Sector Assistance Program Evaluation on Education in Uzbekistan

 
54. 
Project implementation, outputs, and outcomes. 
A large number of lessons relate to 
the implementation of projects that often end up emphasizing outputs over outcomes. This is 
especially relevant to process-oriented projects like education that seek to introduce innovations 
in the teaching–learning and assessment systems of a country. For example, in vocational and 
technical education, the procurement of a new building, machinery, and equipment should 
hardly be seen as an end product. Likewise, demonstrating practical applications to students 
instead of letting them do and practice with their own hands robs them of a learning opportunity. 
In student-centered learning, it is critical that the pace of the curriculum be set by the teachers’ 
absorption of new knowledge and skills, before they can impart it to their students. It is often the 
case that the teachers themselves were not exposed to the new methods when they were 
studying or training to become teachers.
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It also underscores the lesson that in the case of 
knowledge-based innovations, the best results are often obtained by exposing potential users to 
international best practices.
55. 
On a more practical level of project administration, the PCRs note that ADB should have 
laid more emphasis on ensuring that the different aspects of project implementation were 
carried out as appraised and agreed with the government. Project steering committees did not 
meet regularly or function effectively. There should have been more insistence on loan 
covenants. Further, there are issues of capacity in the government generally and in the 
education sector in particular. This has been a constant challenge confronting ADB’s portfolio 
management. While project officers are expected to be trained and experienced, qualified 
project staff stays away from these temporary project positions with lower than market salaries. 
These observations by operational staff clearly reveal a certain laxity in project administration. 
Whereas a lot of effort seems to have gone into designing good projects, the implementation 
was not always carried out with equal commitment. The PCRs note several administrative and 
process-oriented shortcomings (Appendix 5, Table A5.2).