46
World Bank Working Paper
Student Teacher Ratios The second factor that affects the level of unit cost is the student teacher ratio. The very low unit cost for primary education in Malawi is mainly explained by this factor. With a student teacher ratio in government funded schools of 80:1, Malawi has one of the highest values in Africa, equal to twice the SADC average (41:1). In contrast, the student teacher ratio of 20:1 in secondary is very low compared to other countries (the SSA average is 28:1) and contributes significantly to the high unit costs. Higher education is similar with a ratio of 11:1 for Malawi and an average of 20:1 for the SSA (see table 3.9 and Chapter 7 for more details). Table 3.9: Student-Teacher Ratios in Public Schools, 2007 Primary Education
Secondary Education
Higher Education
Malawi
80
20
11
SADC average
41
22
17
SSA average
45
28
20
Sources: Chapter 4, Chapter 7, and World Bank data.
Recurrent Expenditure Excluding Teachers’ Salaries (Primary Education) The third main factor affecting the unit cost is the remaining recurrent expenditure excluding teachers’ salaries. For this indicator, only primary level data is available for comparison with other countries. As previously noted, expenditures for spending outside of salaries are very small in Malawi. Out of all African countries with available data, Malawi has the fourth lowest share for this type of spending (see figure 3A.2 in Appendix 3.1). In addition to the high pupil teacher ratio, this factor contributes to the low unit cost observed in primary education in Malawi.
Household Financing Total Household Education Expenditure and Comparisons
The household education expenditure includes both the monetary (for example, fees and other financial contributions by parents) and non monetary support that communities are encouraged to contribute for rehabilitating schools and other building projects. According to the 2004 Integrated Household Survey, Malawi’s total household spending on education is estimated at MK4.4 billion, which is 1.43 percent of GDP. Compared to other African countries with available data, Malawi is the in the middle in terms of household contribution to education (in 9 countries the contribution as a percentage of GDP is lower than in Malawi and in eight other countries it is higher). Malawi’s contribution is slightly lower than the average calculated on the 18 African countries with available data (1.4 percent of GDP vs. 2 percent, see figure 3A.3 in Appendix 3.1). Compared to other African countries, the share of education to total household expenditures in Malawi is in the bottom half (see figure 3A.4 in Appendix 3.1). The share of education expenditures accounts for only 1.7 percent of total household expenditures, compared to an SSA average of 3.6 percent. This is likely related to the