For schools that primarily depend on state resources (subsidies), one could argue that significant delays would adversely impact education outcomes. In this light, this section analyses the relationship between the timing of the release of public funds and education outcomes. To begin with, schools were asked to indicate the schedule upon which funds are disbursed. Four options were presented: (i) no delays (ii) less than 2 weeks delay (iii) between 2 weeks and 2 months and (iv) more than 2 months. The findings are captured in the pie chart below.
163 | Figure 6.1 Frequency of Delays in Receiving Government Funding in Primary Schools
Frequency of Delays in Receiving Government Funding in Primary Schools
No Delay s 26%
Less than 2 w eeks Delay
12% Delay s betw een 2
w eeks and 2 months 57%
More than 2 months Delay
5%
As shown in the chart, the majority of schools experienced between 2 weeks and 2 months delay in receiving their funding from government. Rarely do schools receive funding after 2 months and a sizeable number experience no delays or less than 2 weeks delay.
6.13 Conclusion
The descriptive analysis of the survey data revealed some important findings. Firstly, education outcomes are encouraging across schools in terms of high pass rates and relatively low dropout and repetition rates. As explained in Chapters 1 and 2, these outcome indicators do have limitations. Principals and teachers meet qualification thresholds but, teacher absenteeism occurred in about a third of the schools. The prevalent student teacher ratio was about 40 to 1 for the most part, but a high concentration of schools, particularly, in Gauteng, had overcrowded classrooms.
164 | Concerning facilities, most schools have adequate furniture, water and toilet facilities, but a great number suffer from leaking roofs, and a lack of playgrounds, libraries and science laboratories, all of which are important for basic education. Additionally, although most schools are accessible by public transport, almost half of the schools (49 percent) are far from hospitals or clinics.
In terms of organisation and governance, all schools have SGBs and parents are adequately represented on the SGBs, although, the survey could not ascertain how effective the parents are in terms of meaningful participation and decision-making. Budgetary and financial issues dominate most SGB meetings, followed by facilities and maintenance. Most SGBs meet at least once a term – 4 times a year. Schools also consistently have annual general meetings, where the vast majority present the annual budgets to parents.
District supervision of schools was found to be the most problematic area. There were some schools that did not receive a single visit from the district in an entire year. Others received over 20 visits. The survey revealed that contrary to the indications by district authorities that needy schools require more visits, it was the needy schools that tended to be neglected. On the positive side, the district inspectors tended to give feedback to the schools after the inspections, although they were mostly verbal and not written.
In terms of income and expenditure, Gauteng schools were better resourced and relied more on private funds than schools in North West, which tended to rely more heavily on
165 | government subsidies. Gauteng schools also tended to spend more of their income on learner materials than the North West, which spent the bulk of their allocations on maintenance. Delays in remitting funds were not very rampant as most schools receive the funds within a timeframe of two weeks to two months. Leakages only occurred in 13 percent of the schools but, the amounts were substantial (R 800,000), which is 16 percent of the total education funding allocated to the schools, excluding personnel costs.
166 |
CHAPTER SEVEN
ANALYSIS OF TECHNICAL EFFICIENCY AT THE SUB-
NATIONAL LEVEL
7.1 Introduction
Technical efficiency, as explained in the introductory chapter, refers to the capacity of line agencies to use allocated resources in a manner that ensures efficient and effective delivery of public goods and services. A key value in technical efficiency is the systemic orientation that encourages government officials to focus on performance and strategic objectives. Among other requirements, technical efficiency relies on a well-functioning accounting and financial management system; and attention to the links between budgeting and financial management systems and other service-wide systems and processes. This chapter therefore qualitatively examines the extent to which sub-national structures in Gauteng and North West provinces succeed in being technically efficient and the extent to which deficiencies therein affect the provisioning of quality education services.
The chapter delves into questions such as: are the current decentralised education structures optimally designed to promote sound education outcomes? Is there adequate financial management capacity at the local government level? Are district offices properly equipped to enable officials to fully perform their functions? Are local education authorities provided with an enabling environment that incentivises optimal delivery of social services? The findings reported are based on interviews with 10 of the 15 District
167 | Education Offices (DEOs) in the Gauteng Province that participated in the survey and 3 out of the 4 Regional Education Offices (REOs) in the North West Province. The chapter begins with an analysis of the decentralised education structure in the two provinces and how the structural design hinders or promotes effective service delivery. The next sections focus on financial management and an analysis of human resource capacity.