Objectives and Justification

The secondary schools scholarships program objectives will be to ensure increased education opportunities for students with high academic merit from the poorest and disadvantaged families, especially girls and ethnic minorities, through a gradual increase in the number of targeted scholarships for the poor.

The long-term strategic objective of this program is to increase enrolment, retention and progression of students from the poorest families in secondary education.

Key Targets and Objectives » Up

• Award of scholarships to 20,000 poor students per annum, of which 60% will be to girls
• Mobilization of donor funding to further support scholarship program

Strategy and Coverage » Up

The program strategy is to offset the direct costs of attending secondary school and the perceived and real opportunity cost for poor families. The first component will be to provide scholarships for disadvantaged poor groups for grades 7-9.The second component will be to provide merit driven scholarships for the poor in both urban and rural schools, based on the poor indexes with higher stipends for model school admission.

School selection is based on WFP poverty index, targeting the poorest communes. The program was introduced in 215 lower secondary schools in 17 provinces in 2003/04. The program will be expanded to upper secondary level in 2006/07, covering all model upper secondary schools and selected rural upper secondary schools. MoEYS will review the financial feasibility of broadening the coverage to include donor-supported scholarship schools (e.g., JFPR, BETT) after project completion.

The program will provide cash incentives for selected scholarship students. In order to support improved gender equity and equitable access to secondary education,

Against agreed allocations and criteria, school/community organizations and village councils will be responsible for undertaking the final selection of beneficiaries. This program will be linked to the lower secondary and upper secondary expansion and model schools investment programs.

Main Programmes and Activities » Up

• Lower Secondary Scholarships provide cash incentives to students for grades 7 to 9 selected as being children from the poorest families and various other disadvantaged groups, including girls and ethnic minorities. Girls will represent a minimum of 60% of all scholarships students in the selected schools.
• Upper Secondary Scholarships for grades 10 to 12 scholarships will be mainly merit-driven, but also poverty-indexed, based on grade 9 examination scores and other selection criteria for students attending in both model and rural upper secondary schools with possible higher stipends for model school students. Girls will represent a minimum of 60% of all scholarships students in the selected schools.
• School Based Committees Operational Budgets provides operational budgets for local management committee to plan implement and monitor the scholarship program at the school/community level.

Program Management and Monitoring » Up

The program management will be highly decentralized with schools/communities assuming key management responsibilities. In the short-term, DGE will be the designated central BMC for the program, responsible for policy and strategic planning and management and accounting for funds. In addition, the central BMC will be responsible for: (i) formulating targeting criteria and coverage of the program using EMIS and other poverty surveys; (ii) prepare operational guidelines and indicative provincial and school allocations; and (iii) overall program progress monitoring and impact assessment.

The Provincial Education Departments will set up a Scholarship Management Team (SMT) for provincial-level management and monitoring, and providing technical support to schools and communities. At the school/community level, a Local Management Committee (LMC) will be set up at the selected schools, chaired by the school directors, for the day-to-day operations of the program. LMCs will be responsible for student selection, scholarship funds disbursement, progress monitoring and financial management and accounting. The DGE will arrange sample technical audits with Gender Mainstreaming Team participation and IG will arrange sample internal financial audits.

Financing Plan » Up

The financing plan focuses on the recurrent budget of the scholarships program. Additional funds from some donors (e.g. JFPR, BETT) will be reflected in the capital budget, but managed through the same MoEYS management operation in DGE.

Table 12: Scholarships/Incentives For Equitable Access Financing Plan

Activities	Costs in Riels millions
	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010
1. Lower secondary scholarship/incentives	4,000	4,000	4,000	4,000	4,000
2. Upper secondary scholarships/incentives	600	2,200	4,500	6800	9400
3. School based committee operation	200	200	200	200	200
4. Monitoring & management	200	200	200	200	200
Resources: Total	5,000	6,600	8,900	11,200	13,800

Capacity building needs » Up

• Enhance the capacity of school/community organizations in operational planning and implementation of the scholarship program.
• Build capacity for central and provincial MoEYS planners and managers in poverty targeted program planning and budget allocation. This activity also aims to strengthen MoEYS monitoring, evaluation and operational research capacity in assessing poverty impact of the program.