Pretending to Progress Education Reforms in Tanzania

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Pretending to Progress?Education Reforms in
Tanzania

• Rakesh Rajani
• HakiElimu
• 30 April, 2007

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Outline of presentation

• The Official Story
• The Official Story, Modified by a Little Reality
• Core analysis and What will it take?
• Conclusion

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1.1 The Official Story Attention spans

• Very low levels of education participation
  inherited at independence (1961)
• Massive enrolment increases in the 1970s (UPE)
• Decline through the 1980s and 90s (enrolment,
  funding, political/program focus) reaching crisis
  point and consensus that education was priority
  one (HIPC/PRSP)
• Civil society pressure (in Tanzania/internationall
  y)
• Coming together 1999-2001, led by WB, leading to
  the Primary Education Development Plan (PEDP)

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1.2 The Official Story PEDP (2002-06)

• PEDP The Great MDG success story
• Abolished user fees and mandatory contributions,
  increasing enrolment by 2 million
• Recruited 50 more teachers in 5 years
• Built over 40,000 new classrooms
• Introduced annual capitation grant of 10/pupil
  sent to the school level
• Emphasized governance, esp. at school level, in
  the spirit of decentralization by devolution
• CSO participation explicitly recognized, sector
  dialogue emphasized

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1.3 The Official Story Sector dialogue

• Elaborate machinery in place for both sector and
  overall development dialogue (ESDP/PRS)
• Numerous reviews to monitor progress and take
  responsive actions (8 in 5 years)
• Linked to other reforms (local govt, public
  financial mgmt, civil service reform, etc),
  recently dominated by general budget support
  (GBS) modalities and the push for the big
  picture
• Place at the table for donors and domestic
  stakeholders/CSOs, with increasing emphasis on
  CSOs following Paris declaration/new aid
  architecture

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1.4 The Official StoryCSOs in reforms

• Seat at the table (various committees), largely
  at insistence of donors
• Meant to represent the voices of the people (NGOs
  close to the people romance maintained)
• This participation is serves different needs
• Big picture donors see this as strengthening
  accountability traditional donors see it as
  pilots and innovations
• Govt as gap filling and doing what govt cant
• CSOs see it as opportunity to determine policy
  and get funding, and a chance to rub shoulders

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1.5 The Official Story Conclusion then?

• Two million more children in school!
• Education reform in Tanzania is a great example
  of how to achieve MDGs
• Everybody is involved there is basic
  accountability
• The reforms and aid are working, Tanzania is a
  shining star of development
• True, quality of education is a problem, but
  you cant do everything at once
• And of course there are challenges, but overall
  things are moving well, and certainly much better
  than in other countries

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2.1 Assessing ReformsDiverse Voices?

• Key people in Government often absent
• Tendency for donor domination in framing issues
• Few CSOs invited grudgingly, last minute, as an
  after thought (lots of invitations getting lost
  in the mail) key constituencies such as
  teachers union often marginalized
• Intolerance for critical voices/dissent (explicit
  exclusion of groups who dare to challenge)
• Little actual debate and discussion, more Q and A
  from donors to government

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2.2 Assessing ProgressStrategic Focus?

• Meetings address details and miss the big picture
• Endless amounts on formats and clarifying
  expectations when these better handled elsewhere
• Even where issues identified (e.g. through
  reviews) inadequate follow-up govt does what it
  wants anyway regardless because the machinery is
  parallel to govt structure
• Lost sight of main purpose which is an education
  that allows students to think, learn, thrive.

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2.3 Assessing ProgressAdequate resources?

• More money going into education, but
• There is still a large resource gap that means
  objectives cannot be reached, but no
  prioritization, leading to funds spent on less
  important items
• Opportunities to make the case for/access greater
  resources not seized
• Opportunities for better targeting (getting value
  for money) not adequately explored e.g. audits
  scope narrow aimed at minimizing risk
• No predictability of funding
• Move to GBS convenient checkout from the
  difficulties of sector for donors

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2.4 Assessing ProgressAccountability to
Citizens?

• Better reporting than in past (in Parliament,
  sporadic fund releases in newspapers), but
• Most reports still not made public (e.g. audit
  reports, reviews, PETS, PER studies)
• Information at local level often missing, late or
  not meaningful to ordinary citizens
• Guidance to school committees often overbearing,
  micro-managing and contrary to PEDP/LGRP
  principles
• Independent information (from citizens, CSOs,
  studies) not invited, used

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2.5 What does this mean for CSOs?

• Constant battle to get a foot through the door
• When inside, struggling to get heard and be
  respected, but still second class citizens,
  pressure to conform to be in the in
• Enormous time spent trying to keep up with
  documents, meetings, preparing drafts
• Challenge to know how to communicate with wider
  constituencies, (conceptual, volume, last minute
  and communication)
• all for a dysfunctional process that delivers
  little

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2.6 in the meantimethe state of education?

• Repetition and drop out increasing (28 of the
  cohort) Uganda its about 50
• Attendance much lower than enrolment, but data
  not compiled at national level
• Still no room for children with disabilities, etc
• More books in school, but often locked in
  cupboards to protect them
• Pedagogy still rote learning (students copy
  notes), teacher often not in the classroom
• Private tuition and cramming for examinations has
  increased (deepening inequities)
• Violence and sexual harassment rife

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2.7 Assessing progressModified conclusion then?

• Reform machinery does not work but we all need
  to maintain an illusion that it does
• donors need it to hang contracts and disburse
• govt grudgingly to get the funds and
• CSOs because its our chance to be involved
• Lots of schooling, but little learning
• Expectations of education not being met primary
  school leavers failing to cope so now we
  transfer expectations up, that secondary
  education will do what primary could not
• A big hollow hoax?

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3.1 Analysis What are core problems?

• Inadequate grappling with how change happens
  throwing dialogue and technical solutions at
  what are essential political and institutional
  problems
• Govt lacks the strategic leadership and political
  incentives to get the house in order, and largely
  resent public accountability
• Donors unable to deal with inherent conflict of
  interest in their role and reluctant to deal with
  the political significance of their role/actions
• CSOs lack conceptual and historical
  analysis/clarity about our roles, as well as
  political and organizational clout to move
  matters when others not willing

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3.1 Analysis (cont.)What are core problems?

• Collective failure of imagination about the
  purposes and meaning of education
• we focus largely on inputs and quantities
  (enrolment, classrooms, teacherpupil ratios,
  bookpupil ratios)
• Tools for assessing progress measure the wrong
  things (MDGs, national examinations)
• There is hardly any focus on what really matters
  learning and capabilities for all what are
  pupils able to do?
• Failure at all levels (global movement/national
  govt, donors, CSOs, public)

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3.2 Moving forward What is needed?

• Focused, open government leadership not afraid to
  exercise vision, direction, embrace different
  voices, focus on results
• A radical simplification of the ESDP/PRS/GBS
  consultation machinery to make it more simple,
  oriented to foster debate, results focused, and
  truly open to public

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3.2 Moving forward (cont.) What is needed?

• Donors able to get out of current funk and
  exercise strategic support that
• is about results not modalities
• fosters national public debate (rather than
  endless meetings in the club)
• funds independent work/CSOs in a way that fosters
  strategic thinking and action
• CSOs who are able to scale up independent
  monitoring, analysis, and public engagement

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3.3 Two HakiElimu examples Media

• Investigative journalism, targets vs. realities,
  official reports vs. rural realities
• Weekly radio/TV programs that show situation on
  the ground, give space to historically
  marginalized voices e.g. Sauti ya Watu
• 1 minute advert spots that provoke, not preach

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3.4 Two HakiElimu examples Friends of Education

• Aim is to turn private concern to public action
• Any person can join, free, provide you care and
  want to make a difference currently 26,000
  friends
• Get a card, quarterly packet of materials
• Opportunity to ask questions, referrals
• Tools to monitor, analyze and disseminate
  progress
• Connect you to media (letters to editor)
• Opportunity to join with others (address book)
• Document what ordinary people are doing to
  change, share through popular pubs/media

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4.1 conclusion education is politics

• Change isnt driven by research evidence,
  arguments, reviews, lobbying, pilot projects or
  dialogue it happens
• when people are aware, stretched to think,
  organizing, taking action
• where there is public pressure that cannot be
  ignored
• when authorities see it is in their interest to
  pay attention to the right questions
• People dont know everything, and weve
  especially lost the plot on the quality/purposes
  of education so ask the people they will tell
  you is not enough. That is why leaders can get
  away with it without a public outcry

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4.2 conclusionits the imagination, stupid

• We need to fire up the public imagination, ask
  questions that surface the contradictions, foster
  true debate that ratchets up learning and
  understanding
• This is a very different business from what we
  are used to (its closer to political/social
  movements than programs, projects, logframes,
  SWAps) its about how ideas come to be public
• Governments dont do this whether donors can
  support initiatives that foster this is uncertain

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4.3 conclusion

• The true test facing civil society today is
  whether we will be able to marshal the analysis,
  vision and public engagement
• to stimulate debate that turns schooling into
  learning
• that creates public pressure (incentives) for
  governments and donors to do the right things