Consultancy: Support to Primary Education Development - Structural Engineer

Objective and Purpose of the Assignment

Fourth primary education development program (PEDP4) is to provide quality education to all children of Bangladesh from pre-primary up to Grade 5 through an efficient, inclusive and equitable education system. The result areas of the programs are 1: Quality (Curriculum, Textbooks and Teaching-Learning Materials, Teacher Recruitment and Deployment, Teacher Education, Continuous Professional Development, ICT in Education, Assessments and Examinations, Pre-Primary Education), 2. Equitable Access and participation (Needs-Based Infrastructure, Maintenance of educational infrastructure, Water and Sanitary Hygiene (WASH), Out-of-School Children, Special Education Needs and Disability, Education in Emergencies, Communications and Social Mobilization), 3. Governance, Financing and Management (Data Systems for Decision-Making, Institutional Strengthening, Strengthened Budgets, Procurement and financial management for PEDP4). To achieve the second result area, consultancy inputs are required for a study on disaster resilience for schools.

Scope of work

The structural engineer will support the TA executing agency, Ministry of Primary Education (MOPME), and the TA implementing agency, Directorate of Primary Education (DPE) in coordinating with the civil works implementing agencies to conduct an assessment and develop an action plan for strengthening the resilience of school infrastructure in view of specific disaster risk, for both constructions and major maintenances. The risk assessment will pay special attention to the return periods of prevailing hazards, impact of climate change, topographic and geologic features of construction sites, structural and non-structural design features of school prototypes, and the resilience of critical lifelines. The disaster risk reduction action plan will propose, prioritize, and cost interventions that will strengthen the structural and non-structural safety of new school infrastructure as well as the approach for maintenances and contribute to continuity of education during future disasters.

Necessary revision of the other prototype designs will be suggested for follow-up actions by the civil works implementing agencies. Based on the requirement for disaster resilience, the consultant shall guide the civil works implementing agencies on incorporating disaster resilience measures into the standard bid documents for contracting and monitoring constructors. The structural engineer shall have solid experience in assessing disaster risk in infrastructure projects and documented skills in strengthening disaster resilience of public civil works. 

The consultant will report to social sector specialist in Bangladesh Resident Mission. The government counterparts are the Directorate of Primary Education (DPE), Local Government Engineering Department (LGED), and Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE) and will work closely with GIS-based disaster risk mapping specialist (international) and disaster risk management specialist (national).