AN EMPIRICAL EVALUATION OF PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS' EDUCATION FINANCING AND ITS IMPACT ON SERVICE QUALITY IN LUSAKA, ZAMBIA

Authors

  • Chrine C. Hapompwe Binary University, Malaysia.
  • Prof. Dr. Asif Mahbub Karim, FCGIA Binary Graduate School, Binary University, Malaysia
  • Dr. Tamala-Tonga Kambikambi, Ph.D University of Zambia

Keywords:

Evaluation, Impact, Financing and Quality

Abstract

Purpose: This study was envisaged to empirically evaluate the impact of public secondary schools' education financing on service quality in Lusaka district of the Republic of Zambia.

Methodology: As an impact study, it employed a triangulation incorporating a causal-analytical paradigm targeting 34 public secondary schools in Lusaka district with over 60,000 pupils and about 2,000 teachers as population (N). A census method was used with 170 structured questionnaires being distributed to five persons per school who constitute the school management structure while 3 focus group discussions of 10 each were held among senior pupils, teachers and head teachers coupled with key informant interviews with district official, MoGE HQ official and donors' representative through appointment and prior clearance as procedures. Simple random and purposive sampling techniques were used with primary and secondary data being obtained and analysed via thematic / content approaches for qualitative and SPSS / excel for quantitative data along with expert judgement. The study had questionnaire return rate of 84% (143).  

Findings: The study established that the MoGE sector's financing from central government from 2015 to 2019 had been steadily declining from 20.2% in 2015 to 15.1% in 2019, against the global standard annual benchmark of 20%. The impact of the phenomena was obliteration of investments in school construction / classroom expansion, school supplies and human resources. Moreover, quantitative field findings indicated abnormal teacher to pupil ratios of 1: 70, pupil to computer ratios of 2:1, double-seater desk to pupil ratios of 1:3, English text book to pupil ratios of 1:3, Science text book to pupil ratios of 1:6, Biology text book to pupil ratios of 1:5, none availability of libraries and library stocks, average shortages of 5 teachers per school, overloads of up to 45 periods per teacher instead of 24, existence of unqualified teachers, reduced learner contact hours, compromised formative assessments and reduced school inspections. Besides, the study ascertained the existence of financial inadequacies in the system arising from its procurement bureaucratic nature as resources for subsector inputs had severally been either misapplied or misappropriated. Mismanagement of these resources was positively correlated with some prominent donors' withdrawal of their pool fund budgetary support to the education sector. This withdrawal of financing coupled with the country's bulging public debt stock (of over US $11 billion) have been established as frontline attributive factors to the dwindling financing to the education sector with implicative spill over negative effects to its subsector to the effect that whereas accessibility and affordability might have been guaranteed by top-down policy directives and imperatives, service quality has been severely compromised and the learner achievements during the period under review have stagnated at averages of 65.8% at grade 12 level and 75.6% at grade 9 level.

Unique contribution: The study strongly implores central government through the MoGE to take thematically objective and pragmatic policy measures to curtail the phenomena by prioritizing the education sector in public financing, sealing the sector's financial loopholes, and restoring the lost confidence of some prominent donors consistent with the ideals and principles of the human capital and optimal resource theories.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Chrine C. Hapompwe, Binary University, Malaysia.

Doctorate Researcher: Post Graduate School

Prof. Dr. Asif Mahbub Karim, FCGIA, Binary Graduate School, Binary University, Malaysia

Dean

Dr. Tamala-Tonga Kambikambi, Ph.D, University of Zambia

Deputy Vice Chancellor

References

Anderson, K. Alonzo. (2015). An Introduction to Optimal Resource Theory: A Framework for Enhancing Student Achievement. Special Focus: College Opportunities and Resources for Survival in Education. The Journal of Negro Education, 84(1), 25-39.

Auditor General's Report. (2018). Lusaka-Zambia.

Auditor General's Report. (2017). Lusaka-Zambia.

Auditor General's Report. (2016). Lusaka-Zambia.

Auditor General's Report. (2015). Lusaka-Zambia.

Becker, Gary. (1964). Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis, with Special Reference to Education. New York: Columbia University Press.

Central Statistical office. (2017). Census of Housing and Infrastructure.

Central Statistical office. (2010). Census of Housing and Infrastructure.

Edgerton, J. D., Roberts, L. W., & Von Below, S. (2012). Education and Quality of Life, in Land, K. C., Sirgy, M. J., Michalos, A. C. (editors), Handbook of Social Indicators and Quality of Life Research. Springer.

Education Statistical Bulletin. (2016). Lusaka: MoGE HQ.

Education Statistical Bulletin. (2015). Lusaka: MoGE HQ.

Hapompwe, C. C., Karim, A. M. & Kambikambi, T. T. (2020). An Evaluation of Public Secondary Schools' Education Financing and Its Impact on Service Quality in Lusaka, Zambia. PhD Thesis Concept Paper. African Journal of Education and Practice, 5 (2), 19 - 32.

Lusaka Times Newspaper. Education Sector Has Not Received any Funding for 2018 as at 17th July, 2018. Lusaka, Zambia.

Masaiti, G. (2018) (ed.). Education in Zambia at Fifty Years of Independence and Beyond. Lusaka: UNZA Press.

MoGE. (2019). Ministerial Statement to Parliament - School Fees Reduction in all Public Schools in Zambia. Lusaka: MoGE.

MoGE. (2015-2019). Lusaka District Results Analysis Report. Lusaka DEBS.

MoGE. (2015). 2015 Annual Progress Report on Performance, January-December. Lusaka: Zambia Publishing House.

MoGE. (2015). "Education for All 2015 National Review Report: Zambia". Revised version - original published in 2014. Available online: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002315/231573e.pdf

Ntawiha, P. (2016). Educational Inputs and their Implications for Output in Public Secondary Schools in Nyarugenge and Nyamasheke Districts, Rwanda: Ph.D. Thesis.

Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). (1998). Human Capital Investment: An international comparison. Paris: Centre for Educational Research and Innovation and OECD.

Phiri, G.G. (2015). The Impact of Free Primary Education in Zambia: A Case of Chipata District - Eastern Province. Masters Dissertation. University of Zambia.

Republic of Zambia Cabinet Office Circular No. 12 of 2019: The General Efficiency and Cost Effectiveness of Public Service. Lusaka: Cabinet Office.

Schultz, T. W. (ed.) (1961). Investment in Human Beings. Journal of Political Economy, 70 (5).

UNESCO. (2018). Annual Report - 11th Ed. Lusaka: UNESCO.

UNESCO (2016) Education 2030 Agenda: Incheon Declaration. UNESCO Publishing.

Woodhall, M. (2007). Funding higher education: The contribution of economic thinking to debate and policy development. Washington: World Bank.

World Bank Group. (2017). The World Bank Group in Zambia. Lusaka: World Bank.

World Bank Group. (2018). The World Bank Group in Zambia - Report No. 128467-ZA. Lusaka: World Bank.

World Bank. (2018). Financing Education in Africa. Washington DC: World Bank.

World Bank. (2016). Strengthening Evidence-based Policymaking with Education statistics and Analysis Report; Re535635. Ukraine.

World Bank Group. (2015). Education Global Practice: Zambia Education Public Expenditure Review at a Glance. International Bank for Reconstruction and Development: Washington DC.

World Bank. (2012). Zambia Poverty Assessment: stagnant poverty and inequality in a natural resource-based economy. Washington, DC: World Bank.

Yang, Z. (2019). Sustainability: Threshold of Poverty Alleviation Funds on Human Capital Accumulation: A case study of Impoverished Countries in China. Beijing: Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Zambia's 7th National Development Plan (7NDP) (2017-2021).

Zambia's 6 th National Development Plan (6NDP) (2011-2016).

Zambia's 5th National Development Plan (5NDP) (2006-2010).

Zambia National Education Coalition (ZANEC) 2019 Press Statement.

Zambia National Education Coalition (ZANEC) 2018 Pre-Budget Press Statement.

Zambia's Vision 2030 : Education for All 2015 National Review Report: Zambia.(efa2015reviews@unesco.org).

Downloads

Published

2020-03-20

How to Cite

Hapompwe, C. C., Karim, FCGIA, P. D. A. M., & Kambikambi, Ph.D, D. T.-T. (2020). AN EMPIRICAL EVALUATION OF PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS’ EDUCATION FINANCING AND ITS IMPACT ON SERVICE QUALITY IN LUSAKA, ZAMBIA. African Journal of Education and Practice, 6(2), 13 – 32. Retrieved from https://www.iprjb.org/journals/index.php/AJEP/article/view/1055

Issue

Section

Articles

Most read articles by the same author(s)