Report Urges Zambian Govt to Increase Funding to Education

A new study on Education has called on the Zambian government to do more to ensure more resources are allocated to education in view of erratic donor funding to the sector.

The study entitled “Zambia: Effective delivery of public services” by Africa Governance Monitoring and Advocacy Project (AfriMAP) says the level of funding for the Zambian education sector significantly explains poor sector performance in terms of both access and service delivery in quality.

The report contends that although budget allocation to the education sector has risen over the years from 17% in 2008 to 25% in 2010,this is still not enough.

It cites major challenges faced by the sector as poor planning and implementation.

The study also calls on the government to focus on reducing the pupil-teacher ratio, which has impacted negatively on quality education, and improve the conditions of service for teachers.

It further calls on government to overcome issues of planning and capacity management of education delivery, which it says has affected the ministry’s ability to consolidate any gains made in the past and address future challenges.

The study also calls on civil society to focus on ensuring that investment in education is prioritized, especially given the fact that Zambia has the leverage to address the financial shortfall in the education sector by tapping on its mining revenue, which is expected to grow its GDP to US$1.35 billion by the year 2015; the year when the MDG education goal should be achieved.

Posted by Editor on August 28, 2013. Filed under LATEST NEWS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry