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Expenditure tracking surveys can fight corruption
Posted: 1:19 AM | Apr. 11, 2005
Dennis M. Arroyo
Inquirer News Service
A FEW years ago corruption in public education was so bad that school children gravely lacked textbooks. The ratio was one textbook shared by every four kids. So the teacher would have to waste time copying the pages from her textbook to the blackboard. Today there are various reforms in place, and textbooks are closely monitored by civic groups.
Learning from others
But the
The public system there lacked the basics and families were paying too much for tuition. So during the early 90s the government invested heavily on elementary education. Despite a three-fold increase in spending, the
Exposing leaks
To track the money, the government ran a survey, supported by the World Bank, over 250 schools. It was called the Public Expenditure Tracking Survey (PETS). The poll was meant to determine just how much public funds actually reached the public schools over 1991 to 1995. That way, the state could uncover bottlenecks, expose leaks, and measure the extent of the problem.
What did the survey reveal? In 1991, only a tiny two percent of the grant money for school kids actually reached the schools! In fact most schools got literally nothing. The government likewise found out that the schools and districts had gained financially by underreporting their enrollment.
Officials took action by arming the people with information. Budget allocation had to be made transparent.
Making fund data transparent
The state published every month the exact amounts of the funds transferred. These numbers were broadcast over radio and newspapers. It also required schools to post the funds they received on their bulletin boards.
Law makers enacted bills that protected accountability and the flow of information. Districts were ordered to deposit all their grants to school bank accounts. The authority to procure goods was delegated from the districts to the schools themselves.
Soaring to 90 percent
Results were dramatic. The grants per school child that actually reached the schools rose steeply: from 2 percent in 1991 to 26 percent in 1995, then to 90 percent in 1999. Ghost employees were slashed from the payroll: these 20,000 names accounted for 20 percent of the total number of teachers. Leakages were also plugged: in 1991, fully 97 percent of non-wage funds were lost. By 2001 this ratio fell to only 18 percent.
The reforms in accountability shaped policy at the highest levels of government. The President of Uganda decided to make universal primary education among his top priorities. So in 1996 he eliminated public school fees for up to four grade school children per family (two of the beneficiaries must be girls).
The striking moves done in education there can be replicated here in the
Copying the mechanism
First, use a public expenditure tracking survey to find out the extent of the fund leakages, the bottlenecks, and how they occur. Second, share the survey findings with the public via the media. That will slash the veil of secrecy. It's interesting that the Ugandan schools that had newspapers ended up getting more money than those with no access to the media.
Third, implement reforms that uphold transparency. For example, the funds allotted to the public schools should be published every month. The data should also be posted in bulletin boards. Fourth, set into place reforms in fund flows. In
Surveys that expose the flow of funds to the public glare will help plug the leakages from corruption.
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