Do Schools Get Their Money (Paisa 2011)

Abstract

The PAISA 2011 report is based on the PAISA surveys conducted through the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) that covered more than 14,000 schools across rural India in 2009, 2010 and 2011. Information was collected through citizen-led surveys making PAISA the first and only national level, citizen - led effort to track public expenditure in education.PAISA’s specific point of investigation is the school grants in SSA. Every government school in India receives three grants annually - School Maintenance Grant (SMG), School Development Grant (SDG) and Teaching Learning Material (TLM) Grant. These grants constituted 5% of total SSA allocation in 2010-11. Though small in amount, these grants are extremely crucial for the daily functioning of a school, and represent the only money available over which the school has some control. PAISA 2011 report describes trends in these grants over a period of three years starting from 2008-09 or 2009-10 depending on the question being analyzed.The PAISA survey focuses on the following key questions concerning these grants: Do schools get their money? Does money reach on time? Do schools get all their money? Do schools spend their money? How do they spend their money?PAISA 2011 also reports overall trends in SSA allocation and expenditure from 2009-10 to 2011-12, to help contextualize school level expenditure. The data have been painstakingly collected for each state and Union Territory (UT) using publicly available sources. PAISA 2011: HighlightsSSA Allocation and ExpenditureIndia’s SSA budget has more than doubled between 2009-10 and 2011-12, up from Rs. 26,169 crore to Rs. 55,746 crore, while the per child allocation has also more than doubled - from Rs. 2,004 in 2009-10 to Rs. 4,269. Allocation to teachers and school infrastructure constitutes 80% of overall allocations in 2011-12. Do schools get their money?Grant receipts to schools improved from 77% in 2008-09 to 84% in 2009-10, but declined marginally to 82% in 2010-11. There is grant-wise variation. In 2010-11, 87% schools received TLM, 84% schools received SMG, while only 77% schools received SDG. Does money reach on time?In the financial year 2009-10, 59% schools reported receiving grants in the first half of the financial year. This dropped to 53% in the financial year 2011-12.Do schools get all their money?In 2008-09, 55% schools reported receiving all 3 grants. This improved to 70% in 2010-11.Do schools spend their money? How do they spend their money?On average, about 90% schools that received money report spending it. Most schools spent it on essential supplies. Between April and November 2011, 68% schools whitewashed their walls and buildings, while 69% schools utilized a portion of the grants to fund school events. Progress on achieving RTE IndicatorsThere has not been much progress in compliance with various Right to Education (RTE) related norms. This is despite a 137% increase in SSA infrastructure budget between 2009-10 and 2011-12. Proportion of schools with shortfall in teachers, classrooms, drinking water facilities, kitchen / shed, playground, complete boundary wall, separate room for headmaster has remained more or less unchanged between 2010 and 2011. However, there has been progress in provision of separate toilet for girls, and library books.