HakiElimu blasts government over the proposed national budget for education

A Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) which stands for the rights of educationists in the country known as ‘HakiElimu’ has blasted the government for its failure to allocate 20 percent of the proposed total national budget fund on education sector for the last five years.  The organization which has analyzed the budget allocation for 2015/16 financial year says that although the government has been allocating more money for education sector than other sectors, still the proposed budget fund is too minimal to cater for the needs of education in the country. Outlining the proposed figures yesterday in Dar es Salaam, the Research and Policy Analyst of HakiElimu Makumba Mwemezi said that out of the proposed Sh. 22.4 tri total national budget, only the proposed Sh. 3.8 tri has been allocated for the education sector in the country. Makumba was contributing to a debate on a topic titled, “The National Budget 2015/16: Is government using the maximum of its available resources towards Health and Education” which was presented for discussion at a breakfast talk organized by Policy Forum held at British Council. Makumba who was the main speaker for the topic noted that, the government has not been able to use much of its resources to fund the budgetary allocation of 20 percent as required according to the Darkar Agreement 2000, and instead the current level of budget allocation stands at 16 percent despite there has been an annual increased of 10.8 percent of the allocated budget. He also noted that, the allocated budget fund is also contrary to what was passed recently in South Korea during Global Education Forum whereby the forum directed all countries should allocate 20 of National Budget to claim ‘Maximum use of its available resources to education’.  He noted that, the current meager problems facing the education sector in the country is due to the low budget allocations an aspect that many educational projects are not implemented as required on time and to the satisfaction. 

HakiElimu's Research and Policy Analyst of HakiElimu Makumba Mwemezi 

Elaborating more on the budget allocation for education sector, he noted that, out of the Sh. Proposed budget of Sh. 3.8 tril, about Sh. 984 billions is set for the development purposes, while the rest is for the recurrent expenditure. He further noted that 91 percent of the amount set for development purposes is set aside for higher education including loans for students in universities, while 9 percent of it is directed to cater for the development of basic education in the country. Earlier, discussants over the topic poured much blame to the government when the topic was put across to the audience for discussion, with some saying that, the government is not serious with the development of the education in the country. Contributing on the topic, John Kachesha an education stakeholder disagreed with the government’s priorities and suggested that there should be an equal distribution of the budget money in order to fair in education business. He says, the government needs to look at work efficiency and concentrates more on the teaching facilities as these are the basic educational supplies used for educational promotion. Another education stakeholder, Bernadetha Ndunguru said that the government need to strengthen its resources properly so as it should get enough money for development. However, she insisted that, each part of the government sector that channels the collection of money should b e responsible enough to ensure that it collects enough for development purposes. Joseph Simkanzya, a former secondary teacher who currently works privately said that, the education sector in the country seems to be an isolated entity which has been commercialized. He noted that, this is the aspect that poor citizens hardly strives to get quality education from privately owned schools because public schools are isolated and do not get important incentives for their development academically an aspect that there are numerous contributions in primary schools whereby parents are subjected to pay for their children. He further noted that, the increasing gap of the people who have the ability to afford quality education with those who haven’t the ability to afford the services is growing larger.