Friday, September 2 2005 11:14 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Washington: Keen to share India's vision of 'Education for All,' the World Bank has commended its largest borrower country for its District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) saying that the project has brought back primary education to the centre stage of national agenda.

The Bank also praised the country, one of its founding members, for its initiatives in e-governance to reduce corruption and said it first looks forward to India for new development ideas.

"The Bank shares India's vision of 'Education for All.' The most significant contribution of DPEP has been its success in bringing primary education to the centre stage of the nation's agenda," the World Bank, the largest financier for the programme, said in its review after an interaction with India.

What began with 42 districts in seven states in 1994 has spread to 242 districts in 15 states with over 50 million primary school children and over one million teachers at more than 375,000 schools, the Bank said.

Promising "support" to India's initiative in e-governance, the Bank said that the country was planning to use internet technology to reduce corruption and increase public accountability.

The review also commended the Karnataka government's 'Bhoomi Project' in which 20 million records of land ownership was computerised benefiting seven million families of rural areas saying it "reduced corruption and saved time and costs."

The Bank is also bringing its assistance to the state level. Although the Bank's financing is still channeled through national government, it has reached an agreement that allows a significant amount of this to go to some of India's poorest states, the review said.