GENDER ACTION PLAN: MEDP-MORA EXPERIENCE

Loan 2294-Indonesia: Madrasah Education Development Project

Jamaludin Abdullah Amin Ministry of Religious Affairs 11 September 2013
The views expressed in this paper are the views of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), or its Board of Governors, or the governments they represent. ADB does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this paper and accepts no responsibility for any consequence of their use. The countries listed in this paper do not imply any view on ADB's part as to sovereignty or independent status or necessarily conform to ADB's terminology.

Indonesias Madrasah Education Sector

Out of 235,000 schools and Madrasahs, about 82% are under MOEC (general school) and 18% are Madrasahs.
90% of the Madrasahs are private.

50 million students enrolled in the primary and junior secondary education system in 2013: 87% in MOEC schools, 13% in Madrasahs.
3 levels of Madrasah education are formalized: Madrasah Ibtidaiyah (MI, Grades 1-6), Madrasah Tsanawiyah (MTs, Grades 7-9), and Madrasah Aliyah (MA, Grades 10-12), equivalent to elementary, junior secondary and senior secondary of the MOEC-education system.

Madrasahs serve mostly the poor rural students and attract more female students (52%).
Social norms and proximity are the key reasons for parents to send girls to Madrasahs.

Project Background
Project Impact Increased level of educational attainment and productivity among new entrants in the labor force; and increased rates of formal employment and household incomes.
Project Outcome Improved quality of Madrasah education from primary to senior secondary levels in 500 madrasah schools in 3 provinces and 27 districts, giving 120,000 students (about 60,000 girls) the immediate benefit of a better education.
Executing Agency: Ministry of Religious Affairs Timeline: June 2007 (effectiveness) Dec 2012 Total Project Costs: $71.2 million with $50.2 million from Loan

Gender Issues and Action Plan:

Quality of Madrasah education to prepare male and female students to be more competitive in higher level of education and in the labor market on a sustainable basis. Disparity of participation between male and female staff in school management and leadership. The proportion of female staff declines at the higher school levels and at the management level.

GAP Features:
Establishing targets for girls and females beneficiaries by ensuring that at least 30% of the female teacher participants in the degree upgrading; 40% female participants in professional certification; and 40% women in short-term training activities. Ensuring that at least 50% of the participating Madrasahs have separate well-functioning toilets for boys and girls.

3. At least 50% of transition scholarships are allocated for female students to encourage girls to stay at school.

GAP Features:
To advance the quality of education to ensure that: at least two masters degrees (S2) and one PhD fellowship (S3) are provided for women; at least 95% of Madrasahs have functioning Madrasah Committee (MCs) of which at least 30% of members are women. Gender training is included in Madrasah based management and Madrasah leadership

Results and Achievements

7 Out of 11 Targets Achieved

40.44%
(163 of 403)
of the female teachers enrolled in bachelors degree

(Target 30%)

Results and Achievements

52.5%
(4,955 of 9,433) (Target 40%)

Female teachers participated in trainings on subject content

Results and Achievements

49 %
(73 of 149)
women teachers participated in professional certification

Target 40%

Results and Achievements

94.6 %
(477 of 500) (Target 50%)

Madrasahs have separate toilets for boys and girls

Results and Achievements

42 %
183,420 of 436,081
Students (female) attained remedial programs

(Target: 50%)

Results and Achievements

43%
4,397 of 10,265

students receiving transition scholarships are female

(Target: 50%)

Results and Achievements

Efforts made in fulfilling the qualitative

target for incorporating gender training in

Madrasah Based Management (MBM) and Madrasah Leadership.
Leadership Development' training Modules: 'Gender Responsive Leadership in Madrasah, 'Women Leadership in Madrasah' and 'Gender Sensitive Madrasah Culture In MBM modules, gender perspectives were well covered on how to integrate gender perspective in Madrasah management and how to improve women participation in Madrasah management.

Gender Equity Results

Participation, access to project resources and practical benefits

Improved girls access through scholarships Transition for 4,397 female student (43%), (project target 40%). 10,265 poor students (4,397 [43%] female students) received small scholarships to help them continuing to the next higher level of education. The transition rates of students from primary madrasah (MI) to MTs increased to 99.7% for both female and male students (project target 95%).

Gender Equity Results

Participation, access to project resources and practical benefits

Better academic achievement for boys and girls. Students benefited from remedial coaching programs to improve their learning outcomes. The coaching programs, which were mainly conducted by the madrasah teachers before or after the regular school sessions, contributed to improve the student achievements during the national exams. The overall repetition rate decreased from 1.78% at the project beginning to 1.46% at project completion, The repetition rate for female students decreased from 1.33% to 0.98%.

Gender Equity Results

Participation, access to project resources and practical benefits

Improved Teaching-Learning Environment 473 (95%) out of 500 project madrasahs provided separate toilet for female and male students; and 227 project Madrasahs (45%) also provided separate toilet for female and male teachers. The provision of separate toilets, persuaded parents to allow female students to go to school even though during menstuation. Female students feel happy and more secure.

Gender Equity Results

Strategic changes in gender relations Membership in MCs by mothers made them feel empowered, as a result of which they gained the confidence to speak out at MC meetings, often against predominantly male views. Several women MC members indicated that they were able to fully participate in MC meetings, that their involvement was appreciated. Women MC members were able to exert influence over the decision-making in a range of activities, especially related to how resources from the block grant were spent.

Gender Equity Results

Contribution of gender equality results to overall loan outcomes and effectiveness The GAP is integral to the project and has made significant contribution to the overall project and outcome, especially since women and girls are intended to be significant beneficiaries of the MEDP. By considering gender equality through the implementation of the GAP, MEDP has ensured that all students, boys and girls alike, will improve their learning outcomes.

Challenges
While trainings improved the quality of teaching and the qualification of male and female teachers, more effort is needed to support Madrasahs to be more gender responsive in terms of design of learning process and materials A key challenge is the low representation of women in Madrasah Committees (MC). Although all participating Madrasahs have functioning MCs and overall, the membership for women is 23% (below 30% of target), many of the MCs have no female members at all.

Lessons Learnt
Low female involvement in Madrasah Committees: Traditionally, women rarely participate in school management and in other community activities Womens limited participation are reportedly womens lack of time and capacity.

Lessons Learnt
The value of teacher training on girls education:
Training and degree upgrading of female teachers improved their capacities and confidence. Training enabled female teachers to change the way they taught students, by innovation, through more interactive learning and by making learning more fun for students.
Improved teacher skills led to increasing respect from students in the class, thus raising the positive perception of both female and male teachers by the community. Improved positive perception of Madrasahs from the community eventually will increase parents trust to educate their children in Madrasahs.

Lessons Learnt and Way Forward

For future projects: Capacity-building activities and setting meetings at a time convenient for mothers will encourage more women to participate in MCs. Setting a target of female membership for each MC, rather than an aggregate target for all MCs, would ensure more female membership in each Madrasah. The quantitative targets should also be accompanied with qualitative indicators to ensure that Madrasahs develop a strategy to improve the targets.

Thank You Terima Kasih