Public Disclosure Copy The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report Mongolia: Improving Primary Education Outcomes for the most vulnerable children in rural Mongolia (P130760) Mongolia: Improving Primary Education Outcomes for the most vulnerable children in rural Mongolia (P130760) EAST ASIA AND PACIFIC | Mongolia | Education Global Practice | Recipient Executed Activities | Specific Investment Loan | FY 2012 | Seq No: 6 | ARCHIVED on 23-Dec-2015 | ISR21968 | Implementing Agencies: Key Dates Key Project Dates Bank Approval Date:22-Mar-2012 Effectiveness Date:21-Jun-2012 Original Closing Date:21-Jun-2016 Revised Closing Date:21-Jun-2016 Project Development Objectives Project Development Objective (from Project Appraisal Document) The objective of the Project is to improve the education outcomes of the most vulnerable children (aged 5 to 10) in four educationally underperforming and underserved rural provinces of Mongolia. Has the Project Development Objective been changed since Board Approval of the Project Objective? No PHRPDODEL Components Name Overall Ratings Name Previous Rating Current Rating Progress towards achievement of PDO  Moderately Satisfactory  Moderately Satisfactory Overall Implementation Progress (IP)  Moderately Satisfactory  Moderately Satisfactory Implementation Status and Key Decisions Overall, the project is implemented well and seen as well suited to the needs of children of the herding communities and proven to be effective in rural Mongolian context. All new programs developed under the project have been successfully piloted, refined and became fully operational in all 30 project communities in four provinces. Home based school preparation program was successfully piloted and introduced along with the School Readiness Toy and Book Mobile Kits specifically designed for children in the mobile herding communities. Child development centers at school 12/23/2015 Page 1 of 8 Public Disclosure Copy Public Disclosure Copy The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report Mongolia: Improving Primary Education Outcomes for the most vulnerable children in rural Mongolia (P130760) dormitories became fully operational offering a variety of extra-curricular activities for children living at dormitories and away from parents. 6 sets of compensatory education programs have been developed, piloted and became the day-to-day handy operational tools for the government run life- long learning centers at the community level. Despite the small number of children directly benefiting from this component activities, the added value of these new programs is high as being able to equip the local communities and education stakeholders working with the drop outs from primary grades, many of them happen to be disabled, homebound and or not eligible to enroll in non-formal education classes due their (young) age. The home based school preparation programs for herders' children (5-6 years old) and extracurricular after-school programs for herders' children living away from their parents have began to spread beyond the project sites. With support of small scale grants, local communities have been successfully implementing their own local initiatives with active involvement of parents and community members as well as local governments. The total number of beneficiary children reached 76% of its target by June 2016. The community based innovative ideas promoted by the project are well recognized locally and have been featured at several international events including the Asia Pacific Regional ECD Forum in Beijing, China in October 2015. The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (MECS) sees the project as a success case of addressing the very specific challenges in delivering quality education to the children of nomadic herding families in remote countryside. 12/23/2015 Page 2 of 8 Public Disclosure Copy Public Disclosure Copy The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report Mongolia: Improving Primary Education Outcomes for the most vulnerable children in rural Mongolia (P130760) Risks Overall Risk Rating Risk Category Rating at Approval Previous Rating Current Rating Overall  Moderate  --  Moderate Results Project Development Objective Indicators PHINDPDOTBL Reduction of school dropouts at grade 1-3 caused by learning difficulties and problems with adjusting to school/dormitory-life, in the target soums/provinces. (Percentage, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value -- 0.00 0.00 25.00 12/23/2015 Page 3 of 8 Public Disclosure Copy Public Disclosure Copy The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report Mongolia: Improving Primary Education Outcomes for the most vulnerable children in rural Mongolia (P130760) Date -- 25-May-2014 14-Dec-2014 21-Jun-2016 Comments This outcome indicator became no longer relevant and is under revision through a project restructuring. The project was designed at the times of the structural reform in Mongolian education system (starting from 2008/2009 school year) adopting a new 12-year school cycle that led all schools in Mongolia to lower the primary school entry-age to from 8 to 7 and then 7 to 6 years of age, within 3 years of timeframe. At the start of this reform process, the gross enrolment rate for 6 and 7 years olds were somewhat low and drop out from primary grades were relatively high especially in rural areas[1]. But between SY 2008/2009 and SY 2013/2014 the situation has improved significantly[2], the drop out numbers went down by 38% on national average[3] and by 57% for herder’s children at primary grades. As for the project soums, the number of drop outs and out-of-school children has been decreased by 51% during the same period of time. As of SY 2014/2015, the head counting conducted in the project soums revealed that the total number of dropouts and out-of-school children aged 6-10 were 26 and 53 respectively for the entire 30 project soums. When these numbers are segregated by soums, the numbers per a soum are so small that estimating any rate does not make a sense. Furthermore, the most of the out-of-school children appeared to have physical and or mental disabilities and or some medical conditions that prevent them from schooling. [1] As of 2008, the national dropout rate from primary grades were 4.5%, 1.8% and 1.9% respectively for grade 1, 2 and 3 respectively. Class repetition rate was the highest in grade 1. http://www.unicef.org/mongolia/Mongolian_version_of_SITAN.pdf [2] Such rapid improvements are associated with the notable improvements in the living standards attributed to the overall macroeconomic boom, impressive poverty reduction as well as specific government programs (such as school meal, child money program, cash distribution from the human development funds, free textbook provision etc) that were implemented during this period of time. [3] The statistics on drop-out rate in Mongolia had been largely misleading until recently in the absence of unified methodology used across all agencies. This was solved only in 2013 by approval of the “Methodology for estimating education statistics” by the National Statistical Office (NSO). Numbers of drop outs (enrolled but dropped) and out-of-school children (never been enrolled), have been separated according to the new methodology. According to the MESC 2013 statistics, between SY 2008/2009 and 2013/2014, the number of drop outs nationwide had been reduced by 38%. For the same period, the share of out-of-school children as a share of the total number of students had been dropped from1.3% to 0.4%, for the age group 6-14. http://www.meds.gov.mn/data/1409/2014%20word%20new-2.pdf PHINDPDOTBL Improvements in psycho-emotional well-being of children who are enrolled in the extracurricular after-school programs as reported by teachers, parents, peers, and the children themselves in the targe (Percentage, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value -- 0.00 0.00 25.00 Date -- 25-May-2014 14-Dec-2014 21-Jun-2016 Comments This indicators is under revision through a restructuring. Using some simplified tools, the project has been conducting a survey twice a year to measure the psycho-emotional well-being of the children at the start and end of each school year and the numbers indicate some positive changes. However, the problem with this indicator is that it ‘exists’ on its own and has no link to the PDO, therefore increasingly seen as not worth of the extra efforts associated. Perhaps the assumption behind this outcome indicator was that the improvements psycho-emotional well-being of the children would lead to learning improvements. But that is not obvious and the numbers cannot be contributing to the PDO that is about improving primary education outcomes for the target 7500 children. For this reason, this indicators is seen as of little relevance to the project PDO and therefore proposed to be changed by one that is able to 12/23/2015 Page 4 of 8 Public Disclosure Copy Public Disclosure Copy The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report Mongolia: Improving Primary Education Outcomes for the most vulnerable children in rural Mongolia (P130760) measure the project progress and achievements in meeting the PDO. PHINDPDOTBL Improvements of performance of children enrolled in the compensatory education programs as compared to children at the equivalent grade in formal school, (Percentage, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value -- 0.00 0.00 15.00 Date -- 04-Oct-2013 14-Dec-2014 21-Jun-2016 Comments This indicators is under revision through a restructuring. School dropout rate had been sharply dropped in between 2009 (when the project concept was first developed) and 2013 when the project activities were practically starting to take a place. As of SY 2014/2015, the head counting conducted in the project soums revealed that the total number of out-of-school children aged 6-10 were 53 for the entire 30 project soums, on average 2 children per a soum. Furthermore, the most of the out-of-school children appeared to have physical and or mental disabilities and or some medical conditions that prevent them from schooling. Therefore, the indicator is no longer relevant. PHINDPDOTBL Increase of re-enrollment to formal school by children 6-10 years of age who have been out of school in the target soums/provinces. (Percentage, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value -- -- -- -- Date -- 04-Oct-2013 04-Oct-2013 21-Jun-2016 Comments This indicators is under revision through a restructuring. School dropout rate had been sharply dropped in between 2009 (when the project concept was first developed) and 2013 when the project activities were practically starting to take a place. As of SY 2014/2015, the head counting conducted in the project soums revealed that the total number of out-of-school children aged 6-10 were 53 for the entire 30 project soums, on average 2 children per a soum. Furthermore, the most of the out-of-school children appeared to have physical and or mental disabilities and or some medical conditions that prevent them from schooling. Therefore, the indicator is no longer relevant. 12/23/2015 Page 5 of 8 Public Disclosure Copy Public Disclosure Copy The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report Mongolia: Improving Primary Education Outcomes for the most vulnerable children in rural Mongolia (P130760) PHINDPDOTBL Direct project beneficiaries (Number, Core) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 5700.00 6500.00 7500.00 Date 22-Jun-2012 19-Jun-2015 08-Dec-2015 21-Jun-2016 PHINDPDOTBL Female beneficiaries (Percentage, Core Supplement) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 2610.00 2800.00 3800.00 Overall Comments Intermediate Results Indicators PHINDIRITBL School Preparation Toys and Equipment Library is set up in 30 target soums (Number, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 30.00 36.00 30.00 Date 21-Jun-2012 25-May-2014 08-Dec-2015 21-Jun-2016 PHINDIRITBL Community Education Councils (CEC) established in 30 soums to lead community actions. (Number, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 30.00 30.00 30.00 Date 21-Jun-2012 25-May-2014 08-Dec-2015 21-Jun-2016 12/23/2015 Page 6 of 8 Public Disclosure Copy Public Disclosure Copy The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report Mongolia: Improving Primary Education Outcomes for the most vulnerable children in rural Mongolia (P130760) PHINDIRITBL Upto 30 CECs are supported through Community Block Grant scheme (Number, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 30.00 30.00 30.00 Date 21-Jun-2012 19-Dec-2014 08-Dec-2015 21-Jun-2016 PHINDIRITBL Grade specific, compensatory education program in math and reading/writing will be developed and implemented (Number, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 6.00 6.00 6.00 Date 21-Jun-2012 19-Dec-2014 08-Dec-2015 21-Jun-2016 PHINDIRITBL all 30 soums schools implement needs specific extra curricula programs (Number, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 30.00 30.00 30.00 Date 21-Jun-2012 19-Dec-2014 08-Dec-2015 21-Jun-2016 PHINDIRITBL a home based "school preparation program" is developed, tested and implemented in 30 soums (Number, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 0.00 30.00 30.00 Date 21-Jun-2012 04-Oct-2013 08-Dec-2015 21-Jun-2016 Overall Comments Data on Financial Performance 12/23/2015 Page 7 of 8 Public Disclosure Copy Public Disclosure Copy The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report Mongolia: Improving Primary Education Outcomes for the most vulnerable children in rural Mongolia (P130760) Disbursements (by loan) Project Loan/Credit/TF Status Currency Original Revised Cancelled Disbursed Undisbursed Disbursed P130760 TF-12100 Effective USD 2.46 2.46 0.00 1.86 0.60 76% Key Dates (by loan) Project Loan/Credit/TF Status Approval Date Signing Date Effectiveness Date Orig. Closing Date Rev. Closing Date P130760 TF-12100 Effective 21-Jun-2012 21-Jun-2012 21-Jun-2012 21-Jun-2016 21-Jun-2016 Cumulative Disbursements Restructuring History There has been no restructuring to date. Related Project(s) There are no related projects. 12/23/2015 Page 8 of 8 Public Disclosure Copy