POPUL IN3OE INDEX CLUM ENROLL
POTABLE SAOTARY DIRT 6-IS HOT SCHOOL SCHOOL BELOW NORMAL AGES NOUS ENROLL GRADESWATER SERVICE FLOOt 34SCHOOL FAILURE DROPOUT NiGHT 6 TO 1s POPUJL MENT 14
Honn povety Inrdatorn a,. Pereos Of h." dh. wthoi pol.bi- wotl. r hot sedary ws.d. sod wIh r d tonEduaor, povrdy inroaon erperrae. of shodo sod. eklte., (0-15) rod fterang schod. end mrea.of Sudots In basjo odm, it WI1. Wd .e. rnetions and oftos.w hodrop Dn of chool.
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L Lower InrdocUnioN. wort s ho-nng. medio.nd W ao.Oon cortitlon with gwr poptIan dre. and Nhtihr psredg, of ndgseo toptlon.
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by .oogrnaNro
Th. proeId ol tegt tMh pooro IC0 -orr-gnkn.wos (37 pD . of al th. coreginedo Ib. Oh. vofty). woh le d. 41 pwrord of the e td In. qede I to 6.
S-r,.a PoptUton ad HoFbug Cn. 100. Para.
1-ls d. SbaO.soin d. N-dae d.deo BSeo. b Lepa dle Pobars. MIPPE. 1663.
Seto atitlo.. 1¶03. Lrery of EdEaon. Pam.
Schod Chiken Halgth Cn. 1694. &Wls, of ErheUos and Hean.h Pere.
64 ANNEX 5Multigrade Teacher Training
TEACHIER TRAIMNG IN MULTIGRADE METHODOLOGY
Background
1. The first training seminar on Multigrade was planned and implemented in 1986 and was deliveredfor technical staff of the Provincial Supervision Bureau. This Bureau was assigned, and still has,responsibility for disseminating guidance to teachers on techniques and strategies for multi-classteaching. The core document entitled Work techniques for multi-class teachers was presented anddiscussed during this seminar and now serves as the methodological guideline for teachers.
2. Based on this seminar, the Ministry of Education has continued to implement teacher seminars forthe purpose of increasing the number of trained teachers, although from 1987 to 1989 the country'spolitical and economic situation limited the planning of new training seminars. Seminars increasedfrom 1990 to 1995 and workshops were held to prepare activity and content charts for mathematics,science, Spanish and social studies in compensation for the lack of free textbooks.
3. To date, statistics show that, of the about 3,800 active teachers who teach various grades at thesame time, only 625 of them, along with 425 teacher interns, have been trained in the relevant worktechniques. Moreover, due to the lack of an ongoing system to assess and monitor trained staff, it hasnot been possible to assess the actual impact of training, that is, its effectiveness in terms of theapplication of techniques to improve educational achievement. Therefore, methodologies will beoffered through training to facilitate the development of teachers' creativity in organizing leamingsettings, make students participate in skills building, and ensure the essential elements of advancementand competitiveness.
4. In addition, the provision of classroom libraries and activity charts, and the use of innovativemethodologies, will require seminars and workshops to achieve effective, comprehensive improvementof educational quality, in terns of the interests and needs of students and the community.
5. Therefore, the MNNEDUC/World Bank Basic Education Project, through its efforts to supporteducation in Panama, proposes to handle the situation from the standpoint of teacher training and theprovision of educational materials to all schools with multi-class teachers throughout the country, bymeans of a training and skills improvement plan and classroom libraries which are considered basicresources to enhance the quality of education.
6. It is essential to increase the number of multi-class teachers skilled in proper procedures in orderto ensure the best possible use of time and resources, so that the objectives and core subjects of theelementary school curriculum are covered satisfactorily. In the future, this could also enable graduatesto continue their studies at the next educational level with the required entrance requirements,contribute towards improving their environment and participate more efficiently in community life.
7. Training and other skills enhancement efforts will be guided by a model that encompasses the useof participatory, dynamic teaching techniques leading to autonomous student achievement and thatincludes parents and other community institutions in the learning process.
65 ANNEX 5Multigrade Teacher Training
8. Due to the teacher's importance as a basic means of raising the quality of education, skillsenhancement plays a leading role by helping to integrate efforts carried out in the classroom and makethem consistent.
Training of Teachers and Supervisors
General Objective
9. To increase the number of students in multi-class schools who achieve passing grades andremain in school, through the proper of use appropriate methodologies and learning materials.
Specific Objectives
10. To improve the training of teachers and supervisors who will act as facilitators of theteaching-learning process, in the search for, and implementation of, altematives leading to theachievement of more effective, efficient education in rural, indigenous and disadvantaged urbanareas.
11. To set up teams of facilitators who will disseminate the various phases of training,monitoring and assessment of active teachers and student teachers by strengthening the existingorganization for this purpose.
Description
12. The training offered will include efforts to counteract the limitations or lack of training of personsworking in multi-class schools. It will also cover means to give special attention to children who arebehind in their studies and to the use of learning materials and school libraries. It is proposed that a setof technical and teaching activities be prepared to contribute to the training of creative teachers withknowledge and skills in handling several classes at the same time; in the optimum use of work chartsand classroom libraries; in effective distribution of available time; in better use of school and non-schoolspace; in the use of strategies that include community members in educational and curricular efforts;and in the use of active techniques and the development of varied activities that help students to learnindependently.
13. It is also proposed that the teaching function of provincial and national supervisors beconsolidated to ensure training as well as guidance and monitoring of daily practices, in order toinstitutionalize the proposed actions. A group of national supervisors and 148 provincial supervisorswill conform the technical group in charge of training and monitoring responsibilities.
14. In the qualitative improvement program for schools with teachers of multi-grade, various types ofefforts to enhance teachers' skills are proposed, including on-the-job training; the provision of books,documents and guides; the publishing of monthly information bulletins; demonstrations of learningmaterials prepared using simple resources, etc. A national congress is planned for year m and aninternational one in year IV so that teachers and supervisors can present the results of the application of
66 ANNEX 5Multigrade Teacher Training
their new skills and share their experiences. It is hoped that this will motivate research and theapplication of techniques leading to qualitative improvement of education in rural areas.
15. Two courses will be given in two phases: an intensive course during the vacation period, with 30classroom hours and 15 hours outside the classroom, plus a feedback session on the sixth day; and anintensive course comprised of seven Saturday sessions during the school year, six classroom hours eachsession, which will be supplemented by activities in daily practice. These courses will be mandatory forsupervisors and active teachers, that is, the total number of educators will be doubly covered. Anoptional course will also be given to cover once again the total number of educators that constitute thepotential demand. The multi-class teaching course will also be given to future teachers before theygraduate from teacher training school. The mandatory courses will be :Multi-class, Specializedteaching and a third course, optional, deterrmined according to specific needs. Efforts will also bedeveloped to strengthen group working techniques, specifically the preparation and implementation ofactivity charts, resources and basic teaching materials (experience charts, felt boards, numbers box,flash cards, pocket charts, logic blocks, etc.).
16. A specific workshop will be offered to 80 teachers on the preparation of activity charts to helpchildren construct their own individual and/or group learning process and to collect a set of charts thatcan later be printed and distributed to all multi-class teachers. Participants will be selected by provincesamong multi-class teachers who have demonstrated relevant abilities and skills.
17. A library course will also be given to multi-class teachers and to junior high school teachers. Tosupplement this training course, classroom research and reading encouragement will also be planned.
18. All courses will be graded.
19. In addition to the above-mentioned courses, the Multi-class Coturse will be added for futureteachers about to graduate from teacher training school who, despite student teaching in multi-classschools, require specific methodological and theoretical elements which are not included in the teachertraining curriculum. This course will only be given on an intensive basis.
Training of provincial and national supervisors
20. Before taking all the courses for teachers, supervisory staff should participate in a mandatory five-day course consisting of 30 classroom hours and 15 non-classroom hours, plus a feedback session, onTeacher Counseling.
21. This course will allow future teacher facilitators and supervisors to be selected, in closecoordination with their respective functions.
Training of provincial facilitators
22. In order to offer workshop seminars for teachers, provincial supervisors and later the bestqualified school principals will be selected to act as facilitators, based on the teacher counseling courseand meeting specific requirements.
67 ANNEX SMultigrade Teacher Training
23. Subsequent training offered to them will cover the content of the syllabus prepared for eachcourse, and knowledge of the methodology to be used, as contained in the facilitator's manuals.Moreover, for use after their training, they will receive a supplementary anthology and a glossary tohelp them better understand the contents.
24. National supervisors will administer the courses for provincial supervisors. This training ofprovincial facilitators, related to the courses, with an intensive stage of six sessions and a longer periodof seven Saturday sessions, will take place at provincial headquarters, covering the established numberof sessions plus seven planning and assessment sessions lasting four hours each, prior to each Saturdaysession.
Training of the Central Technical Group [GTC] (National Supervisors)
25. For each of the courses provided to provincial supervisors, members of the GTC will receivetraining by the persons who designed the respective course. This training will take place duringworking hours at the central offices, and should be supplemented by conferences, workshops or otherevents related to the contents and objectives of these courses.
Course Contents
26. The contents of each workshop seminar will be organized in two large blocks, according to thetype of teaching: theory and methodology, for the intensive phase; and teacher strategy in theclassroom setting, for the seven Saturday sessions. Those related to Teacher Counseling will beorganized in five chapters because they correspond to only one phase.
27. The contents will be consistent with a constructive teaching concept. They will cover techniquesand methodological procedures aimed at multi-class work, teaching groups directly and indirectly,creativity, research strategies, use of the library as a basic supplement to the teaching-learning processwithin the child's social environment, and mechanisms for process and product assessments. They willalso include guidelines for participating in the preparation of a monthly teachers' bulletin for multi-classteachers.
28. During the Saturday sessions, spread out over the school year to monitor teachers in their dailywork, the formation of working groups will be strengthened, taking into account the appropriatedistribution of contents, suitability of curricula, and learning assessments. During this phase, noteshould be taken of teachers' experience in implementing what they learn from these courses in theclassroom setting, and various new and highly practical contents should be included. Short-termremedial courses for slower students will be stressed, based on the use made of the results of ongoingassessments of learning and teacher performance.
29. The Saturday sessions, in which the planning, development and assessment of class work will bemonitored, will imply the cumulative acquisition and application of skills.
68 ANNEX 5Multigrade Teacher Training
30. The provision of classroom libraries is a valuable support in supplementing learning activities, andtherefore proper training will include the administration and management of such assets, so that thebibliographic materials supplied can be put to optimum use.
Course Assessment and Accreditation
31. During each training stage, strict assessment criteria must be met which will affect courseaccreditation. Product and process assessments will be included, along with assessments of thelearning of both contents and methodology, and of attitudes. For course accreditation, together withthe results of the assessment, attendance will be considered (100% for the intensive course, and six ofthe seven Saturday sessions, provided that the absence does not occur during the first or last worksession). Course accreditation will be essential requirement for members of the technical group and forprovincial facilitators, so that they in tum can provide training.
Printed Support Materials
32. Each course will have printed matter prepared ex profeso: documents for teachers (anthologies,Vwth guidelines for their use), manuals for facilitators (course description, methodologies forconducting each session and guidelines for their development), and assessment tools (both for coursesand participants' learning).
33. There will also be similar documents for the intensive phase and tools for the development andmonitoring of Saturday sessions during the longer phase. Besides the documents prepared ex profeso,other texts that are considered pertinent for the GTC may also be included.
34. The training programs and materials that are prepared will be submitted for consideration by therelevant sector and by an expert in the subject who may be a local or international consultant, and whowill issue an opinion on the matter.
35. Courses that receive favorable opinions will be validated with teachers working in multi-classgroups. Based on the results of opinions and validations, relevant changes or adjustments will be madebefore they are designed and published.
36. Moreover, based on the products obtained from the workshop offered to 80 teachers, 120 activitycharts will be included for grades m1 to VI, dealing with the four core subjects, i.e., Spanish,mathematics, science and social studies. This package will be distributed during the Project's secondyear of operation.
37. During the third year, a second set of activity charts, similar to the previous ones, will be providedto students; these will be the result of multi-class teachers' efforts and creativity.
38. After the start-up of the Saturday sessions during the longer phase, an informative bulletin willalso be issued. It will serve as a forum for teachers' opinions and to disseminate activities prepared bythem. The best of these will be selected and published monthly in the bulletin.
69 ANNEX 5Multigrade Teacher Training
Operating Model
Technical Group
39. A central technical group, consisting of four full-time members, will be formed, preferably withstaff from the elementary school and teacher skills enhancement fields. This group will be responsiblefor planning training activities, guidance and monitoring; for designing courses and preparing requiredsupport material; for training provincial technical groups; and for monitoring and assessing activitiescarried out by provinces. National supervisors, who will be responsible for providing training toprovincial facilitators, will join this group.
40 A Provincial Technical Coordinator will be designated for each province. This Coordinator willbe responsible for organizing courses for provincial facilitators and multi-class teachers, for overseeingcourses for teachers and supervisors, and for assessing the performance of provincial facilitators andthe development of courses.
41. There will be a ratio one provincial facilitator for each 30 teachers.
Teachers' Network
42. In order to consolidate a true training system in which actions can be institutionalized, teacherswill receive counseling in their groups or in larger group meetings, and the effects of training will bemonitored in the classroom. These actions will be compatible with the technical and teaching functionsassigned to provincial and national supervisors under current regulations.
Headquarters
43. The training of provincial facilitators, teachers and supervisors will take place at headquarterslocated in places that are accessible to registrants, in order to facilitate the participation of personsworking in remote places with little communication. Provincial technical coordinators at theirrespective headquarters will be responsible for coordinating training dates. This implies dealing withlogistics, checking on schools and counseling provincial facilitators when they need guidance.
Institutional Self-Assessment
44. In order to verify compliance and quality of scheduled actions, as well as to support decision-making on strengthening or correcting the processes, members of the central technical group andnational supervisors will make counseling and monitoring visits during the development of activities.
45. Each supervisor will make an annual visit during teacher training. He will also make four morevisits to observe the work of the teachers' network and consider the work of four of the Saturdaysessions.
70 ANNEX 5Multigrade Teacher Training
46. In turn, the Provincial Technical Coordinator will monitor the intensive course, the operation ofthe teachers' network and the Saturday sessions.
47. Annual planning meetings are held with provincial technical coordinators, as well as assessmentmeetings with provincial technical coordinators and supervisors, lasting at least three days.
48. The monitoring carried out by national supervisors and provincial technical coordinators as wellas the teachers' network will follow a general design and employ specific tools to obtain systematic andsystematized data for use in institutional self-assessment.
49. With the proposed assessment model, it will be possible to detect whether training objectives havebeen satisfactorily met. Teachers, students and members of the community will be consulted for thispurpose.
Equipment for Provincial Technical Coordination Units
50. Each provincial technical coordination unit will be supplied with equipment consisting of amonitor, video cassette player, microcomputer, printer, modem, scanner, overhead projector, andmimeograph machine. It should also be provided with a school library, sets of charts and any otherresource distributed to schools whose teachers participate in the workshop seminars, in order to makethe unit more familiar with how to use and maintain them.
Actions
To form and train a team of four technicians at headquarters plus the nationalsupervisors of the Ministry of Education, in charge of coordinating, counseling,assessing and monitoring training.To train 148 facilitators (provincial education supervisors) throughout the countryin the month of January, who will be responsible for training and monitoring thework performed by multi-class teachers.To train 3,823 multi-class teachers in rural, indigenous and disadvantaged urbanareas, in teaching techniques and innovative strategies to better assist variousschool groups at the same time.To train 566 multi-class elementary school teachers and 198 junior high schoolteachers, on the use of school libraries.To carry out two congresses of multi-class teachers: a national congress in 1998and a sub-regional congress in 1999.To prepare ten teacher-training documents.To print 176,810 copies for use in teacher training.To prepare four sets of 120 charts for each of the four core subjects in elementaryschool grades m, IV, V, and VI.To print 2,592,000 activity charts for use by students in multi-class schools aroundthe country.
71 ANNEX 5Multigrade Teacher Training
BENEFICIARY POPULATION
The target beneficiary population by province is as follows:
Province Supervisors Teachers Teachers from Teachers fromJ.D.A Teacher Teacher TrainingTraining School School
1. Several important developments have taken place recently in Panama with respect to theevaluation and provision of textbooks. In 1958, 431,943 textbooks were distributed which, althoughnot enough for each child, supported teaching through group work. In 1970, under the ODECA-ROCAP agreement, a half million mathematics, reading, science and social studies textbooks weredistributed, as well as 20,000 teachers' manuals. In 1972, the total reached 1,813,500 books. Between1976 and 1979, printed materials prepared by the Ministry of Education were distributed to supportEducational Reform programs. Since then there have been no further projects to supply textbooks toschools.
2. With the support of the UNESCO-Germany 507 RLA Project, since 1992 the Ministry ofEducation has promoted a program aimed at strengthening the process of preparing, producing andusing textbooks and reading materials.
3. For the purpose of carrying out a study on policies and strategies in the field of textbooks andreading materials, the Expanded Commission on Textbooks and Reading Materials was established,consisting of Ministry of Education staff and representatives of national associations dealing withtextbooks and reading materials. Two important conclusions were reached from the study: the lack ofa coherent policy on this matter, and the insufficient provision of textbooks to schools, despite effortsmade in recent decades.
4. Despite a good supply of textbooks and reading materials on the market, according to a studycarried out by the Ministry most of the textbooks offered by publishers follow a traditional educationalmodel based on the transmission of contents.
5. The textbooks used by Panamanian students are selected by educators, based upon a list oftitles recommended by the Ministry following the initial procedure of evaluation and approval (DecreeN° 85 dated April 3, 1985, regulated by Resolution N° 663 dated April 30, 1985). The Ministry'sBureau of Curriculum and Educational Technology has gained valuable experience in the design oftechnical instruments and the procedures needed to carry out the evaluation process.
6. In recent years, several of the Ministry's staff have received training in textbook design,production and evaluation. Ministry representatives attended courses on this subject organized by theExecutive Secretariat of the Andres Bello Agreement (SECAB) in Santafe de Bogota and Quito, underthe framework of the Educational Materials Program promoted by said institution. Several staff havewritten, or are presently writing, textbooks.
Justification
7. Studies carried out in various countries show important gains in the academic performance ofstudents who use textbooks, in relation to those who lack them. These studies have demonstrated thatthe availability of textbooks has significant effects on students' motivation and on the efficiency and
73 ANNEX 6Textbooks
organization of classwork; the textbook allows one teacher to work with several children at the sametime, favors independent study, helps make curriculum objectives explicit and tums them into learningactivities.
8. Recent research by the Ministry of Education reveals that in Panama 67.90/o of textbooks arepurchased, meaning that only those families with a better economic status can buy them. In areas ofextreme poverty, where both children and teachers require greater assistance (most schools have multi-grade classrooms in which a single teacher must teach various grades at the same time), schools lackthe libraries, textbooks, reading materials, and proper educational materials that parents are unable toprovide.
9. The textbook provision plan, which will be aimed at the country's poorest schools, stems fromthe theory that the availability of textbooks and other educational materials, together with othereducational efforts such as curriculum review, teacher training, improvement of schools and libraries,and the establishment of a system to evaluate academic performance, may contribute towardsimproving the quality of education.
Objectives
a) To devise and implement a plan to supply textbooks, supplementary books and educationalmaterials aimed at the country's poorest schools, structured in such a way as to become self-sustainable.
b) To contribute towards improving the quality of general, basic education in the country's poorestareas by supplying appropriate textbooks and educational materials that make the work ofteachers and students more efficient.
c) To contribute towards encouraging students to read through the creation of school libraries thatserve both the school and the comrnunity.
d) To strengthen the Ministry of Education's institutional and technical capacity with respect totextbook evaluation, selection, distribution and use.
Products
Under this Project subcomponent, the following results will be obtained:
a) Creation and training of a working team: in order to develop the textbook component, agroup will be formed in the Ministry of Education, comprised of specialists in each of the basicdisciplines; in reading and writing, children's and juvenile books, and textbooks.
b) Evaluation instruments: under the framework of the Project, the Technical guide forevaluating teaching materials, currently used to approve textbooks circulated on the domesticmarket, will be restructured so that it may also be used in the process of evaluating and selectingtextbooks for the Project.
74 ANNEX 6Textbooks
c) Procedures: the necessary procedures will be designed to organize the tasks of bidding,evaluating, selecting and supplying textbooks.
d) Provision of textbooks: purchase and distribution of textbooks, recreational and referencebooks, and a basic set of educational materials to _schools located in areas of extreme poverty.
e) Production and distribution of activity charts to motivate teachers to use more dynamic,participatory methodologies.
f) Training of teachers in schools covered by the Project to make optimal use of the booksdistributed by the textbook provision plan.
g) Monitoring: development of a monitoring and evaluation system to provide ongoing informationon the circulation and use of the textbooks supplied to the educational centers covered by theProject.
Monitoring
10. The Project offers a substantial contribution towards improving the quality of education byimplementing an action plan aimed at supplying textbooks and educational materials through classroomand school libraries; promoting and implementing innovative methodologies leading to optimal use ofmaterials; improving the skills of teachers, especially those who work with various gradessimultaneously; supplying activity charts created through the use of dynamic methodologies forindependent learning; and including parents and the community in the search for solutions toeducational problems.
11. A plan to supply textbooks, recreational and reference books, and educational materials will beimplemented, aimed at all multigrade-class in the country and the unigrade primary schools and thelower secondary schools located in classified as poor and extremely poor according to the povertyindex. Mathematics and reading-writing textbooks will be supplied to the first two grades, After thirdgrade, science and social studies texts will be included. Ratio will be one textbook for every student.
12. The textbook provision plan will be based on the textbooks, books and educational materialsavailable on the market, following a strict evaluation process. Publishers should make changes totextbooks as suggested by the evaluation committees, in order to better adjust the books to schoolneeds. Textbooks will be printed in four ink colors, may not be expendable, and must be accompaniedby teachers' manuals.
13. The textbooks will become school property and form part of school libraries that will contain,besides these textbooks, a selection of about 30 recreational and reference books. Twelve books byPanamanian authors of children's and juvenile literature will be selected, and participating firms will beinvited to submit bids for the graphic design and printing of these books. These books, as well astextbooks, will form part of the books supplied to school and classroom libraries.
75 ANNEX 6Textbooks
14. Children may borrow texts and books from the libraiy to take home. Both teachers andparents will receive training to ensure the sustainability and best use of libraries.
15. Along with the provision of texts, books and materials, teachers, supported by technical stafffrom the Ministry of Education, will prepare "activity charts" under the framework of the Project,aimed at enriching the overall teaching-learning process; the most original charts designed by teacherswill be published and circulated.
Implementation
16. Books and educational materials to be supplied to schools, and purchased on the domestic andinternational markets, will be evaluated to select those that best meet selection criteria and to determinethe changes that winning publishers should introduce in the special versions to be distributed under theplan.
17. Publishers of textbooks and educational matters will be invited to submit bids. With the adviceof an international consultant, the Ministry's textbook working group will design special tools toevaluate books and will organize and train the committees responsible for evaluating bids from atechnical and instructional standpoint, under the direction of the Ministry's team of specialists. TheMinistry will strengthen its technical capacity to respond efficiently to the new needs of evaluating andselecting books and materials.
18. The development of activities related to this component will be the responsibility of thecoordinating team set up by the Ministry for this Project (numeral 4). This team will be comprised ofstaff currently working in the Ministry who have had some experience in designing and evaluatingtextbooks. It is also expected that local and international advisers will be hired to support theMinistry's staff in those areas in which the Ministry either has no experience or requires specializedassistance.
19. Ad hoc committees will also be formed to evaluate, from a technical and instructionalstandpoint, the textbooks submitted by publishers during the bidding process; relevant procedures willbe designed for this purpose. Under the framework of the Project, both the permanent and committeestaffs will receive training in textbook evaluation.
20. The Ministry's staff for this component will design a distribution system to ensure thattextbooks and materials reach their final destination. Textbooks and educational materials will be sentby winning publishers to the Provincial Offices of Education, boxed for subsequent distribution to theschools. Publishers should include distribution costs in their bids. At each Provincial Office, acoordinator will receive and supervise the quality and quantity of materials received and send them toschools through the zone supervisor who in turn will deliver them to parents' associations in eachbeneficiary township; these associations will be responsible for overseeing the delivery, proper use andreturn of textbooks at the end of the school year. Parents are also expected to participate in caring forclassroom and school libraries, for which they will receive special training.
76 ANNEX 6Textbooks
21. Along with the distribution, the Ministry will publish and widely disseminate the list of materialsdelivered to each school in order to keep communities duly informed.
22. School teachers and principals will receive training in the use of textbooks, in encouragingstudents to read, and in handling the school library. Two educators will be selected per school todisseminate information, acting as technical and administrative coordinators, respectively.
23. After the second year, it is expected that a percentage of the textbooks delivered to schools willbe lost or damaged. The community, teachers and the students themselves will be encouraged to takecare of the textbooks and students and parents will be invited to end school periods repairing thedamaged books.
24. There will be an ongoing follow-up on all these actions through supervision visits, meetingswith participating teachers, and surveys of teachers, students and the community.
77 ANNEX 7Student Assessment
STUDENT ASSESSMENT SYSTEM
Background
1. Partial, limited efforts have been made in Panama to measure students' academicperformance. Between 1981 and 1985, as part of the Research Program to Evaluate EducationalSystem Achievements (an OAS Regional Program), third and sixth grade students in sampleschools in the provinces of Cocle and Panama were tested on their basic knowledge and on thefour basic subjects. The results were used to prepare teacher training programs and curriculumadjustments in the province of Cocle.
2. A Diagnostic Testing Program began in 1985, under which tests were administered in thesixth grade and sixth year to a sample of students nationwide. In 1985 tests were administered onthe four basic subjects in the sixth grade, and in 1986 in the sixth year in Spanish, mathematics,English, physics, chemistry and biology. These sample tests were repeated in 1987 but weresuspended in 1988 and 1989. A third round of testing began in 1992 in a sampling of 10 schoolsin four provinces, with tests on the six subjects mentioned above and in the third and sixth years.Finally, we should note the important precedent established by the work of the Center for theStudy of Educational Quality (CECE) which in recent years has been administering tests ofSpanish and mathematics among a sampling of 30 schools in Panama City. The purpose of thesetests is to bring about positive reactions from students, teachers and parents in order to defineways to improve the quality of education.
Objectives
* To systematically and periodically assess the achievement of written and actual curriculumobjectives in strategic grades and years of primary and intermediate education, in order toprovide reliable, valid data that can be used in decision-making that will influence theimprovement of education in Panama and the assessment of the Basic Education Project'simpact.
* To sponsor the specific emergence of curricular application models and/or modernization ofcurricular offerings, so that graduates of the system will be able to efficiently join thecountry's economic system and contribute effectively towards achieving peace.
* To evaluate the level of school readiness in terms of cognitive, emotional and psychomotorskills of children entering first grade, in order to contribute towards assessing programs toimprove preschool education.
* To investigate the relationship between academic achievement and contextual variables of thestudent, teacher, school, home and community.
* To evaluate socio-emotional factors of students in order to analyze the influence of suchfactors on academic achievement.
. To achieve institutional, professional and material strengthening of this component'sexecuting unit: the National Educational Quality Assessment System (SINECE).
78 ANNEX 7Student Assessment
Targets
3. The results of achievement, school readiness and socio-emotional tests under thissubcomponent are quantified by: items produced, tests administered, reports produced, anddissemination of results obtained. For research projects on contextual variables and research onthe impact of data, the results are quantified in questions for surveys, surveys administered andreport preparation.
4. The quantities of each of these results in each year of the Basic Education Project'simplementation are presented in Annex N° 3 as product indicators.
Description
5. This subcomponent is comprised of six projects: a) preparation, validation andadministration of achievement tests; b) research - efforts to modernize curricular performance; c)preparation, validation and administration of the school readiness test for children entering firstgrade; d) preparation, validation and administration of socio-emotional tests; e) research on therelationship between contextual variables of the student, teacher and school and the student'sacademic achievement and socio-emotional variables; f) research on the impact and use of dataproduced by the administration of achievement, school readiness, and socio-emotional tests.Annex N° I contains a detailed timetable of tasks.
6. Achievement tests. Achievement tests will be prepared, validated and administered forthe four basic subjects: Spanish, mathematics, natural sciences and social sciences. Starting in1996, these tests will be administered to a random nationwide sampling of 10% of third and sixthgrade students in primary school and of the third and sixth years of secondary school. In evenyears testing will be administered to third grade and third year students, and in odd years to sixthgrade and sixth year students.
7. Research - Efforts to modernize curricular implementation. The results ofachievement tests and later of socio-emotional tests will be used to carry out information andincentive efforts so that teachers, students and parents can seek ways to improve curricularimplementation. This research will be performed annually starting in 1996, with samples from 30schools throughout all of the country's provinces.
8. School readiness test. A test of school readiness in terms of cognitive, emotional andpsychomotor skills will be developed and validated for children entering the first grade ofelementary school. This test will be administered to a stratified random sampling of 5% ofchildren entering first grade, beginning in 1998. The data obtained will be used to assess currentpreschool education programs and those financed by the Basic Education Project.
9. Socio-emotional tests. Beginning in 1999, tests will be developed and validated tomeasure socio-emotional variables that complement the assessment of students' achievements inelementary and secondary schools. These tests will be administered to the same sampling ofstudents who take the achievement tests.
79 ANNEX 7Student Assessment
10. Research on contextual variables. In order to better understand the factors that affectstudents' academic achievement, correlating and ex post facto studies will be performed to relatethe contextual variables of the student, teacher, school and community with the outcome ofachievement and socio-emotional tests. This research will use surveys and interviews that will beadministered in parallel with achievement tests, beginning in 1996.
11. Research on the impact of data. A system to assess Educational Quality provides datathat should be used to provide feedback on the educational system, thereby indicating any failuresthat may be found, and to improve education. It is therefore important to research whether thedata produced is being properly disseminated and if it is having a positive effect on theeducational system. This work will be performed beginning in 1997 and each year thereafter.
12. In addition to these projects, a training, consulting, internship and post-graduate studyprogram has been established to support the projects described above. Administrativeprogramming has been separated to ensure the proper, necessary support for the implementationof each measurement, assessment and research activity under this subcomponent. Besides theproduct indicators in Annex N° 3, Annex N° 2 details the process indicators to achieve bettermonitoring of the subcomponent.
Implementation of the Subcomponent
13. The Educational Quality Assessment System (SINECE) has been established to implementthis subcomponent, with the structure indicated in figure N° 1. A detailed description of theoutline and functions of each element of this organizational chart may be found in the descriptivesupplementary document on this subcomponent (previous consultancy report of July 1995).
80 ANNEX 7Student Assessment
ORGANIZATIONAL CHART
Planning Bureau
AdministrativeCouncil
Consultative .Director 1 1
Research Unit Administrative &Technical Unit
Administrator
ResearchCouncil
Secretary Data Expcrt DataProcessors
r ~~Projectsl
Achieve School Socia- Re- Research on Research onment Ressadi- ofal EEmfols Contextual Impact of Data
Test Test Factors
81 ANNEX 8PRE-PRMARY
EXPANSION OF NON-FORMAL PRE-PRIMARY EDUCATION
1. Background. It is mandatory that pre-primary school services be provided, but it is notmandatory that parents send their children to pre-primary school. It consists of nursery school(Pre-jardines de Infancia) for four-year-olds, and kindergarten (Jardines de Infancia) for five-year-olds. Jardines de Infancia are one-year schooling programs that emphasize readiness forreading and writing. There are about 33,000 children enrolled in 894 Jardines de Infancia.About two thirds of these are public institutions, and the remainder are private. The majority ofkindergarten students attend classes in primary school buildings. About 45 percent of five-year-olds are enrolled in kindergarten, a figure significantly lower than other Latin American countriesof similar income level. In addition, the enrollment is concentrated in the richest CorregimienJosand is almost non-existent in the poor rural areas. Thus, the current program serves mostly thewealthy provinces with a curriculum developed for implementation by highly educated teachers.
2. But, at the same time, Panama began, few years ago, developing a pilot program, theCommunity and Family Center for Initial Education (CEFACEI), to provide community-basedpre-primary services for four- and five-year-olds. The CEFACEIs use infrastructure provided bythe community and a community educator (promotora), with or without formal training, toprovide educational services to 15-21 children. At this time, there are approximately 1,600children in 88 centers located in rural and marginal urban areas. Up until now, it has operatedonly in communities that can afford to pay a promotora. The CEFACEI program is an alternativefor rural and poor areas where it is difficult to retain highly qualified teachers. However, thecurriculum must be presented to poorly educated parents and community educators through clearand simple messages conveyed through appealing educational materials. The existing pre-primarycurriculum is presented in excessively technical terms that require interpretation by highly trainedteachers. The majority of CEFACEI promotoras are therefore limited to child care activities.
3 . This component aims to: i) expand coverage of non-formal pre-primary education amongthe poor to increase national coverage from 45.5 percent to 75.0 percent for five year-olds and, ii)improve the quality of non-formal pre-primary education. Coverage expansion will be basedprimarily on the CEFACEI (Family and Community Education Center) model. At the same time,a pilot program for rural areas of scattered population will also be developed.
4. The CEFACEI program. The project aims to open 400 new CEFACEIs, and serveapproximately 20,000 pre-primary-age children over the life of the project. A pilot Mother-to-Mother program will also be implemented, to benefit approximately 1.800 pre-primary-agechildren in dispersed, rural communities. The quality of non-formal pre-primary education will beimproved through intensive training of MOE supervisors and promoloras, the distribution ofspecially designed manuals for promotoras, children and parents, and the transmission of radioprograms to reinforce the program and encourage healthy child rearing practices. A national teamwill be formed within the Directorate of Initial Education of MOE, to coordinate implementationof the component at the national level.
5. A pyramid strategy will be developed for training and supervision of the program, tofacilitate the full involvement of the national, regional, provincial and local levels. The national
82 ANNEX 8PRE-PRIMARY
team will appoint pre-primary supervisors at the provincial level, who will be trained by nationaland international technical assistants to design the manuals for trainers and promotoras (onemanual for trainers, one for promotoras, one for parents and one for each child). Provincialsupervisors will conduct a meeting in each community targeted by the project, to convey theimportance of pre-primary education to parents, and form a local CEFACEI Parents' Association.
6. The Parents' Association will be responsible for: i) finding a location for the CEFACEI;ii) collaborating in the opening and functioning of the CEFACEI; iii) selecting the promotoraaccording to a profile specified by the Directorate of Initial Education; and iv) paid thePromotoras with the funds received from MOE every three months, the amount determined bythe number of children attending the CEFACEI. The Promotora will be paid US$90 per child peryear. Implemented gradually, the program will open 100 new CEFACEIs per year. The financialresources to pay the Promotoras will be provided by the Government as counterpart funds to theBank loan.
7. The Mother-to-Mother Program. In rural areas with scattered population mothers willbe encouraged to make team work, under the guidance of a Mother-Leader, and with the help ofeducational material and radio programs to improve their child-rearing practices. Training of themother-leaders will be the responsibility of the supervisors and pre-primary education specialistsin each provincial office of MOE. Ten regional MOE supervisors will be trained for 10 days inyear I and ten days in year 2 of the project. They will train the 300 mother-leaders, chosen by theparticipating mothers, for seven days each. Thirty mother-leaders will be trained each year. It isestimated that each participating mother is raising an average of 2.0 children. Therefore, 2,400children will benefit directly from the project.
8. As in the case of the CEFACEIs, a pyramid strategy will be developed for training andsupervision of the program, to facilitate the full involvement of the national, regional, provincialand local levels. Interested communities will then select a woman to be trained as a mother leader.Each supervisor will work with a group of about 15 mother leaders throughout their two-yeartenure. He/she will give an initial six-day training workshop, focusing on the following topics: i)the circumstances of childhood in rural areas and in particular, in each community where themother leaders reside; ii) group dynamics; and iii) analysis of the Mother-to-Mother Program,including materials and implementation. The supervisor will supplement this initial training withfour more three-day workshops over the two-year period, and periodic monitoring of the progressof each mother leader.
9. Each mother leader will train a group of 10 mothers to instruct their pre-primary-agechildren for two years, in a series of weekly or weekly meetings. Each mother will be instructedin a series of thematic units and provided with a set of manuals for use with her children.Implementation of the Mother-to-Mother Program will be gradual, concentrating efforts in onlytwo or two provinces: Veraguas and Chiriqui.
10. Mother-leaders will be paid on a per mother-participant basis, that is, they will receiveUS$ 32 per year for each participating mother they train in bi-weekly meetings over a ten-monthperiod. Funds to pay the mother-leaders will be transferred from the central office of MOE to the
83 ANNEX 8PRE-PRIMARY
bank accounts of the regional MOE offices. MOE's supervisors will monitor the number ofmothers being taught, in order to ensure appropriate payment of the mother-leaders. Thefinancial resources to pay the mother-leaders will be provided by the Government as counterpartfunding for the Bank loan
11. The current curriculum will be revised to stress simple problem-solving, self-care andschool readiness skills. The emphasis will be on an open, flexible curriculum focused on the childwith parental participation. The strategy for producing a simple core curriculum will be to focuson making each concept operational in training manuals. Two types of manuals will be produced:manuals to train the promotoras in the use of the new curriculum, and manuals for the promotorasto use in teaching. The manuals will be adapted to address rural mother-leaders and mothersparticipating in the program, both of which have very little formal education. The adapted manualwill be a simplified, shorter version, relying heavily on drawings and visual messages. Thus, atotal of four manuals will be produced. A special working group will be formed within theDirectorate of Initial Education to produce the manuals with national and international technicalassistance. The project will finance the technical assistance to produce the manuals.
12. Radio Programs. The current pre-primary programs, both, formal and CEFACEIs, fail toinvolve parents, which is crucial as the dominant share of intelligence develops in early childhood.Radio programs are an alternative to involve parents, enhance their ability to create learningsituations for their kids, and it does it in a simple and appealing way. Radio programs alsoprovide Promotoras and Mother-Leaders with effective reinforcement to the training and to thewritten educational materials they will receive. Radio is accessible to everybody, and, what isimportant within the project, to the poor. Radio is part of their daily life, especially in remoteareas. Radio is used in Panama to help families to communicate messages, for example, messagesfrom travelers from remote rural areas to relatives in the towns. Radio is not as expensive asother media like TV. Another advantage is the fact that the country, as almost all countries, hashuman resources acquainted with the production of messages for radio.
13. A set of 40 radio programs of 5-7 minutes each will be produced by a team of local andinternational consultants during the first and second year of the project. The content of theprograms will be mainly instructions to perform a set of activities geared toward selectedobjectives of early childhood development.
14. Local radio stations from the provinces are willing to broadcast the programs. It isexpected that some I I small radio stations will participate in the project. Each program will bebroadcast twice every week and, at the end of the 40'h week they will be broadcast again.
15. Demand for pre-primary education will be promoted through the following: i) displayof posters detailing the CEFACEI and Mother-to-Mother Programs in public places such as townhalls, health centers, churches, schools, supermarkets, etc.; ii) distribution of pamphlets about thedifferent programs, targeted to parents and community-based organizations; iii) distribution ofbrochures about the different programs to governors, mayors, municipal staff, school directors,community directors, etc.
Analysis of technological alternatives to support a learning process
Issue: The kindergarten curriculum currently handled by preschool educators in the formal pre-primary classrooms vill not be easily handled by community educators.Objective: Select the best option of a technology or combination of technologies to help community educators to develop the curriculum and to get parentalinvolvement in the process.
Workshops Written educational Radio T.V.materials
Type of learning Changes on behaviors Reaches community Useful tool if The radio messages can The most complete in termsprocess involved and attitudes educators but not reinforced with capture the attention of the of trying to impact on
parents. Needs workshops or other targeted population used to attitudes and behaviors.reinforcement means. Along might rely on radio to get messages
not be sufficient. with the same objectives ofchanging attitudes andbehavior.
Type of population Adult; low education; Adult working women Same as above. Good alternative to reach T.V sets are not available in 00located in rural areas. cannot gather scattered population. many areas. The
frequently for training educational channel onlypurposes. reaches the capital. Strong
competence fromcommercial programs.
Local human resources Available Available Training needed. Training needed.
Local physical Available Available Available. There are plenty Lack of T.V. sets and/orresources of local radio stations willing electricity in some areas.
to air these type of programs Low coverage of theat reasonable prices or for educational channel.free. Expensive fees for time in
commercial channels.Strong competence from e
commercial programs.
X
PANAMA - Basic Education ProjectComponents Project Cost Summary
% % Total(Balboa Million) (USS Million) Foreign Base
Local Foreign Total Local Foreign Total Exchange Costs
A. Improvement in Basic Ed. Quality & AccessIn-Service Teacher Training 2.15 0.12 2.27 2.15 0.12 2.27 5 4Educational Materials 1.14 3.90 5.04 1.14 3.90 5.04 77 10Education Assessment System 1.18 0.89 2.07 1.18 0.89 2.07 43 4Scholarships for Poor Students 11.67 - 11.67 11.67 - 11.67 - 23Primary School Rehabilitation 17.49 0.85 18.34 17.49 0.85 18.34 5 35
Subtotal Improvement in Basic Ed. Quality & Access 33.63 5.75 39.38 33.63 5.75 39.38 15 76B. Expansion of Non-Formal Preschool Ed. LI
Notes:1/ The real GDP (in 1992 USS) growvth rates was 4.0 in 1994, 3.5 in 1995, and 3.0 in 1996, and would increase to 3.5 from 1997 through 2010
based on the CAS, December 1994.2/ Assumes the share of the education budget would remain at about 5.4 percent of GDP over the 1996-2010. C
3/ Assumes the share of MOE's (preprimary, primary & sccondary) recurrcnt cost budget would remain at about 60 percent of the total education sector budget. 4/ Including only fees for promoters and rural preschool children, and operation and maintenance of infrastructure, equipment, furniture and office supplies. E Z
Scholarships for poor students will be covered by the education security fund.
.~ o
PANAMA - Basic Education Project
Ministry of Education Budget (pre-primary, primary and secondary) by Functional Catregory
1991 1992 1993 1994 1995
Category US$ m % recurrent US$ m % recurrent US$ m % recurrent US$ m % recurrent USS m % recurrent
1/ The resources of the Educational Security (Seguro Educativo) are collected by the Government through income tax. This resource was utilized as scholarships for awarding good students and needy poor students.
0
- 2
92 ANNEX 11Project Administration Unit
ORGANIZATION FOR PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION
Organization of Project Administration Unit
1. A Project Administration Unit (PAL) will be established for technical, administrative andfinancial management during project preparation and implementation. The PAU will be located withinthe structure of the Ministry of Education (MfNEDUC), directly subordinate to the Central Office.
2. The Project Coordinator will report to the Central Office and coordinate the project'spreparation and implementation within MfNEDUC and between MINEDUC and other governmentand non-government institutions and with the World Bank, and will have overall responsibility forsubmitting and implementing the project according to agreed, programmed schedules.
3. A Unit Coordinator, with executive functions, will be appointed to coordinate project actionswith the Ministry's corresponding agencies. He will be supported by a technical coordinator and anadministrative-financial coordinator. According to the project's needs, high-level professionalconsultants will join the project. They will be responsible for supporting the Ministry's groups or unitswith respect to each of the project's subcomponents and will liaise with the corresponding departments.
4. The Technical Coordinator vill be responsible for technical management of the project, whilethe Administrative-Financial Coordinator's duties will be related to project finances and administration.Three additional experts will support, respectively: (i) procurement, bidding and contract processes; (ii)disbursement and accounting matters; and (iii) consolidation of technical data on subcomponents aswell as assistance with Information Systems.
5'. For specialized matters, the PAU may rely on advisers-consultants who will support criteria ofcomplementarity and relations among components.
6. The PAU will receive strategic guidelines from the Ministry's Central Office (Minister, GeneralSecretariat, and required agencies).
The PAU's Functions
7. The functions of the Project Administration Unit (PAU) will be to:
a) Carry out the project execution (implementation) process, in accordance with decisions andapprovals from the Central Office and with the project's general timetable.
b) Establish and start up processes and procedures for project implementation in each of itscomponents and subcomponents, according to their respective objectives and schedules.
c) Provide and coordinate technical assistance to execute activities in each component.
93 ANNEX 11Project Administration Unit
d) Coordinate programming with the responsibilities and resources of implementing units (withinand outside the Ministry of Education), and follow up and supervise the implementation ofactions in each component; request periodic status reports on project activities from units of theMinistry of Education.
e) Develop and start up an administrative and financial system for the project, as well asadministrative and accounting procedures and controls to carry out the investment plan.
f) Provide financial, administrative and legal assistance and corresponding controls for eachcomponent and subcomponent.
g) Maintain an accounting system for project implementation to record accounts and expenditures.
h) Prepare terms of reference for specialized consultants, submit them for approval and latersupervise their work.
i) Cany out the process of procuring the goods and services required by the project.
j) Support the implementation of the Evaluation subcomponent, according to the guidelines andstrategy defined by the Ministry of Education, as well as to complement other related actions.
k) Support the implementation of the school textbook subcomponent, in coordination with theNational Bureau of Curriculum and Educational Technology and with the units appointed orestablished for this purpose.
I) Support the implementation of the Management Information System subcomponent, incoordination with the National Bureau of Finance and Institutional Development and with theunits appointed or established for this purpose.
m) Support the implementation of the Institutional Strengthening subcomponent, in coordinationwith the National Bureau of Finance and Institutional Development and with the units appointedor established for this purpose.
n) Support the implementation of the Early Education subcomponent, in coordination with theBureau of Early Education and other organizations involved in the implementation process,according to procedures that may be promoted.
o) Support the implementation of the Infrastructure component to be implemented through the FES,upholding the Ministry of Education's requirements and following up on the various contracts andworks.
p) Act as a counterpart to World Bank rnissions with respect to the coordination, programming andimplementation of project activities.
94 ANNEX 11Project Administration Uiiit
q) Report periodically to the Central Office on project-related issues and on physical and financialprogress reports, and prepare proposals for corrective measures in the case of variations.
r) Establish a schedule by component and subcomponent with a control system to allow thegeneration of data required for periodic reports and annual evaluations.
s) Prepare terms of reference, organize, coordinate and carry out the mid-tern review of projectimplementation.
t) With the support and participation of implementing units within the Ministry of Education,prepare the reports to be presented to the World Bank.
Duties of PAU Staff
8. The General Project Coordinator (Unit Chief) will be responsible for managing projectimplementation and keeping a general eye on the coordination of actions. The General ProjectCoordinator will submit proposals and recommendations regarding implementation to the Ministry'sCentral Office, and propose corrective measures as required. He will maintain close communicationswith the Ministry's bureaus in charge of implementing activities under the various project componentsas well as with other related agencies (TFARHU, FES, MIPPE and the World Bank),
9. He will promote institutional development actions to enable or streamline the performance ofproject actions according to schedule.
10. He will inform high-level authorities of the Ministry of Education about progress and outcomesof the monitoring process.
11. The Technical Coordinator will be responsible for technical management of the project andfor comprehensiveness and complementarity among project subcomponents. Besides coordinatingactions, deadlines and results, he will monitor the implementation of subcomponent actions accordingto schedule and advise subcomponent officers and consultants on technical and educational issues.Likewise, he will be responsible for supporting data processing and management of systems to controland monitor project implementation.
12. The Administrative and Financial Coordinator will be in charge of the project'sadministrative management and financial control, and of coordinating with those responsible forimplementing components with respect to accounting issues, disbursements and audit reports. He willprepare the corresponding financial reports and supervise the process of procurement, bidding andcontracts.
13. The Disbursement and Accounting Officer will work under the administrative and financialcoordinator, acting as the focal point for the processing of project disbursement applications by theWorld Bank. He will coordinate closely with the procurement officer and maintain an administrativedatabase.
95 ANNEX 11Project Administration Unit
14. The Procurement Officer, working under the administrative and financial coordinator, will bein charge of the processes of project procurement, bidding and contracts. He will prepare standarddocuments and coordinate with technical staff to prepare special conditions for procurement or hiringof consultants as well as technical specifications.
15. The officer in charge of consolidating technical data, working under the TechnicalCoordinator, will be responsible for administering the PAUs information system and for consolidatingtechnical data on subcomponents.
16. Subcomponent Units will work in those administrative sections of the Ministry of Educationdirectly involved in the project. They will be responsible for the implementation and monitoring oftheir respective subcomponents and work in coordination with the PAU's technical coordinator whowill be supported by consultants in each subcomponent to establish targets, achievements andadjustments in project implementation.
17. Consultants/advisors in various subjects will provide temporary support to the responsibleunits in the Ministry of Education and liaise with the PAU through the Technical Coordinator who willoversee the work of the consultants to ensure that they fulfill their established terms of reference andcontracts.
18. A matrix-type organization is proposed for project execution, so as to utilize the Ministry ofEducation's formal structures to carry out project actions in accordance with respective specializations.This calls for a specialized, streamlined PAU to facilitate project implementation, combining teams ofspecially hired experts as well as staff of the Ministry of Education's organizational units. The Ministryof Education's institutional strengthening process will be decisive in making the best use of experiencesfrom project implementation.
19. The Operational Manual of the PAU will include, among other things: (i) the structureand functions of the PAU; (ii) the definitive operational arrangements for financial administrationof the pre-primary expansion subcomponent, including a line budget for fees for the promotoras;(iii) final standard bidding documents for civil works, textbooks, classroom libraries and MIS; (iv)the first annual plan for civil works, including the civil works contract between MOE and FES;and (v) draft terms of reference for the policy studies.
96 ANNEX 12Project Impact and
Output Indicators
PROJECT OUTPUT INDICATORS
INDICATOR 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 TotalIMPROVEMENT IN BASIC EDUCATIONQUALITY AND EQUITY
Training Sub-Component
Training of CEFACEI Promotoras 100 100 100 100 400Mother Leaders (Mother-to- 50 50 100 100 300Mother Program)
Training of Trainers in Multigrade 155Methodology
Training of Multigrade Teachers 3,800
Training of Unigrade teachers at primary and 3,000 3,000secondary level (use of libraries and textbooks)
Educational Materials
Distribution of pre-primary packages to theCEFACEIS (toys, manuals, textbooks, leaflets):
Number of centers (new) 100 100 100 100 400Number of centers (cumulative) 100 200 300 400 400Number of promotoras (new) 100 100 100 100 400Number of promotoras (cumulative) 100 200 300 400 400Number of children 2,000 4,000 6,000 8,000 20,000
Distribution of pre-primary packages to the districtsupervisor for the mother-to-mother program(manuals and leaflets):
Number of mother leaders 30 30 30 30 120Number of mother participants 300 300 300 300 1,200Number of children benefitted 600 600 600 600 2,400
Broadcasting of radio programs on local radiostations:
Number of programs produced 40 20Number of programs broadcasted per year 80 80 80 8 40
0Number of local radio stations 11 11 11 11 11
Distribution of classroom activity cards for 3734multigrade classrooms:
Number of multigrade classrooms 3,800 3,800
97 ANNEX 12Project Impact and
Ou put Indicators
INDICATOR 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 Total
Distribution of classroom libraries for primaryclassrooms
Number of classrooms 6,100
Distribution of primary school textbooks:
Number of students benefited 146,804 146,804 146,804 146,804 587,216Number of textbooks 645,936 645,936 1,291,872Number of teacher guides 25,361 25,361 50,722
Distribution of secondary school textbooks:
Number of students benefited 37,105 37,105 37,105 37,105 148,420Number of textbooks 148,422 148,422 296,844Number of teacher guides 21,105 21,105 42,210
EXPANSION OF NON-FORMAL PRESCHOOLCEFACEI children 2,000 4,000 6,000 8,000 20,000Pilot Mother-to-Mother children benefited 450 450 450 450 1,800
INSTITUTIONAL STRENGTHENINGFirst two studies completed 3QThird and fourth studies completed 3QDiscussions with the Bank and seminars 3QcompletedMIS starts operations 2Q_ I
PROJECT IMPACT INDICATORS
Indicator Expected chanige Instruments
Improvement in the By 10-15% from Base Line 1996. Achievement tests Levels of achievement in four subjects will be measured (Spanish,Quality students Achievement mathematics, social sciences, natumal sciences). Students achievement
Scores. will be measured every other year, through tests to third and sixth gradestudents in primary and school readiness (cognitive, emotional andpsychomotor skills) for children entering the first grade.
Increase in time spent on Substantial differences before and Classroom Six schools will be selected for observation at three different timeslearning activities.. afler delivery of project inputs. observation. during the school year to observe the actual time spent on learning.
Observations will be conducted every year during a four years period.Changes in the type of Significant number of mothers Interviews. Mother-to-Mother sessions will be observed and 10 percent ofinteractions betveen reporting changes in their participant mothers will be interviewed.mothers and children, as interactions with childreni.perceivcd by the mothlers.
A decrease in the gap Decrease in drop out rate from Statistics. Drop out and repetition rates by Correginiento will be processed everyEquity betwvecn poorest and current 6.24 in targeted year. As a condition of effectiveness, data from 1994 will be produced ilo
richest Corregimientos in Corregimientos to current national order to establish the base line and proposed targetsrepetition rates and drop average of 4.6out rates. Decrease in repetition by 30%
from Base Line 1966.
A decrease in the gap Decrease by 30% from Base Line Statistics. Drop out and repetition rates by Gender by Corregimiento will bebetween females and 1964. processed every year. Data from 1994 wvill be produced in order tomales in repetition rates establish the base line.and drop out rates intargeted Corregitrmientos..
Efficiency A decrease in the average From 12.87 to 12 for the country Statisticsnumber of years requiredto complete the BasicEducation (1-9). O_O
Covcrage Increase at pre-priniary From 45 % to 75% national Statistics ecoverage iC
to _6___
99 ANNEX 13Economic Bcnefits
ECONOMIC BENEFITS
Component: Improving Quality and Equity in Basic Education
1. Project Benefits. This component will provide high quality basic education (grades I to9) for 183,909 students (41% of the age-group) from poor families. The cost of this component isUS$30.8 million (including contingent costs), which account for 53% of the total project costs.Improving the quality of basic education will generate three kinds of benefits: the increasedproductivity (increased earnings)of the beneficiaries; the positive externalities resulting from theirimproved social achievements (e.g., reduced crime rates and better informed citizens); and thedistributional gains (future poverty reduction) resulting from targeting the beneficiaries in poorlocalities (corregimientos).
2. This ex-ante economic evaluation has considered only the likely productivity gains thatwill be induced by improving the quality of basic education. The reported Internal Rates of Return(IR(R), therefore, are conservative estimates of the project worth. The approach here used is basedon the premise that in market economies differences in eaming results from differences inproductivity. In the case of this project productivity will result from improving the quality ofprimary and junior high education. On that premise the project's earning differentiais due to bettereducation of the individuals who will benefit from this component represents the economicbenefits of increased productivity.
3. Project Costs. The opportunity cost of a project that improves education quality is givenby the value of the additional inputs. They include: in-service teacher training; educationalmaterials; primary school rehabilitation; and education assessment systems.
4. Since improving of education quality reduce the dropout and failure rates, the fiscal costof delivering schooling is reduced. These savings of education resources were discounted fromthe above opportunity cost (or altematively were added to the project benefits).
5. Project Worth. The IRR for education investment is the discount rate at which the netpresent value of benefits (increases in earnings as a proxy for productivity) minus costs equalzero. That is, if the additional eamings induced by the project would allow students through theirworking life to repay the cost of their improved education plus interests, the implicit rate ofinterest is called the IZRR. If the resulting IRR was higher than the social productivity of capital inPanama, the project is economically worth way.
6. The social IRR of the component 'Improvement of the Quality of Basic Education', variesbetween 15% and 24%, depending on the scenario. The scenarios refer to alternative impacts ofthe project on educational achievements, and of educational achievements on future eamings.Given the above estimates of the social IRR, this project component is economically feasible andits undertaking definitely justifiable (see Table 2).
100 ANNEX 13Economic Bencfits
Savings from the Expansion of the Non-Formal Preschool Component
7. Savings from the preschool component will come as a result of expanding CEFACEIpreschool program (community-administered pre-primary centers) and carrying out a mother-to-mother pilot program in rural areas (participating mothers will be trained to teach their preschool-age children).
8. In Panama the enrollment ratio of pre-primary education is only 29 percent, significantlower than that in countries such as Costa Rica and Chile. And the majority of enrollment areconcentrated in urban areas thereby making it difficult for most children from rural areas to gainaccess into pre-primary education. In order to make it equitable and provide children with theearly sensory stimulation to develop their intelligence and prepare for reading, writing andlearning, this component aims to increase the coverage of pre-primary education and developreadiness skills for primary education. The low costs of community-oriented initial educationprograms (CEFACEI and Mother-to-Mother) would allow the benefits to reach children fromlow-income families.
9. The annual average cost per formal preschool child is US$288 based on the Ministry ofEducation's 1993 data. With the CEFACEI program, the cost per child is only US$124. Theproject would provide preschool education for 42,340 preschool-age children during the life ofthe project. The savings from CEFACEI program is about US$7 million (Tables 3, 4, 5). Withthe mother-to-mother program, the cost per child is US$243. This program would benefit 3,000children in rural areas, thus the savings from this program is US$ 13 5,000. Combining the savingsfrom CEFACEI and Mother-to-Mother programs, the total savings for the component will beUS$7.1 million. This is not only significant savings on public expenditures, but also an efficientway of improving equity in preschool education and alleviating poverty, especially in the ruralareas.
Savings from the Lower Secondary Scholarship Program
10. Lower secondary scholarship program and unit costs: This program would sponsor atotal of 9600 lower-secondary students from rural areas with low density population. In theseareas there are no secondary schools at all because of the scarcity of secondary school-agepopulation. The students from poor family are excluded from secondary school system becausetheir parents cannot afford transportation and other necessary costs for them to travel certaindistance to go to nearby lower secondary schools. The rationale of the program is to providefinancial support to students from the rural low-income families, thus allowing them to attendlower secondary schools. The amount per scholarship is US$3 15 per year. The total costs forsecondary scholarship program would be about US$3 million over the life of the project (see table6).
11. The other alternative to provide opportunities for rural secondary school-age children tohave access to the system is building new schools. However, we have to keep in mind that inrural areas, each town or village has fewer secondary school-age children than in urban areas.
101 ANNEX 13Economic Benefits
This means that the class size of rural areas is much more smaller than in urban areas. Assumningthat each class has 15 students, we would need to build 640 classroom and hire 640 moreteachers for approximately 9600 students. The unit cost for construction and equipment perclassroom is estimated at US$25,000 and the average teacher's annual salary is US$5,404. Thetotal cost for this option would be on the order of US$19.5 million. Obviously, the cost forbuilding schools is much higher than the cost for scholarships. Of course, the classrooms can beused for many years. Realistically, however, in these rural areas, the utilization of these buildingsis extremely low and the cost to run and maintain them would be just as high as the otherbuildings. Therefore, this is not an efficient way to expand rural lower secondary enrollment.
12. Based on the comparison of the two options, it is clear that the scholarship program hasmore advantages than the other. The savings from scholarship program would be about US$16million.
Table 1: Component - Improving Quality and Equity in Basic EducationCosts and Beneficiary (USS)
Number ofComponent Poor Students' Cost
Year Basic Ed. Quality and Equity Benefit from perCapital Costs Recurrent Costs Total the Project Beneficiary
1/ This component will target the poorest 190 Corregimientos (37 percent of all the corregimientos in the country),wvhich will include 41 percent of the enrollment in grades I to 9.
Table I: Economic Analysis of the Project Component: Improving Quality of Basic EducationProjected Flows of Costs and Benefits from Quality Education Improvement
Basic Education - For One Student
Full EmpIymient Income per Yar (Balboas) Unomploy- Income Not of Unempl. Income Differential Project Education costs &Y"r Age Schooling Experience Expeile c Low Income Middle Income ment Low, MidhI Balboa I USS Costs Resource Benefits
I I I I 11 PrimaryEd. ISecond. Ed. PrimaryEd. iSecond Ed. % Income Income I USS Savings ofthsProj
Table 1: Economic Analysis of the Project Component: Improving Quality of Basic EducationProjected Flows of Costs and Benefits from Quality Education Improvement
Basic Education - For One Student
Fu1 EmpIrcment per Year (Balboas) Unemploy. Inme N of Unempl. Ircorme Differential Pred Education Coes Year Age ScIoo-ng Expnce Epenne L Inone du | enoonde mernl Lew M id Balboa U USS Coct Resource Ben
1 I FJrimary Ed. |Secornd. Ed. I rPsrnrfEd. |Second. Ed. I % Inco Ime MO M S ScAg of ft Prt
Sources: Osn eimatLone based on esimated E,dendedr earrng functions.Scenario: Proect induced eamrgs = 10% of eamins diferertials between low Income and middle inncoe profiles; Excluding costs of Assessent Compont e
m X
rt .En Li~
104 ANNEX 13Economic Benefits
Table 2: Costs and Beneficiaries (USS)
Number of CostsComponent Preschool Children per
Year Expanding CEFACEI Preschool Program Benefit from ChildCapital Costs Recurrent Costs Total the Program
Prepare terms of reference for studies 6/3/96 9/3/96
Contract studies 10/3196 10130/96
Seminar for analysis of findings 1114/97 12/4/97
Policy decisions taken under the recommendation 1/8/98 4/8/98
Prepare terms of reference for MIS' systems and 2/2196 2/296
Contract MIS systems and hardware 5/2/96 5/2/96
Receive MIS systems and hardware 9/2/96 9/296:
Planning of training 6/3/96 7/3/96
Provide training to MOE personnel 10/2196 10/2/00 i. __ _
109 ANNEX 15Supervision Plans and Reviews
SUPERVISION PLANS AND REVIEWS
1. The composition and staffing level of the supervision program for each year ofproject implementation are presented in Table 1. The supervision teams will consist of theTask Manager, EBRD staff and consultants with expertise in the areas of education (pre-primary, evaluation, teacher training, textbooks), Management Information Systems,education finance and planning, procurement and project implementation. Supervisionmissions will normally be conducted twice a year, in February and September, beginning inJuly 1996. All missions will involve discussions with project officials as well as projectfield visits, on the basis of which the mission will evaluate the project.
2. Project Launch Seminar. A Project Launch Seminar will be conducted aroundApril 1996 to: (a) review implementation of the project's rules and procedures manual,and familiarize the MOE with the project's monitoring procedures and banks guidelinesand procedures on procurement, disbursement and auditing requirements; and (b) reviewthe project requirements for progress reports on the implementation of the Annual WorkPrograms.
3. Annual Review. The purpose of the annual review is to assess projectperformance against specific output and impact indicators, primarily through the analysisof: (a) the Project Implementation Schedule (Annex 14); (b) the Annual ImplementationPlan for the following year; and (c) the Annual Implementation Report of the previousyear. Annual Reviews will take place in September of each year.
4. Annual Reviews will be held by September 15 of each year by MOE, MIPPE, FESand IFARHU. In preparation for the Annual Project Review, the PCU Coordinator, incoordination with responsible units, will prepare and present to the Bank, no later thanSeptember 1 st of each year, the following documents.
(I) compliance with the Project Operations Manual;
(ii) compliance with the covenants of the Bank Loan Agreement;
(iii) information pertaining to all Project Monitoring Indicators (Output andImpact Indicators);
(iv) status of procurement of goods and services;
(v) highlights of findings, lessons learned and problems pertaining to thetechnical, institutional, administrative or financial implementation of theproject.
Project Action Plan for the next calendar year, covering:
110 ANNEX 15Supervision Plans and Reviews
(I) program of activities for each subcomponent of the project;
(ii) schedule of activities for each subcomponent of the project;
(iii) detailed procurement plan;
(iv) detailed budget by source of funds and uses, for each quarter, specifyingcounterpart funds;
(v) specific reports when needed.
5. Project Mid-Term Review. This review will be carried out on Sept 1998 jointlyby the Government and IiBRD. The focus of the review is to ascertain to what extent theproject has achieved its development objectives. The PAU Coordinator will prepare thesame reports for the Project Mid-Term Review as for the Annual Project Reviews.
6. Modirications to Project Design and Implementation Plans. During AnnualProject Reviews and the Project Mid-Term Review, there is the opportunity to updateproject targets and discuss changes needed in project design or implementation plans. Inthis context IBRD may require that the PAU prepare an action plan for the Bank's reviewand approval within two months following the completion of the Project Review. ThePCU Coordinator will be responsible for organizing the Mid-Term Project Review andensuring that agreed follow-up actions, satisfactory to the Bank, are taken in timelymanner.
111 ANNEX 15Supervision Plans and Reviews
Table 1: Supervision, Project Launch and annual ReviewTiming Superviion Team Staffing (In weeks)
1996 April Task ManagerProject Launch Workshop Pre-primary spec.
Teacher training multigradespec. ITextbooks spec.Civil Works spec. 1MIS Spec. *Educ. Planner spec.Procurement spec.
September Task Manager IAnnual Review Pre-primary spec. I
2001 September Task Manager IAnnual Review Pre-primary spec.
Teacher training multigradespec.
Textbooks spcc.Civil Works spec.
MIS spec. IApril Task Manager IFinal annual Review and Pre-primary spec. ICompletion Teacher training multigrade
spec.
Textbooks spec. I
Civil Works spec. IMIS spec. IEduc. Planner spec. IProcurement spec. I
112 ANNEX 16Documents in Project Files
DOCUMENTS IN PROJECT FILES
Benito, Carlos "Economic Analysis of the Education Project of Panama", Nov. 1995.
Contraloria General de la Republica. 1993a. "Estadistica Panameha, Situaci6n Social,Estadisticas del Trabajo (Empleo) Aflo 1990." Direcci6n de Estadistica y Censo,Panama, Repiublica de Panama.
Contraloria General de la Republica. 1993b. "Panama en Cifras: Adios 1988-1992."Direcci6n de Estadistica y Censo, Panama, Republica de Panama.
Contraloria General de la Republica. 1993c. "Situaci6n Cultural: Educaci6n Ao 1990."Direcci6n de Estadistica y Censo, Panama, Republica de Panama.
Contraloria General de la Republica. 1993d. "Situaci6n Demografica: Proyecci6n de laPoblaci6n Total del Pais por Sexo, Segun Grupos de Edad: Ahos 1990-2025."Boletin Especial. Direcci6n de Estadistica y Censo, Panama, Republica dePanama.
Contraloria General de la Republica. 1993e. "Situaci6n Social: Estadisticas del Trabajo(Empleo) Aiio 1990." Direcci6n de Estadistica y Censo, Panama, Republica dePanama.
Contraloria General de la Repiublica. 1994. "Indicadores Sociales, Anos: 1970, 1980,1983 y 1986-92." Direcci6n de Estadistica y Censo, Panama, Republica dePanama.
Instituto para la Formaci6n y Aprovechamiento de Recursos Humanos (IFARHU). 1984.Memoria. Panama City, Panama: IFARHU.
Manzur, A. and others. 1993. "Concertaci6n Interinstitucional para el Desarrollo de laGerencia Educativo." Universidad de Panama, UNESCO Proyecto Movilizador,Ciudad Universitaria, Panama.
Ministerio de Educaci6n. n.d.. "Informe Final del Proyecto Movilizador de Apoyo aAcciones Relevantes de Educaci6n para todos en Panama." Versi6n Preliminar -Borrador. PAN/92/001. Panama.
Ministerio de Educaci6n (MOE). 1985. "Sintesis General del Plan de DesarrolloEducativo." Documento de Trabajo. Oficina de Planificaci6n Educativa, Panama,Republica de Panama.
113 ANNEX 16Documents in Project Files
Ministerio de Educaci6n. 1986. "La Educaci6n Primaria por Corregimiento, Anio Escolar1985." Oficina de Planificaci6n, Departmento de Estadistica, Ministerio deEducaci6n, Republica de Panama.
Ministerio de Educaci6n. 1987. "Documento Preliminar del Anteproyecto de Ley deActualizaci6n del Sistema Educativo Nacional." Ministerio de Educaci6n,Panama, Republica de Panama.
Ministerio de Educaci6n. 1991. "Anteproyecto de Ley por el cual se Modifican,Adicionan y Subrogan Articulos de la Ley 47, de 24 Septiembre de 1946, Organicade Educaci6n." Comision Coordinadora de Educaci6n Nacional, Panama,Republica de Panama.
Ministerio de Educaci6n. 1992a. Informe Amlal 1993. PanamA: Ministerio deEducaci6n.
Ministerio de Educaci6n. 1992b. "Proyecto Integral para el Mejoramiento de la Gesti6nEducativa. La Reprobaci6n y Deserci6n Escolar en el Primer Nivel de Ensehianzaen Panama en el Quinquenio 1986-1990." Oficina de Planificaci6n, Departmentode Estudios e Investigaciones Educativas, PanamA, Republica de PanamA.
Ministerio de Educaci6n. 1993a. I7forme Anuial 1993. Panama: Ministerio deEducaci6n.
Ministerio de Educaci6n. 1993b. Plani Naciotial de Desarrollo Educativo: 1994-1998.PanamA: Ministerio de Educaci6n.
Ministerio de Educaci6n. 1993c. "Proyecciones 1993." Direcci6n de Perfeccionamientoal Educador, Panama, Republica de PanamA.
Ministerio de Educaci6n. 1993e. "Situaci6n y Perspectivas de la Educaci6n en las AreasRurales de PanamA." Oficina Subregional de UNESCO para Centroamerica,Ministerio de Educaci6n, Republica de Panama.
Ministerio de Planificaci6n y Politica Econ6mica (MIPPE). 1993. "Mapa de la Pobreza."Direcci6n General de Planificaci6n Econ6mica y Social, Divisi6n de Planificaci6nSocial, Departamento de Recursos Humanos y Empleos, PanamA, Republica dePanamA.
Ministerio de Trabajo y Bienestar Social. 1984. "Informaci6n Estadistica Sobre RecursosHumanos (Censos, Encuestas de Hogares y Otras Fuentes)." Boletin No. 2.Proyecto 525-0221, Planificaci6n y Generaci6n de Empleo, Sistema deInformaci6n de Recursos Humanos (SIRH), Direcci6n Nacional de Empleo,PanamA.
114 ANNEX 16Documcnts in Project Files
Pic6n, C. 1993. Concertando el Futuaro de la Educaci6n Paniameiia. Panama: Programade las Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo and UNESCO.
Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo (PNUD). 1993. "Memoria:Encuentro Nacional Unidad y Desarrollo Humano." PNUD, Bambito, Repuiblicade PanamA.
Proyecto UNESCO-Alemania. 1993. "Reunion Tecnica Subregional Sobre ExperienciasInnovadoras de Educaci6n en Las Areas Rurales del Istmo Centroamericano."Informe Tecnico. Proyecto UNESCO-Alemania, 507/RLA/10, Santiago deVeraguas, Rep[blica de Panama.
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UTNESCO). 1993a."Proyecto Apoyo as Sistema de Mejoramiento de la Calidad de la Educaci6nPanamena." UNESCO, New York, New York.
Universidad Santa Maria La Antigua (USMA). 1991. "La USMA en Cifras - 1990."Secretaria General, Universidad Santa Maria La Antigua, PanamA, Republica dePanamA.
MAP SECTION
REPUBLICA DEL PANAMADIVISION POLITICO - ADMINISTRATIVA: 1990
BOCAS DEL TORO 38. Las Huacas 80. Rio Indio BOQUETE RENACIMIENTO 202. Chepigana
BOCAS DEL TORO 39. Toza 81. SanJosedelGeneral 117. Boquete(Cabecera) 159. Rio Sereno (Cabecera) 203. GarachindI. Bocas del Toro (Cabecera) 118. Caldera 160. Breni6n 204. Jaqu62. BahiasAzul OLA PORTOBELO 119. Palmira 161. Canas Gordas 205. Puerto Pina3. Bastimentos 40. Ola (Cabccera) 82. Portobelo (Cabecera) 162. Monte Lirio 206. Rio Congo
4. Calovebora o Santa Catalina 41. El Cope 83. Cacique BUGABA 163. Plaza de Caizan 207. Rio Iglesias
5. Punta Laurel 42. El Palmar 84. Puerto Lindo o Garrote 120. LaConcepci6n (Cabecera) 164. Santa Cruz 208. Sambu6. Tobobe 43. El Picacho 85. Isla Grande 121. Aserrio de Gariche 209. Seteganti
44. La Pava 86. Maria Chiquita 122. Bugaba SAN FELIX 210. Taimati
9. Guabito 46. Caunaveral 88. Cuango 126. San Andrds 168. Hato Culantro 212. El Real (Cabecera)47. Cocle 89. Miramar 127. Santa Marta 169. Hato obo 213. Boca de Cupe
CHIRIQUI GRANDE 48. Chiguiri Arriba 90. Nombre de Dios 128. Santa Rosa 170. Hato luli 214. Paya10. ChiriquiGrande(Cabecera) 49. El Coco 91. Palmira 129. Santo Domingo 171. Hato Pil6n 215. Pinogana11. Canquintui 50. Pajonal 92. Playa Chiquita 130. Sortova 172. Iuay 216. Pucuro12. Guoroni 51. Rio Grande 93. Santa Isabel 131. Volcan 173. Quebradade Loro 217. Yape13. Mununi 52. Rio Indio 94. Viento Frio 174. Salto Dupi 218. Yaviza14. Piedra Roja 53. ToabrW DAVID 175. San Fdlix15. Punta Rohalo 54. Tulu COMARCA DE 132. David (Cabecera) CEMACO
133. Bijagual SAN LORENZO 219. Cirilo GuaynoraSAN BLAS 134. Cochea 176. Horconcitos (Cabecera) 220. Lajas Blancas
AGUADULCE COLON 96. Narganl 136. Guaca 178. Boca de Balsa16. Aguadulce (Cabecera) 55. Barrio Norte 97. Puerto Obaldia 137. Las Lomas 179. Boca del Monte SAMBU
17. El Cristo 56. Barrio Sur 98. Tubuala 138. Pedregal 180. Camar6nArriba 222. Jingurud618. El Roble 57. Buena Vista 139. San Carlos 181. Cerro Banco 223. Rio Sabalo19. Pocri 58. Cativ5 140. San Pablo Nuevo 182. Cerro de Patena
59. Cincito CHIRIQUI 141. San Pablo Viejo 183. Emplanada de Chorcha
ANTON 60. Crist6bal AIANJE 184. San Juan HERRERA20. Ant6n (Cabecera) 61. Escobal 99. Alanje (Cabecera) DOLEGA 185. San Lorenzo CHITRE
21. Cabuya 62. Lim6n 100. Divala 142. Dolega (Cabecera) 186. Soloy 224. Chitre (Cabecera)22. El Chiru 63. Nueva Providencia 101. El Tejar 143. Dos Rios 225. LaArena23. El Retiro 64. Puerto Pil6n 102. Guarumal 144. Los Anastacios TOLE 226. Monagrillo24. El Valle 65. Sabanitas 103. Palo Grande 145. Potrenillos 187. Tole (Cabecera)25. Juan Diaz 66. Salamanca 104. Quer6valo 146. Potrenillos Abajo 188. Alto Caballero LAS MINAS
26. Rio Hato 67. San Juan 105. Santo Tomas 147. Rovira 189. Cerro Cana 227. Las Minas27. San Juan de Dios 68. Santa Rosa 148. Tinajas 190. Cerro Iglesias 228. Chepo28. Santa Rita BARU 191. Cerro Puerco 229. Chumical
CHAGRES 106. Puerto Armuelles (Cabecera) GUAIACA 192. Cerro Viejo 230. El Toro
LA PINTADA 69. NuevoChagres(Cabecera) 107. Limones 149. Gualaca (Cabecera) 193. Chichica 231. Leones29. La Pintada(Cabecera) 70. Achiote 108. Progreso 150. Homito 194. LajasdeTole 232. Quebrada del Rosario
30. El Harino 71. El Guabo 151. Los Angeles 195. Maraca31. El Potrero 72. La Encantada BOQUERON 152. Paja de Sombrero 196. Pefra Blanca LOSPOZOS
32. Llano Grande 73. Palmas Bellas 109. Boquer6n (Cabecera) 153. Rinc6n 197. Potrero de Cana 233. Los Pozos (Cabecera)33. Piedras Gordas 74. Pinia 110. Bagala 198. Quebrada de Piedra 234. El Capuri
NATA 112. Guabal 154. Remedios (Cabecera) 236. El Cedro34. Natfi (Cabecera) DONOSO 113. Guayabal 155. Cerro Iglesias 237. La Arena
35. Capellania 76. Miguel de la Borda (Cab.) 114. Paraiso 156. El Nancito DARIEN 238. LaPitaloza36. El Cao 77. Cocl] del Norte 115. Pedregal 157. Hato Chami CHEPIGANA 239. Los Cerritos37. Guzmgn 78. El Guasimo 116. Tijeras 158. Lajero 200. La Palma (Cabecera) 240. Los Cerros de Paja
79. Gobea 201. Camoganti
Reference for IBRD Map 27496
OCU 285. Las Tablas Ahap( 332. El Cacao CHIMAN SAN MIGUERUTO 469. Puerto Vidal241. Oci3 (Cabecera) 286. Nuario 333. El Corlez.o 378. Chimhin (Cabecera) 427. Amielia Denis de Icaza 470. Zapotillo242. Cerro Largo 287. Palmira 334. Flores 379. Brujas 428. Belisario Porras243. Los Llanos 288. Pe6a Bianca 335. Gufinico 380. Gonzalo Vgsquez 429. Jos6 Domingo Espinar MONVTIJO244. Llano Grande 289. Rio Hondo 336. La Tronosa 430. Mateo Iturralde 471. Montijo (Cabecera)245. Pefias Chatas 290. San Jos6 LA CHORRERA 43l1. Victoriano Lorenzo 472. Arenas
291. San Miguel PAA A381. Barrio Balboa 473. GobernadoraPARITA 292. Santo Domingo PAA A382. Bafrio Col6n TABOGA 474. La Garceana246. Parita (Cabecera) 293. Sesteadero ARRAIJAN 383. Amador 432. Taboga (Cabecera) 475. [eones247. Cabuya 294. Valle Rico 337. Arraijin (Cabecera) 384. Arosemena 433. Otoque Occidente 476. Llano de Catival248. Los Castillos 295. Vallerriquito 338. Juan D. Arosemena 385. El Arado 434. Otoque Oriente 477. Pil6n249. Llano de Is Cruz 339. Nuevo Emperador 386. El Coco 478. Quebro250. Paris LOS SANTOS 340. Santa Clara 387. Feuillet 49 eaiMrao251. Portobelillo 296. Los Santos (Cabecera) 341. Veracrulz 388. Guadalupe VERAGUAS 49 eai Mrao252. Potuga 297. El Guasinmo 342. Vista Alegre 389 Herrera ATALAYA RIO DE JESUS
298. La Colorada 390. Hurtado 435. Atalaya (Cabeera) 480. Rfo dIe Jestis (Cabecera)PESE 299. La Espigadilla BALBOA 391. Iturralde 436. El Barrio 48 1. Las Huawas253. Pesc4 (Cabecera) 300. Las Cn,ces 343. San Miguel (Cabecera) 392. La Repres 437. La Montalluela 482. Los Castillos254. Las Cabras (Este) 301. Las Guabaa 344 La Enend 393. Los Diaz 483. Utira255. El Pajajo (Norte No. 1) 302. Los Angeles 345. La Esnieralda 394. Mendoxa CALOBRE256. El Barrero (Norte No. 2) 303. Los Olivos 346. La Guinea 395. Obaldia 438. Calobre (Cabecesa) SAN FRANCISCO'257. El Pedregoso (Oeste No. I) 304. Llano Largo 347. Pedro GonzAlez 396. Plays [conta 439. Barnizal 484. San Francisco (Cabecers)258. El Ciruelo (Oeste No. 2) 305. Sabana Grande 348. Saboga 397. Pucrto Caimilo 440. Chitra 485. Corral Falso o Pana,nws259. Sabana GJrande (Sur No. 1) 306. Santa Ana 398. Santa Rita 441. El Cocla 486. Los Hatillos260. Rinc6n Hondo (Sur No. 2) 307. Tres Quebradas CAPIRA 442. El Potirm 487. Remarnce
349. Capira (Cabecera) PANAMA 443. La Laguna 488. San JuanSANTA MARIA MACARACAS 350. Caimito 399. San Felipe 444. La Riy&26 1. Santa Maria (Cabecera) 308. Macaracas (Cabeccra) 351. Campana 400. El Chorrillo 445. la Tetilla SANTA FE262. Chupampa 309. Bahia Honda 352. Cermetmo 401. Santa Ana 446. La Ycgttada 489. Santa Ft (Cabecera)263. El Rinc6n 310. Bajos de Goera 353. Ciri de los Sotos 402. LA Exposici6n o Calidonia 447. Las Gulas 490. Calov&bora
311I. Corozal 354. Ciri Grandte 403. Curundti 448. Moisjaras 491. El Alto312. ChupA 355. El Cacao 404. Betania 449. San Jo 492. El Cuay
LOS SANTOS 313. El Cedro 356. La Trinidad 405. Bella Vista 493. El PantanoGUARARE 314. Espino Amarillo 357. Las Ollas Amfba 406. Pueblo Nuevo CAEAZAS 494. Galucito264. Guarant (Cabecera) 315. La Mes-a 358. Lidice 407. San Francisco 450. Cajiazas (Cabecera)265. El Espinal 316. Las Palmas 359. Villa Carmen 408. Parque L.efevre 45 1. Agua de Salud SANITiAGO266. El Macano 317. Llano de Piedra 360. Villa Rosario 409. Rio Abajo 452. Cerro de Plata 495. Santiago (Cabecera)267. Guarar6 Arriba 31I8. Mogoll6n 410. Juan Diaz 453. Los Valle 496. Canto del Llano268. La Enea CHAME 411. Pedregal 454. San Mareclo 497. La Colorada269. La Pasera PEDASI 361. Chame (Cabecera) 412. Anc6n 498. La Pefha270. Las Trancas 319. Pedasi (Cabecera) 362. Bejuco 413. Chilibre LA MESA 499. La Raya de Santa Maria271. Llano Abajo 320. Los Asientos 363. Buenos Aires 414. Las Cumbres 455. La Mesa (Cabecera) 500. Ponuga
321. Mariah6 364. Cabuya 415. Pacora 456. Bisvalles Sal1. San Pedro del EspinoLAS TABLAS 322. Purio 365. ChicA 416. San Martin 457. Bor6272. Las Tablas (Cabecera) 366. El Libano 417. Tocumen 458. Llano Grande SONA273. Bajo Corral POCRI 367. Las Lajas 459. San Bartolo 502. Song (Cabecera)274. Bayano 323. Pocri (Cabecera) 368. Nueva Gorgona SAN CARLOS 503. Bahia Honda275. El Carate 324. El Cattaflstulo 169. funta Chame 418. San Carlos (Cabecera) LAS PALMAS 504. Calidonia276. El Cocal 325. Lajamina 170. Sajalices 419. El Espino 460. Las Palmias (Cabecera) SOS. Cativd
277. El Manantial 326. Paraiso 371, Sorb 420. El Hligo 461. Cerro de Casa 506. El Marahion278. El Mui'toz 327. Paritilla 421. Guayabito 42 ooa 0.Gaua279. El Pedregoso C11IE:I, 422. La Et-mita 463. El Maria 508. La Soledad280. La Laja TONOSI 172. Chcpo (Cabecera) 423. La Laguna 464. El Piro 509. Quebrada de Oro281. La Miel 328. Tonosi (Cabeera) 171. Cafiita 424. Las Uvas 465. El Prado SIO. Rio Grande282. La Palma 329. Altos de Gt3era 174 Chepillo 425. Los Llanitos 466. El Rinc6n SI I. Rodeo Viejo283. La Tiz.a 330. Cahas 175 Fl t.lano 426. San Jos6 467. Lola284. Las Palmitas 331. El lItbedero 376. Las Margaritas 48 rxa