Controversy on Funding for Education - Term Paper Example

? Controversy on Funding for Education Germanna Community College April 27, An overview Funding of education has been an empirical issue in almost all the nations. Most significantly, education to all being one of basic need, many questions have emerged relating to education funding. In most developing nations, there has been a lot of education funding debates, regarding the cost of education since majority of people can not afford the cost of education. Most people who can afford to fund education with ease complain of the quality of education, especially in the public institutions. In most countries, government institutions host most students. This congestion has jeopardized the quality of teaching and, as a result, the students’ performance is extremely poor compared to private schools. The financial investment in education has increased tremendously compared to early times. The increase in expenditure per student has not had clear explanations. There are exceedingly strict deadlines for fee payments and, most students do not manage to pay the fees on time. This has seen most students remain at home due to lack of fees. A critical issue in education finances are misappropriation and embezzlement. The funds are put into many activities and, this leads to mismanagement of the money. On the other hand, there are a lot of education developments that are being carried out. The education sector has developed tremendously despite the alarming financial challenges. Most institutions that provide education have diversified their activities, and this has made them appear like profit making institutions. The government is not providing enough funding to the education system. (Pillay, 2010) There are many development projects in the country but, surprisingly, very few involve education. There are some exceedingly controversial situations whereby, the government will use money budgeted for the education sector to subsidize other sectors such a health and environmental sectors. For example, this leaves the education sector with a deficit and will not manage to perform all the planned activities. Readers view Although there is a vast investment in education, it the benefits of education can not be underestimated. Students have been performing exceedingly well. This is evident in the many ideas that are emerging from extraordinarily young students. The students have been given an opportunity to explore wide in education to exploit their ability. There have been significant development in the education sector and this is has been as a result of heavy funding. The introduction of free primary education is a chief issue in the education system. Although, there are no enough funds, a lot of students have benefited. The introduction of school feeding students while in school has enabled many students to be comfortable at school. Although the quality of education is not extremely superior, the stakeholders in the education sector should try their best to ensure that there are adequate funds to meet all the needs. The funds in the education sector should be put in the intended purpose. All the money used should be accounted for and any amount that is not used should be returned to the appropriate account. Any person who misappropriates education funds should be forced to refund the money and stringent legal measure should be taken. Government and the education stakeholders should ensure that the teachers are remunerated well and at the right time. Parents and guardians should pay any amount that is asked by the government. This will enable the government cater for the basic needs for the students. The schools should also have clear mode of payment so that students are not out of school because of lack of adequate fees. This amount should be favourable to all people and should be enough to cater for education needs. All the needy students should get financial assistance from the government. The basis of distributing the loans should be dreadfully transparent to avoid bias. This has provided the students with enough resources and infrastructure to develop themselves. Private school can not be compared with government schools in terms of funding. Private school are exceedingly expensive due to the quality of services offered such as swimming, free computer lessons and educational tours. They also have clear management practices to manage the funds they have. This has seen the private institutions develop more than the government institutions. The school environment has changed significantly and this has encouraged many students to spend most of their times in the institutions libraries, playing games and having educational debates. Although there are a lot of financial challenges in the education sector, there are a lot of things that have been developed. There are some key issues that call for immediate solutions so as to evade such extreme financial problem. (Zott, 2011) My opinion Even though, there is much funding, in the education sector, I find it incredibly unrealistic since the returns are dreadfully low. There has been an increase in the number of students and, this means the expenditure per student should go down. This has not been the case, but on the contrary, the expenditure has doubled. The introduction of free primary and secondary education has led to increase in the number of students. The funds allocated in the sector should be doubled so as to ensure there are enough resources for learning. With the introduction of free primary education or intermediate, there have been many challenges since the funding from the government is extremely minimal and, it is distributed to the schools awfully late. All the stakeholders should play there part to ensure that the fee paid by all students is not exceedingly high. The payments of fees have to be set in a method that all students are able to pay their fee on time. According to Zott, in his book, School Funding, he asserts that the main problem with most schools is that they require all students to forfeit the entire fee at the commencement of each term. He views this as a great burden on the parents and guardian since; the money will not be used at that time. (Zott, 2011) There have been many incidents where education activities have not been done and the fund budgeted for the activities are not accountable for. These funds have been misappropriated by some officers in the education sector. The government is dreadfully reluctant in handling these issues since the persons implicated hold great positions. Most recently the United Kingdom Aid, complained to the east African countries because they could not account for the funds donated by the organization. This is yet to be resolved by the government. The government should take drastic measures to these individuals and all the funds should be refunded to perform the intended activities. The disbursement of loans to student is an issue that has raised questions on the criteria used in giving students loan. There are many under dealings and a lot of bias in the disbursement of students’ loans. There are some students who receive colossal loans compared to others because he has some relation with an officer in charge of the disbursements. This has denied many needy students an opportunity to get a loan. This is a fundamental issue that needs to be tackled to ensure that the funds are available to all students who are not able to pay their fee. Solution The problems in education funding will do a lot of harm if they are not solved. There should be a clear policy framework to be followed. Certainly there is an immediate necessity for reforms since there are imminent loopholes in education expenditure that affects the students. There is a lot at stake and what we need is a solution to funding challenges, otherwise students will be in an exceptionally complex situation. Education is an incredibly critical need for all humans and to that effect the government should invest heavily on the education systems. The government should provide the entire infrastructure while the students should only be asked to pay the tuition fee. This will ensure that most people have access to education. When the government is funding education, it will ensure that all the funds are put in the correct activities. The government has clear mechanisms that it can use to ensure that there is no misappropriation of funds. There should be clear government fees structure that will be a guide to the amount of fees that should be paid by all the schools. This will prevent school administrators from asking for a lot of funds from the guardian or the parents. It will also ensure that private institutions do not charge expensive fees. To prevent students being away from school due to lack of funds, the schools should set the payment of fee to be done in instalments so that all students can afford the set fee and this will make education affordable to every student. (Zott, 2011) The government should provide education loans to all underprivileged students in higher education at an exceptionally low interest rate. The loans should only be granted to students who are qualified as required by the funding institution. There should be a self-governing government association that is conscientious for the disbursement of the loans. The organization should formulate strict requirement for students to access the loans. The loans should mostly be given to the needy students. This will encourage many students to pursue higher education since they can manage to repay the loans without many problems. This information should be accessible by the public as this will prevent under dealings and bias. (Pillay, 2010) There are many loopholes where education funds get embezzled. All the stakeholders of education funding should do their best to seal such loopholes. The government should set an education anti-graft commission that is mandated to monitor utilization of education funds. The commission should be responsible in monitoring all the financial activities in the education sector as provided in the budget. There ought to be dreadful measures alongside any individual who misappropriates education funds. This can be achieved if there is regular accounting for the fund. The school administrators should have a clear frame of how they spend the funds they get from the government and the money deposited by the students. This will prevent over expenditure or under expenditure. They should also have clear records of all the activities carried out. The schools should have a finance department that deals with all matters pertaining school funds. All the financial records should be well documented. The documentation should be improved from the traditional manual book keeping to the new technological way of such as computerizing the system. Education funding has had a lot of issues and, this has had awfully negative effects in education development. All these issues are created by the education stakeholders and the government. All these solutions should be looked into and the necessary changes done. If all these measures can be implemented, there will be minimal issues of education funds. There will not be any misappropriation and mismanagement of the funds. This will see the education sector develop tremendously and, the student’s performance will improve. References Berninger,V. & Rosenfield, S. A., (2009). Implementing evidence-based academic interventions in school settings. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Leyden, D. P. (2005). Adequacy, accountability, and the future of public education funding. New York: Springer. Pillay, P. N.. Higher education financing in East and Southern Africa. Somerset West, South Africa: Published for CHET by African Minds, 2010. Print. Spring, J. H. (2011). The politics of American education. New York: Routledge. Zott, L. M. (2012). School funding. Detroit: Greenhaven Press. Read More