Pakistan: Governance and Accountability to Improve Education Service Delivery

Presentation bySofia Shakil, Senior Education Specialist, SASHDHD Learning Week, 2008

Pakistan’s Education LandscapeLarge canvass with:

Over 33 million students: 21 million in public sector and 12 million in private sector1.3 million teachers: over 700,000 in public sector and over 600,000 in private sector

Federal set up – federal, provincial, districtsFederal MOE – standard setting, curriculum, assessmentsProvincial level – main responsibility for policy & education programs; financing; monitoringDistricts – implementation, with little role or capacity for planning

Rise of private provision

Rise of the private sector: growing public dissatisfaction with quality of public delivery and poor accountabilityPhenomenal rise in Pakistan in two decades: from less than 10% to 30% share in total enrolments (also in rural areas and poor households)However, the largely dysfunctional public sector still pre-dominant with almost 70% enrolment share

The Education Challenge

Delivering quality education and making the system deliver on the desired outcomesBringing efficiency and transparency in public sector transactionsLittle confidence in public delivery leading to a rise of low cost private sector – but meeting the demands in equitable manner

Sector IssuesThe education sector scenario:

Poor learningComparable private schools performing better than public schoolsDecline in public sector governance across the board Uneven performance monitoringWeak accountability and incentives structure

The challenge to:Deliver quality education and make the system deliver on the desired outcomesBring efficiency and transparency in public sector transactions

Example of Punjab Education Program

System wide reforms: sector focus backed by governance, fiscal and fiduciary aspects

New teacher recruitment policies; provision of infrastructure & missing facilities according to established criteria new policies for school management committees; institutionalized public private partnerships Conditional grants to district governments under Terms of Partnership agreements linked to need and performance; linking incentives with accountability, also for district managers & now for teachersCross sectoral areas such as fiscal reforms, fiscal decentralization process, and fiduciary; availability of data and commitment to improve M&E

The Governance and Accountability Framework in Punjab Education

Objective to ensure efficiency and quality in service delivery and reaching the targeted beneficiaries. Key interlinked strategies under the Punjab Education Program:

Broad Systemic Reforms: Fiscal/Fiduciary

Data, MIS and Implementation SystemsUse of data for decision making, needs identificationIntensive monitoringPeriodic third party validation

Performance and need based conditional grants & awards

Community involvement for greater accountability

Cross Sectoral Reforms: Fiscal & Fiduciary

Fiscal – protection and expansion of education sector expenditures; giving incentives to district governments for enhancing their allocations for educationFiduciary reforms included bringing improvements in financial management (especially for tracking sector expenditures, addressing the pending audit observations to improve quality of expenditure); procurement reforms to improve transparency, level playing field – systems & processes

Monitoring SystemSchool level: each school visited once a month – major feat – 63,000 schoolsData collated and merged with School MISCross checks with implementation systems (e.g., textbooks, etc.)Teacher ID #s linked to school database: linking absenteeism directly to teacherMonthly review at district level based on data, aggregated at provincial level for district performance reviewPeriodic third party validations

Performance Evaluation Index: Monthly Indicators, School level

Teacher absenteeismTransfer of funds to school councilsFree textbooks provisionEnrolment-attendance gapNon-teaching staff absenteeismSchool inspections by District Education Department staffMeetings of “District Review Committee”Curtailing Illegal fee/leviesSchools cleanlinessMissing Facilities schemes progress School utilities functionality (electricity, drinking water, toilet)Teachers Training (Visit of Mentors to schools)

High Jump

Lahore 28.43%Lodhran 23.83%Rawalpindi 19.60%Sahiwal 18.88%Jehlum 16.15%

Nose Dive

Gujranwala - 10.36%Khanewal - 10.22%Layyah - 4.31Attock - 4.05D.G.Khan - 1.19

Performance Variation (Nov Performance Variation (Nov -- Dec 2007)Dec 2007)

81.17

Incentives and Accountability: linked to school monitoring

Incentives: awards to best performing district managersInformation provided to all districts: creates competition among and between managers

Issues: School and teacher level focus missing so now introducing performance based awards for teachersMore focus on inputs than outputs/outcomesAccountability still weak

Example of conditional grantslinking incentives with performance

Partnership agreements between the province and the districts to provide clarity between roles and responsibilities and to create accountability for resultsFormula: combination of need and performance to reward/incentivize better performanceAdditional resource linked to performance –incentivesDistricts agree on a set of performance indicators and annual performance targets

Performance indicators:

Indicators and annual targets for grants include:Enrolments Class I to V (Male/female)Drop-out rate (Male, female)Enrollment Class VI to VIII (Male and female)Primary cycle completion rate (male, female)Elementary cycle completion rate (male, female)Total expenditure on primary education as a percentage of total district budget Total education non-salary budget as a percentage of total education budget Results in Grade V and VIII examinations

Performance indicators (contd..)

Reduction in teacher absenteeismReduction in audit paragraphs in sector expendituresTimely provision of grants to school committeesDistrict performance judged on an annual basis to determine grant size: incentives for good performance but system not yet able to sanction/support poor performers

School Management

Issues:Government / public sector distant from point of service delivery and no accountability to clientsLimited community role

Efforts to:Address distance issue through greater district responsibility, district capacity buildingAddress community engagement through school committees; hiring local teachers on school contracts

Contract site-specific teachersAll new teachers hired under facility-specific non-transferable term contractsHired by district governments on fixed salaries with annual incrementsPreference given to local residents and higher qualificationsContract extension linked to performance but implementation issues as broader systems not there to measure performanceQuality of learning co-relation not established with higher qualifications Teacher absenteeism less (Punjab reports not yet evaluated

Community Role in School Management

School management committees (School Councils) mobilized and established School non-salary budgets with SCs; some have development budgetsTeachers accountable to SCs – but weak SC capacity & lack of clarity of rolePilot capacity building and management of schools through rural support organizations and Social Mobilization of communities– 2400 schools in 6 districts, now plans to scale up/roll outSCs not effective unless sustained mobilization and capacity support provided – in partnership with NGO

Impact on school of stronger SC involvement

Initial resultsTimely input provision: development workViable community organizationsImproved teacher attendanceBetter classroom environmentEvaluation commencing in control and treatment areas

Overall Program Results Sector Results:

Reversal of stagnation of public sector enrolments: almost 2 million more studentsImproved completion rates; increased girls’ participation rates, reduction in gender disparitiesEvidence of improved teacher attendance

Institutional support for low fee private schools, with focus on rural areasCulture of evidence/data based decision makingInstitutional changes made to improve qualityHuge challenges remain: quality of student learning; quality of teachers; and quality of management remain low – but program on track

Key Lessons: what has worked and not worked well

Public education sector more amenable to change on “scale”Decentralization in itself does not show results without capacity support and administrative and financial empowerment Local management of service delivery and oversight does not work unless accompanied by clarification of local roles and responsibilities of different tiers, clear accountability and incentives, and capacity support

Key lessons cont’d….

Community engagement works when linked to viable and empowered school committeesManagement at the point closest to service delivery works best for teacher accountabilityTeacher management: contract and local teachers do not necessarily reduce absenteeism – stronger accountability systems and better school environment doesIncentives for better performance work better when provided at all tiersBipartisan political support essential for deepening reforms

Future Program Areas Focus on education management cadre – moving towards making it merit-based, competitive with performance incentives, with accompanied capacity building programTeachers’ professional development: incentives and career structures; accountability at school level; head teacher developmentShift to school based budgets, under authority of school heads and school management committeesNeed for more school level improvements, e.g. better facilities, onsite support/mentoring for teachers, greater community control and accountability Use of information technology and information systems for greater school level accountability - making information on school learning available