The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors on Friday approved further financing equivalent to 59 million US dollars for Mozambique’s Education Sector Support Project (ESSP).

According to a World Bank press release, the money will be channeled through the Education Sector Support Fund (FASE). This is a mechanism that currently receives contributions from nine donors to support implementation of the Education Strategic Plan, for the period 2016-2019.

The World Bank country director for Mozambique, Mark Lundell, declared “I’m pleased with this additional financing in times of acute fiscal distress. It will contribute to much needed assistance and ensure the continuation and delivery of key education services, particularly to the most vulnerable who tend to beat the brunt in times of crises”.

The release says that the additional funding “will scale up activities focused on addressing key bottlenecks to improving learning outcomes in the first cycle of primary education and enhancing the sector’s efficiency. Some of these activities include improving school readiness; enhancing the learning environment and enhancing school management and governance”.

The World Bank notes that the Education Strategic Plan aims to improve the quality of education, particularly in primary schools, “in response to evidence of low learning outcomes and issues with retention of pupils in the first cycle of primary education”.

The release states that this additional funding “is consistent with the World Bank’s twin goals of ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity through access to education”.

The money is in the form of a credit from the International Development Association (IDA), which is the branch of the World Bank group that provides soft loans to developing countries, at low interest rates and with long repayment periods.

Source: AllAfrica