Joining Efforts for an Education of Excellence in Paraguay Project

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The Project aims at improving learning conditions and strengthening institutional frameworks in core priority areas of the education system in Paraguay, all in support of the Ministry of Education and Sciences (MEC)'s strategy to significantly improve the quality of education in Paraguay in the next two decades. To achieve this goal, the Project Development Objective (PDO) is articulated around two clear objectives. First, to significantly improve learning environments in targeted "upgradable compulsory education institutions" (UCEIs) and to adapt infrastructure of selected teacher training institutes (IFDs, in their Spanish acronym) that will be converted into university-level degree-granting Experimental Centers for Specialized Teacher Training (CEFEDs, in their Spanish acronym). Second, to strengthen institutional frameworks that have been identified by MEC as core priority areas for improving education service delivery, namely the areas of: (i) educational infrastructure; (ii) the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for Education (henceforth, EdTech); (iii) the development of a new teaching profession through the introduction of specialized pre-service teacher training in key thematic - numeracy, literacy, social sciences, and natural sciences - and specific transversal - intercultural education, early childhood education - areas; and (iv) institutional assessment tools. The first objective of the PDO will be supported under Component 1, and the second objective will be supported under Component 2.The objective of Component 1 is to support the GoP in improving learning environments in Paraguay through a comprehensive suite of structural interventions. This goal is framed within an overarching policy that aims to revamp the material - structural and pedagogical - conditions under which learning takes place in Paraguay. The “intervention package” to be provided to learning environments in these institutions will comprise: (i) civil works; (ii) learning materials; (iii) educational equipment, including digital devices, as needed; (iv) furniture; and (v) Internet connectivity.The objective of Component 2 will be to support, through both technical assistance and capacity building activities, in developing high-quality institutional frameworks around the four aforementioned thematic areas. Institutional frameworks to be strengthened comprise: (i) learning environments and educational infrastructure standards; (ii) EdTech competency frameworks; (iii) teachers’ professional career and development; and (iv) institutional assessment tools.