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Looking at Education through Public Finance and Accountability lens

Looking at Education through Public Finance and Accountability lens. Himanshu Upadhyaya, KRC MANTHAN July 03, 2012. Table of Contents. Does Public Finance and Accountability issues impact Educational Outcome? What can we learn from CAG’s Performance Audits?

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Looking at Education through Public Finance and Accountability lens

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  1. Looking at Education through Public Finance and Accountability lens Himanshu Upadhyaya, KRC MANTHAN July 03, 2012

  2. Table of Contents • Does Public Finance and Accountability issues impact Educational Outcome? • What can we learn from CAG’s Performance Audits? • Performance Audit on Non-Formal Education (1995-2000) • Performance Audit on implementation of National Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act (1999-2004) • Performance Audit on implementation of Persons with Disabilities Act (1999-2004) • Performance Audit on SarvaShikshaAbhiyan (2001-2006) • Performance Audit on SarvaShikshaAbhiyan (2006-2011): Way Forward?

  3. Does Public Finance and Accountability issues impact Educational Outcome? • CAG audit scrutiny in Assam revealed abnormal delays in releasing 1st and 2nd installment of SSA funds ranging from 42 to 216 days by Union and State govt. • CAG audit scrutiny in Tripura revealed delays ranged from 18 to 196 days for funds to reach district levels, from district to block levels delays ranged from 2 to 314 days and from block levels to schools delays ranged from 17 to 340 days. • CBGA working paper on SSA states that Chhatisgarh had received funds in eight installments in 2004-’05, seven in 2005-’06, six in 2006-’07 and five in 2007-’08, with the major share of transfers happening at the end of year. CBGA also found during fieldwork that delays in transfer of funds were common at sub-district levels also. In Dongargaon block of Rajnandgaon district, CBGA team found that the money came to the block in 19 installments in 2006-’07 and 27 installments in 2007-’08, making it more than an exercise for block level officers to manage this fund flow (receiving and disbursing money) rather than spend quality time on monitoring programme implementation.

  4. What can we learn from CAG’s Performance Audits? • In the same way as budget analysis helps civil society ascertain commitment of ruling governments to declared goals, the analysis of CAG’s performance audits can offer civil society • We often tend to think that CAG audits might be all about demands for grants, budgetary allocation, release of funds and utilisation certificates. • However, there are two kinds of audits: • 1, Regularity Audit and • 2, Performance Audit • This presentation focuses on Performance Audits, which lays stress on outcomes • Drawing from CAG’s performance audit reports, we can extract learning relevant to educational governance and can design a research agenda that creates enabling conditions for implementation of RTE Act, 2009.

  5. Performance Audit on Non Formal Education • CAG of India carried out a performance review of implementation of the scheme in respect of 20 states and 2 Union Territories for the period from 1995-’96 to 1999-2000. The sample consisted of 89 districts and 156 NGOs. • Against the overall target of 3.50 lakhcentres per year, the highest number that could be achieved was 2.41 lakh during the year 1997-’98. Thereafter, for next two years, the numbers had seen declining trend. • CAG also observed that in the absence of benchmark survey of the potential Out of School children who could benefit from the scheme, a series of half hearted measures, without community support and the strength of network, were the reasons for the dismal performance of the scheme. • “The financial needs of NFE centres were not being met, as both the Centre and States were not releasing their shares of resource allocation fully. Inadequate financial resources and their untimely release had affected the performance of NFE centres adversely. The performance of NFE centres was also badly affected by non-availability of TLM, unqualified instructors and inadequate supervision and monitoring. Overall, NFE system has not made any significant contribution to the realization of the goal of Universalisation of Elementary Education. Only a small fraction of Out of School Children have benefitted from it.” PEO, Planning Commission. 5

  6. Performance Audit on National Child Labour Projects (1999-2004) • The performance audit stated that in Andhra Pradesh, there were no systematic baseline survey for identification of child labour and no annual action plan were drawn for rehabilitation. • In Bihar, there was nothing on the record to show the action taken to collect, compile and publish facts and figures relating to child labour. • No survey was conducted for identification of child labour in Jharkhand. • The West Bengal government did not conduct a proper survey during 1999-2004; commenting on this the CAG wrote, "Although, Rs.23 lakhs were allotted for the purpose, no survey was conducted during 1999-2004. Out of this allotment, Rs.5.60 lakhs only were spent for office expenses.” • In 12 sampled districts of Maharashtra, during 1996-2002 according to the Labour Department the number of child labourers was only 264, while a survey conducted by NGOs detected 45,081 child labourers during the same period in the same districts - a 200-fold difference! • Audit of 5 districts in Punjab revealed that only Rs.1.14 lakhs was spent although Rs.9.25 lakhs was available for the surveys. While, it was noticed that Rs.74,000 was spent for purchase of 'Almirahs and Typewriters', the balance amount - along with interest - was refunded to the Government of India, as the funds allotted to DRDAs could not be transferred to the Labour Department in time for conducting surveys! 6

  7. Performance Audit of NCLP (Continued) • In Maharashtra, there was a wide variation between the number of Child Labour identified by NGOs (45801) and that identified by govt (264). • Data on various surveys carried out in Karnataka to identify child labourers showed wide variations in the numbers of child labourers assessed by Education and Labour Departments. Whereas the State Child Labour Cell, in its Status Report for March 2004, found 38,443 child workers engaged in hazardous (8553) and non-hazardous (29,980) occupations, in 10 test-checked districts alone the CAG found that 48,342 child labourers had been identified by NGOs (19,776), departmental inspections (1999-2004), and survey (28,566) - as per data furnished by NCLPs/ SCLPs. • The CAG's performance audit showed that this maladministration is now routine, and our children can't read and write because the adults responsible for liberating them can't - or won't - count them correctly. • Out of 55,510 working children enrolled in special schools in Uttar Pradesh, only 9469 children were mainstreamed. • In five test-checked districts in West Bengal, only 4 to 20 percent students enrolled in special schools were mainstreamed. • In Orissa, in five test checked districts, about 60 percent of child labourers due for mainstreaming were not studying in formal schools. 7

  8. Performance Audit of implementing Persons with Disabilities Act (1999-2004) • When CAG auditors inquired from MoHRD information about disabled children enrolled in normal schools and availability of trained teachers in such schools, the ministry responded stating that it had no information on such numbers and was in the process of ‘collecting’ it. Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment stated in reply to the draft performance audit report in December 2003 that the draft NSSO report for the 58th round indicated that around 45 per cent of the children with disabilities were enrolled in regular schools. • The MoSJ&E started a scholarship scheme for CWSN only in the year 2002-’03, i.e. seven years after the enactment of this provision. • Audit scrutiny revealed that no action was taken to develop educational infrastructure for Persons with Disabilities in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Punjab, Sikkim and Uttar Pradesh. • No comprehensive education scheme, as mandated in Section 30 of the PwD Act was implemented in the States of Assam, Delhi, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Tripura. • In the six test-checked districts of Tamil Nadu, no action had been taken for imparting non-formal education to the disabled.

  9. Performance Audit of SSA • While the baseline survey put the number of ‘Out of School’ children at 3.40 crore as on March 31, 2001 and while Ministry of Human Resource Development claimed that as per reports received from states and UTs, this number had come down to 96 lakh in October 2005; the performance audit stated that as per a survey carried out for CAG of India by the Social and Rural Research Institute, the number of ‘Out of School’ children stood at 1.36 crore, after an expenditure of Rs 11133.57 crores. • Five States/ Uts failed to maintain the SSA norm of 1: 40 for teacher-student ratio. The ratio between Primary and Upper Primary schools in Bihar ranged between 1: 60 and 1: 130. Cases of uneven distribution of teachers amongst schools were noticed in many states. • 75884 primary schools in 15 states/UTs were operating with just one teacher, where as 6647 schools in 7 states operated without a single teacher! The position was alarming in Chhatisgarh, himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. • There were delays ranging between one and nine months in supplying free textbooks in 7 states/ UTs. • Scheme guidelines with reference to disabled children were not strictly followed. In 14 states/ UTs, only 5.55 lakh out of 8.87 lakh identified CWSN were enrolled in schools. Assistive devices were provided to only one fourth.

  10. Performance Audit of SSA (2006-2011) Way Forward? • One way to carry out a detailed analysis would be to compare the performance of SSA in last five years along side recommendations from previous performance audits. • In the year 2012, so far we haven’t seen the Performance Audit on SSA at Union Government level being laid on the tables in parliament. • So far, we have seen three state specific Performance Audits on Tripura, Assam and J&K. • http://www.indiatogether.org/2012/jul/edu-tripura.htm • In the year 2008, CAG’s Performance Audit report on Mid Day Meals entered public domain. This report needs to be studied in details along side the one on SSA. • http://saiindia.gov.in/english/home/Our_Products/Audit_Report/Government_Wise/union_audit/recent_reports/union_performance/2007_2008/Civil_%20Performance_Audits/Report_no_13/Report_no_13.html • So, inviting all of you to explore looking at Education through public finance and accountability lens. We at Knowledge Resource Centre would be happy to facilitate such research agendas with an aim to improve quality of education and learning inside schools.

  11. A Dream of a Just, Equitable, Humane and Sustainable Society Thank You

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