First published in L'Express on 25/09/2007
There is unquestionable unanimity about education as a potential tool for social mobility. There is also general agreement that a dysfunctional system can also be a strong agent of social divide and exclusion.
What is lacking is a minimum consensus on what needs to be done to ensure that objectives are achieved. This is partly due to the fact that decision makers often fail to transcend short-term political exigencies. Hence we are confronted with empty slogans in lieu of clear strategic intent and with hollow cliché-laden speeches in lieu of genuine action.
At the same time there is no shortage of ideas regarding the priorities: improved teacher selection and training and effective management.
A recent study of the problem of discipline and violence in secondary schools by Ramharai et al. highlights inter alia the following: “Teachers feel disempowered to deal with cases of indiscipline because of lack of support from the relevant authorities, political interference and an incapacitated school administration. It is perceived that confessional and private schools have a greater ‘marge de maneuvre’ (...) because the management and administration have a degree of autonomy (...)” (http://www.mrc.org.mu/Projects/ESViolence.pdf)
The above findings raise a number of questions:
I. How far is this limited ability of schools to deal with discipline symptomatic of the management inertia in many state-run institutions?
II. Can this be dealt with through privatisation and restricting government focus to regulatory, quality assurance and policy issues?
III. Will privatisation resolve the conflict of interest that results from government being both a provider and a regulator?
IV. How far does this management inertia transpire in classrooms?
V. To what extent are school staff compelled to behave as bureaucrats rather than effectively playing the role they are expected to play?
VI. In a country where a significant part of the education system is directly managed by the state, what is the risk that generations of students are exposed to inappropriate bureaucratic role models?
VII. What is the potential influence of this weak management on future generations of managers and leaders?
Depending on our answers to the above questions, we may decide that the effectiveness of the education system would be significantly enhanced by introducing relevant reforms whereby:
I. the bloated bureaucracy that currently pretends to micromanage state secondary schools is drastically reduced and the ministry confines itself to a regulatory and quality assurance role, and pays the staff salary along with an amount for consumables and maintenance and avoids all interference in the internal management of the schools
II. each state secondary school becomes a fully autonomous body and is run by a board where the members would be the Rector, school Manager, teacher / student / parent representatives
III. the school board is allowed to hire, promote, discipline staff at all levels in compliance with relevant labour laws
IV. all staff and student’s problems would be dealt with through a decentralised structure characterised by fairness and appeal opportunities as well as provisions for mediation and arbitration mechanisms
V. staff pensions would be administered by an insurance company
VI. there would be no arbitrary transfers
The above reforms would result in a much smaller administrative structure at the ministry of Education and the savings involved may be passed on to more value-adding activities at school level including enhanced staff remuneration. It is true that all the problems would not disappear overnight. In any case, an ostrich policy of hiding our head in the sand and hoping that problems would disappear with time is not an option. The above proposal would be only the first step. The autonomy resulting from the proposed reform would over time lead to greater empowerment and accountability. Subsequent steps would involve management training for school principals and heads of department, content upgrade and methodology training for the relevant teachers.
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