ISSUES FOR DISCUSSION
 

"The question is not what the answer is but what the question is" - Poincare

The criticality of resources for achieving Education for All (EFA) needs no emphasis. Developing countries "set aside a not inconsiderable proportion of their resources " to finance basic education. The basic asymmetry in the distribution of resources and needs that marks the North-South divide also permeates basic education. Developed countries account for 86 per cent of state expenditure on education while they have only 24 per cent of the world's stu- dents; in 1990 they invested 5.2 per cent of GNP in education as compared to only 3.9 per cent of GNP by developing countries. In developing countries, the yawning gap between resour- ces and needs would widen further as a consequence of demographic explosion and the ex- pansion of effective demand for basic education. It is paradoxical but true that the very success of measures to boost the effective demand for basic education would accenteuate the resource and supply constraints. Mobilisation of resources and their efficient utilisation are therefore critical factors that determine the pace of the march towards EFA, calling for concerted and earnest efforts by people, governments, NGOs, bilateral and multilateral agencies.

2. Broadly speaking the issues in this area fall into two inter- related categories

i) Mobilisation of resources

ii) Utilisation of resources

These two categories of issues need to be discussed together because of their complemen- tarity. To illustrate, the mobilisation of community resources for EFA is important not so much for the quantum of such resources, as for the contribution they can make to the delivery and management of educational services and thereby to the efficiency of resource utilisation. More effective utilisation of resource is itself a measure of resource mobilisation. Therefore, the valuation of community resources would be far higher if resource mobilization and utilization are considered together than in isolation.

3. While considering the question of resources and their utilisation one should take note of the following facts :

i) Education systems vary widely across countries and regions - and in high popula- tion countries within the countries themselves.

ii) The financial needs of an education system and the modalities of financing vary over time, and

iii) There is no magic or universal solution to the problem of financing EFA.

iv) The whole question of resources should not be refracted through an "either or" prism. It is not a question of either budgetory resources or non-budgetory resources but one of harmoniously harnessing all possible sources of funding. Financing policy should,

2 R. V. Vaidyanatha Ayyar: Resource Mobilization for EFA

therefore, necessarily encompass a mix of reinforcing and consistent measures. The inter-se priority of these measures is contextual. As the context varies so should the policy mix.

4. The financing issues can be considered at three levels:

i) in terms of the "actors" : government, community, NGOs, enterprises and interna- tional bodies;

ii) in terms of past trends, the present setting and the future projections;

iii) at the level of the country, group of countries and the world as a whole.

5. Some of the major issues that arise in the context of resource mobilisation are the follow- ing : i) The present level of "resource gap" in the field of basic education, taking note of: a) the three aspects of EFA : participation, quality and attainment, and b) the capital and recurring costs.

ii) The sources of funding and the question of who should pay for basic education.

iii) The inter se priorities within the overall spending on education,

iv) The trends since Jomtien Conference as compared to the trends during the 1980s,

v) The financial implication of the EFA goal - the resource requirements for achieving EFA and the resource gap that is likely to emerge given the current trends.

vi) Basic education is acknowledged as a right enunciated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) as well as in the Constitution and laws of most countries. The positive externalities of basic education - impact on productivity, health, nutri- tion, population and social empowerment - are too well known. There is a plethora of empirical evidence vouching for higher returns on investment in basic education. And yet among the multiple priorities competing for resources - basic education does not seem to receive adequate priority. Why is it so?

vii) What is the impact of the international economic environment on the "fiscal crisis of the State" in the South and thereby on public investment in basic education?

viii) What are the pros and of raising non-budgetary resources such as contributions by families, communities, NGOs, public enterprises and private establishments?

ix) What institutional settings facilitate raising of non-budgetary resources?

x) The contribution of households to the financing of basic education and the direct, indirect and opportunity costs of basic education.

xi) The political economy of budgeting: what are the factors that may assign a lower priority for basic education in the allocation of resources?

Such factors may arise from "the logic of collective action". Political or- ganisation entails costs; cost-benefit calculus governs the organisational behaviour of interest groups. That calculus favours activities which confer concentrated benefits on small interest groups. In contrast investment in

Education for All Summit 3

basic education confers universal benefits; further the private benefit of basic education is lower than that of the social benefit. In addition, invest- ment in basic education yields returns over the medium to long-term; the returns lack the immediacy or tangibility of some types of investment such as "brick and mortar."

How can the logic of collective action be overcome?

xii) What are the options for countries to improve basic education under stabilisation and economic restructuring?

(a) What is the impact of stabilisation and restructuring policies on basic education?

(b) Are the prescriptions and conditionalities of international financing agencies too rigid?

(c) Do countries have a choice?

(d) As a part of economic reforms Governmental Budgets are expected to be restruc- tured. Would basic education receive a "restructuring dividend"? Or would the "restructuring dividend" be as elusive as "the peace dividend"?

(e) How to integrate basic education into the architecture of economic reforms.

xiii) Can external debt be swapped for basic education on the analogy of similar proposals in the environmental agenda'?

xiv) The whole host of issues relating to external financing of basic education, such as

a) the scope and role of external financing

b) the alignment of external financing with national policies, priorities and programmes

c) Does external financing constitute an additionality? Does it substitute domestic resources for basic education?

d) Avoidance of dependency system and build-up of national capacities for - policy analysis and formulation - programme/project design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation - managing external aid - aspects such as negotiations, donor coordination, reporting and integrating external assistance with the national policy framework.

e) Problems of technology transfer, and absorption of "international experience"

f) Conditionalities and "assistance styles" of agencies

g) Inter-agency coordination and avoidance of duplication and overlap.

h) Sustainability and replicability of project funding - sometimes externally funded projects are tiny transient islets of opulence lost in the ocean of educational decay, with limited linkages and prospects of institutionalisation.

i) Documentation, dissemination and scaling-up of innovations tried out in exter- nally funded projects.

4 R.V. Vaidyanatha Ayyar: Resource Mobilization for EFA

6. Some of the major issues that arise in regard to resource utilisation are the following:

i) The external efficiency of the basic education system, its relation to productivity and other desirable social and political goals.

ii) The internal efficiency of the basic education in terms of participation and attain- ment.

iii) Equity

a) providing access to basic education for women, and disadvantaged groups.

b) policies to help poor families to defraying the costs of basic education, and

c) ensuring that all learners achieve optimal levels of attainment.

iv) Alternative education systems to reach out those not served by formal education sys- tem.

v) Capacity of the administrative system to deliver education services and to translate into action policies and programmes

a) optimal decentralisation facilitating better linkages between the school and educational programmes on the one hand, and of the community on the other and yet ensuring uniformity in standards and evaluation.

b) teacher accountability, motivation and performance

vi) Prospects for cost reduction and increasing intensity of resource use through measures such as pupil-teacher ratios, multiple shifts, use of distance mode, school mapping, etc.