La Probanza del Concierto en la Praxis Judicial

The district functions as expected because it has been enabled by the support provided by the partners. The district education manager (EA), said:

“The support the district education office receives is from the Ministry headquarters, district assembly and other agencies. The Ministry headquarter supports the district education office by allocating teachers, supplying books. The assembly is helping the district education office in different ways, such as providing the department with transport during salaries delivery, rehabilitation of school blocks and teachers’ houses and planning of development activities”.

It appears that this district education office is supported by the Ministry head quarters, the assembly, NGOs and development partners, a situation which shows the interest which the district education office has.

It is the district education office obligation to support the education zone and primary schools. The main support to the education zone is in terms of the zones’ operations, which include transport such as motor cycles, fuel and stationery. The primary school advisor (EA1) said:

“The district supports the zone with the resources, transport and training on how primary school advisors should work to meet the district expectations”.

The district office does not support schools directly as this is done by education zone. The zone’s support to schools includes; school daily activities, school management and administration through training on: keeping of records, discipline and good class practices. The zones also support schools by conducting training for school committees and parents/teacher associations to ensure they know their roles.

A school head teacher (EA1a) said:

“The support that schools receive from the zone is for running schools according to the district expectations. The biggest support from the zone has been in- service training. The support currently on record from the district consists of books, which are not our priority now, because what we need most from them are teachers and they are not providing them to us”.

Primary schools are indeed more concerned about their need for teachers because of the serious teacher shortage. This is a difficult issue because, once the district office is pressurised by primary schools and the zone, it can only report this shortage to the headquarters. The district education office is powerless at responding directly to the schools’ needs and stand caught between the schools’ demands and the headquarters’ inability to respond to these school demands.

According to Spillane and Thompson (1997: 187), the district leadership lies in its ability to get access to extra professional and material sources as well as learn new ideas from outside. This is how the district leadership can create a conducive environment to successfully support the district education activities.

For the infrastructural developments in the district, it appears as if the district assembly and district education office are in-charge of writing funding proposals for donors to finance them. The district education manager (EA) said:

“The district education office prepares proposals which are submitted to prospective donors to consider funding. Out of proposals of this nature, the UK Department for International Development (DFID) has constructed a number of school blocks and teachers houses in the district, including this district education office”.

The district capacity is indeed being supported by the development partners. The capacity to attract donors to work in the district is the responsibility of the district office. But it is important to note that a strong dependence on donor initiatives for development is not a healthy situation, and that there should be other ways of securing developments in the district.

District assemblies have different potentials at raising funds. Apart from donors, most of the funds in the district come from government monthly subvention, which, according to the director of planning, is done on the basis of the budget submitted. The government support is based on the school learner population and school needs. In addition, district assemblies can also raise money from revenue collections. This district education office appears to have no plans to locally raise funds for the schools and seems to depend totally on the government subvention, based on the budget presented. The rationale used to determine funds allocation seam to discriminate the district and school with few learners and poor at the same time. This means its important to have funds generated and distributed at the district, so that the problems experienced could be appreciated.

The zones are frustrated when trying to fundraise from the community. According to the primary school education advisor (EA2), zone fundraising is hindered because the free primary education policy implies that schooling is free for learners. So when fundraising is done, many parents refuse to make any contributions towards school fundraising. In the end, the parents only offer

services toward school development activities. This is why the district office wants the policy on school development to clarify the responsibility of school communities regarding school development activities.