| Project Detail |
Project Development Objective (PDO) 20. To address the above context, MoNE has prepared the “Safe Schooling and Distance Education (SSDE) Project,” to be supported through World Bank financing. Its implementation will expand over three school years: 2020-2021, 2021-22, and 2022-2023. Also, it will provide retroactive financing for costs incurred during school closure during the acute period in Turkey of the COVID-19 pandemic. 21. The Project’s design and operational strategy balance interventions to support the COVID-19 emergency response and to develop and roll-out a stronger educational digital system capable of facing any future shocks. It is aligned to most recent evidence of how best to respond to emergencies by closing gaps between (i) urgent social measures to protecting the most vulnerable against shocks, and (ii) resilient recovery to restore livelihoods, equity and sustainable growth. The three Project components address, respectively, enhancing information technology, educational services, and institutional capacity building. Each component has investments allocated for (i) immediate response (during school closures and gradual re-opening) and (ii) for setting the IT, educational and institutional foundations to support longer-term blended (classroom-on-line) education needs. Project Development Objective Statement 22. The project development objective is to enhance the capacity of the education system to provide e-learning equitably to school-age children during and following the COVID-19 pandemic and future shocks. 23. The PDO-level indicators are: i. Percentage of K-12 students using EBA and (or) NDES for online distance education. Increase the usage of the online distance education from 26% (or 4,291,426 students) during baseline (or before March 13, 2020), to 45% (or 7,427,469 students) by midline (end of school year 2021-22), and finally to 70% (or 11,553,841 of students) by the end of the project, at least 50% of whom are girls. ii. Number of concurrent users served by EBA and (or) NDES. Increase the number of concurrent users of the online distance education from 300,000 during baseline to 1,000,000 by the end of school year 2021- 22, to finally 5,000,000 by the end of the project. iii. Percentage of students from the lowest quintile of regional poverty that access the EBA and (or) NDES in the last 30 days. Increase the number of students from the lowest quintile of regional poverty from 14% to 20% by the end of school year 2021-22, and to 30% by the end of the project. iv. Number of teachers that complete on-line certified professional development training on distance education. Increased number of teachers that received certifications of completion of distance education training on-line from 80,616 to 500,000 by the end of school year 2021-22, and to 900,000 by end of the project. 59% of which are female. Project Components 24. The project design includes three interrelated components: (i) Emergency Connectivity and IT Infrastructure for Education in Emergencies; (ii) Digital Content for Safety and Quality; and (iii) Institutional Capacity for Education Technology Resilience. To draw a balance between emergency response and resilient recovery, the project is designed such that each component has a sub-component for immediate response activities, and a sub- component setting the post-COVID 19 foundations for on-going developments in Turkey’s e-learning system. The emergency investments cover the period of school closures and gradual re-opening of schools (March 12 to December 31, 2020). Resilient recovery investments covers three school years: 2020-2021, 2021-2022, and 2022- 2023. 25. Even though the scope of the Project is universally targeting teachers and students in the education system, it also includes equity interventions for students most vulnerable to learning loss due to COVID-19 school closures. Activities to address gender-based distance education needs and risk mitigation are included, and its monitoring indicators are disaggregated by gender. Lastly, strengthening Turkey’s digital education system can have important environmental and disaster-risk management co-benefits, such as making the platform and its data resistant to extreme climate, power outings, and even reduction in carbon emissions by limiting paper use and travel. Component 1: Emergency Connectivity and IT Infrastructure for Education in Emergencies (US$98 Million) Component 2: Digital Content and Pedagogy for Safety and Quality (US$ 54.9 Million) Component 3: Institutional Capacity for Education Technology Resilience (US$7.1 million) |
