Cost and Financing of Primary Education - UNICEF · Cost and financing of primary education i Executive summary Sub- Saharan Africa is the only region in the world where the gross

UNICEF Staff Working PapersEvaluation, Policy and Planning Series

Number EVL–97–006

UNICEFNew York, N.Y., USA

Cost and Financingof PrimaryEducation

Options for Reformin Sub-Saharan Africa

Santosh Mehrotra Jan Vandemoortele

Copyright © 1997United Nations Children’s FundProgramme Publications3 UN PlazaNew York, NY 10017USA

ISBN: [92-806-3307-4]ISSN: 1013-3178

April 1997

Staff Working Papers are working documents. They present new ideas, innovative approaches, casestudies, bibliographies and research results, prepared either by UNICEF staff or by consultants orothers supported by UNICEF. Their purpose is to facilitate the rapid exchange of knowledge andperspectives among field offices and to stimulate discussions. The contents of this working paper donot necessarily reflect the policies or the views of UNICEF.

The typescript has not been edited to official publications standards, and UNICEF accepts noresponsibility for errors.

The designations employed in this publication and the presentation of the material do not imply onthe part of the United Nations Children’s Fund the expression of any opinion whatsoever concerningthe legal status of any country or territory, or of its authorities, or the delimitations of its frontiers.

This paper was written by Santosh Mehrotra and Jan Vandemoortele (Division of Evaluation, Policy and Planning,UNICEF, New York), with important inputs by Fay Chung, Rose Maria Torres and Mary Joy Pigozzi (EducationCluster) and by Anna Obura (Regional Education Advisor, East and Southern Africa Regional Office, Nairobi). Valuable comments were provided by Manzoor Ahmed and Enrique Delamonica. The computational and statisticalassistance of Enrique Delamonica is gratefully acknowledged. An earlier draft of this paper was presented at theMid-decade Review of Progress towards Education for All in Africa in Yaounde (for West and Central Africa) andJohannesburg (for East and Southern Africa) in February 1996.

Table of contents

Executive summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iImproving cost effectiveness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iIncreasing funds for primary education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ii

Résumé analytique . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iiiAmélioration de la rentabilité . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iiiAccroissement des fonds pour l'enseignement primaire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iv

Resumen ejecutivo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viiMejorar la eficacia en función del costo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viiAumento de recursos para la educación primaria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viii

1. The current situation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

2. Why did the enrolment ratio decline? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

3. Financing Universal Primary Education (UPE) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

4. Reforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134.1 Pedagogical reforms and education for all . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134.2 Options for improving value for money . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

1. Improving teacher efficiency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152. Reducing repetition and drop-out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213. Increasing access to education materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234. Reduce teacher training costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245. Cost savings in donor assistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266. Cost savings on school construction and furniture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

4.3 Options for diversifying the sources of financing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271. Government and donors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282. Parents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333. Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374. Schools and Pupils . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385. Private schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396. Private enterprises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

5. Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

List of tables

Table 1: Countries with primary gross enrolment ratio below 90 % in 1990 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Table 2: Countries with increasing or stagnant/declining enrolment ratios, 1980-90 . . . . . . . . . . 5Table 3: Additional cost of reaching Universal Primary Education*

by 2005 (millions of 1992 U.S. dollars) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Table 4: Average emoluments of primary teachers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Table 5: Average pupil-teacher ratios in primary education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Table 6: Public expenditure on education as a % of GNP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28Table 7: Fees for public higher education as a share of unit operating

expenditure, selected countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

List of graphs

Graph 1 Estimated primary gross enrolment ratio by gender in Sub-Saharan Africa . . . . . . . . 1Graph 2 Annual enrolment growth by level of education in Sub-Saharan Africa . . . . . . . . . . . 2Graph 3 Children out of school, 1960-2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Graph 4 Primary enrolment ratio in Cote d’Ivoire by income group and gender . . . . . . . . . . . 6Graph 5 Public education expenditure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7Graph 6 Additional expenditure to reach UPE in 2005 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Graph 7 Primary education expenditure and net enrolment rates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14Graph 8 Per student recurrent expenditure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Graph 9 Percentage of children starting grade 1 and reaching grade 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Graph 10 School construction cost ratio of brick-and-mortar school over local materials . . . 26Graph 11 Public spending on primary education, defence and interest payment

in Sub-Saharan Africa – 1992 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29Graph 12 Per pupil expenditure ratio: secondary to primary students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31Graph 13 Per pupil expenditure ratio: higher education to primary students . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31Graph 14 Share of secondary and tertiary education budget devoted to student

amenities (circa 1985) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33Graph 15 Public and private recurrent cost per primary student as a proportion

of per capita income . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Cost and financing of primary education i

Executive summary

Sub-Saharan Africa is the only region in the world where the gross enrolment ratio at the primarylevel declined in the eighties. In the nineties there has been only a slight improvement Several factorscontributed to this decline. One reason is that the primary school population has grown twice asfast as in Asia and Latin America. At the same time, per capita public expenditure on education washalved over the decade, whilst it increased in other regions. Combined with falling teacher salaries,the quality declined and costs to parents increased. Falling incomes forced parents to considercarefully the costs of the income foregone when children go to school rather than work. To makematters worse, the slow growth in employment and the decline in real wages have meant that manyparents no longer perceive education as a guarantee to escape poverty by obtaining a job in the formalsector.

Given the low enrolment ratio, the costs of achieving universal primary education in Sub-SaharanAfrica are very substantial, equivalent to an additional allocation of approximately 0.7 per cent ofGNP to primary education. This is more than for any other region. Universal primary education willrequire major reforms to achieve more education for the money (greater cost-effectiveness), andmore money for education ( additional finance). This paper presents options for improving cost-effectiveness and for mobilizing additional resources for primary education in the region.

Improving cost effectiveness

Countries with similar enrolment ratios often spend a very different proportion of their GNP onprimary education — indicating that very different educational outcomes can be obtained for the sameamount of money.

Teachers’ salaries, although very low, comprise the major part of the primary education budget.Whilst there is no possibility of lowering teachers’ salaries, there may be ways of improving teacherutilization and teacher efficiency. Ways of improving the quality of education through maximizingteacher usage are explored. In addition, combining teacher assistants recruited from the communitywith teachers has had the advantage of lowering the work load of teachers whilst at the same timeproviding an important link to the community.

Increasing access to education materials is a critical part of the effort to improve quality and inturn internal efficiency.

Reducing repetition rates is an essential strategy. This includes improving the quality of teachingand learning so that there is no need to fail children. Countries which have achieved full primaryeducation generally have an automatic promotion policy. Separating the primary leaving examinationfrom the secondary entrance examination is another important way of eliminating wastage.

Teachers are central to the task of improving quality and learning achieving. Raising the entrylevel for teacher training to at least four years of secondary education will have the dual advantage

Cost and financing of primary education ii

of decreasing the cost of teacher training whilst improving the quality of the teacher. The period forteacher training can then be reduced. The unit cost of secondary education is generally much lowerthan that of teacher training.

Finally, use of expensive designs, standards and imported construction materials increase the costof school construction and maintenance. Wherever possible local materials should be used. Stategrants to communities for construction and maintenance could be much more cost-effective thanconstruction by the State. Moreover, community control of construction and maintenance have theadded bonus of strengthening the community identification and responsibility for the school that areso essential for school success.

Increasing funds for primary education

The total resources available for primary education must increase if Universal Primary Educationis to be achieved. The re-allocation of funds to education without an increase of Government budgetis an option that is possible in many countries where the investment in education is very low. Withinthe education sector, reallocations in favour of primary education may be appropriate as well. Forexample, removing State subsidies for non-educational costs such as food, accommodation andtransport can free up substantial sums for primary education without damaging the quality ofsecondary and tertiary education.

However, there is little doubt that total expenditure on education needs to increase in manycountries. Donor resources allocated to primary education have been very limited. What little hasgone to primary education has been focused on construction. Future donor assistance needs to focuson teachers, including the payment of teachers’ salaries and on the provision of educational materialsin the classroom. Sub-Saharan Africa spends between $10-13 billion a year on external debt service.By contrast, achieving universal primary education in the region is estimated to cost about $2.4 billiona year over and above current levels of expenditure. Some innovative ways of diverting part of themoney for debt servicing through debt swaps for education would be helpful for increasing theinvestment in children.

Parents already contribute substantially to primary education. One successful policy for loweringcosts to parents is to make uniforms not mandatory. On the other hand, cost recovery at the post-primary level can be increased, particularly for construction and for non-essential costs such asboarding costs, provided it is accompanied by an effective safety net for the poor. Income generatingactivities by pupils which do not interfere with learning have been tried in some countries.

Allowing a diversity of educational providers has been an important way of increasing fundingfor education. A unified education system with Government supervision of quality can be combinedwith a diversity of providers, including the private sector, non-governmental organizations and thecommunity.

Cost and financing of primary education iii

Résumé analytique

L'Afrique subsaharienne est la seule région du monde où le taux d'inscription brut dans l'enseignementprimaire a diminué dans les années 80. Il n'y a eu qu'une légère amélioration dans les années 90.Plusieurs facteurs ont contribué à ce recul. Tout d'abord le nombre d’enfants en âge de frequenterl’ecole primaire a augmenté deux fois plus vite qu'en Asie ou en Amérique latine. En même temps lesdépenses publiques par habitant consacrées à l'éducation ont été réduites de moitié au cours de ladécennie alors qu'elles ont progressé dans d'autres régions. Non seulement les salaires desenseignants ont diminué mais la qualité de l'enseignement a également baissé et les coûts ontaugmenté pour les parents. En raison de la réduction de leurs revenus, les parents ont dû examineravec attention la perte de revenu qui en résulterait pour eux s'ils envoyaient leurs enfants à l'école aulieu de les mettre au travail. Pour ne rien arranger, la faible progression de l'emploi et la baisse dessalaires en termes réels ont amené de nombreux parents à douter que l'éducation soit un moyeninfaillible d'échapper à la pauvreté grâce à un emploi dans le secteur officiel de l'économie.

Etant donné la faiblesse des taux d'inscription dans la région, la scolarisation de tous les enfantsen âge de fréquenter l'école primaire en Afrique subsaharienne nécessitera des ressourcesconsidérables, équivalant à une allocation supplémentaire d'environ 0,7 % du PNB en faveur del'enseignement primaire, proportion plus élevée que dans toute autre région.

La réalisation de l'éducation primaire universelle exigera des réformes importantes pour assurerune rentabilité plus grande des ressources allouées et des ressources plus importantes pourl'éducation. Le présent document décrit les options permettant d'améliorer la rentabilité et demobiliser des ressources supplémentaires pour l'éducation dans la région.

Amélioration de la rentabilité

Des pays ayant des taux d'inscription similaires consacrent souvent une proportion très différentede leur PNB à l'enseignement primaire, ce qui montre qu'avec les mêmes ressources financières onpeut obtenir des résultats très différents sur le plan de l'éducation.

Même si les salaires des instituteurs sont très faibles ils constituent néanmoins le poste le plusimportant du budget de l'enseignement primaire. Bien qu'il ne soit pas possible de réduire ces salaires,on peut cependant optimiser l'emploi des enseignants et leur efficacité. Des moyens permettantd'améliorer la qualité de l'éducation en maximisant l'affectation des instituteurs sont étudiés dans cedocument. En outre, le fait d'adjoindre aux enseignants des assistants provenant de la collectivitépermet de réduire la charge de travail des instituteurs tout en établissant en même temps des liensimportants avec la collectivité.

Un meilleur accès aux matériels éducatifs est un élément crucial des activités visant à améliorerla qualité et donc l'efficacité du système scolaire.

Une stratégie importante est d'éviter les redoublements. Il s'agit d'améliorer la qualité de

Cost and financing of primary education iv

l'enseignement et de l'apprentissage pour qu'il ne soit pas nécessaire de faire redoubler des élèves. Lespays qui sont parvenus à l'éducation primaire universelle appliquent généralement une politique depassage automatique à la classe supérieure. Une autre méthode importante qui permet d'éviter lesdéchets scolaires consiste à séparer l'examen de fin d'études primaires de l'examen d'entrée dans lesecondaire.

Les instituteurs sont la pièce maîtresse de l'amélioration de la qualité de l'enseignement et desrésultats scolaires. Le fait d'exiger des futurs enseignants qu'ils aient fait au moins quatre annéesd'études secondaires présentera le double avantage de réduire le coût de leur formation tout enaméliorant leur qualité. Aussi, la période de formation des instituteurs peut être écourtée. Le coûtunitaire de l'enseignement secondaire est généralement bien inférieur à celui de la formation desenseignants.

Finalement le choix de normes et d'aménagements coûteux et l'utilisation de matériaux deconstruction importés contribuent à majorer le coût de la construction et de l'entretien des écoles.Dans la mesure du possible, il faut employer des matériaux locaux. Il sera beaucoup plus rentablepour l'Etat de faire construire et entretenir les écoles par les collectivités grâce à des dons qu'il leuraccorde que de se charger lui-même de leur construction. Par ailleurs cette stratégie présente unavantage supplémentaire: en contrôlant la construction et l'entretien des écoles, la collectivités'implique davantage et assume une responsabilité plus grande en ce qui concerne l'école, conditionsessentielles pour la réussite de celle-ci.

Accroissement des fonds pour l'enseignement primaire

Il faut augmenter le montant des ressources allouées à l'enseignement primaire si l'on veutparvenir à l'éducation primaire universelle. La réallocation de fonds à l'enseignement sansaccroissement des dépenses publiques est une option réalisable dans de nombreux pays où lesinvestissements dans l'enseignement sont très faibles. Dans le secteur même de l'enseignement, ilconvient de réaffecter les fonds en faveur de l'enseignement primaire. Ainsi par exemple l'éliminationdes subventions aux postes qui n'ont pas de rapport direct avec l'enseignement, comme les repas, leslogements et les transports, permet de dégager des sommes importantes pour l'enseignement primairesans pour autant nuire à la qualité de l'enseignement secondaire et tertiaire.

Cependant, il ne fait pas de doute que le total des dépenses consacrées à l'enseignement doit êtrerévisé à la hausse dans de nombreux pays. Les donateurs n'ont fourni que des fonds très limités àl'enseignement primaire. Le peu de ressources affectées à l'enseignement primaire a surtout servi àla construction. L'assistance des donateurs dans l'avenir devra faire une place plus grande auxenseignants, notamment au paiement de leurs salaires, et à la fourniture de matériels éducatifs pourles salles de classe. L'Afrique subsaharienne consacre entre 10 et 13 milliards de dollars par an auservice de la dette extérieure. En revanche, la réalisation de l'éducation primaire universelle danscette région est estimée à environ 2,4 milliards de dollars par an, en plus des niveaux actuels dedépenses. Des moyens novateurs de conversion d'une partie des montants consacrés au service dela dette en ressources affectées à l'enseignement permettraient d'accroître les investissements dans ce

Cost and financing of primary education v

secteur.

Les parents apportent déjà une contribution importante à l'enseignement primaire. Une politiquepositive de réduction des coûts pour les parents est d'éliminer le port obligatoire des uniformes pourles enfants. Par ailleurs, le recouvrement des coûts au niveau post-primaire peut être accru,notamment pour la construction et les dépenses accessoires, telles que le coût de la pension, àcondition qu'il s'accompagne d'un filet de sécurité efficace en faveur des groupes défavorisés. Desactivités rémunératrices que peuvent mener les élèves sans que leur scolarité en souffre ont été misesà l'essai dans certains pays.

Un important moyen d'accroître les ressources pour l'enseignement a été d'autoriser diversesentités à fournir des services éducatifs. Un système d'enseignement unifié dont la qualité seraitcontrôlée par le gouvernement peut être associé à divers fournisseurs de services éducatifs,notamment le secteur privé, les organisations non gouvernementales et la collectivité.

Cost and financing of primary education vii

Resumen ejecutivo

África al sur del Sáhara es la única región en el mundo donde la tasa bruta de matriculación en elnivel primario descendió durante los años ochenta. Durante los años noventa se ha producidosolamente una pequeña recuperación. Varios factores han contribuido a este descenso. Una razónes que la población escolar de nivel primario ha aumentado a una tasa que duplica las de Asia yAmérica Latina. Al mismo tiempo, el gasto público per cápita en educación se ha reducido a la mitaddurante el decenio, mientras que ha aumentado en otras regiones. Junto a un descenso en el salariode los maestros, la calidad ha disminuido y los costos para las familias han aumentado. Debido a lareducción de sus ingresos, las familias se han visto obligados a considerar cuidadosamente la pérdidade ingresos que significaría enviar a los hijos a la escuela en lugar de ponerlos a trabajar. Paraempeorar las cosas, el lento crecimiento del empleo y la reducción de los salarios reales hanconducido a que las familias hayan dejado de considerar la educación como una garantía para escaparde la pobreza mediante la obtención de un puesto de trabajo en la economía formal.

Dada la baja tasa de matriculaciones, el costo de garantizar la educación primaria universalen África al Sur del Sáhara es muy cuantioso, y equivale a una asignación adicional a la educaciónprimaria de aproximadamente un 0,7% del PNB. Esta es una cifra mayor que la de cualquier otraregión. La educación primaria universal exigirá importantes reformas para lograr más educación porel mismo dinero (una mayor eficacia en función del costo), y más dinero para la educación (unafinanciación adicional). Este documento ofrece opciones para mejorar la eficacia en función delcosto y para movilizar recursos adicionales destinados a la educación primaria en la región.

Mejorar la eficacia en función del costo

Países con tasas de matriculación similares suelen gastar proporciones muy diferentes de suPNB en educación primaria, una prueba de con los mismos recursos financieros se pueden obtenerresultados muy distintos en el area educativa.

Los salarios de los maestros, aunque muy bajos, representan la mayor parte del presupuestode la educación primaria. Aunque no hay posibilidades de reducir los salarios de los maestros,podrían crearse medios para mejorar la utilización y eficacia de los maestros. Se investigan en estetrabajo algunos medios para mejorar la calidad de la educación aprovechando al máximo el uso delos maestros. Además, permitir a los maestros trabajar junto a asistentes extraídos de la comunidadtiene la ventaja de reducir la carga de trabajo de los maestros y establecer un vínculo importante conla comunidad.

El aumento del acceso a los materiales educativos forma una parte importante del esfuerzopara mejorar la calidad y por consiguiente la eficacia interna del sistema de educación.

Reducir las tasas de repetición es una estrategia esencial. Esto incluye mejorar la calidad dela enseñanza y aprender que no es necesario que los niños repitan el grado. Los países que hanconseguido una educación primaria universal tienen una política de promoción automática. Separar

Cost and financing of primary education viii

el examen que certifica haber completado la escuela la primaria del examen de ingreso a la secundariaes otra forma importante de eliminar el gastos innecesarios.

Los maestros son el elemento primordial en la tarea de mejorar la calidad y los resultados delaprendizaje. Aumentar el nivel exigido para ingresar a los cursos de capacitación de maestros a porlo menos cuatro años de educación secundaria tendrá la doble ventaja de reducir el costo de lacapacitación de maestros y de mejorar la calidad de los mismos. El período de capacitación puede,entonces, reducirse. El costo por unidad de la educación secundaria es generalmente mucho menorque el de la capacitación de maestros.

Finalmente, el uso del costosos diseños, normas y materiales de construcción importadosaumenta el costo de la construcción de escuelas y su mantenimiento. En la medida de lo posible,deben utilizarse los materiales locales. Las subvenciones estatales a las comunidades para laconstrucción y el mantenimiento pueden ser más eficientes que la construcción por parte del propioestado. Más aún, el control comunitario de la construcción y el mantenimiento tiene la ventajaadicional de fortalecer la identificación y la responsabilidad comunitarias con respecto a la escuela,estos dos elementos son esenciales para el éxito escolar.

Aumento de recursos para la educación primaria

El total de los recursos disponibles para la educación primaria debe aumentar si se quierealcanzar la Educación Primaria Universal. La reasignación de fondos para la educación, sin unaumento del presupuesto del gobierno, es una opción posible en muchos países donde la inversiónen educación es limitada. Dentro del sector de la educación, las reasignaciones en favor de laeducación primaria pueden también ser apropiadas. Por ejemplo, la eliminación de los subsidios delestado para gastos no educativos como alimentos, habitación y transporte puede liberar recursosimportantes para la educación primaria sin perjudicar la calidad de la educación secundaria y terciaria.

Sin embargo, hay pocas dudas sobre la necesidad de aumentar el total de los gastosdestinados a la educación en muchos países. Los recursos de los donantes asignados a la educaciónprimaria han sido muy limitados. Lo poco que ha sido destinado a la educación se ha concentradoen la construcción. La futura asistencia de los donantes necesita concentrarse en los maestros,incluidos los pagos de los salarios de los maestros, y el suministro de materiales educativos para lasaulas. África al sur del Sáhara gasta de 10.000 a 13.000 millones de dólares al año en el pago de ladeuda exterior. En comparación, se calcula que lograr la educación primaria universal cuesta 2.400millones de dólares al año por encima de los niveles actuales de gasto. Sistemas innovativos creadospara desviar parte del dinero destinado al pago de la deuda por medio de canje de deudas por gastoen educación, servirían para aumentar la inversión en los niños.

Las familias ya contribuyen de manera sustancial a la educación primaria. Una política exitosapara reducir el costo para las familias sería eliminar la obligatoriedad de vestir uniforme. Por otraparte, se puede aumentar la recuperación de costos en el nivel posterior a la primaria, sobre todo parala construcción y para gastos no esenciales como los costos de internado, siempre que esta medida

Cost and financing of primary education ix

vaya acompañada de una red de seguridad para los pobres. En algunos países se ha ensayado quelos alumnos realicen actividades que generen ingresos y no interfieran con el aprendizaje.

Permitir la existencia de escuelas no estatales ha sido una política eficaz para aumentar lafinanciación de la educación. Un sistema educativo unificado con supervisión gubernamental de lacalidad puede combinarse con una variedad de oferentes, incluido el sector privado, organizacionesno gubernamentales y la comunidad.

Estimated Primary Gross EnrolmentRatio by Gender in Sub-Saharan Africa

Source: UNESCO, Statistical Yearbook, various issues

60 65 70 75 80 85 90 920

20

40

60

80

100

Cost and financing of primary education 1

Graph 1

1. The current situation

Universal primary education and a sizeable percentage of the population attaining secondary levelhave proven to be pre-requisites for economic development, as shown in a number of studies. The1

situation in Africa over the past three decades shows that most countries have not been able to attainuniversal primary education. Nor have many succeeded in ensuring that more than 20 per cent ofthe age group attain secondary education.

Primary school enrolment inthe region increased very rapidlyafter independence. Today, thereare an estimated 75 million childrenattending primary school inSub-Saharan Africa, up from only19 million thirty years ago. Thenumber of girls quadrupled whilethe number of boys tripled over thatperiod. The gender gap has beennarrowed, but not closed, between1960 and 1990. Graph 1 showsthat the primary gross enrolmentratio, that is the number of childrenin school as a percentage of theprimary school age group, roseconsistently from 1960 to 1980,doubling from 40 to 81. Had thattrend continued, all children in theregion would be attending primary school today. But the primary gross enrolment ratio fell from 81to 71 between 1980 and 1990. Sub-Saharan Africa is the only region in the world to witness adeclining gross enrolment ratio in recent history. 2


Graph 2

Graph 3

Fortunately, the decline inthe primary gross enrolment ratioseems to have been reversed in theearly 1990s because the growth inenrolment was higher than thepopulation growth rate. Grossenrolment ratios at secondary andtertiary levels continued to rise evenin the 1980s when the primaryenrolments ratio was declining.However the baseline for secondaryand tertiary education wasexceptionally low in Africa, withthe secondary gross enrolment ratiorising from 3.3 per cent to 17.7 percent between 1960 and 1980, andto 23.1 in 1992. The total numbersof pupils at the secondary andtertiary levels grew faster than atthe primary level, but slower in the eighties than ever before as is indicated in Graph 2.

Ironically the primary enrolment ratio for boys declined more than for girls (Graph 1): malegross enrolment ratios fell from 90 in 1980 to 78 in 1990, a drop of 12 percentage points, while thatof girls fell from 71 to 65, a drop of 6 percentage points. That meant that the gender gap in primaryeducation narrowed by a third during the 1980s, but this was clearly for the wrong reasons, aseconomic hardships forced manychildren out of primary school.

Sub-Saharan Africa is theonly region where the projectednumber of out-of-school childrenaged 6-11 years will increase. Atpresent, an estimated 50 millionchildren are out of school, 54 percent of whom are girls. Graph 3estimates that these will number 60million by the end of the decade,exceeding the out-of-schoolchildren in South Asia, which has amuch larger child population. Thenumber of out-of-school children inSouth Asia has been declining since1980, while that number has risen


sharply through the eighties in Sub-Saharan Africa, and continues to rise. Sub-Saharan Africa is alsothe one region in the world where the countries with a gross enrolment ratio of less than 90 per centand even 50 per cent are concentrated (see Table 1).


Table 1: Countries with primary gross enrolment ratio below 90 % in 1990

Region enrolment Region enrolmentand country ratio and country ratio

Gross Gross

50-90 per cent Below 50 per cent

Benin 67 Burkina Faso 37 Burundi 73 Djibouti 44 Central African Rep. 68 Ethiopia 39 Chad 64 Guinea 37 Comoros 75 Liberia 30 Cote d'Ivoire 69 Mali 24 Gambia, The 64 Niger 29 Ghana 77 Sierra Leone 48 Guinea-Bissau 60 Somalia 10 Malawi 66 Mauritania 51 Afghanistan 24 Mozambique 64 Bhutan 25 Nigeria 72 Pakistan 42 Rwanda 71 Senegal 58 Sudan 50 Tanzania 69 Uganda 80 Zaire 76

Papua New Guinea 72

Bangladesh 77 Nepal 82

Dem. Yemen 88a

Yemen Arab Rep. 76a

Morocco 65 Saudia Arabia 77

Bolivia 85 El Salvador 79 Guatemala 79 Haiti 56

a. Before unification.Source: World Bank

While gross enrolment ratios on average declined on the continent, not all countriesexperienced a decline in their primary gross enrolment ratios in the eighties. Table 2 documents that


about half of the countries managed to increase their gross enrolment ratios after 1980. The Eastand Southern African countries seem to have done better than the countries in West and CentralAfrica.

Table 2: Countries with increasing or stagnant/declining enrolment ratios, 1980-90

GER INCREASED MORE THAN 3POINTS GER STAGNATED OR DECLINED

West and Central East and Southern West and Central East and Southern

Burkina Faso Botswana Benin Angola

Cameroon Burundi Cenrtal African Rep. Ethiopia

Gambia Malawi Cote d'Ivoire Kenya

Guinea Mauritius Ghana Lesotho

Mauritania Mozambique Guinea-Bissau Madagsascar

Niger Rwanda Mali Sudan

Senegal South Africa Nigeria Tanzania

Swaziland Sierra Leone

Uganda Togo

Zimbabwe ZaireSource: UNESCO, Statistical Yearbook 1994

Primary Enrolment Ratio in Cote d'Ivoireby Income Group and Gender

1985 1986 1987 19880

20

40

60

80

100


Graph 4Finally, national averageshide many disparities. A child’schances of attending primary schoolare determined by two majorfactors: socio-economicbackground and gender. The caseof Cote d'Ivoire illustrates thispoint. Graph 4 shows that the poorare most vulnerable in times offiscal austerity. It indicates not onlythat the poor were less likely to beenrolled than the non-poor in 1985,but that their enrolment-ratiodeclined relative to that of the non-poor in the subsequent years ofeconomic stagnation. For bothgroups, girls were at a markeddisadvantage in terms of gainingaccess to primary education.


Graph 5

2. Why did the enrolment ratio decline?

Several factors were at play and five are highlighted below:

1. Demographic pressure is greatest in Sub-Saharan Africa. The growth rate of theprimary school-age population has been twice as fast as in Asia and Latin America.

2. Another reason isunder-investment inprimary educationduring the 1980s:public expenditureo n p r i m a r yeducation failed tokeep pace with thepopulation andinflation. Since1980, per capitapublic expenditureon education (in USdollars) has beenh a l v e d i nSub-Saharan Africa,whereas it hasdoubled in Asia(Graph 5).3

3. There is a perceived decline in the quality of education, as a consequence of shrinkinggovernment funding and falling teachers’ salaries. There is low internal efficiency asrepetition and drop-out rates remain high, and completion rates low. Resources forinstructional materials have shrunk, and almost the entire primary education budgetis absorbed by salaries. At the same time, teacher motivation has been adverselyaffected by falling salaries in real terms.

4. Rising poverty in the eighties added to the opportunity costs of sending children toschool. In addition, both direct and indirect costs to parents are likely to have risenas government funding for education declined.

5. There were declining prospects of education guaranteeing a job in the formal sector,as the private sector stagnated and the public sector was being downsized in severalcountries. This meant declining private returns for any investment into education.

The first and last reasons (demographic pressure and slow employment growth) are beyond


the scope of this paper. However, it should be noted that the demographic pressure are not likelyto fall and economic growth will not be sustained unless investing in children becomes the top-mostpriority. Evidence from the most rapidly growing economies in the developing world demonstratesthe importance of an early investment in primary education, especially of girls, as a basis for hasteningthe demographic transition and poverty-reducing growth.

The rest of the paper addresses the remaining factors underlying the decline in enrollment inthe eighties, particularly the reforms necessary for achieving UPE. However, we begin by presentingthe costs of achieving UPE (in the absence of any cost-saving reforms), in order to establish themagnitude of the task and the challenges faced by African policy-makers and educators.


3. Financing Universal Primary Education (UPE)

Achieving universal primary education over the next 10 years will be a major challenge for manySub-Saharan African countries. Given the high population growth rate, low enrolments and relativelyhigh per pupil costs, the achievement of universal primary education over the next ten years willrequire a total of US$25 billion dollars (Table 3) i.e. an average of $2.5 billion per annum in recurrentexpenditure. This latter figure is equivalent to an additional recurrent allocation of approximately4

0.7 per cent of GNP to primary education. Construction costs are not included in the estimate.Recurrent expenditures account for 90 per cent of total annual primary education expenditures,which gives an idea of the present level of capital expenditures on construction. Communities beara substantial part of the costs of construction, in kind as well as in the form of labour (part of thereason for excluding capital costs from our estimate).

Table 3: Additional cost of reaching Universal Primary Education* by 2005 (millions of 1992 U.S. dollars)

Accumulated Average Average annual 1995-2005 annual as % of 1992 GNP

Angola 763 76 0.9Benin 249 25 0.9Botswana 95 9 0.2Burkina Faso 457 46 1.3Burundi 136 14 1.0

Cameroon 699 70 0.6Cape Verde 21 2 0.5Central African Republic 172 17 1.1Chad 108 11 0.7Congo 272 27 1.0

Cote d’Ivoire 1111 111 1.1Djibouti 94 9 1.7Eritrea 36 4 0.9Ethiopia 2447 245 3.9Gabon 547 55 0.7

Gambia 30 3 0.7Ghana 263 26 0.3Guinea 461 46 1.2Guinea-Bissau 21 2 0.7Kenya 426 43 0.5


Table 3 (continued)

Accumulated Average Average annual 1995-2005 annual as % of 1992 GNP

Lesotho 39 4 0.3Liberia 150 15 1.0Madagascar 124 12 0.3Malawi 106 11 0.4Mali 500 50 1.5

Mauritania 130 13 1.0Mauritius 44 4 0.1Mozambique 178 18 1.1Namibia 59 6 0.2Niger 669 67 2.4

Nigeria 3027 303 0.8Rwanda 173 17 0.9Senegal 651 65 0.9Sierra Leone 14 1 0.2Somalia 220 22 1.7

Uganda 113 11 0.3Zaire 288 29 0.3Zambia 43 4 0.1Zimbabwe 819 82 1.2

East and South 14637 1464 0.8West and Central 9919 992 0.6Sub-Saharan Africa 24556 2456 0.7MENA 18987 1899 0.2South Asia 14749 1475 0.3East Asia & Pacific 2974 297 0.0Latin America 13855 1386 0.1Developing countries 75125 7513 0.1

UPE is defined as achieving a Net Enrolment Rate of 100*


Graph 6As Graph 6 shows, 0.7 percent of GNP is much more thanwhat is required in Asia and LatinAmerica to achieve universalprimary education. Part of theexplanation lies in the large numberof children still out of school, andpart in the relatively high unit cost ofprimary schooling in Africa (see nextsection). West and Central Africawill need to spend a total (i.e. thecurrent level of expenditure plus theadditional required to reachuniversal primary education) ofabout 2.5 per cent of GNP each yearbetween 1995 and 2005. East andSouthern Africa, on the other hand,will need to spend 2.1 per cent ofGNP. This would imply an increasein the primary education budget of5-6 per cent every single year over the next decade — an unlikely scenario.

These regional and sub-regional averages hide wide differences among countries as Table 3shows. Ethiopia and Niger, for instance, would need to add more than 2 percentage points of GNPto achieve UPE by 2005, while Zambia and Uganda could achieve this goal by adding less than halfa percentage point of GNP to their current expenditure.


4. Reforms

Given the substantial additional resources required, progress towards universal primary educationwill need major reforms which can be classified in two groups: (a) more education for money, thatis, cost-effectiveness, and (b) more money for education, that is, additional financing. The first setof reform proposals address the factors such as poor quality and low internal efficiency which, interalia, encourage the decline in enrolment, while the second set addresses under-investment by the stateand the international donor community into primary education. The second set of proposals alsoaddress the issue of the costs to parents as a factor underlying low and falling enrolment.

It should be borne in mind that both in respect of cost-effectiveness as well as financing, thispaper presents a menu of options. Not all the options will be applicable in every African country.It is likely that some will be applicable in almost all countries, while others may be less universallyapplicable.

4.1 Pedagogical reforms and education for all

Improved cost-effectiveness and the diversification of financing, are not the only reformsrequired to achieve universal primary education. Achieving UPE also requires pedagogical reforms;improving the preparation and motivation of teachers and strengthening institutional capabilities tomanage the education system improving learning achievement through a variety of means; improving5

the curriculum, improved ways of learning and sufficient time for learning. These specificpedagogical aspects cannot be dwelt upon in any detail in this paper which is devoted to the cost andfinancing of education. However, these pedagogical reforms are critical as they address the firstquestion of how to use existing funds more efficaciously. This is because lowering costs and raisingfunds for primary education are only means to the end of universal access with learning achievement.

Another essential ingredient for the achievement of education for all is communityparticipation and shared decision-making in education. This is an area which may not requireadditional funding, but may make a marked difference in both enrolment and achievement in schools.These are issues which we will return to later in the discussion.


Graph 7

4.2 Options for improving value for money

A l t h o u g h m a n ySub-Saharan Africa countries willhave to allocate more money toprimary education, it will in mostcases not be a sufficient conditionto improve the situation. More ofthe same will not be enough. Theefficiency of resource use is a majorissue. Countries which have a lowenrolment ratio may be spending asmuch as some which have a highenrolment ratio. Graph 7 illustratesthat countries which spend the sameproportion of GNP on primaryeducation do not necessarilyachieve the same educationaloutcome. For example, Tanzaniaand Botswana spend the samepercentage of their GNP oneducation, but Botswana has achieved universal primary education, whereas Tanzania has beenregressing in this area. Countries with similar enrolment ratios, such as Mauritius and Botswanaon the one hand, and Malawi and Tanzania on the other hand, may spend very different proportionsof their GNP on education. For example, both Mauritius and Botswana have virtually achieved fullprimary enrolment, but Mauritius spends only 1.3 per cent of its GNP on primary education, whereasBotswana spends about 1.8 per cent of its GNP on primary education. Malawi spends just over 1.1per cent of its GNP on education whilst Tanzania spends 1.8 per cent on primary education, and yetboth have low enrolment ratios of about 50 per cent. These figures indicate that one can get moreeducation for the same amount of money. Hence these figures suggest that human factors, such asteacher motivation and morale, community demand and control, and professional/ technical issues,play very important roles in the success of an education system.

Unit costs in absolute terms vary enormously among countries. When expressed as aproportion of GNP, the variance is much less. Therefore, unit costs are best expressed in relativeterms because the principal input — teachers remuneration — is related to the level of developmentof the country. But even in relative terms, the unit cost of primary education is higher inSub-Saharan Africa than in Asia, which may be a reflection of the economies of scale derivingpartially from a wider coverage in Asia. The cost of primary education per pupil-year is equivalentto 15 per cent of per capita GNP, compared with 11 per cent in South Asia and 8 per cent in EastAsia.


Graph 8As Graph 8 shows, highereducation is much more expensivein Sub-Saharan Africa than ineither South Asia or East Asia, withper student recurrent expenditurebeing 5.1 per cent of per capitaGNP in Sub-Saharan Africa in1992, as compared to 0.8 per centin South Asia and 0.9 per cent inEast Asia. Whilst economies ofscale may account to some extentfor the lower cost in Asia, theremay be other factors such as highboarding costs and student stipendswhich may account for thisdiscrepancy. In other words,different patterns of costs that havehistorically been practiced, but notessential in pedagogical terms,account for a large part of the difference.

In this section we explore the following principal options for improving value for money:

(1) improving teacher efficiency;(2) increasing internal efficiency through less repetition, lower drop-out rates, and higher

completion rates;(3) increasing the access to education materials with a view to improving completion

rates;(4) reducing teacher training costs;(5) effecting cost savings in donor assistance; and (6) saving on construction costs and furniture.

1. Improving teacher efficiency

Salaries represent the lion's share of the education budget. At the primary level, it is notuncommon for over 90 per cent of the education budget to be spent on salaries. UNESCO reportsthat 17 out of 26 African countries for which information is available spend more than 95 per centof their primary education budget on salaries. Although teachers in many African countries may be6

underpaid, they may also be either underutilized or wrongly utilized. In some countries it may bepossible to improve both the quantity and quality of education without a major increase in the budget,through the upgrading of teacher skills, through the active participation of parents and communitiesin school activities, and through the more ready availability of essential educational materials. Alltoo often the teacher faces a classroom of children, without chalkboard, textbooks, pencils or paper.


In-service training and regular supervision of teachers may be either intermittent or non-existent: theneglected teacher is unlikely to function at full capacity if s/he is cut off from all professional andcollegial support. Moreover the isolated and neglected teacher may be out of touch with the rapidchanges in both content and technology: whilst employment requirements may demand a goodcommand of an international language and a high level of mathematics and science, the school mayfail to provide reasonable attainment levels in these areas. Teachers may also be alienated from thecommunity, failing to understand the community culture and values. Any effort to enhance theefficiency of education expenditure should include a cost analysis of the various inputs intoeducation, including an analysis of effective use of the salary component as well as adequateinvestment of resources for the procurement of a minimum package of education materials.

Teachers’ salaries are historically several times higher than per capita incomes in Africa. Forexample in 1980 a primary teacher’s salary in francophone Africa was 7.8 times the per capitaincome, whereas in anglophone Africa it was 4.6 time more than the per capita income. Since theearly 1980s, high inflation and fiscal austerity have reduced real teachers' salaries in most countries.Nevertheless, they remain relatively high, compared to either per capita incomes in their owncountries or to those in Asia ( see Table 4). In Asia the primary teacher’s salary was only slightlyhigher than the per capita income. At most it was double the per capita income. One reason for thehigh teacher salaries in Africa relative to per capita income was the historical shortage of humancapital, with the unfortunate effect of access to education itself being further limited by its relativelyhigh cost, particularly in francophone countries. The other reason for this high ratio is largelystatistical because the denominator (i.e. income per capita) is low in absolute terms as compared toother regions. In the eighties, teacher salaries have fallen in real terms and although it is virtuallyimpossible to compress them further, it may be possible to decrease the relative size of the wage billin the total budget for primary education. We discuss two methods of achieving this result.

Table 4: Average emoluments of primary teachers( as a multiple of income per capita)

1980 1985 1990

Francophone Africa 7.8 6.8 6.0Anglophone Africa 4.6 2.7 4.5Sub-Saharan Africa 6.2 4.4 4.9

Asia (10 countries) 2.5

Viet Nam 1.0Myanmar 1.8Thailand 1.8Malaysia 2.2Sources: Donors to African Education, A statistical profile of education inSub-Saharan Africa in the1980s; UNESCO,Statistical Yearbook, 1994;Tan and Mingat (1992)

(i) Rationalising pupil-teacher ratio


The first pre-requisite for containing the relative share of the wage bill is to prevent thenumber of teachers from rising when enrolments are falling. One management tool is to control thepupil-teacher ratio very carefully with a view to improving teacher utilization. In Sub-Saharan Africathere was a dramatic increase in the number of teachers, which grew by 24 per cent between 1985and 1990 — inspite of fiscal austerity. Over the same period the number of students increased byonly 11 per cent, and the enrolment ratio declined by 3 percentage point. Clearly the pupil-teacher7

ratio was declining over this period. For purposes of strategic planning, information on this ratioshould be regularly up-dated, possibly twice a year. Efficient teacher-pupil ratios of course dependmuch on teacher qualifications, teacher skills and teacher experience. In most parts of Africa,teacher-pupil ratios of one teacher for between 40 and 45 pupils have been found to be reasonable.Table 5 indicates that the majority of African countries have teacher-pupil ratios well below theselevels. On the other hand, some African countries may already have too high a teacher-pupil ratio.It is to be noted that a reduction of the teacher-pupil ratio by one or two points countrywide maytranslate into a saving of several million dollars, without affecting classroom interactions adversely. For example increasing the teacher-pupil ratio from 35 to 40 may bring about a saving of more thanUS$2 per pupil-year, thus enabling the school to spend an additional US$2 per child on learningmaterials. In fact, the teacher-pupil ratio in Africa has decreased from 1:42 in 1970 to 1:37 in 1992.8

In comparison in South Korea the teacher pupil ratio was 1:68 in 1950 and decreased to 1:52 as lateas 1975. However, it is critical that in South Korean primary education was well funded by bothgovernment and parents, and the quality achieved was high despite the large class sizes.


Table 5: Average pupil-teacher ratios in primary education

Below 40 ratio Between 40 and 50 ratio Above 50 ratio

Angola, 1990 32 Djibouti, 1993 42 Burkina Faso, 1991 58

Benin, 1990 35 Gabon, 1991 44 Burundi, 1992 63

Botswana, 1992 29 Guinea, 1992 49 Cameroon, 1990 51

Cape Verde, 1989 33 Mali, 1991 47 CAR, 1989 90

Cote d'Ivoire, 1991 37 Niger, 1990 42 Chad, 1991 64

Ethiopia, 1992 27 Zambia, 1988 44 Congo, 1990 66

Gambia, 1992 30 Zimbabwe, 1993 45 Lesotho, 1992 51

Ghana, 1991 27 Malawi, 1989 64

Guinea-Bissau, 1987 25 Mauritania, 1992 51

Kenya, 1990 31 Mozambique, 1992 53

Madagascar, 1993 38 Rwanda, 1991 58

Mauritius, 1991 27 Senegal, 1991 59

Nigeria, 1991 39 Togo, 1990 59

Sierra Leone, 1990 34

Somalia, 1985 19

Sudan, 1991 34

Swaziland, 1992 33

Tanzania, 1992 36

Uganda, 1988 35

S. Tome and P.,1989 35Source: UNESCO, Statistical Yearbook, 1994.

Moreover, average teacher-pupil ratios hide substantial heterogeneity in pupil-teacher ratiosbetween and within countries. Thus, while several countries have averages of around 60, in othersit is around 30. The situation within countries is very diverse too. It is not uncommon to findsituations where both rural and urban schools are seriously overcrowded. This must necessarily meanthat some schools have less than 20 pupils per teacher. This means that the issue of class size cannot


be separated from equity issues. Also, any attempt to modify the class size must pay attention to thespatial distribution of schools and teachers.

The above discussion has identified a careful monitoring of the pupil-teacher ratio in thecountry as a whole and by district as a useful means of controlling the salary component of currentexpenditure. How may this be achieved? Three ways to rationalize the pupil-teacher ratio withoutjeopardizing the quality of education and demoralizing teachers could be as follows:

a) The most obvious one is to relocate teachers (and where needed to build schools so thatevery child will have access to them) in a way which decreases the overcrowding of someschools (e.g. in low-income urban areas) by increasing the class size in others (e.g. affluenturban areas). Even if this relocation increases the average pupil-teacher ratio, it couldincrease the quality by reducing overcrowding. Where the pupil-teacher ratio is already "toolow", increasing it will not affect quality.

An alternative option is to introduce multi-grade teaching where the pupil-teacher ratio islow, which requires special training for teachers, as well as special educational materials. Theimplementation of such measures requires continuous analysis of the situation by district anddomestic capacity to undertake such analysis on an institutional basis. In particular, such“school mapping” is a useful means to address the locational and deployment issues.However, deployment of teachers and utilising them efficiently can be and is in fact verycomplicated. If the decision-making is de-centralised to local level, efficient utilisation can9

be achieved without sophisticated mapping or global information systems. However, in manycountries, the population is so dispersed that a primary school within a reasonable distancecannot have 30-40 students in each class. Multi-grade teaching then is essential to make anefficient use of teachers — but this can work only with good training and learning materialsfor multi-grade methods.

b) Another way of increasing pupil-teacher ratios is to increase the average teaching load. Forthis measure to succeed, the number of classroom hours must be increased only for teachersand not for pupils. This can be done by increasing the number of hours taught per day, daysper week, or weeks per year — or any combination thereof. This means some system ofdouble shifting — i.e. splitting the school day, week, or year — with each session cateringto half (double shift) of the pupils enrolled. Teacher salaries can be increased on account ofthe increased work-load, but per pupil cost will fall if the increase in pupil-teacher ratios isgreater than the increase in teachers' salaries. Variations of this approach have been tried inmany countries. For example, in Sweden, when primary education was first madecompulsory a century ago, teachers worked a six day week, whereas pupils attended onlythree days of school a week. In many parts of the United States today, Grade 1 pupils aretaught for only three hours a day in classes of 20 pupils, but Grade 1 teachers normally taketwo such classes a day.

c) A third variant is to reduce the average attendance of pupils — either by decreasing the

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Cost and Financing of Primary Education - UNICEF · Cost and financing of primary education i Executive summary Sub- Saharan Africa is the only region in the world where the gross