Disbursement and utilisation of funds in the country's education sector is fraught with significant discrepancies with little of the approved funds trickling down, according to a Civil Society Education Coalition (Csec) 2023/24 education budget analysis.
The analysis shows that by the end of February 2024, almost a month to the close of the financial year on March 31, disbursement of K662 billion budgeted funds to the sector stood at 66 percent or K459 billion.
The report further shows that about 18 percent or K3 billion of the allocated K16.3 billion for government-funded projects had been disbursed, prompting contractors to abandon sites due to payment arrears.
Reads the report: "There is zero provision [of K100 million] for construction of Machinga Secondary School; there is zero provision as well [of K147 million] for construction of teacher houses and classrooms.
"One percent or about K4.5 million of K500 million was disbursed on construction of science laboratories and libraries. Only K135 million [three percent] of K5 billion was for construction of 34 secondary schools of excellence."
For donor-funded projects, only 35 percent, an equivalent of K30 billion, of the K85 billion was disbursed, comprising K16.4 billion for the Equity with Quality and Learning at Secondary (Equals) programme and K13.6 billion or 26 percent of K53 billion for the Malawi Education Reform Programme (Merp).
Reads the report: "Only 35 percent of K1.1 billion of K3.1 billion disbursed for TLMs [teaching and learning materials]. However, TLMs utilisation is at 64 percent, which is worrisome. Other recurrent transaction [ORT] provision is at 80 percent, largely because of lengthy procurement processes.
"Only 25 percent [about K39 million of K156 million] has been utilised on construction of the 34 primary schools. Particularly, on TLM, despite funds being provided, Dowa was yet to disburse 30 percent of School Improvement Grants [SIG] which is about K129 million, yet all schools were supposed to get all funds by November."
Even on TLM, Dowa had just utilised K19 million of the K95 million of resources due to delayed procurement processes.
In an interview on the report, Csec executive director Benedicto Kondowe said there is need for action to address critical funding shortfalls and disbursement delays in the 2023/24 education budget since they hinder essential infrastructure development and lead to deteriorating quality of education.
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He said: "Delayed funding has left projects abandoned, jeopardising students' outcomes and national standards.
"We call on policymakers and funding agencies to prioritise timely allocation and efficient utilisation of funds, including ring-fencing the SIG for primary schools and the ORT for secondary schools, disbursing them in the first quarter."
Kondowe said delays in disbursing the SIG and resources for TLMs undermine educational service delivery by causing shortages of essential teaching materials and stalling infrastructure improvements.
Quality education advocate Steven Sharra said these figures expose poor budget utilisation and project implementation.
He said: "The chronic devaluations of the kwacha are seriously undermining the annual budgets because the kwacha is losing value before implementation has started in some of these projects.
"We also seem to have technical capacity problems in project implementation across the ministries and sectors responsible for disbursement and implementation. We need to seriously examine these problems and implement recommendations."
Meanwhile, Ministry of Education spokesperson Mphatso Mkuonera and Secretary for Education Mangani Katundu were yet to respond to our questions sent last week.
In the 2024/25 fiscal year, the education sector has been allocated K900 billion, up from K662 billion mid-year revised allocations. This represents a 35.9 percent nominal increase and 3.6 percent increase in real terms.
