Choice of variables and data

Based on information available through international experiences of decentralized education management, anecdotal evidence on the EQI programme and through discussions with divisional and zonal level education offices, several explanatory variables were identified as important in explaining funds utilization under the EQI scheme. The choice of these variables is discussed below. Variable descriptions and their descriptive statistics are given in tables 3 and 4 for 2003 and 2004 data respectively.

19 Results estimated using an ordered logit model did not differ much from the results presented in the paper.

Table 3. Variable descriptions and descriptive statistics, 2003-WP data Permanent library Permanent library and a qualified librarian present 266 0.13 0.34 0 1 Science lab Science labs and qualified science teachers available 266 0.70 0.46 0 1 Special rooms School has rooms for aesthetics or technical subjects 266 0.56 0.50 0 1 Stud. per science/math Secondary students per science /math teacher 266 57.30 44.02 0 277 No science/math tch. School has no science or math teacher 266 0.18 0.38 0 1 Students per teacher - Primary students per primary teacher 266 25.73 13.36 0 80 Students per teacher Secondary students per teacher - other than science 266 21.47 16.97 0 192 0 to 250 students Student population < = 250 266 0.42 0.49 0 1 Principal trained Principal trained adequately to use EQI funds 156 0.50 0.50 0 1

With suppliers Problems with suppliers 156 0.24 0.43 0 1

Principal qualified Principal in Sri Lanka principal's service 266 0.86 0.34 0 1 Principal’s experience Principal's average years of experience 266 27.93 6.53 10 39 Principal's

Table 4. Description of variables and descriptive statistics for the 2004 School Census data

Mean Std. Dev.

% Excessive leave 43.25 27.38

% Teachers taking more than 25 days of leave a year

% Salary > Rs.11000 14.58 15.73 % Teachers with salary more than 11,000 Primary only 0.31 0.46 School has only primary grades

Secondary only 0.04 0.19 School has only secondary grades

Primary and Secondary 0.65 0.48 School has both primary and secondary grades AL science classes 0.07 0.25 School has collegiate level classes

St ratio - primary 21.05 13.99 Primary students per primary teacher St ratio -science and

math 52.82 57.02 Science and math students per teacher

St ratio -English 84.29 98.11 English students per teacher 0 to 100 students 0.30 0.46 Student population < = 100

100-250 students 0.27 0.44 Student population between 100-250 250-500 students 0.20 0.40 Student population more than 250 500 plus students 0.24 0.43 Student population > 500

Well facilitated school 0.15 0.36 School graded as "well facilitated" in 2005 Facilitated school 0.26 0.44 School graded as "facilitated" in 2005 Less facilitated school 0.59 0.49

School not graded as "well facilitated" or

"facilitated" in 2005 School

Characteristics

Had inspection 0.85 0.36 Had at least 1 inspection in 2004 Principal qualified 0.71 0.45

Qualified as a principal in Sri Lanka principal's service

Principal’s experience 23.82 7.43 Principal's years of experience Principal's Western province 0.15 0.36 Western province

Central province 0.15 0.36 Central province Eastern province 0.10 0.30 Eastern province North central province 0.07 0.26 North central province North western province 0.14 0.34 North western province

Sabaragamuwa 0.12 0.33 Sabaragamuwa

Southern province 0.12 0.32 Southern province Location and

Community

Uva province 0.05 0.22 Uva province

Source: Own calculations, using 2004 School Census data

6.3.1 School Level Capacity: Teacher Characteristics

The school census data provides a range of information on the quality of the teaching staff available at the school level. Three variables that were thought to best characterize the teaching staff – variables relating to salary, leave, and gender – were used. Teacher level information was aggregated to the school level by taking percentages over the total teaching staff.

Salary could affect EQI utilization rate in two ways. A high percentage of low salaried teachers indicates that the school is endowed with inexperienced new teachers, who are also less qualified. They are possibly less capable of identifying and utilizing EQI funds. At present newly recruited teachers are deployed from the center according to deficits and excesses in teacher supply in schools. Many schools, especially those in rural areas, have difficulty in retaining teachers. Hence, as experienced teachers transfer out, teachers in difficult areas tend to be new and inexperienced. Further, teachers who qualify for transfers waste time at various educational offices competing for limited vacancies in popular schools, thus creating productivity losses. The combined effects of lack of experience and motivation of teachers compelled to teach in difficult areas could reduce teachers’ effort levels. This could also have a negative effect on EQI utilization. However, many education officials noted that some newly qualified teachers are highly motivated and are better at making use of EQI in the classrooms than older teachers.

Schools that have a high percentage of teachers taking excessive amounts of leave would have a negative effect on the EQI utilization rate. Teachers’ extended absences would reduce their ability to take time to identify and use EQI.

The effect of gender on EQI utilization rate is again indecisive. Consultations with education authorities revealed, that in rural areas especially, although female teachers are better at using EQI in the class, they are less proactive compared to male teachers in identifying EQI goods in the market.

6.3.2 School Level Capacity – School Characteristics

The school census data provides detailed information on schools including their popularity, size, and availability of facilities. Dichotomous variables were included to control for differences in school cycle representation in schools. For 2003 data, the information on school facilities were summarized into three variables relating to the availability of facilities (see Table 4 for details). In the 2004 data, school characteristics were categorized using the Education Ministry’s categorization of schools according to their facilities, namely; “well

facilitated schools”, “facilitated schools”, and “less facilitated schools”.²⁰ The student-teacher ratio for science and mathematics in the relevant grade levels were included to capture the workload given to teachers in these subjects. Variables were also included to capture the student-teacher ratios in primary grades, and student teacher ratios for non-science and mathematics subjects in the lower secondary grades.

Smaller schools are expected have lower EQI utilization rates. Despite their small size they are required to adhere to almost the same procedures adhered to by larger schools. As such, their administrative work load is quite high. Also, as a result of smaller staff size, the number of teachers available to share the work load is low. To add, although larger schools – schools with more than 400 students -- are allowed to hire an assistant to help with the EQI procedures, principals of smaller schools have to manage without assistants.

Schools with better facilities are expected to have higher EQI utilization rates. This is because teachers in these schools will find it easier to use EQI.

Schools with lower student-teacher ratios are expected to influence EQI utilization rates positively. Discussions with school administrators revealed that a high ratio of students per teacher can affect the use of educational quality inputs in two ways. First, when teachers are responsible for a higher number of students, they are less able to devote time for lesson planning and are thus more likely to use lecture-based teaching. Second, congested classrooms give less physical space for activity- based learning, thus reducing the use of EQI. It is assumed that teachers in these schools would have more time to devote to identifying EQI needs and they are better able to use EQI goods given more complementary resources.

6.3.3 School level capacity - EQI specific management problems

In addition to the above-mentioned variables, several variables were also included to capture the difficulty faced by schools in adhering to guidelines given by the Ministry of Education in the identification and purchase of EQI. Since this information was obtained from the principal’s survey, it was only possible to include these in the analysis of 2003 data.

Schools indicating any kind of management problem are expected to influence EQI utilization rate negatively.

6.3.4 Principal’s characteristics

The efficient functioning of the EQI scheme depends largely on the managerial

20 The Education Ministry’s categorization also includes deficient and very deficient school categories;

these schools were included under less facilitated schools in the analysis.

capacity of the school principal. Hence, it is likely that the education qualifications, experience and other characteristics of the principal influences functioning of the EQI scheme. The following principal’s characteristics were included in the regression: (1) qualification; (2) years of experience; and (3) gender.

Schools with better qualified principals are expected to have higher EQI utilization rates. Experienced principals are possibly more able to guide schools to make use of funds available under EQI. Grauwe (2006) explains that the gender of the principal may affect school level management in two ways. On one hand, female principals may be more capable to summon the cooperation of the teachers by being supportive and collegial and as such may be better at managing schools. On the other hand, male principals may be more adept at withstanding the pressures of management, given less domestic responsibilities.

6.3.5 Community characteristics

Several variables were used to capture the community level characteristics in 2003 data set. These include a dummy indicating whether the school is located in a pradeshiya sabaa (i.e., a rural council). A dichotomous variable indicating whether more than half of the student population came from poor households, and a dichotomous variable indicating whether the school was able to raise funds through private activities were used in the study.

Schools in rural areas are expected to have lower EQI utilization rates, as they have higher transaction costs in procuring EQI goods.

6.3.6 State-administration of funds

The school divisional and zonal level education offices can play a big role in the utilization of funds coming under the EQI scheme. These offices are responsible for training school level individuals for using EQI funds as well as monitoring the adherence to proper procedures regarding the use of EQI funds. To control for this, dummy variables were used to identify the school zones in the sample.

In addition to the variables used for the 2003 data, two variables on the state-administrative aspects of EQI funds were used in the regressions using 2004 census data.

The first variable indicates whether the school was inspected by central administration, and the second indicates the number of EQI fund installments the schools were given.²¹

21 Many school Principals indicated that delayed disbursement of EQI funds is a constraint on EQI utilization.