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Financing: Challenge for quality education

MOHAMMED NORUL ALAM RAJU and M. MIZANUR RAHMAN
INCREASING population demands increasing attention and investment for education in a country. It is good to see that we have developed a lot in terms of enrolment in primary education but it is also true that now is the time to see to what extent the students in the government primary schools are getting quality education and to what extent they are getting access to, and opportunity for, higher education and job market.
Day by day, our educational sector is being engulfed by some affliction we all see but none of us can do anything about. If we just see the degradation of Dhaka University in world ranking, it will give a picture of where our education sector is going. We studied in government schools, colleges and universities but do we really want to see our children going to government educational institutions? There are of course a number of reasons behind this situation and problem in education financing is one.
For the 2012-2013 financial year, the finance minister proposed an allocation of Tk. 21,408 crore for the education sector. In the proposed budget, primary and mass education ministry will receive Tk. 9,825 crore and the education ministry will receive Tk. 11,583 crore. The percentage of allocation for education and information technology sector was decreased and is 11% (excluding subsidies, pension and interest) of the total budgetary allocation. For the 2010-2011 financial year, however, it was 11.8%. In his budget speech, Muhith said the government was determined to enhance the quality of primary education and implement the Education Policy in phases.
Investment in education is globally recognised as an investment on future development through enrichment of human capital, and is a proven means of promoting proactive intervention that exercises social development to a desired height. As a third world country, Bangladesh has always given priority to education throughout its development path. Along with constitutional obligation, the country is committed to ensure education for all children. Such efforts are also reflected in its policy and planning documents (five years plan, perspective plan) and its active responses towards international commitments such as Education for All (EFA) and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In their election manifestos, both the ruling and opposition political parties pledge to put the highest priority on education. As a result of such multifaceted efforts, literacy rate, which was 37.2% in 1990, had moved up to 58.4% in 2009, and net enrollment in primary education increased to 94.9% in 2010 from 60.5% in 1990 (GoB, 2012).
During the last two decades, allocation for the education sector lingered between 12% and 15%,
however, which is far from the Unesco prescribed level of 20%, or 6% of GDP. On the other hand, this rate is significantly less than many of the African countries. Over the last decade public spending on education in Africa has increased by more than 6% each year (Unesco, 2011). In Burundi and Mozambique, education spending rose by an average of 12% annually over the last decade. Out of the 26 countries with comprehensive data, only one — the Central African Republic — reduced education spending since 2000 and overall, sub-Saharan Africa spends 5% of its gross domestic product on education, which is second only to North America and Europe at 5.3%.
Among the south Asian countries Bangladesh's position is still third (2.4%) from the lowest while Sri Lanka and Pakistan remains the poorest spenders on education in the region. India is spending around 4% of their GDP for education. Nepal is fairly better placed with a 3.4% while the positive side is that Maldives has been maintaining a healthy 7.5% and remains South Asia's best country for education allocation, followed by Bhutan 5.2%.
Education is still one of the higher recipient sectors in the national budget. In 2012-13, education sector (MOPME & MOE) received 11.2% of total budget allocation. But the fact is that 68% of this total allocation was proposed for nondevelopment expenditure, of which major portion was allocated for salaries and allowances for the teachers while the rest covered logistics and maintenance; only a mere 0.5% was provisioned for teaching and capacity building activities.
This meagre provision affects setting of a clear aim in education. The teachers' community was expecting to have a bigger budget for capacity building purposes as innovative systems have been adopted recently. No teachers' manual has been developed and disseminated to the teachers yet, although two years passed after adoption of the new systems.
Whenever we look at the education sector we see politicisation, nepotism and corruption, and it may seem irrelevant to many of the readers to talk about education financing when major educational institutions of the country are in serious crisis. Of course, it is now essential for the stakeholders to keep sound environment in these institutions. We need to retain a congenital environment where all the students will find it safe to stay, study and plan for future development of the country.
With all the ill-governance prevailing everywhere, many readers may find education financing irrelevant. We agree with them and agree that establishing good governance in the education sector is a precondition; then comes ensuring proper education financing to prepare this huge population as human resources who will definitely contribute to the development of the country.