The backgrounds of centralization and decentralization as one type of management approaches.

1. DEPARTMENT OF
EDUCATIONAL PLANNING AND
MANAGEMENT
Presenter: Muhammed Kedir HIko
Date: 15/12/2014
DECENTRALIZED
EDUCATIONAL
MANAGEMENT

2. Course objectives
At the end of this course, students will be able to:
Understand about the concepts of
decentralization
Describe the difference between centralization and
decentralization
Explain the types of decentralization
Elaborate the rationale for educational
decentralization
List out the factors that influences the success of
educational decentralization
Explain decentralization of educational management
in Ethiopia
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3. CHAPTERS IN THE COURSE
This course includes three major and wider
chapters:
 CHAPTER ONE: Basic Concepts of
Decentralization
 CHAPTER TWO: Educational
By: Muhammed Kedir Hiko 3

4. Chapter One
Basic Concepts of
Decentralization
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1.1. Definition of Decentralization
What is decentralization?
Decentralization:
 Is the transfer of authority and responsibility for
public functions from the central government to
subordinate or quasi-independent government
organizations and/or the private sector.
 Is the process in which subordinate levels of a
hierarchy are authorized by a higher body to take
decisions about the use of the organization’s
recourses.
 The transfer of political power, decision-making

5. 1.2. Centralization and
Decentralization
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They are commonly used to refer to the
concentration or dispersion of employees,
physical facilities, and decision-making power.
They are meaningful in relative sense.
Appropriate balance of centralization and
decentralization is essential to the effective
and efficient functioning.
 An organization could not operate on a
completely decentralized basis, as it would
lack the coordination that ensures
operating efficiency. A complete
centralization, on the other hand, would lack

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Advantages of centralization
 It permits greater uniformity of policies, practices,
and decisions.
 It promotes full utilization of the main office
 It minimizes duplication of functions.
 It develops strongly coordinated top management
team and control systems.
 Few and highly qualified specialists can be utilized.
 It reduces the danger of action drifting and getting
off course.

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Challenges contributed for failures of Centralization
 Geographical distance of central government
 Lack of information on local needs and problems
 Psychological distance of the central
government
 Representatives even reached the local in the
context of the central government policy and
procedure
 The poor performance at the local levels
Example: why some parents prefer private
school than public school

8. 1.3. Reasons for Decentralization
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Some of the reasons for decentralization
• Alternative governance structure to provide local
government services
• The need to improve service delivery to large
populations and the recognition of the limitations
of central administration
• For public participation in government decision
making
• More flexible administration b/se it adopts its
service to differences
• More effective administration to easily integrate
isolated societies

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• A first step to more transparency in government
• Create opportunities for a more accountable
government
• Enable the participants to monitor and evaluate
the government’s compliance with the decisions
made
The major objectives/values for
decentralization
• Increase of democracy (grass-root
democracy),
• Protection of freedom and human rights
(vertical check-and balance),

10. 1.4. The Decentralization Argument: Grounds for
the Movement of Decentralization
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The most important reasons for the
movement to give more authority to lower
levels of government
 The greater efficiency and accountability of
local governments
More accessible, more sympathetic and quicker to
respond to local needs
 The close relationship between citizens and
government at the local level fosters accountability
 Both the availability of information necessary for
taking proper actions and the potentially higher
degree of accountability will lead to a better use of
available resources

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The positive effect such authority-shifts
have on local development
 Removes institutional and legal obstacles to
self-help
 Encourages innovative forms of solutions for
local problems
 Enhances the sense of ownership and
responsibility for the projects & programs
 Make development activities more sustainable

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The enhancement of democracy and
protection of liberty that local governance
has on the citizens
 Gives democracy a clearly local dimension
 Local self-government promotes democracy
and individual liberties
 Builds a sense of community and permits
meaningful participation in self-government
 Allows political power sharing which in turn

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• The greater ability to protect the rights and
values of minority populations
–Potential to protect ethnic and other traditional
minorities
–Can provide a means of accommodating
problems arising from ethnic diversity; and
–By guaranteeing local autonomy

14. The Feature of Decentralization Process
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The process of decentralization carries out the following
to happen:
 Disperses power, both geographically and institutionally
 Creates new responsibilities for inexperienced actors
 Can disperse scale economies/expertise groups
 Introduces more levels into the state
 Creates a tension between local autonomy and national
standards
 Can increase administrative costs

15. 1.5. Dimension of Decentralization
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A. Geographic Decentralization
Dividing the territory of a state into smaller areas and
assigning official powers to make decisions and
judgments among them.
B. Functional decentralization
Distribution of state’s authority and responsibility
among different functional entities of government
C. Political decentralization
Shifts decision-making powers to lower levels of
government, encouraging citizens and their
elected representatives to participate in decision-
making processes.

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D. Administrative decentralization
 Seeks to redistribute authority, responsibility and
financial resources for providing public services
among different levels of government
 Some generic administrative roles are executive
leadership, policy innovation, planning, financial
management, operational management, and
regulation and oversight
 In public education, for example, sub-national
governments may perform any one or more of the
following services: curriculum design and
teaching methods, textbook production and
distribution, teacher recruitment and promotion,