Stakeholders raise major concerns over the 2023/24 education budget

Dar es Salaam. Education stakeholders have pointed out that the sector’s budget for the 2023/24 fiscal year has not taken into account the implementation of the changes anticipated from the ongoing policy review and the new curriculum development.

They say that the policy review and the new curriculum development are expected to establish vocational training combinations, which call for sound investments in the areas of classrooms, teachers and learning equipment.

According to interviewed stakeholders, the budget lacks convincing plans to address the shortage of teachers, classrooms, and capitation grants allocated to learners in primary and secondary schools.

As a result, they say there is no hope for the implementation of the new education policy and new curriculum in the coming fiscal year after adequate endorsement.

They have however, underscored strides made in the areas of infrastructure development, provision of fee-free education, allocation and disbursement of subsistence allowances, as well as loans to tertiary education students.

The stakeholders raised their concerns during a recent breakfast meeting organised by the Policy Forum themed: National Budget for the Financial Year 2023/24: Securing Sustainable Development through Budget Reliability and Fiscal Sustainability.

The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology’s Permanent Secretary, Prof Caroline Nombo said introduction of vocational training would be done in phases.

“We are not going to start providing vocational education in all the schools. In 2024, we are going to start with schools that have been providing vocational education training before the introduction of the programme,” she told The Citizen.

She outlined that the schools include those that have been providing vocational training in the areas of engineering, health, nutrition, and sports because they already have all the necessary and basic infrastructure.

She said the government will only increase investment in these schools in order to ensure they increase efficiency in the provision of training.

“It should be remembered that the programme will start with Form One students next year, meaning that execution will be done in groups starting with lower classes,” she said.

“Therefore, the vocational training curriculum will start with Form One and Form Two classes in 2024. The number of classes will increase annually in the coming four years,” added Prof Nombo.

Regarding plans to address teacher shortages, the professor said the ministry would release guidelines for intern recruitment as the government continues employing professionals.

Tabling the budget analysis, HakiElimu policy analyst and programme manager, Mr Makumba Mwemezi, said issues addressed above need to be reflected in the budget. “We call on the government to ensure these issues are reflected in the budget to aid implementation instead of shelving them,” he said.

He said HakiElimu’s analysis considered that the ministry tabled a Sh5.7 trillion budget for 2023/24 which was significantly higher than allocations made in the last three fiscal years.

According to him, the docket had many priorities, including the education policy review and new curriculum development, as well as their subsequent implementations.

“Our analysis aims at establishing whether the budget could conform to the sector’s priorities,” he said.

Shortage of teachers, classrooms

Mr Mwemezi said the President’s Office of Regional Administration and Local Government (PO-RALG) in the 2022/23 budget has established a shortage of 100,958 primary school teachers which is equivalent to 37 percent.

PO-RALG also said secondary schools had a shortage of 74,743 teachers, equal to 47 percent.

The HakiElimu official added that the PO-RALG has requested the permission to employ 13,130 teachers for both primary and secondary schools in 2023/24 fiscal year therefore reducing the gap to 162,571 teachers. “Existing teaching challenges will continue because of insufficient government allocations. Short, medium and long-term plans are required in order to address the challenges despite resource limitations,” Mr Mwemezi said.

According to HakiElimu, 25,000 teachers should be recruited annually in order to address the shortage in a period of five years.

Mr Mwemezi said 20,000 classrooms should be constructed annually to do away with the shortage in the five years period.

Mr Mwemezi said currently, the government allocates Sh10,000 to a primary school pupil annually, retaining Sh4,000 for the procurement of books.

Likewise, Sh12,500 out of Sh25,000 allocated annually for a secondary school student is retained for buying laboratory equipment.

He said that currently, meals and the provision of sanitary pads in public schools are hardly included in the school budget.

“Analysis shows that retaining 40 percent of Sh10,000 in primary schools allows disbursement of Sh6,000 to primary schools per pupil, which equals Sh500 per day, making it difficult to retain pupils using the said amount,” he said.

“Our recommendation is that there is no alternative to revising the government’s subventions,” added Mr Mwemezi.

He said HakiElimu commends how Sh353.4 billion was spent on Covid-19 emergency financial assistance funds under the Rapid Credit Facility (RCF). The funds were utilised for constructing 12,000 secondary school classrooms, 3,000 satellite schools, and 50 dormitories for students with special needs.

“Sh160 billion was used for the construction of 8,000 classrooms in the prevailing fiscal year, enhancing the admission of 400,000 Form One students. During this period, fee-free education’s scope was widened to advanced secondary students through the provision of Sh10.3 billion annually,” Mr Mwemezi added.

Allocations for fee-free education increased from Sh364.2 billion in 2021/22 to Sh400 billion in the 2023/24 financial year.

The Higher Education Students Loan Board budget increased from Sh570 billion in 2021/22 to Sh739 billion in the 2023/24 fiscal year.

Government increased the daily subsistence allowance for tertiary education students to Sh10,000 from the previous Sh8,500 per day.

“Since the government has seen the importance of increasing funds in these areas, the same should be done in the area of capitation grants.” Mr Mwemezi said when the budget is compared to the five year priorities outlined in the Education Sector Development Plan (ESDP) 2021/22-2025/26, the allocation is below the recommended Sh8.1 trillion.

“This leads to failure in implementation of plans and priorities as HakiElimu proposes budget elevation to ESDP projections,” he said.

“Also, government should respect the Incheon Declaration, which requires signatory countries to commit four to six percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or 15 to 20 percent of public expenditures to the education sector,” he added.

He said the recently tabled budget, which stands at Sh44.4 billion, when compared, Sh5.7 trillion, is equivalent to 13 percent of the total budget.He said computations show that the actual education budget was supposed to be Sh8.3 trillion which is close to the Sh8.1 trillion stipulated by the ESDP.

According to Mr Mwemezi, plugging loopholes highlighted in the Controller and Auditor General (CAG)’s 2021/22 report could generate over Sh813 billion that could be channelled to different sectors including education.

He mentioned the loopholes, including Sh88.42 billion in unpaid loans issued to youth, women, and People with Disabilities by 180 Local Government Authorities (LGAs), Sh15.19 billion unremitted by councils, and Sh8.99 billion in loans that were not refunded to councils.

“Others are Sh76.56 billion in uncollected revenues by LGA in stall rent, levies, and license fees; Sh632 million in the Education Programme for Results (EP4R) and Sh3 billion that went missing in the construction of a new Teachers Training College in Sumbawanga, Rukwa Region,” he said.

“Others are Sh50 billion used for procurement of bogus equipment in the health sector and Sh41.4 billion uncollected in the transportation of heavy cargo,” he added.

He also mentioned Sh8.43 billion in unreleased funds by the Tanzania Building Agency and the Judiciary for providing services.

According to him, Sh3.39 billion and Sh26.28 billion, respectively, were used by government institutions and LGAs in the procurement of ghost automobiles

Former education project manager at ActionAid Tanzania Karoli Kadeghe also noted that there was a need to ensure issues related to policy review and new curriculum development are reflected in the budget.

“Rates currently used for disbursing capitation grants have been overtaken by events, new rates should be released instead. A serious approach is needed in addressing the shortage of teachers and classrooms,” he told The Citizen.

“The government should also address the challenge of donor dependence in implementing the education budget. Time has come to use more locally sourced funds in executing government programmes,” he added.