Africa Education Watch Good Governance Lessons for Primary Education
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10 HEAD AFRICA EDUCATION WATCH GOOD GOVERNANCE LESSONS FOR PRIMARY EDUCATION www.transparency.org www.transparency.org Transparency International is the global civil society organisation leading the fight against corruption. Through more than 90 chapters worldwide and an international secretariat in Berlin, Germany, TI raises awareness of the damaging effects of corruption and works with partners in government, business and civil society to develop and implement effective measures to tackle it. Programme management: Stéphane Stassen Authors: Laetitia Antonowicz, Frédéric Lesné, Stéphane Stassen and John Wood Contributions: Doris Bäsler and Juanita Riaño Editing: Deborah Unger Design: frischdesign.com Front cover © Alfredo Caliz/Panos Pictures National coordinations: Ghana: Vitus Azeem and Gilbert Sam (Ghana Integrity Initiative) Madagascar: Florent Adriamahavonjy (TI Initiative Madagascar) Morocco: Azeddine Akesbi and Amina Debbagh (Transparency Maroc) Niger: Wada Maman and Nouhou Naino (Association Nigérienne de Lutte contre la Corruption) Senegal: Fatoumata Hane and Fatou Jupiter Sarr (Forum Civil) Sierra Leone: Salia Kpaka (National Accountability Group) Uganda: Robert Lugolobi, Edison Nsubunga and Paul Onapa (TI Uganda) ISBN: 978-3-935711-42-5 © 2010 Transparency International. All rights Reserved. Printed on 100% recycled paper Every effort has been made to verify the accuracy of the information contained in this report. All information was believed to be correct as of February 2010. Nevertheless, Transparency International cannot accept responsibility for the consequences of its use for other purposes or in other contexts. CONTENTS List of Tables and Figures II Abbreviations III Terminology III Executive Summary IV 1 Introduction 1 2 Education and governance background 2 2.1 Governance in education 2 2.2 The regional education context 3 2.3 Corruption issues in education 3 3 Country contexts 5 3.1 Political and socio-economic background 5 3.2 Primary education 6 3.3 Development architecture 6 3.4 Anti-corruption 7 4 Survey findings 8 4.1 Primary education resources 8 4.2 Access to information 10 4.3 Participation 14 4.4 Accountability 18 4.5 Corrupt practices 20 5 Conclusions and recommendations 24 5.1 Clarification of roles and responsibilities of national, regional and district stakeholders 24 5.2 Strengthening legal frameworks for school budgets and financial records 25 5.3 Local accountability frameworks 26 5.4 Stakeholders’ engagement and empowerment 27 Annex 1. The Africa Education Watch programme 29 Annex 2. Survey methodology and sampling 30 Annex 3. Target regions for country surveys 32 Annex 4. Bibliography 33 Endnotes 34 List of Tables Table 1: Corruption in education 4 Table 2: Political and socio-economic indicators of participating countries 5 Table 3: Key characteristics of participating countries’ primary education systems 6 Table 4: Key primary education indicators in participating countries 7 Table 5: Percentage of households that identified specific problems in schools and filed complaints 19 List of Figures Figure 1: Financial flows and corruption risks in primary education 9 Figure 2: Percentage of schools that do not display financial information 11 Figure 3: Percentage of parents who have not tried to access financial information about their child’s school 11 Figure 4: Reasons given by parents for not trying to access school financial information 12 Figure 5: Proportion of head teachers who say that they are informed about the amount and dispatch timing of public resources (cash and kind) for their school 12 Figure 6: Proportion of schools without any financial documentation, with incomplete financial documentation and with complete financial documentation 14 Figure 7: Proportion of parents and head teachers who think that “parents can influence school decisions” 15 Figure 8: Proportion of parents who do NOT know if their school have PTAs and SMCs 16 Figure 9: Proportion of head teachers or SMC members who say they have received training in financial management 17 Figure 10: Proportion of parents who think that decision-making is transparent in SMCs and PTAs 18 Figure 11: Proportion of parents who report paying registration fees 20 Figure 12: Average amount parents reported paying as a “registration fee” 21 Figure 13: Proportion of head teachers and heads of PTAs who think resources are sometimes embezzled before reaching their school 22 Figure 14: Proportion of parents, head teachers and heads of PTAs who think “The education system is affected by corruption” 23 II Transparency International Abbreviations AEW Africa Education Watch EFA Education for All HDI Human Development Index MDG Millennium Development Goals MoE Ministry of Education MoF Ministry of Finance NGO Non-Governmental Organisation PTA Parent-Teacher Association SMC School Management Committee SPIP School Performance Improvement Plan SWAp Sector Wide Approaches TI Transparency International Terminology The present report uses consistent terminology to refer to specific actors or institutions in the education system: head teachers, School Management Committees, Parent-Teacher Associations and District Education Officers. The table below presents the national equivalents of these terms in each of the seven countries. School Management Parent-Teacher Country Head Teacher District Official Committee Association School Management Parent-Teacher Ghana Education Ghana Head teacher Committee Association Service (GES) Comité de gestion Association de Circonscription scolaire Madagascar Directeur d’école scolaire/FAF parents d’élèves/FRAM (CISCO) Directeur Comité de gestion Association de parents Morocco Délégation provinciale d’établissement scolaire scolaire et tuteurs d'élèves Comité de gestion Association de Direction régionale et Niger Directeur d’école scolaire parents d’élèves inspection Inspection Départe- Comité de gestion Association de parents Senegal Directeur d’école mentale de l’Education scolaire d’élèves Nationale (IDEN) School Management Parent-Teacher District Education Sierra Leone Head teacher Committee Association Official School Management Parent-Teacher District Education Uganda School head teacher Committee Association Officer (DEO) Africa Education Watch III EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Introduction About this report This report presents a regional overview of accountability In each of these countries, the TI Chapters reviewed how and transparency in primary education management in primary education is financed and implemented field surveys seven African countries. It has been produced within the and interviews to assess the quality of governance in schools framework of Africa Education Watch (AEW). AEW is a three- and transparency in the management of their resources. year programme (2007-2010) implemented by Transparency The TI International Secretariat (TI-S) worked closely with TI International (TI) that focuses on governance in the Chapters on the design of four different survey questionnaires management of public funds in the primary education system. and methodology, as well as on the data quality control process and overall coordination of the work carried out by Rationale the chapters. To design the questionnaires, TI drew on input Since the late 1990s the management of primary education in from national and international education experts, civil society much of Africa has been subject to structural changes intended activists, and survey experts. All surveys were carried out to bring it closer to the ‘user’, and to give citizens at the local between March and May 2008 by TI Chapters in the above- level (particularly parents) a greater stake in management. The mentioned countries with the exception of Uganda, where a goal is to increase accountability, oversight and responsiveness. consulting firm implemented the survey under the supervision The new administrative and fiscal arrangements have placed of the local TI Chapter. more responsibilities on regional, district, communal and school In each country, four types of respondents were interviewed: level authorities. households, head teachers, heads of Parent-Teacher TI’s AEW programme seeks to discover whether these new Associations (PTAs) and local governments (district education decentralised systems are effective in controlling malpractice, officers). A minimum of 60 schools were randomly selected monitoring the flow of resources, and preventing corruption, and surveyed. On average, 58 head teachers and 58 heads of resource leakages and delays. Particularly, it asks whether PTAs were interviewed in each country. Additionally, at least school administration is now a genuinely accountable and 1,000 households were selected from the schools’ roster and participatory governance system. interviewed. A proportion of those interviewed were also members or heads of the School Management Committees Methodology (SMCs). An average of 10 district officials were also interviewed As part of this programme, TI undertook a large-scale in each country. assessment of the effectiveness of decentralised accountability Respondents were asked about the existence of channels structures. It covered seven countries: Ghana, Madagascar, and mechanisms for voicing opinions and monitoring Morocco, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Uganda. Countries accountability, the use of such mechanisms by parents, surveyed were selected based on the presence of a TI Chapter experiences and perceptions of corrupt practices and any other in the country with previous experience working on education. problems they identified at their