World Bank lends India over $1 billion for education

March 19th, 2010 - 4:06 am ICT by BNO News  

WASHINGTON, D.C. (BNO NEWS) – The World Bank announced on Thursday the approval of two education projects in India.

The World Bank granted a $1.05 billion dollar loan on Thursday, which is designated for two separate education projects in India. The first is targeting to increase the number of children enrolling in and completing elementary school, as well as improving quality engineering education in India.

In 2002, India mandated, through a constitutional amendment, elementary education as a fundamental right of every child. Furthermore, that same year, India launched the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), which is a national program that aims to provide quality elementary education to all children. Thursday’s approved loan will support the Second Elementary Education Project with $750 million in order for SSA to expand its activities, reaching the upper primary level (grades 5-8). The goal is to increase elementary level completion rates and improve the learning outcomes of the complete elementary phase (grades 1-8).

An additional $300 million will be assigned for the Second Technical/Engineering Education Quality Improvement Project, which will be supporting around 200 competitively selected engineering education institutions. An improvement of high quality education will produce more employable engineers.

This is the largest loan that the bank has granted for education ever, although the World Bank has supported the SSA with two credits totaling in $1.1 billion since 2003.

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