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 Africa November 2015 [Tumisang Thabela] [Zimbabwe]

Presentation Outline  A description of the programme or policy  Achievements  Challenges  Opportunities/Emerging Issues  Key lessons learnt

A description of the programme or policy  The 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 development

 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-schools

 The hardest hit are a.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

c.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 infrastructure  The 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 barrier

 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’

 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 level

 The SIG’s main objectives are: i.Improved capacity of resource constrained primary and secondary schools: targetting children in the following categories: a)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. b) Disadvantaged children with special learning needs with options for locational inclusion (students with severe disabilities to attend mainstream schools)

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 materials

 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, adapted toilets and hand washing units or basins (for learners with disabilities or specific need- e.g. girl friendly toilets)

 Infrastructure construction and rehabilitation Construction 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 facilities

Achievements  The training of all School Development committees on School Development Plans for the initially targetted 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)

 Substantial Investment in the SIG The following funds were set aside for SIG funding for this year/2015 i.For 926 Satellite primary schools at $ per school: $ ii. For 4247 (P 3) primary schools at $3 000 per school: $ iii.For 716 Satellite Secondary schools at $6500 per school: $ iv.For 36 Special schools at $ per school: $ v.The total disbursement for 2015 is thus $ covering 5925 schools.

 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

 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 entities

 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 communities  During the SDC training over 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

Challenges  Limited 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

 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 support

Opportunities/Emerging Issues  The need to continuously monitor the performance of the supported schools in order to ensure the gains made so far are not lost  The 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 counterpats

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 filled  School 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

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