Azerbaijan, Baku, 3 March / Trend corr I. Khalilova /Official negotiations between the World Bank (WB) and the Azerbaijani Government concerning the 3rd project of the educational system reform in Azerbaijan has begun today, the WB Baku Office said on 3 March. The WB mission headed by the Senior Education Specialist Juan Manuel Moreno arrived in Baku for negotiations.
The bank is ready to allocate a soft credit in the sum of $25mln through the International Development Association to implement the project [35 years with a grace period of 10 years under interest rate of 0.75%]. However, Azerbaijani Government's share in the project will be specified during negotiations, as the total cost of the project has already exceeded $50mln, though earlier $30mln was forecasted.
The project envisages improvement of secondary education, pre-school education and vocational education.
The Education Ministry established a working group to develop the Strategy on development of vocational and secondary education. The key purpose of the Strategy is integration of vocational lyceums and schools, as well as secondary specialized schools for optimization of the vocational education. The situation with the vocational education is very bad in the country and its improvement requires much funds. Through assignments to this fields increase each year, the funds are not enough.
That will be WB's 3rd credit intended for reforming the educational system in Azerbaijan, but as in the 2008 fiscal year the quota for soft financing in the education field will expire, the last credit may be allocated to improve the reforms in higher education. A special project is being developed in this connection, according to the WB Baku Office.
The educational project is intended for the educational reforming program which was launched in 2003. The purpose of the program is to improve the education and fundamental change of the field. The total cost of the project makes up $20.99mln, with $18mln allocated by the WB.
WB's first credit in the sum of $5mln was allotted to Azerbaijan in 1999.
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