Realizing Education's Promise: Support to Indonesia's Ministry of Religious Affairs for Improved Quality of Education

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The objective of the Realizing Educations Promise : Support to Indonesia's Ministry of Religious Affairs for Improved Quality of Education Project for Indonesia is to improve the management of primary and secondary education services under the Ministry of Religious Affairs (MoRA). The project is composed of four components. Component 1 is the nationwide implementation of electronic school-based performance budgeting system and grants to schools (IBRD : 125 million US Dollars). The project will support the implementation of an electronic performance-based planning and budgeting system (e-RKAM) online and semi-online for all primary and secondary schools under MoRA that receive BOS. The implementation of e-RKAM will allow schools serving primary and secondary students to allocate non-project budget transfers such as BOS and other resources at the school level to achieve the National Education Standards (NES). The e-RKAM will also enable the monitoring and provision of support for frontline service providers at the district, provincial and central levels. Component 2 is the implementation of a national, census-based student assessment in 4th Grade (IBRD: 31.8 million US Dollars; Government: 0.25 million US Dollars). The project will finance the development and introduction of a standardized examination system at the primary level to support improved service delivery and accountability for formal public and private primary schools, following a key recommendation of the 2018 WDR, Learning to Realize Education's Promise. The first step to improving student learning outcomes across MoRA's education system is to put in place good metrics for monitoring whether programs and policies are delivering learning. The project will fund the development, piloting, and implementation, including distribution, proctoring, correction, and dissemination of a student assessment system in the form of an age-appropriate competency test to assess student learning outcomes at the 4th Grade level for 100 percent of the about 580,000 4th Grade students. The project proposes to build on the existing Asesmen Kompetensi Siswa Indonesia (AKSI) program of Ministry of Education and Culture (MoEC), which assesses competencies based on the national curriculum required from 4th Grade students in reading, writing, mathematics and science, adding modifications specific for MoRA. The project will support 4th Grade MoRA students to take a computer- or paper-based AKSI-type exam at the beginning of the academic year. Component 3 is the policy and continuous professional development for teachers and education personnel of MoRA schools (IBRD : 61.4 million US Dollars). Project financing will expand opportunities for teachers and education personnel including directors and supervisors of public and private schools to participate in in-service training, while improving the quality of that training and strengthening the regulatory environment around its implementation. The project will focus on two broad programs : (i) peer working groups; and (ii) other trainings delivered by the Central and Regional Training Centers. Component 4 is strengthening of systems to support quality improvement (IBRD : 31.8 million US Dollars; Government 2.25 million US Dollars). This component consists of three subcomponents, focused on: (i) strengthening data systems; (ii) general systems strengthening activities; and (iii) assessments of impact. Together, these activities will strengthen MoRA's ability to manage quality improvement and align the education system with learning. A grievance redress mechanism (GRM) for project-affected persons will also be set up under this component (described further in Annex 1), and the project will track resolution of complaints and publish relevant key details online.