Salaries gobble up 80% of education budget
Money goes to ministry's 38 000 employees
A massive N$13.8 billion of the N$16.7 billion allocated to the education ministry will end up in the pockets of its employees.
About 80% of the education ministry’s budget is allocated towards personnel expenditure. With an increase in learner enrolment of over 40 000 learners this year, this means more teachers will need to be hired, and is set to further increase the wage bill.
The ministry has been allocated a budget of more than N$16.7 billion, which constitutes about 22.5% of the national budget.
Minister Anna Nghipondoka, in her budget motivation for the 2023/2024 financial year, said more than N$13.8 billion (79.8% of the budget allocation) will go towards personnel expenditures, which covers salaries for over 38 200 employees.
This comprises of 35 800 teaching and 2 500 unified - or non-teaching - staff.
A total of N$209 million has also been set aside to recruit an additional 850 teachers at pre-primary, primary and secondary level.
“These teachers are required to reduce the current overcrowding in classrooms as well as to improve access at pre-primary, grade one and grade eight level,” Nghipondoka said.
More learners
According to the ministry’s preliminary assessments, the total learner enrolment for 2023 - compared to last year - has increased from 819 749 to 864 632. This is an increase of 44 883.
“With personnel costs accounting for a larger share of our budget, there is an urgent need to invest more in strengthening the capacity of our teaching staff to ensure the enhancement of skills and consequently realise improvement of output quality.”
Nghipondoka said the ministry’s salary bill increases yearly, mainly due to the increase in learner enrolment each academic year.
To contain the wage bill, the ministry carries out monthly payroll monitoring and also annually conducts staff verification to ensure payroll efficiencies.
Nghipondoka said funding to 238 government hostels increased to over N$680 million for the 2023/2024 financial year. The budgeted amount will be used provide balanced meals to 62 660 boarders.
Meanwhile, there are 115 private community-owned or church-based hostels which receive financial support from the ministry, she said.
The ministry has set aside N$106 million for these community hostels, which will be utilised for the provision of meals to boarders as well as for allowance to cooks preparing meals. The rate payable is N$22 per boarder per day.
School feeding programme
An amount of N$130 million has been set aside for the national school feeding programme, which currently benefits 461 829 primary school learners. This amount is expected to climb, given the increase in learner enrolment for this year.
Nghipondoka said the procurement of textbooks for all phases of the revised curriculum has been concluded, while budgeted funds of N$40 million will cover the gap to reach the desired textbook to learner ratio of 1:1.
The total stationery budget for the 2023/2024 financial year amounts to N$88.7 million.
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The ministry has been allocated a budget of more than N$16.7 billion, which constitutes about 22.5% of the national budget.
Minister Anna Nghipondoka, in her budget motivation for the 2023/2024 financial year, said more than N$13.8 billion (79.8% of the budget allocation) will go towards personnel expenditures, which covers salaries for over 38 200 employees.
This comprises of 35 800 teaching and 2 500 unified - or non-teaching - staff.
A total of N$209 million has also been set aside to recruit an additional 850 teachers at pre-primary, primary and secondary level.
“These teachers are required to reduce the current overcrowding in classrooms as well as to improve access at pre-primary, grade one and grade eight level,” Nghipondoka said.
More learners
According to the ministry’s preliminary assessments, the total learner enrolment for 2023 - compared to last year - has increased from 819 749 to 864 632. This is an increase of 44 883.
“With personnel costs accounting for a larger share of our budget, there is an urgent need to invest more in strengthening the capacity of our teaching staff to ensure the enhancement of skills and consequently realise improvement of output quality.”
Nghipondoka said the ministry’s salary bill increases yearly, mainly due to the increase in learner enrolment each academic year.
To contain the wage bill, the ministry carries out monthly payroll monitoring and also annually conducts staff verification to ensure payroll efficiencies.
Nghipondoka said funding to 238 government hostels increased to over N$680 million for the 2023/2024 financial year. The budgeted amount will be used provide balanced meals to 62 660 boarders.
Meanwhile, there are 115 private community-owned or church-based hostels which receive financial support from the ministry, she said.
The ministry has set aside N$106 million for these community hostels, which will be utilised for the provision of meals to boarders as well as for allowance to cooks preparing meals. The rate payable is N$22 per boarder per day.
School feeding programme
An amount of N$130 million has been set aside for the national school feeding programme, which currently benefits 461 829 primary school learners. This amount is expected to climb, given the increase in learner enrolment for this year.
Nghipondoka said the procurement of textbooks for all phases of the revised curriculum has been concluded, while budgeted funds of N$40 million will cover the gap to reach the desired textbook to learner ratio of 1:1.
The total stationery budget for the 2023/2024 financial year amounts to N$88.7 million.
[email protected]
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