The efforts of school management committees towards the Education For All goals and the effect on the quality of education

Abstract

This study looked into the participation of committees in schools which implemented the School Improvement Program (SIP) of Plan International and schools which did not and compared the quality of education in these schools. Furthermore the efforts of the school committees towards the Education For All (EFA) goals are compared. Semi-structured interviews were held with members of the Parent Teachers Association (PTA) and School Improvement Program Committee (SIPC) and with head teachers. In total 90 participants were interviewed in schools which implemented the SIP and 19 in the schools which did not implement the SIP. Furthermore the quality of the education was measured using three indicators of education, including the teacher- pupil ratio, book- pupil ratio and the results on the public examinations of grade seven. It can be concluded that the participation in schools which implemented the SIP and schools which did not differ much. The quality of education in schools selected for the SIP was found to be improved to almost the same level of quality which was found in schools that did not implement the SIP. However the improvement in the quality of education of schools with an active SIPC was not greater than the improvement which was seen in schools with a SIPC that became inactive. The efforts of schools with an active SIPC towards the EFA goals about the quality of education and gender equality were similar to those of schools without a SIPC or with an inactive SIPC. The efforts of schools with an active SIPC to improve the access of education were more diverse than the efforts of schools without a SIPC or with an inactive SIPC.