Bridging the financing gap: Achieving Education for All in Zambia

The government of Zambia has laid out an ambitious plan to universalize primary and secondary education. The Education for All (EFA) initiative is crucial for Zambia’s future. It aims to transform educational opportunities for all young Zambians. Starting in 2021, the EFA policy abolished all fees in general education, including pre-primary, primary, lower secondary, and upper secondary levels. Instead, it introduced compensatory increases in school grants. However, what does this new policy entail, and how will Zambia fund it? We have some ideas and recommendations to share from our analysis and recent report on Financing Basic Education: The Financial Implications of Zambia’s Education for All Policy.

The challenges that Zambia faces in meeting the goals of its new policy are enormous.

In 2018, 15-year-olds in Zambia scored significantly below the average for lower-middle-income countries on the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Additionally, less than half of secondary school-aged children were enrolled in school. The high rates of population growth further compound this challenge. To address this, the government needs to create an additional 170,000 school places for first-grade primary students alone in the next 10 years. To successfully implement the EFA policy over the next decade, hiring 7,000 teachers and constructing 4,000 primary and secondary classrooms every year will be necessary.

Despite these challenges, the EFA commitment is important to improve the lives of young people and can play a critical role in accelerating Zambia’s economic and social development. Expanding access to secondary school, especially for girls, has numerous benefits. It not only improves female employment outcomes, but also reduces rates of child marriage and early childbearing. Additionally, it leads to better health and education outcomes for the next generation.

Implementing such an ambitious and comprehensive policy comes with a large bill. The government has increased its support for education. Between 2022 and 2024, the budget allocated to education rose from 10% to 15%, resulting in an increase in spending of 3 billion Kwacha. Our recent analysis shows that annual government spending on education would need to increase by approximately one-third in real terms to achieve EFA goals. This would require allocating around 21% of the current government budget exclusively to education.

How can Zambia balance these massive EFA investment needs with the challenging state of government finances? Based on current forecasts of government spending and the current allocations for education, fully funding the EFA policy would result in an annual financing gap of approximately K 4 billion, in real terms, over the next 10 years. Although debt restructuring may enhance Zambia’s overall fiscal position and increase the budget allocation for education, it is unlikely to be sufficient to meet the financing requirements of the EFA policy. Therefore, what other actions can be taken?

Successful implementation of the EFA policy will not only rest on providing additional funds for education. It will require exploring ways to improve the cost-effectiveness of education services. This can be achieved by reviewing past education provisions, particularly when post-primary education was limited to a small, privileged group. By reviewing curricula, and infrastructure standards, and incorporating advancements in education technology, we can make education more accessible to all while enhancing educational outcomes.

The Public Expenditure Review highlighted some critical areas to ensure that education funding is spent better. For example, the analysis of government data reveals inefficiencies in the distribution and utilization of teachers in government secondary schools. By improving the distribution and retention of teachers, it is possible to decrease the number of additional teachers required and narrow the financing gap associated with achieving EFA, without compromising quality. Implementing strategies to optimize the use of school infrastructure can also lead to cost reductions. These strategies not only help reduce the overall costs of EFA but also provide essential resources for the successful implementation of the EFA policy, such as bursaries and teaching and learning materials.

While there are difficult trade-offs to make, with the right policies Zambia’s goal of education for all is affordable. It will be challenging to chart a pathway to finance the EFA policy due to the need to balance various government priorities and implement changes to education delivery nationwide. Nevertheless, our analysis demonstrates that such reforms can bridge the financing gap for EFA and ensure the policy’s successful implementation. It is crucial to comprehend the trade-offs involved and implement the necessary reforms to make EFA more affordable. By doing so, we can pave the way for a brighter and more educated future for all Zambians.

Source: blogs.worldbank.org