Financing and Delivery of Education in Zambia

Like other countries elsewhere within the sub saharan region Zambia has since the mid eighties experienced a crisis in her educational system. The sources of the crisis are reduced funding levels in the midst of rising population growth and growing derived demand for education. This crisis has manifested itself in different ways that include reduction in real expenditure for education, deterioration in the quality of the teaching and learning environment, decline in the internal and external efficiency of the educational system, decline in the opportunities for education among low income groups and rural children, and increasing lack of faith in the value of education by parents and children. Government's initial response to this crisis was to declare a policy that required parents and other beneficiaries to take a share in the cost of education. From the mid eighties, cost-sharing measures like PTA levies, user-charges, boarding fees, tuition fees, income generation measures in institution of learning and so on have been adopted to supplement government resources for education. With the introduction of liberalization in the 1990s, Partnership has been added to the government's perceived policy of financing and delivering education. Partnership involves establishment and ownership of educational institutions by other agencies be they communities, NGOs, churches, private industry, individuals etc. Partnership means that government is not the sole provider of education. The policy of Cost-sharing and Partnership represent a major shift from the earlier policy of free education. Although partnership and cost-sharing are the policy benchmark in the financing and delivery of education, there are several issues that are not known at the moment and these include: the willingness and ability of parents, communities and other agencies to pay for or invest in education; the affordability of education among different income groups; the constraints in investing in education by non government providers to mention but a few.This study was undertaken in order to answer the following question: WHAT IS THE IMPACT OF PARTNERSHIP AND COSTSHARING IN EDUCATION ON THE BENEFICIARIES AND PROVIDERS AND ARE THERE ANY OTHER POSSIBLE ALTERNATIVES WAYS OF FINANCING AND DELIVERING EDUCATION IN THE COUNTRY? To answer the question, the study seeks to generate both quantitative and qualitative data through diverse research methods like surveys using questionnaires, documentary analysis, participatory methods like focus group discussions and in-depth personal interviews