MWANANCHI FORUM: Ways to sustainably fund education

Dar es Salaam. As Tanzania strives to ensure the right to education for its people, constraints that deter effective financing of education have been a matter of great concern.

Stakeholders insist that the goal might remain a mere pipe dream unless appropriate measures are taken to address the matter.

That financing of education sector in the country has not been adequate needs not to be overstated. This is so, whether in higher learning education or other levels like primary and secondary schools. Numerous studies conducted in the area have confirmed this, pointing out several factors associated with the phenomenon.

Corruption, a low commitment by some of the government officials and other individuals and the prevalence of problems in other sectors that also need attention are some of the factors blamed on low funding to education. Other factors include budgetary problems associated with inadequate time frame for analysis of expenditure as well as inconsistencies between policies and resource allocation, among others.

The education sector in Tanzania is mostly financed from local sources. Though foreign funding remains important it is still largely unpredictable source of development expenditure in education. According to Unicef, for example, in the 2017/2018 budget, 29 per cent of development funds come from foreign donors, while a year before it contributed 44 per cent of all funds.

In both cases, the United Nations agency points out, “that meant that the contribution to the overall education budget was close to 6 per cent.” In the 2015/2016 budget, this contribution was only 1.6 per cent of the overall budget and 10 per cent of the development budget.

Low financing capacity

Though the government is the major source of finance for basic education, as it has been shown above, it does not have the capacity to cover all costs that are supposed to be incurred in the educational system, according to a study by Mzumbe University researcher, Mr Dominik Msabila published in Academia.

For example, the government is not responsible for the money that covers costs for pupils’ food, uniforms, pencils and pens, exercise books and fare.

Speaking specifically for primary school which his study focused on, Mr Msabila, who has also worked as a curriculum consultant, points out in the study that the financial resources devoted to this level is so limited that it becomes difficult to plan adequately for their distribution.

“The problem confronting educational planners is how much of these meagre funds should be allocated to primary education against other educational sectors.”

The study suggests improved performance of macro and micro economies through proper resource utilisation as one of the ways the government can ensure sustainable financing of education. This is based on the belief that when these economies improve it can be easy for the government and its people to effectively invest in education which in turn will lead to improvement of human capital and later promote productivity.

According to a study by ActionAid International, this will partly require the efficient collection of progressive forms of taxation, and the tackling of tax evasion and avoidance through, for example, deferred tax arrangements to large multi-national corporations.

The Johannesburg-based anti-poverty organisation points out in a study it conducted early this year that Tanzania loses an estimated $531.5m each year to tax harmful incentives and tax treaties. It says: “Just 13.7 per cent of the amount lost could educate all 952,499 girls currently out of primary school.”

A need for a realistic budget

The other issue that stakeholders have been demanding from the policymakers is the setting of a realistic budget. This, they say, can only be possible if local authorities and other stakeholders at the local level are involved in the budgeting process rather than the task being undertaken by the central government only.

In April this year, while addressing journalists on his organisation’s recommendations for the 2019/2020 budget, HakiElimu’s executive director Mr John Kalage reiterated the call, saying “the government [should] allocate a realistic budget that can really set a remarkable step in resolving the long-lasting challenges that have been affecting learning and teaching in public schools.”

Mr Msabila’s study referred to above also suggests that efforts should be directed to devise grant arrangements that can cover the large disparities in the wealth of the local governments. According to the study, the foundation programme is one such grant scheme.

“It ensures that all governments and regions can provide an adequate school programme for each of their pupils at a local tax rate,” it points out. “This should go hand in hand with financing reforms geared towards advancing the interest of low-income groups.”

Significant gaps in the school budget

In December 2015, the government took a bold decision to abolish all school fees and contributions —additional fees charged by schools to pay for the schools’ running costs—previously required to enter lower-secondary schools in the country.

Though the move is arguably one of the most important actions taken by the government so far to implement its ambitious education goals, Human Rights Watch (HRW) pointed out in their 2017 study that the abolition of school fees has left significant gaps in school budgets.

A researcher with Twaweza, a regional advocacy organisation working to improve children’s learning, Mr Godfrey Telli agrees with the HRW’s study, saying that the abolition of the fees and all contributions have discouraged parents from financing their schools.

“We cannot dismiss parents’ contributions to the financing of the schools. The parents’ motivation to do so has been declining, thanks to warnings by political leaders,” said Mr Telli. “The government stopped them to make any contribution and this has caused a lot of confusion surrounding the idea of people funding their respective schools.”

In an interview with The Citizen, Sister Annette Farrel, a Holy Union Sister from Ireland who has been working in Tanzania’s education sector for almost three decades thought the idea of discouraging parents from helping their schools practical only in Tanzania.

“If the government provides you with the primary school or secondary school, in a normal situation the parents of that area needs to be proud and privileged to assist their school through their parents association which does whatever can be done to improve that school,” says the Director of the Holy Union Sisters Debrabant High School in Mbagala, Dar es Salaam.

“Can you imagine a school with 7, 000 students, even if the parents will contribute Sh1, 000 each, how much money would have been collected per month?”