CSTL Sharing Meeting 2015 - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

CSTL Sharing Meeting 2015[The School Improvement Grant: A Model for the Material Support to the most vulnerable schools ]

Southern Sun Cape Sun– Cape Town, South Africa23-25 November 2015

[

Tumisang

Thabela

]

[Zimbabwe]Slide2

Presentation OutlineA description of the programme or policyAchievementsChallenges

Opportunities/Emerging IssuesKey lessons learntSlide3

A description of the programme or policyThe Ministry of Primary and Secondary Schools (MoPSE ) has set out in Policy Circulars, such as P 73 of 15 October 1991, the basic infrastructure requirements/ standards for its schools, However, quite a number of schools, especially those in poor communities, face challenges in achieving the

above since most of their resources are committed to the most basic running costs, leaving none for school developmentSlide4

Only urban schools categorised as P1 (for Primary) or S1( for Secondary) ,viz schools in the more affluent and sparsely populated urban spaces, have continued to be able to invest in capital projects / infrastructure development

Their counterparts in the high density settings (P2 and S2) face greater challenges of resource limitations due to huge running

costs owing to their large populations which, in some instances, leads to double

sessioning

in these mega-schoolsSlide5

The hardest hit are Rural schools (P3 and S3) where the disposable income for about two thirds of the population was described by the ZIMVAC (Rural Vulnerability Assessment -2010) as below the poverty datum line . b. Special schools: schools catering for learners living with disabilities (but whose existing infrastructure was generally built with a disability unfriendly

lens) and Slide6

Satellite schools (that is schools that have come up in new demographic areas after the country’s land reform programme) and currently use, in the main, temporary infrastructureThe School Improvement Grants

(SIG) Design Framework was thus crafted in January 2013 as part of the Education Development Fund (EDF)’s response to the need to improve access to education for learners for whom the cost of education was a huge

barrierSlide7

SIG was conceptualised under the general theme “Building Back Better –Ensuring Access for All” Reducing User Fee Costs Its immediate purpose was: ‘To provide adequate and well-targetted levels of funding to financially constrained schools to cover non-personnel and non-capital resource demands in the school which will enable it to at least meet a minimum set of school functionality criteria’Slide8

LONG TERM: ‘To have in place a single consolidated comprehensive school grants program providing adequate levels of funding for all non-salary resource needs’ The aim of SIG was thus to gradually eliminate user fee costs for vulnerable students and so increase access to education for these marginalised learners as well as to improve the quality of teaching and learning at the school levelSlide9

The SIG’s main objectives are:Improved capacity of resource constrained primary and secondary schools: targetting children in the following categories:Orphans and Vulnerable Children (making linkages and co-ordination with

programmes such as the Basic Education Assistance Module ( BEAM) and the National Action Plan for

OVC (NAP for OVC)

programme phase 2

.

Disadvantaged children with special learning needs

with options for locational

inclusion (students

with severe disabilities to attend mainstream

schools) Slide10

ii. To support the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education (MoPSE) develop capacities of schools to plan for their own development and to enable them to achieve school functionality standards through training School Development Committees (SDCs) as well as teachers, other school leaders and learner representatives

ELIGIBLE EXPENDITURE UNDER THE SIG: Payment of fees or levies for OVC: Pupils identified and approved as OVC as defined by the

BEAM

but not covered by BEAM.

Teaching and Learning Materials (TLM

):

Textbooks

, workbooks, exercise books; pens,

pencils and other teacher

support materialsSlide11

Special needs provisions - Adapted TLM (e.g.braille TLM) and small equipment (e.g. hearing aids)School running costs -

Electricity and water bills, office supplies Furniture -

school desks and chairs for use in the classroom by pupils ,

adapted

desks and other school furniture to support learners with special

needs

Water

and sanitation

- Construction and rehabilitation of water and sanitation infrastructure ,

a

dapted

toilets and hand washing units or basins (for learners with disabilities or specific need-

e.g. girl

friendly toilets)Slide12

Infrastructure construction and rehabilitationConstruction and rehabilitation of school learning rooms,Ramps, paths, rails and other structures to support the mainstreaming of special needs pupils in schools. Under Infrastructure an exception was made at the end at the end of 2014 to further support Satellite schools meet the minimum standards for registration :

The construction of classrooms and other basic infrastructure such as teachers’ houses and ablution facilitiesSlide13

Achievements The training of all School Development committees on School Development Plans for the initially targetted 7 000 schools (P3, S3,Satellite Primary and Secondary)

Disbursement of funds to all P3 schools and Special schools as well as all satellite Primary and Secondary schools (A total of 5925 schools)Slide14

Substantial Investment in the SIGThe following funds were set aside for SIG funding for this year/2015For 926 Satellite primary schools at $ 6 500 per school: $ 6 019 000

For 4247 (P 3) primary schools at $3 000

per

school:

$

12 741

000

For

716

Satellite Secondary schools at

$6500 per

school:

$ 4 654 000

For

36

Special schools at

$

20 000

per school:

$ 4 654

000

The

total

disbursement

for 2015 is thus $ 24 134

000 covering 5925 schools.Slide15

With the above resources 5889 schools have procured some much needed Teaching and Learning materials (TLM), Furniture, inclusive of age appropriate furniture foe Early Childhood Development (ECD) learners

Assistive devices for learners with disabilities in the 36 special schools (as well as for the learners in the mainstream) have been procured Schools have rehabilitated their infrastructure and facilities, inclusive of adapting their facilities to speak to the needs of learners with disabilities

Slide16

They have also constructed water and sanitation facilities: some have improved their facilities to cater for learners with special needs: e.g. ramps and rails for learners with disability and girl –friendly toilets for girls (inclusive of such basic items as a mirror, a chair and hand washing facility) In some satellite schools new school

infrastructure, new classrooms, ablution facilities and teachers’ houses, have been constructed to enable the schools to be registered as stand alone entitiesSlide17

There has also been an improvement in the school development planning and general school governance There has been a general mellowing in the relations between most of these rural

schools’ administrators and and their communitiesDuring the SDC training over 32 000 education personnel received training on good governance

This training also involved members of the community (parents and local leadership) as well as learner representatives for each school and so helped with

team building

: the

school administration

now

better

appreciates

the power of working closely

with all its publics, especially the parent community and

the parents now understand their parameters Slide18

ChallengesLimited financial resources, in the face of a huge demand for resources, especially in the satellite schools which needed more investment in infrastructure provision.

Owing to this need there had to be a re-prioritisation of expenditure for the current year though a reduction of amounts allocated to P3 schools as well as a suspension of support for S3 schools Slide19

Some suppliers obtaining orders that were far beyond their capacity and so delaying the procurement of requisite resources by schools, this was especially so with textbook and hardware suppliers The crisis of expectation that had been created in the communities of S3 schools during the pilot phase of mainly training and the continued inquiries to various ministry offices about when the communities will receive the supportSlide20

Opportunities/Emerging IssuesThe need to continuously monitor the performance of the supported schools in order to ensure the gains made so far are not lost T

he need to manage the S3 Secondary schools where there is still a real need for intervention as their populations are as resource constrained as their primary counterpatsSlide21

Key Lessons Learnt It is possible to continue reducing the cost of education through grants such as SIG which play the role that levies have traditionally filledSchool Development planning is essential in improving school governance and performance

There is need for continued monitoring and evaluation of interventions like SIG to make adjustments and stay relevant to those with the greatest need Slide22

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