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Issues in financing EFA, governance, decentralisation & accountability Education financing: improving but still generally insufficient • Education spending as percentage of total Government expenditure in South Asia in 19942004 was only 4% compared to 14% for defense. • Latest data from UIS show a much better range of spending from 11% in India and Pakistan to 15% in Maldives and Bangladesh (but still below 20% benchmark being advocated) • Public education expenditures as percentage of GDP ranges from 2.25% in Pakistan to 7.72% in Maldives (also still below international recommendation) Some notable financing incentives for the disadvantaged India – Cess – mid-day meals (120 million children) Nepal – school uniforms for the needy – scholarships for girls and for socially disadvantaged groups Bangladesh – Food for Education (40% of primary) – cash stipends for children of poor families – stipend schemes to retain girls in rural secondary schools Pakistan – scholarships for girls in poor geographic regions – professional qualifications for girls to become teachers The low spending level … • Exacerbates disparities and inequity in education. It creates gaps in the education system that affects most especially the poor, the marginalized and the vulnerable • Become excuse for school fees and non-formal contribution, which force poor children to drop out of school e.g. An Education Watch study of the Campaign for Popular Education in Bangladesh has found that meagerness of resources has partially been mitigated by household spending on education. For example, 59% of spending per primary schoolchild come from household sources. Most reported item of cost parents incur is coaching by private tutors (43%) • Encourages increasing privatization of the school system and discriminates against those who cannot afford,thus, perpetuates elitism in education system. The low spending level impacts on quality of education delivered to schoolchildren… • Low spending level translates into inadequate and poor infrastructure, lack of textbook and teaching materials, and massive teacher vacancies. • To cut on cost, teachers remain poorly paid with little or no benefits and incentives for self-development. • Para-teachers are hired with much lower compensation; and teachers are forced to overload with more and bigger classes to handle. • There is no option but to put in most of the available budget into recurrent expenditures (salaries) with almost nothing left for development of programmes to address quality of mainstream education and alternative and innovative education. • In turn, one of the major reasons for low completion rates is poor quality of education. Needed for Adult Illiterates/year at $100/learner benchmark Needed for Youth Illiterates/year at $100/learner benchmark Bangladesh $4.3 billion $966 million India $26.8 billion $4.6 billion Maldives $0.6 million $0.1 million Nepal $766 million $142.7 million Pakistan $4.8 billion $1.2 billion Sri Lanka $138 million $16.8 million GMR 2008 data for illiterates 1999-2004 Policy challenges : • Progressive increase the budget for basic education consistent with international benchmarks of 20% of national budgets and 6% of GDP • Research on “How Much Does EFA Cost? Estimate and provide sufficient funds to achieve full EFA goals and address the needs of special groups of learners • Link ups among policies, plans and budgets and reduction of lag time between policy pronouncements and fund flows • Adequate funding for greater coverage of subsidies specifically for the poor – such as mid-day meals and scholarship programs for the dalits and other excluded groups. • More funds are allocated to non-salary components, including quality enhancing programs. • Filling the huge gap of teacher vacancies especially to ensure parity in recruitment of female teachers and their professional development • Elimination of all direct and indirect user fees to basic education to make it really a universal right • Innovative financing schemes special taxes • Efficiency of fund flows timely release of allocations in sync with the school calendar • E.g. textbooks becoming available only in mid-year • Monitoring and accounting for resource generated at local levels, especially with the push towards decentralisation • Clarifying the notion of ‘constituencies’ of local government units that it does not translate to marginalisation of internal migrant families • Fully resourced M & E system in place with institutionalised funds for info dissemination at all tiers and not just databases that remain in computers in central offices • Improving the financial accountability processes to clearly delineate responsibilities • E.g. District level officers in one country would rather spend only 35% of planned budgets to avoid having to account to the Auditors External aid was committed at Dakar from the North to fill the financing gaps of the South. The increases in external aid flows increasingly benefited lowerincome countries. • Regional distribution of aid for education changed with more shares of total going to South & West Asia (from 12% to 20%) e.g. Bangladesh & India got 75% of UK aid to basic education and 50% of IDA’s in 2004 • Basic education got more attention with 90% increase from 2000 to 2004 Issues around new trends in education aid: 1. Swaps (sector-wide approach) & Budgetary support •Harmonization and alignment objectives both between donors and govt and also among donors themselves: Bangladesh 14 donors Pakistan, India 12 Nepal 9 •However, issues of risk avoidance and complicated fund flows due to governance and public financial management issues •Issues of effective policy dialogue (e.g. on quality), coordination (monitoring of donors) and ownership, as well as civil society involvement 2. While aid to education was targeted to the poorest countries as a group, it did not necessarily go to the neediest among them. Donors also starting to focus on fewer countries. Aid to Basic Educ per Aid to Basic Educ per primary-age child primary-age child 2004, in US $ 2005, in US $ Countries Out-of-school children Bangladesh 399,000 42 6 6,395,000 8 0 702,000 54 3 Maldives 13,000 20 19 Pakistan 6,303,000 7 10 47,000 3 26 - - - India Nepal Sri Lanka Bhutan Source: GMR 2008 Annual growth rate of domestic expenditure and aid for education 1999-2005 (from GMR 2008) PUBLIC EDUC EXPEND. EDUC AID 0-5% 0-10% 10-20% 20-30% India 5-10% 30-40% 40-50% Pakistan Nepal Bangladesh 10-15% 15-20% Cambodia Source: GMR 2008, 1999-2004 data 3. Issues around real impact of aid to education • Studies suggest that on average increasing aid to education by 1% of recipient county’s GDP increases net primary enrolment ratios by 2.5 to 5% and completion rates by 2.5% • But with poor governance, impact of aid to education may even be negative (e.g. misallocation; systemic wastage Main Policy Challenges: • Improving the governance structures (flatter & broader) • Capacity-building in technical and fiscal areas Policy challenges around governance and decentralisation • Where is the EFA unit located and what is its clout in current structure? • What government body spearheads the efforts around EFA to bring in all inter-Ministerial coordination and the involvement of civil society and other stakeholders? • Popularization of EFA goals and targets even within all levels of the Ministry of Education and among school managers and rank-and-file teachers • Strengthened capacity in multi-year planning and budgeting, arguing out the case for EFA with Parliamentarians and Minsistry of Planning and Finance Decentralization Challenges in South Asia • Decentralization of education governance has become a clear trend in South Asia in recent years. The shift away from a strong centralized system entails devolution of powers and service delivery to local authorities (specifically to province and districts); fiscal autonomy/increase roles in revenue generation, budgeting and disbursement; and increase participation of local stakeholders in education governance – empowering citizens and strengthening school councils. • Devolution is transfer management and operations of basic education to the local bodies -- vested with powers to identify the educational needs of the community, formulate educational plans, implement and monitor them. • Decentralised budgeting allows participation of schools and local bodies in preparing, authorizing and implementing the budget; provides local authorities with powers to make substantial changes in the school system. School Management Committees: • In most countries of South Asia, school-base management system exist: • School Management Committees (SMC) in Nepal and Pakistan • Village Education Committee (VEC) in India • Composition: varies but usually includes representatives from parents, school officials, teachers and local councils and students • Functions (again these vary): • • • • • • • • • Day-to-day management of school Serve as link between school and community Rapport building between the district office and the community. Administer specific projects, such as school meals, etc. Formulate school improvement plans Evaluate teacher performance Mobilizing resources to meet school needs Locating and supervising construction of new schools/facilites Local procurement Issues related to decentralization • Lack of political will to shift to decentralized mode • Reluctance of central office to yield powers (In practice, local bodies have only limited authority and control, esp. in fund management ) • Functions off-loaded without the requisite administrative and financial support • Lack of local participation/consultation in design and planning for decentralization • Lack appreciation of EFA and MDG commitments • Decentralized system still inefficiency in budget and funding processes • Political interference/meddling at the local level • Need to strengthen districts e.g. Study by Pakistan Coalition for Education showed need for: • Development of necessary rules, regulations and working mechanisms to work as a team, ensure transparency and prevent abuse of powers. • Clear operating procedures at the district level, which will have the added advantage of deterring provincial and political interference • Activation of Accountability Committees • Bridging of coordination gap between the education department and the district government • Reducing federal and provincial governments’ operational involvement in education at District level Issues related to school management committees • Committees do not exist in many places; many are just ‘paper’ committees • Committees not properly organized; members not aware about roles and responsibilities • Lack of school autonomy • School committees too politicized • Not properly trained to assume greater roles in school governance • Lack of participation and time of local stakeholders • Poor info system; lack of access to information • Poor coordination between school officials and parents • Strong external pressures (from donors and banks) without regard to local situation, circumstances and processes Requirements for more successful Decentralization: • Strong political will to shift to decentralized mode • Familiarization of local bodies on education issues and international commitments • Adequate time and proper phasing • Genuine involvement of local community • Upgraded local capacity • Resources for effective transition • A shift in the ‘internal culture’ that rewards responsibility and accountability Thank you! For the South Asia Mid-Term Policy Conference Kathmandu, Nepal 16-19 June 2008 The ASPBAE POLICY ADVOCACY TEAM & Education Watch Asia-Pacific Network of National Education Coalitions Real World Strategies for Education for All ASPBAE / Global Campaign for Education