Project Documents

(b) Education is a labour intensive enterprise (c) Education is a capital intensive enterprise (d) Education is a money consuming enterprise

(2) A cost factor which cannot be manipulated or determined by a decision maker in education can best be referred to as:

(a) Non-determinable factor (b) External factor

(c) Internal factor (d) None of the above

(4) The values of a classroom as indicated in the books of account of two schools are -N6,000 and -N?,000 per classroom respectively. Which of the following factors cannot be said to have been responsible for the variation in cost per school?

(a) Space norms use by each school

(b) The nature of the curriculum adopted by each school (c) The source of building materials used by each school (d) The enrolment of each school

Course

internal factors at will.

If a cost factor can be controlled by a decision maker in education, then such factor is called an internal factor. Our discussion will be in three parts:

(a) internal factors influencing capital costs of education;

(b) internal factors influencing recurrent salary costs; and

(c) internal factors influencing recurrent non-salary costs of education.

(a) Internal Factors Influencing Capital Costs of Education

(i) The style or design of buildings. When the style of a building is complex, the unit cost per building will be high.

(ii) The space norms used, A norm allowing 30 students per room will be cheaper than one allowing 20 students per classroom. Let us assume that total capital cost of a classroom is N8,000 if 30 students are allowed, the capital cost will be divided by 30 in order to arrive at the unit capital cost (per student). That is -N8,000/30 = N266.67. Whereas when divided by 20 students, the unit cost becomes W400.00.

(iii) The nature of the curriculum A science-based curriculum will attract higher capital cost than the non-laboratory-based one. A laboratory is a special building. There is need to give allowance for fixing equipments. Ordinary classrooms do not require all the specified constructions usually found in the laboratories. Consequently, when an institution is science-based, il will be more expensive than when it operates ordinary curriculum.

(iv) The location of the institution. Cost of construction is bound to be high in either a water-logged or rocky to incur more expenditure on land than another located in the rural centre.

Cost of land is higher in the city centre than at the suburb. The cost of land and rent is

(v) Importation of capital goods. The availability of local materials may be a factor for an observed variation in capital outlays. A project which depends on imported machines and spare parts will be more expensive than another which depends on local materials.

(b) Internal Factors Influencing Recurrent Salary Costs of Education

Salary forms a significant proportion of the total recurrent costs of education. This is because education is a labour intensive enterprise. The education system depends mainly on human efforts for teaching, research and extension services. Since educational institutions employ more labour than machine, they must expend a lot on the payment of salaries and allowances of personnel.

The Following Internal Factors Affect the Recurrent Salary Costs of Education:

(i) The number of personnel employed. The higher the number of personnel employed the higher the total salary paid.

(ii)

(ii) The qualification mix of personnel employed. A school with four NCE and two B.Ed, teachers will pay less on salary than another school which employs two NCE and four B.Ed, teachers.

(iii) Utilization of personnel. How the staffs are used can determine the cost. The lower the student-staff ratio the greater the number of staff utilized and consequently, the higher the salary cost. For example, school "A" operates a

Memory Aid: "LINCS" where:

L = Location of school;

I = Importation of capital goods;

N — Norms of space;

C = Curriculum design; and S = Style of building

student-teacher ratio of 30 students per teacher, while school "B" operates a student-teacher ratio of 50 students per teacher. If both schools have 150 students, then, schools "A" and "B"

will have five teachers and three teachers respectively. If the cost per teacher is N7,000 per annum, schools "A" and "B" would spend-N35, 000 and N21.000 as salaries respectively.

(iv) Experience mix of staff the way the institution has chosen to combine its junior and senior staff can influence the salary cost. In fact, it is an extension of it. Experience mix is more of an external factor than an internal one, because it is not easy for the decision makers to peg promotion of junior workers so as to limit the number in the senior category. Moreover, if an institution is already having too many experienced staff, it is not easy to adjust the experience mix without causing hardship to some people.

Memory Aid: QUEN where:

Q = Qualification mix of staff;

U - Utilization of staff;

E == Experience mix of staff; and N = Number of staff.

(c) Internal Factor Influencing Non-Salary Recurrent Costs

The non-salary recurrent costs include expenditure on maintenance, electricity bills and other consumable materials. Most of the factors influencing these non-salaried items are externals, because they are not within the control of the decision maker. Particularly, at the institutional level. For instance, it is the government that can control general prices of goods, what an institution can do to cut costs is to reduce the volume of goods and services consumed.

Consequently, the only internal factor influencing the non-salary recurrent expenditure is the quantity of goods/services employed.