IDB to loan Education Ministry US$27 million to recover learning losses during COVID-19 pandemic

Apr 27, 2022 News

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By Kiana Wilburg

Kaieteur News – The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is preparing to loan the Ministry of Education US$27M to support the transformation of the primary education sector which suffered considerable learning losses during the COVID-19 pandemic. The loan is also expected to help the country build the required human capital it needs to manage its oil resources while driving economic growth and diversification.
The proposed first operation of the US$27M loan comes with the following objectives: implement student-centered learning pedagogies and 21st-century skills, focusing on vulnerable populations including indigenous peoples, boys, and children with migration background; and improve and expand access to safe and improved learning environments.
To achieve the foregoing, the four components with sub-components will be executed.
Component 1 is titled: Accelerated Learning, Skill Development, and Support for Students at Risk and will cost US$6M. It is divided into two sub-components.
Sub-component 1: Accelerated Learning and Skills Development (US$4 million), aims to recover learning losses while emphasizing the adoption of 21st-century skills. It will finance the design and implementation of accelerated learning programmes through tutoring services and the implementation of a learning platform to bring students back to grade-level based on simplified diagnostic assessments in Math, Language Arts, and Science. It will also fund the training and coaching of teachers in student-centered learning pedagogies, social-emotional skills, formative assessment, and strategies for teaching boys.
Sub-component is titled: Support for Students at Risk (US$2 million). The objective for this aspect is to ensure students complete their studies and will finance: the development of an “early warning system” for the identification of students at risk of falling behind and needing additional support services; provision of quality educational materials to students and teachers; teacher training to allow them to detect early on any possible learning challenges (related to eyesight and hearing); and training in English as a Secondary Language (ESL).
The second major component of the project speaks to Digital Transformation (US$10 million). This also carries two sub-components. Sub-component 2.1 Technology integration into Teaching and Learning (US$8 million) aims to strengthen the integration of education technology (including both low-tech and high-tech) into the teaching-learning process. It will finance the expansion of connectivity in a first group of primary schools; provision of laptops, tablets, and other digital resources for teachers, students, and schools, including software; and digital skills training for teachers, school principals, and administrators.
Sub-component 2.2: Education Management Information System (EMIS) (US$2 million) is expected to support the implementation of an open EMIS that contains quality administrative data pertaining to schools, students, and teachers as well as school infrastructure and technology. It will pave the way for the provision of hardware in primary schools, training; and technical support.
The third major component deals with school infrastructure improvements and will cost US$8 million. It aims to ensure a positive learning environment in primary schools, incorporating climate sustainability and resilience criteria (promoting energy and water efficiency, the usage of building materials with low embodied energy, and retrofitting infrastructure to be climate-resilient). It will finance an audit of water and energy availability and usage in schools; the installation and upgrading of potable water systems and power sources following energy and water efficiency criteria in a first group of primary schools; and the construction of new schools.
The fourth aspect of the project which will cost US$3M and deals with the implementation and evaluation of the foregoing components along with developing a project coordinating unit and technical assistance for evaluations.
PROJECT IMPORTANCE
Over the last seven years, the IDB said it observed that Guyana experienced rapid economic growth and transformation, with its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita increasing from US$6,600 in 2019 to US$9,370 in 2021. In 2020, GDP grew by 43.5 percent and is expected to grow by an annual average of 36.2 percent between 2020 and 2023. The financial institution said this economic transformation allows the government to plan and implement long-needed investments in its social sector. But if it is to ensure the country has the required human capital to manage economic growth and diversification, the IDB said the development of Guyana’s human capital has to be prioritised by the government, hence, it believes that the US$27M loan to the Education Ministry is more than justified.
The bank was keen to point out some critical findings which underscore the need for timely interventions such as the said loan. It noted for example, that student learning outcomes are low and unequal in Guyana. In this regard, the financial institution explained that national assessment data show that among fourth-graders for example, 42 percent do not meet the standards for English and 37 percent don’t meet Mathematics standards.
It pointed out too, that access to education is unequal and low in secondary education. On this front, the IDB said the net enrolment rate in primary education is 92 percent, consistent with the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region’s 94.5 percent. The completion rate for primary education is also high at 93 percent. Despite these achievements, the ministry’s data show that children in the Hinterland Regions of One, Two, Eight and 10 have the highest out-of-school rate with 2.8 percent, 3.6 percent, 5.8 percent, and 2.9 percent respectively. At the secondary level, the net enrolment falls to 61 percent, which is low compared to LAC’s average of 74.5 percent.
The IDB said in its project analysis that overall, the main challenge Guyana faces in developing its human capital is the unequal delivery of educational services across regions. It said these challenges were further exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic in which 183,000 students did not attend school for nearly two years. Schools only reopened this month.
It is hoped that the US$27M would help to improve the foregoing state of affairs.

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