Review Reveals Weaknesses At Education Ministry

CHANDAPIWA BAPUTAKI
Staff Writer | Monday December 7, 2009 00:00

 

The Organisation and Methods Review that was completed in August 2008 and never made public says that education has experienced massive expansion and growth, requiring improved management and supervision at regional level and more focused monitoring and evaluation by the ministry headquarters. The report says the number of schools, the teaching facilities and the teaching personnel has grown placing considerable strain on the ministry structure. It states that while some decentralisation has taken place through the creation of regional offices, this has not happened consistently among departments. The report notes that education services still remain largely centralised and the pressure for the ministry to deliver effectively at regional and school level is considerable. 

The report shows that there is evidence of declining educational quality and input. It says the processes and outputs as reflected in academic attainments all show weaknesses. The report states that there is a growing public dissatisfaction with the ministry's failure to monitor its field operations and a pressing need to develop structures, which deliver an efficient and effective service closer to the customer. The review found that the span of control among the deputy permanent secretaries is unbalanced, hence there is need for rationalisation of functions into policy development, coordination and implementation. As a result the researchers suggested five major groupings of functions.

These are basic education; tertiary education; education support system; education delivery services and corporate services. The functions will be headed by deputy permanent secretaries re-designated to secretaries of education. The review suggested that all in-service related functions should be consolidated under staff training and development for proper coordination. The report says all development services should be consolidated under the division of buildings development and facilities management. It suggests that all inspectorate functions should be consolidated to form the department of inspectorate, which would be centralised at the headquarters. The report says the department will promote the concept of self-evaluation at schools, to reduce the current inspectorate visits to schools. The researchers point that delays in the procurement of instructional materials for primary schools by the Ministry of Local Government (MLG), which are then distributed by the local authorities have always been a thorny issue. It was found that some local authorities lacked resources to adequately perform the function. The report reveals that there is an urgent need for MLG to build capacity in the local authorities and gradually give them the mandate to procure books.

The review found that financial management in the Ministry of Education lacks strategic analysis despite the fact that government invests a third of its budget in the education sector. 'There is therefore, a critical need for the ministry to account on the costs and benefits from implementing this huge budget in educating the nation of Botswana.

Financial management therefore needs to be focused to cover aspects such as financial performance analysis, financial modelling research and financial forecasting and corporate planning,' the researchers state in their recommendations.

The research was undertaken by a team from the Ministry of Education in late 2006. The objective was to examine the adequacy of the mandate of the Ministry of Education as spelt out in the Education Act and other legislation governing the delivery and management of education and training.