============================================================================= RED CIENTIFICA PERUANA ============================================================================= This section is from the document '/PIC/pid/pid/perpa127.txt'. Project Name Peru-Primary Education Project Region Latin America Caribbean Sector Education, Primary Education Project ID 6PERPA127 Implementing Agency Government of Peru Ministry of Education Lima, Peru Contact: Sra. Maritza Guabloche Tel: (5114) 360455 Fax: (5114) 361457 Date Prepared January 5, 1994 Projected Board Date October 1994 1. Project Objectives. The aim of the project is to assist the Government of Per£ (GOP) to increase the quality of education in order to improve student achievement and reduce repetition and dropout rates. In order to assist the GOP in reaching this goal, the project would support efforts to improve: (i) teaching conditions within primary school classrooms; (ii) the administration and management of the educational system, and (iii) educational infrastructure. The project would also attempt to improve the educational systems' equity by ensuring that priority be given in all activities to poor urban and rural areas. Considering the present Peruvian socio-economic crisis and the low levels of institutional capacity to carry out a complex project, the project would be simple in order to ensure implementation and set the grounds for a second successive project that would continue supporting and developing the project's goals. 2. Project Description. The proposed project would consist of three components: (a) an Educational Quality component to support improvements in: (i) the availability and quality of textbooks and instructional materials; (ii) competencies of primary school teachers and teaching staff at teacher training institutions; and (iii) the curriculum's scope, sequence and adaptability. The project would finance the acquisition, production and distribution of teaching materials, specialized training programs for teachers, dissemination and communication campaigns, technical studies and technical assistance. (b) an Institutional Development component to support: (i) strengthening the central, departmental and local administrative and management capacity of the education sector; (ii) developing information management capabilities at both central and local levels; and (iii) establishing educational evaluation and quality monitoring capacity. More specifically, the component would support the establishment of a project management and evaluation system, a national educational management information system and a national student assessment system for monitoring educational quality. It would also support decentralization efforts by financing experimental pilots in order to evaluate five alternative models of educational management and governance. The project would finance technical assistance for institutional development, project preparation, and implementation, dissemination and communication campaigns, computer hardware and software, special studies and training. (c) an Infrastructure Improvement component to support the improvement of teaching conditions by developing an Infrastructure Improvement Fund for schools in rural and urban poor areas. The fund will primarily be targeted at financing rehabilitation of selected schools. 3. Project Implementation. The project would be implemented over 5 years. The main implementation agency would be the MOE. To increase the likelihood of project success, the project would promote the participation of NGOs, universities, and the private sector in the implementation of certain components. 4. Project Cost and Financing. The total cost of the project has not yet been determined, however, it has been estimated to be approximately US$170 million. The Government has requested that the Bank finance 60 percent of the total cost of the project. It was agreed that the financial resources allocated to school rehabilitation fund should not be more than 30 percent of the total project cost. 5. Environmental Aspects. Since it mainly involves the rehabilitation of existing schools, acquisition of materials, training, and technical assistance, the project is not expected to have any significant environmental impacts. Contact Point - Public Information Centre The World Bank 1818 H Street N.W. Washington D.C. 20433 Telephone No.: (202)458-5454 Fax No.: (202)522-1500 ________ Note: This is information on an evolving project. Certain components may not necessarily be included in the final project.  .