ADB pledges continued support for pry education reforms

During the meeting, Bobby Hajjaj said the government had been investing in various areas of primary education, including infrastructure development, teacher training, curriculum and teachers' guide preparation, educational materials, and school improvement grants.

However, he stressed that ensuring the actual benefits of these investments required direct monitoring of classroom teaching and students' learning outcomes.

The government is therefore placing greater emphasis on the realities of classroom instruction, teachers' teaching methods, and students' learning progress, he said.

Regarding PEDP-5, the state minister said the government had decided to divide the programme into several separate projects to make its activities and financing more focused, feasible and results-oriented.

Initially, six individual projects are planned to cover different areas, including infrastructure development and teacher training.

This approach will help clearly identify development partners' financing commitments, project activities and expected outcomes, he said, assuring that activities and commitments under existing development partnerships would continue.

The state minister also called for greater engagement from development partners in non-formal education and skills development.

He noted that bringing the country's large population under skills development and lifelong learning initiatives would require long-term investment alongside government efforts.

There is considerable scope for launching large-scale projects in these sectors with the participation of the ADB and other international development partners, he added.

ADB Country Director Zhang Qingfeng praised the ongoing reform initiatives under Bobby Hajjaj's leadership, particularly his visits to schools at the grassroots level and direct interactions with teachers.