The Education System in Malawi
47
fact that for many poor households there is very little money left after subsistence spending (in particular, for food). It is noteworthy that countries such as Benin, Cameroon, or Côte d’Ivoire are richer and have a larger number of households that find it easier to save money for spending beyond subsistence. Household Expenditure by Level of Education and Comparison with the Public Expenditure
Household Unit Costs by Level of Education As table 3.10 shows, almost half of total household education expenditure goes to secondary education and 20 percent goes to preschool. The share of household education expenditure that goes to primary education—the level that enrolls a majority of the students—is only 17 percent. (In Malawi, primary education has been free since 1994 and this partly explains the lower share for that level.) Table 3.10: Estimated Breakdown of the Household Expenditure by Level of Education and Household Unit Costs, 2007 Share of the Total Education Household Expenditure (%)
Household Unit Cost (Per Student) in MK
Household Unit Cost (Per Student) as % of GDP Per Capita
Preschool
20
1,980
5.4
Primary
17
252
0.7
Secondary
44
9,925
27.3
TEVET*
8
34,444
94.8
Higher education*
11
63,725
175.3
Source: Estimates for 2007 based on IHS 2 2004. *Estimates for TEVET and higher education should be taken with caution because they are based on a small number of individuals in the household survey.
Consequently the household expenditure per student is very low in the primary level. Nevertheless, students still state that lack of money is one of the main reasons for dropping out of primary school (see Chapter 2, table 2.9) and it is worth noting that for the poorest families the indirect costs of education (such as uniforms and contributions) are likely to still be too high. Higher education accounts for the highest household expenditure per student, as shown in table 3.10. This is mainly due to fees (see Chapter 7, table 7.4 for details). There are also school fees in secondary education. The average household spending per junior secondary school student (forms 1–2) is half that allocated to a senior secondary school student (form 3–4). For all levels of schooling, the average annual spending per student is higher in the urban regions than in the rural regions. Comparisons of Public and Private Financing by Level of Education To enhance sound policy dialogue on the allocation of additional public resources for the education sector, it is beneficial to analyze the structure of cost sharing between public and private resources by education level. This analysis (see figure 3.5) suggests very interesting findings: