Contacts: In Washington: Gabriela Aguilar (202) 473-6768 gaguilar2@worldbank.org In La Paz: Rafael Archondo: (591-2) 215-3347 rarchondo@worldbank.org WASHINGTON, October 9, 2007 — The World Bank’s Board of Directors today approved a US $10 million loan to support the La Paz Municipal Government’s education strategy by increasing access to secondary education for adolescents and young people and improving their permanence in the education system. The loan will also help to improve the quality and relevance of primary and secondary education and to strengthen the decentralized education management capacity of the Municipality. The Municipality of La Paz Secondary Education Transformation Project supports the goals set out in the new administration’s National Development Plan (DNP) and the Strategy of the Municipality of La Paz for 2006-2011 as outlined in the Municipal Development Plan. The loan will help to increase the number of available secondary schooling places by 19,600, representing 41 percent of current enrollment. It will also increase secondary completion rates of approximately 5,130 students at risk of educational failure —defined as having two or more years of age/grade distortion— through an intervention providing direct pedagogical support to such students. “Bolivia has made significant progress in expanding education access over the past few decades, having obtained a high primary enrollment of 94 percent and completion rate of 77.8 percent in 2005”, said David Tuchschneider, World Bank acting Country Manager in Bolivia. “However, universal coverage in basic education remains a challenge, especially among the disadvantaged groups where dropout and repetition rates remain high and learning achievement and access to secondary education are low. Challenges in secondary education are growing”, he added. Specifically, the loan will support the La Paz Municipal Government’s objectives by: - Supporting the Municipal Office of Human Development (OMDH) to promote expanded coverage in secondary education (grades 9 through 12) and completion in the upper primary (grades 7 and 8) and early secondary grades.
- Helping the Municipality to improve the quality if basic education with a focus in secondary education.
- Strengthening management capacity at the municipal and school levels to facilitate actions to improve access to and completion and quality of secondary education. This component will also develop a low-stakes testing system that can provide information on student learning while contributing to strengthening teacher’s pedagogical capacities.
This US$10 million loan has a 10 year grace period with a maturity of 35 years. ### For more information on the,Municipality of La Paz Secondary Education Transformation Project please visit:http://web.worldbank.org/external/projects/main?pagePK=64283627&piPK=64624214&theSitePK=2748767&menuPK=2805091&Projectid=P083965 For more information about the work of the World Bank in Bolivia, please visit: http://www.worldbank.org.bo |
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