Rules Vs. Responsiveness Education Finances in the context of Governance Transitions The PAISA Survey Accountability Initiative Centre for Policy Research

Unpacking the total budget Tracking school level fund flow Analyzing plans & fund distribution Understanding school level expenditure & governance The PAISA Survey

Shifting policy context: Responsive governance? 12 th Five Year Plan ……..the approach of the Twelfth Plan for school education will be to define and measure outcomes, and allocate resources in ways that maximise progress towards achieving these outcomes RTE- SSA Framework, “…the need for creation of capacity within the education system and the school for addressing the diversified learning needs…..…..planning and implementation for universal access in the rights based approach would require an understanding of community needs and circumstances as well as decentralized decision making for meeting the diversified needs of children.”

Whither learning? Whither decentralization? Learning and school grants less than 1%

Bang for buck? Crude estimates on implications of “costs” of education To highlight inefficiencies at the frontline Raw cost differential: Government spends nearly three times per-student compared to private sectors. Annual excess of Rs. 50,000 crores  Excess is an outcome of high teacher salaries. Regular, government school teacher makes 20 times more than private sector teachers (Atherton and Kingdon 2010)  ASER data: Significant quality differential in learning between Gvt vs pvt Learning adjusted cost differential: Excess cost of achieving private sector learning levels is Rs. 232,000 crore or 2.78% GDP

Format-bound planning Schools and districts rarely plan  Who makes a school plan? 44% schools in PAISA sample had made plans  What is a school plan process? Format filling exercise (Bihar’s 32 page SDP format) DISE/ formats restrict the system from actually reflecting school needs  District plan: Plans made but process are rarely taken seriously. School plans are not part of the district plan Low demand (17% SCR, 26% BW) low fulfillment. DISE hurdles

District’s rarely get the money they ask for Nalanda, BiharKangra, HP

Centralization plays spoil sport Proposed vs approved  58% propose budget approved by GoI  14% of qty related activities approved A glimpse in to PAB negotiations State 1: In-service training and use of vehicles State 2: Denied “top-up” grant for text books State 3: No money for LEP because PAB disapproved of the choice of activities Vague learning goals: “The State has committed to formulate learning indicators for each class and for attaining the learning outcomes, commensurately.” (State 4)

Misalignment between plans, resources and school needs We got money for a boundary wall. But the real problem in our school is poor quality drinking water” (Bihar HM) “ I went to the district office 7 times to follow up on this classroom” (Bihar HM)

When does money reach schools?

Funds approved vs funds released

Delays in timing of release Includes releases by TFC

Gaps in grant receipts ( ) PAISA: National Report

Schools receive money half way through the financial year ( ) PAISA National Report

Gap between district releases and receipts in Schools: Medak, Andhra Pradesh District Releases (MER)

Gap between district releases and receipts in Schools: Medak, Andhra Pradesh School Receipts (PAISA survey)

Gap between district releases and receipts in Schools: Nalanda District Releases (MER)

Gap between district releases and receipts in Schools: Nalanda School Receipts

Implications of late arrival Rule Bound Expenditure…… Schools use their own monies to meet essential supplies and ‘adjust’ the books accordingly Expenditures are delayed (eg. 1.5 lakhs SMG money in HP blocks) Rule based expenditure (Building less school in Purnea) Whitewashing a popular annual activity – 56% schools whitewashed their walls in

Purnea ACR: % 6 months/ more to withdraw money 57% More than 1 year to complete work, once started Nalanda ACR: School level progress is slow, civil works….. “ I went to the district office 7 times to follow up on this classroom……after it was sanctioned, it took nearly 4 months for the junior engineer to arrive and approve the plans. In total, it took more than a year and a half for this classroom to be built” ~ HM interviews, Nalanda (2013) 30% 6 months/ more to withdraw money 38% More than 1 year to complete work, once started

Immediate tasks….some tinkering at the edges Improved financial management: Building a just-in-time payment system. Eg. e-fms system for MGNREGA Administrative support to school: Greater information flows through SMS alerts, financial training Improved planning: Linking school demand with DISE. Eg. PlanPlus But what of learning?

From schooling to learning A performance based financing system to incentivize a focus on learning Three window funding for SSA 50% 25% Learning grant RTE window Performance incentive 25%