China - Gansu Provincial Development Project : Education Component

The Gansu Provincial Development Project consists of three parts: Agriculture, Education, and Industrial Diversification. The Agriculture Component will benefit one of the poorest areas of China where lack of rainfall constrains crop production and farm incomes. The project will complete construction of the Yindaruqin irrigation scheme, covering 57,000 ha, and will resettle on the newly irrigated land about 15,000 farm families from surrounding drought-stricken areas. It will also include a component to improve rainfed agriculture on some 76,000 ha of the Guanchuan River Basin through soil conservation and improved farming practices. Main features include completion of the feeder channel and the construction of the network of canals and drains down to the service unit for the irrigation scheme; construction of benches, terraces and gully control structures in the rainfed river basin; and improvement of rural roads and power facilities. Training will be provided to improve technical skills in irrigation management and agriculture, and consulting services will be engaged for construction supervision. The Education Component supports the government's efforts to achieve universal basic education by the year 2000, and to improve education quality in primary and lower secondary schools in the province, chiefly by increasing numbers, qualifications, and status of teachers. To achieve this, the project will: (1) expand the capacity of five normal colleges for lower secondary school teachers; (2) upgrade the facilities of 23 normal schools for primary teacher training; (3) assist the Gansu TV Education Institute to expand its in-service training program; (4) improve science instruction in poor lower secondary schools; (5) establish a Center for School Administration to train school and government education administrators; and (6) assist continuing the development of a new school supervision system and the planned improvement to the system for managing educational information. The Industrial Diversification Component was designed to (1) diversify Gansu's economy by supporting technological transformation of rural and light industrial enterprises; (2) assist the Gansu Investment and Trust Company (GITC) to develop into a viable financial institution; (3) develop local capacity to use economic analysis in investment decisions and sectoral analysis in planning; and (4) promote a sustainable local training capability. The project's two components are: (1) a line of credit to finance small- and medium-size projects in rural and light industrial enterprises; and (2) training and technical assistance for capacity building in local implementing agencies.