The World Bank has rated the progress towards achievement of project development objective of “Sindh Early Learning Enhancement through Classroom Transformation” project worth $154.77 million as moderately unsatisfactory.
The Bank rated the overall implementation progress of the project moderately satisfactory.
Official documents of the Bank noted that project implementation has gained momentum in critical areas, as evidenced by the appointment of technical consultants; the signing of three major consulting firm contracts (Design and Supervision firm for civil works, and IT Firm for Monitoring of Construction Supervision, and the School Leadership Training firm under Component 3); advances in procurements of four Technical Assistance consulting firm contracts; initiation of several key field level activities including the selection of the School Education and Literacy Department’s (SELD) field personnel for conducting teacher’s Continuous Professional Development; the review and development of learning and reading materials for Grades 1 and 2; and satisfactory progress on E&SS commitments.
Notwithstanding this implementation momentum, progress against Project results targets remains limited. Overall disbursement and expenditure also remain low due to delays in procurement but are expected to pick up in the coming semester as firms come on board. Actions to expedite the completion of key procurements by February 29, 2024, initiate field level activities at the student level and achieve 7 PBC targets by June 2024, have been agreed with SELD and are currently under implementation.
