2. CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.3 Resource Provision in Swaziland Schools
The WB report (2010) points out that school inspectorate reports for the period 2004 to 2008, documented poor maintenance and up-keep of school infrastructure. This showed severe shortage of school furniture. Most schools lacked physical facilities and equipment required to effectively deliver the secondary school curriculum. The unavailability of facilities included special teaching rooms‟ required such as for Design and Technology, Agriculture, Home Economics, Computer Studies, Libraries and Multi-media Centres. „Because most school infrastructure is provided by communities to very uneven standards, available structures do not easily lend themselves to adaptations and/or renovations to suit practical subjects‟ (WB report, 2010). Thus lack of accurate information on resource provision makes it very difficult to plan for provision and to track equity in the provision of such educational resources.
ESSP (2010); WB report (2010) and EDSEC Policy (2011) all report that the MoET made education free for all primary school going age children. Also school fees were standardised at secondary school level. This suggests that a proper mechanism for selecting vulnerable and poor households and children was needed. Liaising with development partners and involving communities in the development of education were efforts aimed at combating poverty and providing relevant teaching and learning materials and equipment. However, all these effort were not successfully achieved due to lack of proper structures in the Ministry to mitigate resource mismanagement in schools. Further, the WB report (2006) notes that formal management training was not a pre-requisite for promotion to head teacher or head of department posts. Moreover, schools received little or no support from Regional Education Officers (REOs). This implies that there is no systematic approach to monitoring administrators‟ accountability for the learning of learners and other resources. School managers do not have any performance targets to work towards and to be evaluated against. This implies that school leaders may not have the competencies required to link their schools with the outside world. A combination of these factors makes head teachers‟ appraisals a bit of an inconsistent exercise and one with no structured follow up.
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The WB report (2010) further shows there was a decline in education for Swaziland spending as a percentage of total government expenditure from 21 percent in 2000 to 17.6 percent in 2007 and projected an increase to 19.2 percent in 2009. The report shows spending on secondary education as a proportion of the sub-sector revenues; the public spends less on secondary than on primary education. Public spending accounted for 74 percent of total revenue. Public subsidies for the poor accounted for 7 percent of total revenue. Around 30,000 or 40 percent of students received an average subsidy of E1500, as shown in table 2.1.
Table 2.1: Financial Resource Information on Secondary Schools Spending World Bank Report on Swaziland Financing of Secondary Schools in 2007
E % of Total
Financing per pupil by source
Public spending 6,895 74.4
Private spending (fees) 2,376 25.6
Total 9,271 100.0
Teacher cost details
Teacher count (A) 4,146
Average teacher pay (B) 97,471
Enrolment (C) 74,429
P/T ratio (D=C/A) 18.0
Financing per pupil by category
Teachers (B/D) 5,430 58.6
Non-teaching staff 86 0.9
Non-personnel recurrent 3,155 34.0
Capital expenditure 600 6.5
Public expenditure on pupil subsistence 0 0.0
Total 9,271 100.0
Source: World Bank Report 2010
The WB report (2010) also indicates that between 2004 and 2008, junior and senior secondary enrolments increased by 19 and 24 percentage points respectively. This expansion notwithstanding, access was still low to support Swaziland‟s growth acceleration and to
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empower the poor. A staggering 74 percent and 88 percent were out of junior secondary and senior secondary levels respectively. These levels of access are low to support Swaziland to attract high-end Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs), improve productivity and be globally competitive. Secondary school books were still privately provided by parents through fees. It is assumed that students have all the prescribed books but this is highly unlikely given cost implications for most students. The WB report (2006) documents that schools often owed bookstores because of difficulties in collecting fees. Beyond the process of prescribing books, and provision of other material resources is mostly unguided.
The WB report (2010) further reveals that due to lack of a book policy, the management of secondary school book provision varies widely across schools. Some schools annually rent textbooks to students for a quarter of their cost yet others require them to buy books. For rented books, inspectorate reports showed that schools varied widely in their ability to collect books at the end of each year. “Failure to collect books artificially shortens the life span of the books and increases replacement costs” (WB report, 2010 p. 42). Some schools order books directly from bookshops yet others provide students lists to buy directly. The unevenness in provision and management as well as problems with fee collection suggests that accurate data is required on the state of book provision. Also, beyond provision of resources, inspectors‟ reports are very scant on the effective use of books and instructional materials other than just highlighting the lack of teaching aids in some schools. Yet effective use of resources is really what determines the impact of books and instructional materials on learners‟ performance. Currently secondary school books are imported and are therefore very costly. A recent initiative to develop books locally is expected to bring down costs.
The NETIP (2013) reports that the Swaziland Human Development Index (HDI) had deteriorated and had pulled down by a combined low life expectancy at birth and the low combined Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) for primary, secondary and tertiary education in 2012.
In addition, the Government‟s national budget for the financial year 2013/2014, announced in Parliament on 22 February 2013, continued to allocate MoET a significantly larger budget share than was awarded to any other Ministry, with MoET total equal 2.17 billion Emalangeni (E), plus an additional E126.3 million for capital expenditure. This in all gives 18 percent of the total national budget (excluding statutory), however, the nominal MoET budget increase from the previous year, E150 million, was only barely sufficient to keep pace with the rate of inflation, and with a significant increase in total enrolments in the education and training
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sector, must represent a decline in expenditure per learner in real terms. The NETIP (2013) shows that a budget allocation to improving access and equity, improving quality and relevance, improving delivery and efficiency in secondary education amounts to E722,845,444 (NETIP, 2013 p. 13). In such a situation this study sought to investigate improvements done in the way educational resources are generated and provided in schools and verify policy implementation in schools regarding resource sustainability.
The Development of Education National Report (2008) highlights that the MoET provides learning materials (textbooks and stationery), furniture, equipment, construction of physical structure required for the execution of education in schools and teacher training institutions throughout the country. The challenge is that the increase in primary school enrolments is not matched with the increase in infrastructure at secondary school level to absorb pupils from Grade 7. The funds allocated for educational grants do not match the number of children who genuinely need the grant. The bursary funds do not cater for all the fees therefore, learners are sent home for outstanding fees or top-up fees.
The number of resources provided to schools leaves a lot to be desired. The question is, are they fairly distributed to cater for all learners or are they well maintained and managed for the sustenance of education in the country. In this study I sought to investigate the availability of physical and material resources in schools. I also sought to examine the strategies for generating resources that can help schools function efficiently effectively in the dynamic environments they operate in.