human resource

1. School Resource Management

2. UNIT SEVEN
MANAGING SCHOOL FINANCE (8hrs)
Unit objectives:
 Define the concept of finance
 Ensure the proper allocation, distribution and utilization of
different school fund
 Identify source of funds
 Manage your school finance
 Budget and audit school finance
 Report your school budget and expenditure
 Prioritize funds according to the needs of your school
 Search for different funds for your school

3. 7.1 CONCEPT OF FINANCE
Q1) Define Financial Resources Management in Education?
 It refers to an effective and efficient allocation and utilization of
financial resources corresponding to the achievement of
educational goals.
 It is a process which includes the major activities that are
related to identifying the sources of educational finance and
the how of generating it.
 It is the most sensitive asset that needs serious attention by all
stakeholders in general and educational managers in particular.
 In general, financial resources management refers to the
process of planning, organizing, directing, allocating,
distributing, utilizing and controlling of funds in achieving
educational goals.

4. Cont’d
 School financial management comprises the planning and
implementation of a financial plan, accounting, reporting and
the protection of assets from loss, damage and fraud.
 All items of financial management are exposed to the risk of
incorrect, improper and ineffective school management, which
is particularly reflected in the accounting control of an
institution.
 Schools can regulate their accounting with at least two internal
rules: accounting rules and instructions on inventory check.
 If the school does not have the above mentioned internal rules,
there is a risk that internal controls are not set. And this means
a great risk for incorrect and ineffective management as well as
unintended use of school’s public or private financial resources.

5. Cont’d
 The internal control system comprises a system of procedures
and methods with the objective to assure
compliance(confirmity) with the principles of legality,
transparency, efficiency, effectiveness and management
economy.
 Related to internal control, the internal auditing appears which
provides autonomous assessment of financial management and
control systems as well as counseling to the school leader on
how to improve their efficiency.

6. Activities
Discuss in a group the following questions
1. What are the major factors or reasons why government devolve
the management of educational finance?
2. What are the major challenges in managing both finance and
physical resources?
3. Is there any school which is subsidized by a government? Why?
4. What are the major reasons for fiscal decentralization?

7. 7.2 Financial Resources Management Context
 The financing of educational institutions in general and the
schools in particular are usually managed under various
conditions and contexts.
 Rather they are greatly influenced by their own context. In a
system which is strongly centralized, those who are
responsible for managing schools do not really know what
their school costs and they do not have the actual power in
managing and controlling them.
 Frequently they tend to finance their school by financial
resources that come from some external source by taking as it
is.
 It is more magical for them as they do not go beyond
complaining. This implies that all educational finance and
other related issues are totally planned, managed and
controlled by the central echelons.
 Hence, the roles that can be played by the school principals and
the specific communities are extremely limited under highly
centralized system.

8. Cont’d
 Centralized financial management is not a sign of inferiority as
some school systems (the case of Japan, and Germany) do
appear very effective trough centralized administration.
 Therefore, the result of the above management approach
depends on the specific economic, political, social as well as the
over directions and the contexts of each countries or localities.
 During the Imperial and Derg Regimes of Ethiopia the
financing of education was exceedingly centralized.
 The roles played by the school principals and the local
communities in planning, managing and controlling financial
resources were more or less totally unlikely.
 As opposed to this, however, educational planning,
management and controlling have been considerably devolved
to the local level echelons since 1994.

9. Cont’d
 Basically, under decentralized system substantial governments
responsibilities are commonly devolved to the local levels.
 The role played by the school principals and the local
communities become significant.
 Under such system the sources of educational finance, the
rights to allocate and utilize them are mainly determined by
the local level echelons.
 This is what we can fiscal(financial) decentralization.
 This is also true for the purchase, allocation and proper
utilization of physical resources.
 Hence, educational organizations and schools do have the right
to own, allocate, utilize and control their durable and non
durable physical resources.

10. Cont’d
 Governments devolve the management of educational finance
for a number of factors.
1. Creating flexibility and thereby to respond to the local
level needs, to build up the participation and involvement
of the local communities and
2. to create efficiency of financial planning and its
implementation are among the major ones. In practice,
however, this might be challenged by a number of factors.
Q1) Discuss the challenges‘ you faced while managing your school
finance?
Q2) What strategies and measures you used to minimize these
challenges? Share your experience in a group?

11. Cont’d
 The following are major and daunting(overwhelming)
challenges in managing both financial and physical resources
at the local echelons. These factors include:-
 inadequate budget,
 weak sources of finance,
 limited capacity and insufficient experience in allocating,
utilizing and controlling financial and physical resources
effectively and efficiently.
Q3) Why government finance the education system of
the country?

12. Cont’d
 The main justification for the assumption by government of complete
responsibility for the financing of education is on the grounds of
ensuring, as far as possible, equality of educational
opportunity amongst all its citizens.
 In practice, however, insufficient revenues and the
escalating(growing) costs of financing the system place most
government in a real dilemma.
 Under such conditions, attempts to shift some of the costs of
education on to the parents may jeopardize(expose) the existing
levels of equality of educational opportunity.
 In this regard, the people who have financial and physical resources
capacity in society will further increase their present advantages over
the underprivileged groups in society and this could endanger the
future development of an egalitarian society.
 Therefore, creating equality among the various localities, demand
serious attention in terms of financial and physical resources
allocation.

13. Cont’d
 There is a marked variation even under substantial delegation
moreover, worldwide delegation schemes differ enormously.
 There are major factors that push forward the demand for fiscal
decentralization across different countries. The major
rationales for fiscal decentralization includes:-
 Managerial efficiency
 Increase local accountability
 Creating flexibility responded to the local need
 Empowering the local level authorities and schools
 Provide power for teachers, parents, and the community in
planning, managing and controlling financial resources of
their school
 To attract funds and students
 Diversify the sources of finance

14. 7.3 Environmental Factors that Influence Financial
Resources Management in Education
Q4) Discuss in pairs how environmental factors affect
financial resource management?
There are a number of environmental factors that can
affect the management (availability, allocation and
utilization) of financial and physical resources in
education. These include:-
1. Economic environment
2. Political environment
3. The social environment and
4. Technological environment

15. 1. THE ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT
 The management of financial and physical resources of
educational organizations and schools are highly influenced by
the economic environment.
Q1) Can you guess how a given economic environment affects the
management of financial and physical resources in education?
 The economic environment consists of the money value of
natural resources. Among which financial and material
resources are the major ones.
 Basically, schools as social institution do require both financial
and physical resources as major inputs that could help to
promote the throughput (process) or teaching learning process
to arrive at the end results of educational activities.

16. Cont’d
 In practice, however, the amount or quantity of financial and
physical resources and their management depends on the
particular nature of external environment which can either
stand as a threat or opportunity.
 When viewed from the point of education, the acquisition of
external support is a function of the distribution of the
country’s wealth among its general needs (Ayelew, 1991).
 The acquisition of external support educational institutions
particularly in the schools depends on:
1. the aggregate wealth of the nation
2. the priorities set or the economic commitment to
education

17. 2. THE POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT
 Like all other institutions schools are subordinate to the
political environment both in-terms of financial and material
resources management (identifying, allocating, utilizing, and
controlling).
 The management of educational finance and physical
properties could be under centralized or decentralized
structure depending on the policy of the country in managing
resources that enter into the education system.
 Basically, the degree of centralization and decentralization in
managing educational organizations and schools is one of the
key factors of the political environment that affects the
management of school finance.
 In most cases, all resources (financial and material) come from
or otherwise regulated by the central government.

18. Cont’d
 In such cases the school managers relied on and wait for
decisions from higher authorities.
 As opposed to this, however, decentralization refers to a system
that pushes down the management (allocation and utilization)
of financial and physical resources as well as the power and
authority to use diversified sources of financial and physical
resources by the local level authorities and schools.
 In view of the above idea discussing the allocation and
utilization of resources (financial and material) and looking at
the capacity of educational organizations and schools at the
local levels as well as describing the roles played by the
government is very essential.

19. 1. The Management of Financial and Physical Resources
at the Local Level
Q1) Why do you think that governments decentralize the
management of educational resources (finance and material)?
 Changes in revenue and expenditure assignments alter
organizational incentives and behavior, with important
implications for efficiency and equity.
 In view of this, schools and local governments are expected to
fund their educational activities from the local revenue sources
and are responsible for internal control as well as the
management of financial resources.
 In support of this, the local communities finances and directly
provide inputs, either through tax revenue as in the case of the
United State and Brazil or through voluntary fees as of the case
in Kenya as described by Winkler (1993).

20. Cont’d
 They may also finance and construct schools (in low-income
countries, this arrangement may take the form of local
voluntary contributions and construction with local materials
and standards).
 On top of this, the locus of financial control, auditing, and
performance evaluation typically lies with the government that
provides the revenue for education.
 However, lack of managerial and technical capacities in
managing financial resources, untimely and inadequate release
of allocated funds, and constant delays in delivering funds
usually force the local governments to slow down their
activities and thus, remain critical problems under such a
system( eg financial plan approval at MoFD).
Q2) Did you observe such kind of problems in your specific
locality? If yes what are the major reasons for the
problems to occur?

21. Cont’d
 In many countries, local self-government institutions do suffer
a lot from the challenge they come upon due to inadequate
financial resources, which limit their sphere of activities.
 Above all, even though in Ethiopia the local governments have
right to collect taxes, the financial crunches(problems) faced by
a number of countries are generally attributable to inadequate
capacity to raise taxes and the meager(small) grants given by
the government.
 The extent of this problem, however, varies from country to
country, region to region and district to district.
 In general, shortage of finance is one of the main drawbacks of
the local government system. Hence, there can be no two
opinions on the need to strengthen the financial resources of
the grassroots level institutions.

22. 2. The Role of Government in Financing and Provision of
Education
Q1) Why government finance education in Ethiopia?
 Government involvement in financing and provision of
education has been advocated for two fundamental reasons:
1. To increase economic efficiency and
2. To foster distributional equity.
 Education is vital to economic growth and over all
development of any nation.
 It is an investment on human capital which in turn
augments(boosts) the productivity of individual and the
society in general.
 This implies that education has strong public economic
benefits (mounts greater productivity through human capital
investment which is needed for national economic growth
and development of the entire economy).

23. Cont’d
 To this effect, it is argued that the major economic benefits that
education can provide to society can be realized if and only if
government has substantial intervention in the financing and
provision of education.
 In addition to the above argument, governments do have the
responsibility of creating and ensuring distributional equity of
education to every citizen.
 To this effect, governments are expected to make certain that all
members have access to education, apart from the socioeconomic
milieu(setting) and standing, differences in age and geographical
distribution.
 In practice, however, it should be noted that in a free market
economy education is not always available to the poor.
 It is, therefore, argued that government’s involvement in the process
of allocation and utilization of meager financial and material
resources to education is at all times essential, especially in assisting
the education of the poor and disadvantaged minorities.


24. 3. THE SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT
 The actual support and involvement of the local community
depends on the customs, values, culture, life style and trends of
population.
 The social environment affects how managers mange
educational organizations in general and schools in particular.
 In spite of this, understanding the social environment is
extremely vital in acquiring and managing financial and
physical resources of educational institutions and school.
 Socially, current trends are moving towards greater
participation and ‘consumerism’. To this end, instructional
programs and schools are expected to be flexible and
responsive to the educational needs and interests of students
and their parents, and the community at large.
 In support of this, school management is expected to provide
adequate opportunity to teachers, parents, and students to
participate in making educational decisions, including in
matters pertaining to school finance.

25. Cont’d
Q1) What is the relationship between the social
environment and educational institutions in getting and
managing educational finance?
 There are a number of socio-cultural factors that can strongly
affect the capacity of educational institutions in financing
education. These factors include:-
1) population or demographic trends,
2) cultural differences and
3) life style of individuals.
 The total increment of population will lead to more demand
for education (high enrollment) which in turn requires more
construction of schools, more teachers, and more expansion
classes which demand more investments in terms of finance
(expenditure).

26. Cont’d
 In addition to this, the change in age spectrum will lead to
more dependence ratio in-terms of the children going to each
school and every household.
 The life style or individual needs for better career and
development may also affect the demand for education which
in turn affects the capacity of educational institutions and
schools in financing education.
 The style of life such as mobile society will certainly affect the
way you handle financial resources and the overall expenditure.
 Cultural differences also matter the level of participation and
commitment of the people in supporting schools in acquiring
financial and physical resources as well as in managing them.

27. 4. TECHNONOGICAL ENVIRONMENT
Q1) What is the relationship between schools and technological
environment in terms of financial and physical resources
availabilities and their management?
 Technological environment may influence both the availability
and management of financial and physical resources in a given
educational institutes or schools.
 For one thing the more the system is technology oriented the
better the chance of getting access to the various sources of
finance and the how of approaching these sources to get use of
them.
 For instance, it is possible to identify and approach a number of
donors, NGOs, governments, charity organizations and the like
who fund such activities.

28. Cont’d
 Moreover, educational organizations and schools can use
their technological environment for effective and efficient
allocation, distribution and utilization of financial and
physical resources.
 For instance, computer technology can be used to create
an effective and efficient accounting pattern, well
established reporting mechanisms, dependable
procurements of physical resources as well as sound
inventory control.

29. The Importance of Finance and its Influence on
Educational Efforts
Q1) What is the influence of finance on educational endeavors?
 In any country, the level of success in educational planning and its
implementation depends on the level of availability of finance.
 This implies that the implementation of educational polices, plans,
programs and projects are highly dependent on the degree of
financial resources.
 Otherwise, planning without having adequate finance for
implementation may lead efforts to failure.
 Hence, issues that are related to creating better access to education,
providing quality education, educational relevance, creating equity
in terms of gender, geography, rich and poor are directly related to
the level of financial resources available to the system.

30. Cont’d
 As you know creating more access, providing quality and
relevant education as well as creating equity in a given
education system requires:-
 building more schools;
 training and employing more teachers;
 providing more text books,
 purchasing more reference materials,
 building and equipping laboratories,
 libraries;
 improving the content of curriculum and
 improving school facilities.
 These all claim for more and more allocation of financial
resources. In reality, however, financial resources are scarce by
their nature.

31. Cont’d
 The provision of quality of education depends on finance
allocated to the education system.
 This implies that allocating more finance and utilizing it more
effectively and efficiently on school education may ensure
 the provisions of relevant curricula,
 trained administrative and teaching personnel,
 more and better instructional materials and
 aids to good teaching, better and longer attendance of students
in schools.

32.  It should, however, be understood that spending more money
on school education alone does not automatically produce
quality instructional programs.
 Factors involved in the community and the student’s
background, the training and motivation of teachers, the
physical environment of the school and the administrative
structure of the education system may be more powerful in
reducing instructional quality than finance.

33. 7.4 Major Sources of Finance and Concept of
Budgeting
 Case study
 There is a school in the north part of Tigray. The school has
about 1250 students, 20 teachers and 8 non teaching staff. It
started giving service to the community around 9 (nine) years
ago. Most of the time, the principals were trying to run the
school using the fund they received from the government.

34. However the fund being given from the government was not
enough to fulfill the need of the school. So one day the school
decided to ask each student to contribute 15 Birr and they did it
practical without the involvement or having consent of parents.
Every student was forced to bring the amount of money and told
they could not continue to learn in the school unless and otherwise
they contribute the amount of money that was already decided by
the school.

35. Cont’d
 Questions from the above case
1. Do you agree with what the school did? Why or why not?
2. What other methods could the school use to minimize its
financial problem?
3. What could you do if you were in the school?

36. Cont’d
 The major sources of finance for educational institutions in
general and the schools in particular include:
1. The government budget (public funding)
2. private funding
3. The support given by the communities (community
contribution)
4. Internal income of educational organizations (schools)

37. Cont’d
1. Government (public) funding:
 Government (public) funding of any education system
depends on the policy of the country. This implies that the
public funding itself relies on the government structure.
 In other words, it depends on the degree of centralization and
decentralization.
 In line with this, the allocation and management of financial
resources can be made fully from the:-
 Central (Federal Government )
 Regional or
 Local levels or
 Through combination of two or more of these echelons.

38. Cont’d
2. Highly Central Funding:
 All the financial activities are planned and controlled by the
central level. The budget of educational institutions and
schools are allocated by the central level.
 It is totally managed by centralized funding system with
considerable control over the local level educational
institutions. Even the sources of finance are controlled and
managed by the central level.
 Some centralized governments, however, do not significantly
influence the autonomy of the local levels though the funding
is highly centralized.
 In such a system of government administration, central
authorities generate all revenues and allocate educational
funds to regions, exercising control only in determining the
total regional education budget. This practice of financing
education may allow the local levels to identify and set priority
to their particular educational problems.

39. Cont’d
3. Regional Funding:
In regional funding the centre become the region than the
national level.
Basically, it is a centralized system of funding but from the
regional level.
Under such funding systems, regional states may generate all
educational revenues.
Like the central government, they can either control all actual
expenditures, or simply determine the local educational
budgets and allow local authorities complete authority in
spending.

40. Cont’d
4. Local Funding:
 In local funding system, local authorities should have the power of
collecting taxes and manage to generate sufficient financial base in
order to satisfy the local level educational needs.
 Certainly rich or economically rich areas will have an excellent and
well performing schools while poor areas may not even have
minimally capacity to run the school activities.
 This implies that capacities of various localities vary from country to
country, region to region and district to district depending on their
socio -economic conditions and hence its practice remained
challenging in a number of countries as it mounts the gap between
the poor and reach localities unless properly handled.
 In general, local funding has the capacity to satisfy the specific
educational needs of the local need.
 However, it might also widen the gap between and among regions,
districts and schools unless followed by some kind of arrangements
in terms of the budget allocated from the national level.

41. Cont’d
Q1) Have you ever observed some major difference between
and among various localities (schools and districts) in-
terms of their socio -economic capacity in your specific
region?
Q2) If that is the case what possible solutions do you think
could help to readdress such imbalance?
You can find an immense difference among various localities in
terms of their socio -economic background and capacity. For
instance cash crop areas in Ethiopia do have better capacity in
supporting school.
On top of this, some regions or districts had a much
accumulated advantage as compared to disadvantaged regions
and districts.
Therefore, the solutions to such practical problems urge the
creation of some kind of balance towards the disadvantaged
areas in allocating financial and physical resources.

42. Cont’d
5.Combined Source of funding (central, regional and local
echelons):
It is a matter of degree concerning what percentage of educational
budget is covered by what level.
Otherwise, there are always both physical and financial resources
that come from various levels to educational organizations and
schools.
As a result there are always possible combinations of public
funding in education:-
 the central and regional;
 central and local;
 regional and local; or
 a mixture of the three.

43. Cont’d
 Basically, in a combined funding plan, each government level
might fund certain segments of the educational system.
 For instance, central sources might fund capital costs while the
regional and local levels might fund recurrent costs.
 On the other hand, educational revenues generated that has been at
two or three levels might go into a general fund for redistribution to
spending units by either central or regional bodies.

44. 7.5 Common Mechanisms of Distributing Funds
 The most commonly used mechanisms of distributing funds
include:
1. General grants,
2. Categorical grants
1.Grants with recommendations
2.Grants with expected outcome
3.Earmarked grant
4. Matching funds/matching grants/
3. Aid in kind

45. Cont’d
1. General Grants
 General grant is the process by which grants made from a tax-collecting
authority to a spending authority to be used for any educational purpose.
 These are 'block grants' or grants without strings' where finance is
delegated without any condition for use by the spending body (region,
districts, or school) according to its priorities.
2. Categorical Grants:
 Categorical grants are grants made to a spending authority to be used for
specific educational purposes.
 The types of categorical grants are diverse. However, the major categories
of grants include:
1. Grants with recommendations,
2. Grants related to outcomes,
3. Earmarked grant and
4. Matching funds/matching grants/.
 These types of categorical grants are common in a number of countries.

46. Cont’d
2.1Grants with Recommendations:
 Basically, grants with recommendations are usually provided to a
given entity with stated expectations.
 E.g. allocations for in-service teacher training programs.
2.2.Grants with expected outcome:
 Some grants are strongly related to outcomes.
 Such grants are more specifically linked to the general and
operational objectives and become main criteria by which success
may be judged.
 Basically, the spending body presents project proposals in which
objectives and targets are identified, spending mechanisms are
clearly specified.
 Such categories of grants can serve as a criterion by which success
may be evaluated.

47. Cont’d
2.3.Earmarked grant:
 Ear marked grant or budget is a direct grant dedicated to specific
categories of expenditure with which the changes or transfers to the
other budget line is not allowed.
 Hence, switching of a certain amount of expenditure from one
budget heading to another is not possible or scarcely possible.
2.4.Matching Fund/Matching Grants/:
 In such form of grant, the tax-collection authority may agree to
provide funds for specific educational purposes to match those
raised by the spending authority.
 The matching could be 10%, 25% or "X|% and the like depending
on the agreement(50% from the school and 50 % from HDA).
Q1) Discuss the benefits of matching fund?

48. Cont’d
 Not only tax collecting authority, even some donors, NGOs, or
governments do require matching funds depending on the purposes
that they are going to realize.
 In this regard, some NGOs allocate their funds to school provided
that the local community has contributed to the amount 10% or
20%.
 Such an approach serves as a mechanism to achieve equity and
thereby encourage local initiatives and commitments on top of
other benefits.
 It also serves as a means of encouraging participation, involvement,
ownership claim, belongingness and the like.
 In spite of its positive contributions such as providing a given
degree of control for higher authorities in case of inefficiency in
making decisions on the part of authorities at lower levels.
 categorical grants generally introduce rigidity and bias into
decision-making as they direct educational expenditures to specific
categories

49. Cont’d
3.Aid in Kinds:
 Aid in kinds refers to providing staff, special services, or materials
to school systems.
 It includes the provision and financing of human and physical
resources such as health personnel, special kinds of teachers,
instructional supplies, books and other library facilities.
Q1). Discuss why education or training policy encourage or
promote private funding rather than governmental funding?

50. Cont’d
Private funding:
 Education and training policies in number of courtiers encourage
and promote private funding to education as the government alone
cannot shoulder the burden of financing education.
 Hence, besides government funding to the private sector, there has
always been private initiative in financing education.
 As a result, a number of private school systems are entirely
financed by families, foundations, corporations, individuals, and
other groups in the private sector.
 There are also cases whereby public education systems also receive
considerable private financial supports.

51. Forms of Private contribution to Education…
 Basically, the forms private contributions to education differ from
country to country, region to region, district to district and etc.
 The contributions are may be direct, indirect, voluntary or
obligatory.
 Depending on the policy of the country education may be freely
provided up to a given level, for instance, primary level or
secondary level.
 In essence there is no free education and someone has to cover the
cost of providing education for a child.
 Provisions of free education imply that the government will cover
the costs of education. If not covered by the government, families
pay tuition fees, registration, examinations, and other educational
costs.

52. Cont’d
 In some cases, education is claimed to be free in a policy though
parents cover educational costs and expenditures through purchase
of school uniforms, books, instructional supplies and materials, and
transportation.
 These fees are "hidden" costs for families in educating their
children.
 On top of these obligatory expenses, some families do contribute
resources to schools in different forms in the forms of cash, kind,
labor and idea.
 Though the provision of primary education in most countries of the
world has become free (clearly described in their policy statement),
parents are encouraged to contribute to the schools in various ways
(cash, labor, kind, ideas) on voluntary basis.

53. Cont’d
 Besides, some governments enact laws that direct corporations and
business firms to participate in financing and provision of
educational services.
 It is not uncommon case that business corporations be involved in
sponsoring some educational program to satisfy their own human
resource needs in return.
 There are also some firms which support and help schools and
some educational programs in good turn of promoting local and
national development. These include:-
 the contributions made by charitable organizations,
 private associations,
 foundations and the like which can be categorized under private
funding to education.

54. Cont’d
The local communities:-
 In principle public schools are social institutions and they belong to
the community. Schools are to serve the community and the
communities are expected to support their respective schools.
 The local communities may cover capital expenditures when the
government takes the commitment to cover recurrent expenditures.
 For instance, communities can contribute land, labor and materials
to build or maintain school buildings.
 In some countries the local communities contribute by constructing
house for teacher.

55. Cont’d
Internal incomes of the schools:
 In some countries educational institution and schools are allowed to
generate their own income and utilize finance based on the rules
and regulations of the country.
 School systems can also be encouraged to generate income to self-
finance some of their educational activities.
 Educational institutions and schools do have some source of
internal income in our education system.
 Basically, the practices as well as the rights to generate and utilize
resources differ from one region to the other region.
 The major sources of internal income could be generated from
farming activities (using school land for cultivation of cash crops,
selling grass, trees, renting buildings for meetings and ceremonies
when free, inviting alumni, preparing festivals and the like).

56. Cont’d
NGOs:
 It is evident that both the national and international NGOs
encourage and support schools by providing financial and physical
resources to the school and educational institutions.
 Some NGOs provide their support to the schools themselves and
monitor them through reporting system.
 Others provide their support by directly involving into the job done
with the school and the local communities.
 Others support schools through the Ministry of Education, Regional
Education Bureaus and the District Education Offices.
 In addition to the above mechanisms it is also possible to generate
educational funds through loans and grants and the local
government taxes.

57. 7.6 LOANS AND GRANTS
 During the first decade of independence most African governments
tended to rely heavily on bilateral (largely from the donor colonial
power) and multi-lateral loan grants.
 But it soon became clear that this source was rather a marginal and
unreliable means of financing.
 Besides the economic burden arising from the need to repay the
loans in foreign exchange, there were usually distasteful(offensive)
political conditions attached to the loans and grants.
 Moreover, by borrowing abroad for education, the government
would be using up its limited borrowing capacity on education at
the expense of other public sectors.
 Similar arguments apply to borrowing from domestic sources such
as banks (private or public) and insurance companies.

58. Cont’d
 It is, in fact, argued that non-revenue producing projects or social
services such as education should not be financed through
borrowing.
 Basically, grants of foreign aid, it is nowadays largely confined to
the offer of scholarships for specialized training, particularly at the
graduate level outside the country.
 The huge expenditures on education have resulted in the users of
education being more and more required to meet a part of the
expenses of their education, foremost through the payment of fees.
 These may be levied in respect of tuition (full or partial depending
on whether the schools government or private).
 Besides this basic tuition fees may be charged in a number of ways:
for those parts of the curriculum involving student use of materials
or for using expensive equipment (sport, music, domestic science);
and travel on school expeditions.

59. Cont’d
 It is also not uncommon for schools to demand deposits against the
possibility of damage to school property.
 Fixed contributions may also be demanded towards the school
development fund.
 Even if all such additional contributions do not represent income to
the institution, they nevertheless represent a cost to parents and
students which is tantamount (equivalent) to fee payment.
 Basically, the experiences of a number of countries clearly indicate
that, tuition fees at primary and secondary levels would prevent the
children of disadvantaged or low -income families from attending
school (Jalade, 1974).s
 The intention of government taxation and spending is to reduce
inequalities in income distributions by shifting resources from those
fairly well off to low-income segments of the population.

60. Cont’d
 However, unsystematic and poor tax collection system in most
African countries have been leading to lower rate tax pay by
traders, businessmen and businesses that earn more, than civil
servants with fixed incomes.
 One way to cope with the inequitable effects of uniform school fees
is for a structure of fees to be worked out in accordance with the
family's ability to pay.
 However, it is generally difficult to determine the financial capacity
of most families because of the difficulty of ascertaining
(discovering) their income, which is often in kind and unstable.
 Moreover, the financial obligations of the head of the family are
often unclear, because of the extended family system.
 Consequently, it is hard to design a fee structure that would both
produce enough money and meet the conditions of equity.
 To sum up, a number of countries are increasingly moving to and
implementing school fee abolition policies particularly at primary
school level.

61. 7.7 Local Government Taxes
 In almost all-African countries the great bulk of public expenditure
for education is financed directly out of the central government
budget.
 Even in cases such as Nigeria, where state and local government
exercise a good deal of financial administration power, most of the
funds for education ultimately emanate from the central
government revenue.
 In a number of African countries where central governments
predominate in the financing and administration of public
education, governments are moving towards decentralization for
three reasons.
1) Relieving the heavy financial pressures on budget,
2) improving educational administration and
3) making the educational system more responsible to the needs and
desires of different segments of the population.

62. Cont’d
 It is believed that decentralization of educational administration
provides a great deal of financial relief to the central government if
state or local governments are required to finance an increasing
share of education costs out of their own budgets.
 But the tax base and rates and the financial yields of state and local
taxes tend to vary rather widely between the state or local
jurisdiction(power), especially in such large sized countries like
Sudan, Algeria, Egypt, Nigeria, Tanzania, Ethiopia and DRC,
leading to regional disparities in income and wealth.

63. Cont’d
 Nevertheless, greater reliance on local government financing of
education could, under appropriate conditions, produce a
substantial increase in the total supply of funds for education.
 Moreover, the tendency to concentrate industries in certain
localities, tend to exacerbate(worse) these differences in the
earning power of few localities, over the majority.
 In Sudan, for example, Khartoum province has the highest
concentration of industries in country; Lagos state enjoys a similar
advantage in Nigeria.
Q) Share your locality experience in relation to the above local
funding practices?

64. 7.8 The Nature and Concepts of Budgeting
1. How do define the term budget?
2. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of budget in pairs?
3. Give your suggestion about the sources of fund for schools to
ensure adequate and reliable school finance in the future?
4. What are the major purpose of budgeting in education?

65. Cont’d
 Budget is the most prevalent planning and control techniques in
resources management in an organization.
 It is a statement, in dollars, birr or whatever, showing the revenue
and expenditure that an organization plans to receive or to expend
in the next fiscal year.
 In manufacturing firms organized along functional lines, the budget
will state how much money each of the functional areas are to
receive for the next year.
 In manufacturing firm organized along product lines, budgets are
typically developed for each product.
 In service organization like educational organizations and schools,
budget indicates how much each faculty, school or division will
receive to deliver its educational programs

66. Cont’d
 The major purposes of budgeting in education:-
 First, it forces managers at all levels to plan the activities of their
unit. This means, before a budget can be drawn up, managers should
identify the key activities that need to be performed and the resources
that are necessary to perform them.
 Second, the budgeting process requires top level management to make
decisions on how resources will be allocated among the various units
in the organization.
 Third, it helps managers carry out the controlling function by
indicating whether costs are in line with projections and signaling
when costs need to be reduced.

67. Cont’d
 In the top-down budgeting, top management develops the budget
for the organization and imposes it on lower-level managers.
 Basically, top level management has a great deal of information
about the organization and its external environment.
 This type of budgeting can be very efficient and it is not inferior by
itself.
 However, lower-level managers may not be committed to a budget
that is simply imposed on them.
 In the bottom-up budgeting lower level managers and all the other
stakeholders are commonly involved in the process of deciding how
resources will be allocated to the various units in the organization.
 Individual managers suggest to their managers what the budget for
their area should be.

68. Cont’d
 This process is repeated at each step in the hierarchy until the top
level of the organization is reached.
 Then the top level managers develop a budget based on the
suggestions, interest and priority of the lower levels managers and
stakeholders.
 This approach motivates managers to support the budget, but it may
be very time consuming.
 It may also lead to unrealistic budget proposals from certain
mangers/regions/districts/ and schools who can not take an overall
perspective and who think only of the welfare of their own unit.
 Regardless of the budgeting process that can be used, much
political activities may arise as each unit tries to get a larger share
of the budget than it received last year.

69. Cont’d
 The common types of budgeting include:
 Operating budget,
 labor budget,
 cash budget,
 capital budget,
 research and development budget,
 materials budget and etc.
 Operating budget indicates the revenues and expenses the
organization expects as a result of next year’s activities.
 The labor budget states the number of individuals and the money
allocated to each job category in the organization.
 The cash budget states the cash receipts and expenditures the
organization predicts will occur during the next year.

70. Cont’d
 Similarly, capital budget lists planned expenditure for major capital
acquisition.
 The research and development budget indicates planned
expenditure for items like new product development in business. In
education it refers to the development of better teaching learning
process, methodology, curriculum and the like.
 Materials budget also states that the expected purchase of various
categories of raw materials.
 Basically, three fundamental approaches are there in setting
budgets:-
1. Incremental approach,
2. Zero -based budgeting, and
3. Program budgeting.

71. Cont’d
1. The incremental approach is the most common approach.
 It refers to the relative proportion of the total budget given to each unit
in the organization changes very little from year to year.
 In most cases, the budget of each department is largely determined by
what its budget was last year, plus an amount of inflation or any
special projects it might have plan.
 The principal shortcoming of incremental budgeting is that little
analysis takes place before allocating funds to the units.
 Such scant(litle) study is insufficient as it may overlook changes
occurring in the organizations/the schools/ external environment

72. Cont’d
2. Zero-based budgeting is an attempt to overcome the most serious
problem in incremental budgeting.
 Basically, the zero-based budgeting requires managers in each budget
unit to rationalize their allocation ‘from the ground up’ each year,
rather than simply assuming that the next year’s budget will be similar
to last year’s budget.
 However, it takes up a great deal of a manger’s time and generates a
large amount of paper work.

73. Cont’d
3. The planning of programmed budgeting system focuses on
allocating budget money to programs instead of departments.
 It emphasize the identification and elimination of programs that
duplicate other programs, and it provides for analysis of the benefits
and the costs of each organizational program.
 Basically, the planning-programming budgeting system has certain
processes. The processes are:
 Specifying the objectives of each significant program in the
organization
 Comparing the output each program to the objectives of the
program
 Determining the total cost of the program for a period of several
years
 Determining the most effective way to achieve program
objectives
 Systematically monitoring programs to see the objectives are
being met

74. Cont’d
 In general, the planning-programming budgeting system combines
management by objectives (MBO) with the budgeting process.
 By doing so, it attempts focus managerial attention on achieving
certain desirable objectives within the constraints imposed by a
budget.
 Like that of Zero-based budgeting, the paper work and time needed
to make the planning-programming budgeting system process work
seems to be too excessive to be worthwhile to most organizations
and schools.
Q1. Discuss as to which budgeting approaches are appropriate or
relevant to the context of Ethiopian schools. Explain your reasons
why the approaches are much important to ensure efficiency and
effectiveness?
Q2) Which budgeting approach have you been experiencing in your
schools in the past fiscal years? Why?

75. 7.8.1 Budget Principles and Nomenclature
Q1. Why budget principles vary from country to country?
Q2. Discuss the principles of budget.
 Basically, the major principles of budget that oblige the
classification of revenues and expenditures in the government
budget vary from country to country.
 The overall principles, however, mostly remains part of the
budgetary laws that derived from the constitutional and political
interests of the system to ensure the control of parliament’s over the
government executives and ministries in several countries.

76. Cont’d
 To this end, the following are among the common principles that
oblige to classify revenues and expenditures in the government
budget. Please, relate your attempts with the following major
principles.
1) The principle of annual frequency
2) Specificity
3) Limitation
4) Universality
5) Unity

77. Cont’d
1. The Principle of Annual Frequency:
 This principle obliges the executives to submit a regular budget
request (commonly voted for one year) to the parliament to
endorse the sums generated by taxation (revenues) and authorize
their utilization (expenditures).
 As a result, preparing an annual budget and getting the vote of the
parliament becomes a prerequisite nearly in all countries.
 This requires clear presentation of an income to be generated and
the expenditure to be incurred on yearly basis.

78. Cont’d
2.The Principle of Specificity:
 The principle of specificity is strongly tied in with the budget
nomenclature and there by obliges the classification of revenues
and expenditures.
 According to this principle it is impossible to use resources
authorized under specific budget line for other purposes.
 It obliges conformity with the parliamentary vote. Principally, the
Ministry of Finance (MOF) applies this principle to control the use
of budgetary resources by heavy-spending Ministries like
education.
 In practice, however, occasionally the transfer of one budget line to
another budget line is important and possible to allow
administrative flexibilities.

79. Cont’d
 Such changes are usually made through requests approved by the
MoF.
 Some other changes are impossible unless re-approved by the
parliament.
 For instance, in Ethiopia, it is impossible to change capital budget
to recurrent budget unless and otherwise amended by the
parliament.

80. Cont’d
3. Limitation:
 The budget voted has a limit and they cannot exceed this limit.
According to this principle, departments are not authorized to spend
more than the amount of budget allotted to them.
 Moreover, the amount of budget allocated to the various sectors is
mainly dependent on the revenue side which always obliges the
governments to limit the level of expenditure.
 Moreover, this principle helps to keep the balance between the
income and expenditure side.

81. Cont’d
4. Universality:
 This principle obliges that the budget should contain all the
incomings and all the out goings of the organs of the state.
 According to this principle, all resources should be directed to a
common pool or fund, to be allocated and used for expenditures
according to the priorities of the government.
 Essentially, a ministry may not collect resources and use them as it
considers fit for its own purposes and this is true for most of the
educational organizations and schools in various countries.
 It implies that receipts may not be earmarked for expenditure.
 In some cases, however, there are ways of circumventing the rule,
such as special budget for autonomous agencies and specific
financial contributions.

82. Cont’d
 In some countries, schools and educational institutions are given
such right by deliberate decisions.
 For instance, in Ethiopia, the government has allowed the schools
to generate and utilize internal incomes as additional sources to the
government budget given that it is well recorded as income and
expenditure.

83. Cont’d
5. Unity:
 This principle obliges that the government budget should be one
and indivisible, embodying in a single legal instrument all resources
and outgoing.
 This helps to give an overall picture of the financial situations
envisaged.
 This situation is common in investment budgets which is more
often funded by external development partners and commonly
discussed and voted separately.
 In general, according to this principle, revenue and expenditure
should be considered together to determine annual budget targets.
 The budget should cover all the government agencies and other
institutions undertaking government operations, so that the budget
presents a consolidated picture of these operations and is voted on,
as a whole, in the parliament.

84. 7.8.2 The Meaning of Budget Nomenclature
 The term budget itself is used to denote financial plans of
educational institutions/schools/ for given period of time in the
future, usually for one fiscal year.
 Financial plans refer to sacrification of the current financial
resources for educational operations based on an estimate of future
expenditures with proposed means of financing.
 Nomenclature is the structure that designates the classification used
by countries/governments/ to arrange the data in the budget.
 It is an organization of the budget line.
 Its classification is often organized by MoF according to
codification by which a code is associated with a title of heading.
 Basically, nomenclature aims at facilitating the financial
management of the state by précising each budgetary line.

85. Cont’d
 To this effect, the use of the structured coding system facilitates the
computerization of the recording of expenditures and summarizing
them.
 It has two major sides (revenue and expenditure).
 The revenue side covers all categories of taxes and other revenues
of the state by classifying into recurrent and capital budget.
 In the expenditures side, the budget nomenclature uses different
principal criteria to classify expenditures usually designed to allow
the identification of expenditures based on the functions of the
state, service or management unit, programs and activities and the
type of expenditure.

86. 7.8.2.1 The Major Kinds of Budget Nomenclature
 This classification include
A. Nomenclature based on function of the state
B. Nomenclature based on service or management unit
C. Nomenclature based on programs and activities and
D. Nomenclature based on the type of expenditure
7.8.2.2. The major purposes of each kind of nomenclature
A) Nomenclature based on function of the state enables to picture out
the details of the functional plan as it makes the analysis of the
expenditures for each functions possible.
 It also allows the determination costs for each public functions
combining functional classification with the economics
classification.
 Moreover, it helps to identify the state priorities assigned to the
different functions.

87. Cont’d
B)The nomenclature based on service or management unit concerns
all public sector units at different levels (central, regional or local)
or the independent once.
 It shows the nature of the spending and the responsible body that is
in charge of the money at the various echelons of the system.
 It is essential and should be clearly defined particularly under
decentralized educational system as it aims to ensure
accountability; budget administration and legal appropriation.

88. Cont’d
C) Nomenclature based on programs and activities establish the link
between expenditures and expected results.
 Its main aim is policy formulation and performance accountability.
 It clearly indicates the expenditures required in line with the
programs and activates to be carried out.
 It allows knowing the expenses of education by objective and
helps to facilitate the cost benefit analysis for better decision
makings though measuring benefits in education is a more
complex issue than in other sectors

89. Cont’d
D) Nomenclature based on the type of expenditure helps to plainly
distinguish between recurrent and capital expenditures.
 It facilitates budget control as it identifies expenditures by economic
object.
 It creates uniform concepts of expenditures among all public sectors
and makes information arranged for budget commitments

90. A number of writers in the realm of financial management
classified phases budget process in different ways.
Many writers classified it into three major categories:
1. Budget preparation,
2. Adoption and
3. Execution.
Some others call the phases in budgeting process as:
1. Budget formulation,
2. Presentation and
3. Execution.
7.9 The Main Phases of Budget Process and
Its Explanation

91. Cont’d
Still others classified it into five main phases:
1. Preparation,
2. Adoption,
3. Execution,
4. Book closing and
5. Audit.
 Some others classified it as:-
1. Preliminary analysis,
2. Budget construction,
3. Control
4. Monitoring and evaluation (knight, 1993).
 In reality, however, in spite of the differences in terminology and category they
all endeavor to address the major issues that are related to income and
expenditure.
 To sum up, the
 budget process can be carefully categorized into three main phases that is budget
preparation, adoption and execution.

92. Cont’d
 Basically, preparation phase is a decision-making function and in
most cases it takes time as it involves all state departments and
agencies.
 To this effect, the participation of the local level echelons will be
higher and demanding if the system is decentralized.
 The preparation phase of budget is the base for decisions reflecting
budget priorities for the coming year based on the development
plans and objectives of the government.
 It is the stage at which a budget request or plan can be strengthened
because the proposed budget that the members of the
legislature(government) examine; change and ultimately pass based
on it.

93. Cont’d
 The second phase of a budget process is related to the parliament
vote. The budget should be voted before the end of the elaboration
period.
 It is primarily a legislative branch function. The legislature involves
agencies as necessary in the process by holding hearings on budget
issues affecting each agency.
 The final products of this process are the enrolled budget bills, state
laws.
 During the execution phase the legislature may modify the budget
through supplemental appropriations, which legally have the same
form as the regular appropriations.

94. Cont’d
 The parliament usually uses a highly qualified and experienced
financial experts and economic advisors before voting to the
budget, and some times seek for clarification before decisions.
 The third phase (budget execution) of the budget process is related
to the implementation of the budget allocated to each sector.
 In line with the implementation, countries do have their own
principles and methods of public accounting.
 These principles are usually developed by the ministry of finance to
assure the implementation of operations as per the initial
authorization of credits given by the parliament.

95. Cont’d
 In general, the implementation of budget should be done as per the
budget line described by the nomenclature and the rules and
regulations developed by MoF as per the vote of the parliament.
 Thus, educational decisions made at this stage require actual
budget, capacity, good governance, transparency and
accountability at the various echelons followed by strong
monitoring and controlling mechanisms.
 The above discussions are more general. Thus let us see the major
types of budgeting that are commonly used by educational
institutions and schools in various countries.
1. Mechanical budgeting,
2. Administration-dominated budget,
3. Centralized budgeting and
4. Site-based budgeting.

96. Cont’d
1. Mechanical budgeting:-
 is the type of budget in which the estimated yearly receipts and the
division of money into various categories in order to accomplish
educational programs.
 This implies revenue-and-expenditure operation in educational
institutions and schools.
 It forces expenditures to much with income expectations and with
out giving much attention to the actual needs of educational
intuitions and schools.
 The major mission of this type of budgeting is to keep cost at a
minimum without giving due regard for the needs or educational
improvements.

97. Cont’d
2. Administration-dominated budget :-
 Some people tend to attach the development budgeting as strict
responsibility of administration.
 This is mainly due to the central office intuitions by looking at
budgeting as a very complex process whereby only the selected few
can sufficiently classy(exclusive) to participate in the process of its
development.
 It seems misleading notion when seen from the actual situations of
various organizations and schools particularly under decentralized
educational system.

98. Cont’d
3. Centralized budgeting:-
 This is top-down approach whereby all budgetary decisions are
made at the central level and the lower level educational echelons
only conform to the decisions made by the central level.
 Such an approach mainly treats the entire education system as a
consistent entity.
 In practice, however, different regions, administrative zones,
districts and schools are not homogeneous at all.
 They posse’s diverse people, resources, socio-cultural, political and
technological environment that creates the unique needs and
abilities among and between the various educational institutions in
general and schools in particular

99. Cont’d
4. School based budgeting:-
 is different from the above three as teachers, parents, and even
students are involved in developing the budget for the school.
 It is a decentralized process of budgeting, in which the school
management is assigned responsibility for developing the budget
for a school, based on the unique characteristic of the students
and/or the educational program of the school.
 However, school based (site-based budgeting) can be achievable
when school administrators, teachers and local community
members have the capacities to control the budget and have the
necessary expertise to contest constantly student needs with the
actual available financial resources.
 The role of the central administration in site-based budgeting is to
offer support and facilitate a close dialogue between community
members and school staff.

100. 7.9.1 Major steps in budgeting
 The major steps in budgeting include:
 the budget message,
 the expenditure plan,
 the revenue/income plan,
 balancing expenditures and revenues,
 budget approval,
 budget administration and
 the budgetary review.
1. The Budget Message:
 This step refers to educational plan.
 It deals with educational goals and objectives of the school system.
 Basically, educational plan or the budget message is an outline of
the needs and objectives of the school that underline the school
budget

101. Cont’d
2.The Expenditure Plan:
 In education expenditure refers to estimation of the amounts required
to plant the educational plan into effect.
 Basically, after defining the educational plan, expenditures and
revenues estimates should be done.
 However, this requires some detail activities which are strongly
related to preparation of time schedule, collection of data as well
as estimation and classification of expenditures.
Q1). What are the major activities or steps that should be considered
in having plan for expenditure?

102. Classifying expenditures
More specifically, public current education expenditure by purpose
can be divided into:
A. Administration: enrolments of administration staff and other
expenditure of the central and local administration.
B. Payments for teachers: salaries and all additional benefits paid to
teachers as well as to all other auxiliary teaching staff.
C. Teaching materials: expenditure directly related to instructional
activities such as purchase of textbooks and other scholastic
supplies.
D. Scholarships: scholarships and all other financial assistance
granted to students for studies in the country or abroad.
E. Welfare: boarding costs, school meals, transport, medical services,
etc.
F. Not distributed: expenditure which cannot be classified in one of
the categories above.

103. Cont’d
3. The Revenue:
 Revenues refer to the incomes of an organization.
 The actual expenditure of educational institutions and schools
depends on the amount of income collected from the anticipated
revenues from various sources as per plan.
 The revenue plan of a school should reveal an estimate of
approximately actual receipts from different sources.
4. Balancing Revenues and Expenditures:
 In most cases, educational activities are strongly related to the
balance between the income and expenditure side of an
organization.
 Creating balance between two sides demands anticipating revenues
from the various sources.
 This in turn will help to have a sound plan for educational
expenditure by creating balance with anticipated revenues.

104. Cont’d
5. Budget Approval:
 The approval of budget can be done at various levels.
 However, at the school level, most aspects of the budgeting process
involve a variety of forces such as teachers, students and PTAs.
 Finally, the budget prepared should be presented to the highest
administrative body of the school such as Woreda Education Office
in our case particularly at primary school levels.
 Basically this is the stage in which the highest administrative body
in the school system could accept, modify or reject the proposed in
fact with justification.

105. Cont’d
6. Budget Administration and Budgetary Review:
 After budget approval the next step will be budget administration.
This refers to the actual implementation of the allocated budget.
 Once the governing body approves a proposed budget the following
step will remain at the hands of the executive of the school system
for its execution.
 In relation to this, the school principals should be given the
responsibility to ensure that the school operates within its allocated
budget and does not overspend in any of the budget categories.
 It should, however, be noted that the original budget should
function as a guide so that, as conditions change, adjustments may
be made without significantly affecting the objectives originally
established objectives.
 In this connection, significant changes will require the permission
and approval of authorized body.

106. THE END

107. UNIT EIGHT :MANAGING SCHOOL MATERIALS AND
PROPERTY
THE MEANING OF PHYSICAL RESOURCESS MANAGEMENT
IN EDUCATION
Activity 1 (15 minutes)
1. What does physical resource mean?
2. Discuss what durable goods are by giving examples in pairs.
3. Identify the difference between durable and nondurable items.

108. The physical resource management does not deal with liquid assets.
 In spite of this, the management of physical resources refers to an
effective and efficient allocation and utilization of physical resources
in an attempt to achieve educational goals.
In line with this, educational organizations and schools do require
huge investment in physical resources.
Proper allocation and utilization of physical resources leads
educational institutions towards success.
Basically, the management of physical resources include durable
and non-durable items/movable and unmovable.

109. Items that can serve for a long period of time are called
durable items.
According to the rules and regulations of financial and
property management in Ethiopia, any item which is
bought above 200.00 birr and could serve more than one
year are durable items. This include: vehicles, furniture,
computers and the like.
 Items which could serve less than a year time and that
costs less than 200.00 birr are called non-durables.
Examples of non durable items include stationary
materials.

110. PRINCIPLES, TECHNIQUES AND MODEL OF MANAGING
PHYSICAL RESOURCES
1. Explain the principles and techniques of managing physical
resources.
2. Why do we need such principles and techniques to manage our
school property?
 In principle public property shall be managed to ensure economy,
efficiency and effectiveness in its acquisition, use, maintenance,
protection and disposal within budgetary constraints.
In terms of acquisitions public property shall be for the sole
purpose of facilitating the delivery and maintenance of approved
programs as efficiently and effectively as possible.

111. Each and every finance bureaus are expected to acquire
any property of the government for which there is no
ownership established.
To this end, heads of public bodies are expected to
ensure that public property is used as productively as
possible in carrying out responsibilities of their public
bodies.
Establishing a proper maintenance system for public
property that help to ensure that it will operate as
economically and effectively as possible in accordance
with the directives of finance and property management.

112. Technically each public office including educational
institutions should have strong accounting, auditing
(internal and external) system in order to encompass strong
control over the allocation and utilization of scarce
resources.
Both financial and physical resources should be
controlled and managed by the rules and regulations of the
government issued by the ministry of finance.

113. There are also some important principles and techniques
of managing physical resources.
In essence, physical resource components of a school
include all those non-human resources such as buildings,
furniture, science kits, office equipments, land, and all other
goods and services available to the school. Physical
resources account for the largest part of educational budget
next the costs for educational personnel.
This section deals with two major issues in managing the
physical resources school. This include: school materials
management and school plant

114. In principle any material property (purchases, donated or
contributed by the community and the like) should be received by
using legal receipt. This is true for the outgoing materials.
In principle, the major models that help to receive and pass
materials to an employee are the following.
1 Model 19 Used when material submitted to a store
2 Model 20 Request to withdraw materials from a store
3 Model 21 Used to give an approval for a requested materials
4 Model 22 Helps to withdraw materials from a store

115. Material management includes activities like
warehousing, inventory, distribution, and disposition.
 Basically, warehousing is concerned with holding and
caring school materials and supplies pending for use
and/or disposition.
It includes providing a system for identifying and
recording storage location, providing physical safeguards
and security, rotating materials to prevent deterioration and
obsolescence, and preserving. This requires various
documents.

116. 1. Dear students if there are materials to be stored, where do you put
them?
2. What factors should be considered to store and to allocate material?
A good storage should keep materials in a locatable way.
This demands the identification and classification of each material
and the coding.
The proper storage location for each material is a function of many
factors: the length of time an item is expected to stay in storage, the
amount of space available, and the expected frequency and size of the
material.
On top of this, schools are expected to establish a system of which
keep educational materials in a protected way from any damage (fire,
theft, deterioration and the like).

117. Inventory is a process that helps to maintain the level of materials at
a given point of time.
It also helps to make decisions concerning future purchase,
maintenance, disposition and the like.
It is a process of checking the physical presence of materials.
Issues of fair distribution can also be discovered through inventory.
 It is usually done by committee established by the top level
management.
It can be done at the end of a year or continuous inventory through
out the year.

118. The other important element of material management refers to
disposal.
One of the reasons for this is obsolescence of school materials.
 This may be caused by different factors which include
technological changes, changes in curriculum and deteriorating
efficiency of the item.
Surplus may result from supplies and equipment previously
procured but no longer being needed, or no longer being used.
 Disposition can be realized through selling, transfer and disposal.
 In no way government owned property could be taken for private
use.
Schools should have a committee for realizing material disposition
as per the government rule and regulations.

119. ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE PHYSICAL
RESOURCES MANAGEMENT IN EDUCATION
There are a number of environmental factors that can affect the
management (availability, allocation and utilization) of financial and
physical resources in education. The major environmental factors that
influence the management of financial and physical resources in
education include:
1. Economic environment
2. Political environment
3. The social environment and
4. Technological environment

120. A. The management of financial and physical resources at the
local level
Owing to the rapid growing of school-age children in primary and
secondary schools, educational expenditures have also grown rapidly
as well.
Thus, central governments now find themselves facing severe
financial and material resources’ constraints to the ever mounting
expansion of educational opportunities.
Hence, shifting part of the burden for support of primary and
secondary education to sub national units of government, to
community and voluntary organizations, and to parents is the best
and an attractive alternative.

121. In reality, however, attempts to transfer administrative
responsibility without clear and concomitant fiscal authority may put
the above alternative in confront.
This is also true for the management of physical resources at the
district and school levels.
Owing to this, issues that are related to the management of
financial and physical resources become crucial concerns from time
to time.
In actual fact, these issues are complex and often controversial;
neglecting to confront them represents a major potential barrier to
any fundamental restructuring of educational system.

122. Changes in revenue and expenditure assignments alter
organizational incentives and behavior, with important implications
for efficiency and equity.
In view of this, schools and local governments are expected to fund
their educational activities from the local revenue sources and are
responsible for internal control as well as the management of financial
resources.
In support of this, the local communities finances and directly
provide inputs, either through tax revenue as in the case of the United
State and Brazil or through voluntary fees as of the case in Kenya as
describe by Winkler (1993).

123. They may also finance and construct schools (in low-income
countries, this arrangement may take the form of local voluntary
contributions and construction with local materials and standards).
On top of this, the locus of financial control, auditing, and
performance evaluation typically lies with the government that
provides the revenue for education.
However, lack of managerial and technical capacities in managing
financial resources, untimely and inadequate release of allocated
funds, and constant delays in delivering funds usually force the local
governments to slow down their activities and thus remain critical
problems under such a system.

124. 1. Discuss how the political environment affects the role of principals
or educational managers at Woreda (local level in managing finance
and physical resources.
2. Explain the opportunities and threats that the political environment
have in managing school finance and physical resources.
B. The Role of Government in Financing and Provision of
Education
 Government involvement in financing and provision of education
has been advocated for two fundamental reasons:
to increase economic efficiency and to foster distributional equity.
Education is vital to economic growth and over all development of
any nation.
It is an investment on human capital which in turn augments the
productivity of individual and the society in general.

125. This implies that education has strong public economic benefits
(mounts greater productivity through human capital investment which
is needed for national economic growth and development of the entire
economy).
To this effect, it is argued that the major economic benefits that
education can provide to society can be realized if and only if
government has substantial intervention in the financing and provision
of education.
Hence, decisions on educational expenditures should not left to the
private sectors which tend to invest less in education provided that the
investment does not generate profit.

126. Basically, education is at the center of the socioeconomic
developments of a nation for which government is commonly
assumed to be the best ‘manager’ of a natural monopoly in education.
 To this end, the roles that should be played by the government in
managing financial and physical resources in education become
inevitable. Hence, the role of government is creating economic
efficiency.

127. Explain how the local community facilitates or hinders the
functions of school and the ways you may employ to solve
problems imposed by the community in relation to the context of
your locality.
 ENSURE PROPER ALLOCATION, UTILIZATION AND
MAINTENANCE OF SCHOOL PROPERTY
It is a fundamental and unchanging principle for the
principals/supervisor: having the proper materials—the right
materials, in the right condition, in the right quantity, in the right
place, at the right time—in order for the teachers to be able to
conduct their assigned work, is a basic responsibility of the
principal or supervisor of the school.

128. It is the expectation of the workers that when they are assigned a
task by the concerned body, the correct materials will be on hand for
the completion of that activity.
If not, time is wasted, and, in addition, the workers become
frustrated and demotivated.
Their morale declines, and productivity suffers, and the principal or
supervisor’s stature(importance) diminishes.

129.  In addition to all of these unpleasant and costly results, if the proper
materials are not available for the performance of an assigned task, it
follows by definition that workers will need to be reassigned to other
work.
 This occurrence is itself costly, and additional time and energy are
wasted and productivity suffers further.
 Materials Procurement: Every material or property that is to
be installed or used must be procured and purchased.
 As obvious as this statement appears to be, it is important for
the supervisor to understand this basic axiom, as well as the fact
that there may be considerable variability in the processes by
which different materials are procured.
 Procedures for procurement will vary by company policy, as
well as by the product being purchased.

130. Purchasing agent: Some organizations have a purchasing agent
or another person in the organizations’ office that may purchase
some of the materials and products to be used in the
organizations.
Some organizations utilize a warehousing system, and furnish
materials to job sites from the warehouse, usually on a requisition
basis.
Other materials and products may be purchased by the project
manager, while still others may be purchased by the supervisor. It
is vitally important for the one who purchase to understand
organizations’ policies, as well as the procedures to be employed
with regard to the procurement of all of the materials to be
utilized on the project.

131. UNIT NINE : MANAGING TIME AND INFORMATION
What is the meaning of time management?
Time itself can't be managed.
It is constant and it always goes forward, never backwards.
Everyone has the same amount of time in a day.
Therefore, if you are managing time, you are not trying to
manipulate time; you are trying to make the best use of your time.
Time management is the act of taking conscious control over the
amount of time spent on specific activities.
You exercise time management to increase productivity,
effectiveness and efficiency.
You practice skills and use tools and techniques to aid you when
accomplishing tasks, projects or are working toward goals and
deadlines.

132. Time management is about effective scheduling of your time, goal
setting, prioritizing and choosing what to do and what not to do,
delegating tasks, analyzing and reviewing your spent time, organizing
your workspace, keeping your concentration and focus at your work,
motivating yourself to work towards a goal.
1. What are the reasons why time resource seeks more attention than
other resources?
2. Who need to think about time management? Why?
3. What are the misconceptions of time management?
4. Explain what we mean when we say ‘Time management is more
than just managing time.
5. What are the common resource organizations in the world do have
resources in common rather than human resources?

133. TIME: A KEY ORGANIZATION RESOURCE
Whatever job an educational manager does, he will utilize a
number of resources. Human, Financial, physical/material resources
are all important.
In any particular job, one resource may predominate. But there is
one resource we all have in common is time.
Everyone occasionally experiences problems of getting
everything done, and doing it all in the time available.
For some, such problems seem perpetually(continuously) to exist
to one degree or another; others will admit to having moment when
things seem to conspire(go together) to prevent work going as
planned, and a few to living in a state of permanent chaos.
Everyone, potentially, can benefit from reviewing how to manage
time effectively.

134. In any organization many of the things that actually characterize its
very nature make proper time management difficult: hierarchical
structures, people, deadlines, paperwork, e-mail, computer problems,
meetings, pressures and interactions, both around the organization
and externally; all these and more can compound the problems.
This unit aims to help solve the problems of time management for
all those working in executive or managerial positions within
organization, whether educational or otherwise, and who are charged
with getting things done and achieving results.

135. Misconceptions about Time: There are several misconceptions
which we all have about time.
They affect everyone including those persons who may be
considered quite successful and effective.
Here are some of the misconceptions:
Time Management is Simple; all it requires is common sense.
While it is true that the concept is simple, the self-discipline required
to practice effective time management is not easy.
Work is best performed under pressure. Psychological studies show
this to be no more than an excuse for procrastination.
One does not work well under pressure. Pressure and challenge must
not be confused.

136. Time Management is more than just managing time.
 It is about controlling the use of the most valuable-and under
valued-resource.
 It is managing oneself in relation to time.
 It is setting priorities and taking charge of the situation and time
utilization.
 It means changing those habits or activities that cause waste of time.
 It is being willing to adopt habits and methods to make maximum
use of time.
 It is being willing management skills one is in control of one’s time,
stress and energy levels.

137.  One can maintain balance between one’s work and personal life.
 One finds enough flexibility to respond to surprises or new
opportunities.
 It is not how much time one has, but rather the way one uses it.
 Each of the first four(Finance, material, man power and
information) can be augmented, reduced, transferred or otherwise
controlled, time cannot be manipulated.
 When it comes to time, one can only manage oneself in relation to
it.

138. One cannot control time as one can control other resources-one can
only control how one uses it.
In the world in which we live, time cannot be replaced or re-created.
 It is, therefore, not for us to choose whether we spend or save time
but to choose only how we spend it.

139. SYMPTOMES OF POOR TIME MANAGEMENT
 Poor time management shows up by way of one or a combination
of typical perceptible symptoms.
 Managers would do well to look for and reflect of whether they
are subject to any those symptoms with a view to take necessary
corrective action.
The following are some of the indicator of poor time management
Constant Rushing, example between meetings or tasks
 Frequent Delays, example in attending meetings deadlines
 Low productivity, energy and motivation.

140.  Frustration, example ‘Oh, things just don’t move ahead’
 Impatience, example ‘where the hell is that information I’ve asked
him/her for”?
 Chronic vacillation(indecision) between alternatives example
‘Whichever option I choose it is going to put me at a big
disadvantage. I don’t know which way to jam?
Difficultly in setting and achieving goals, example ‘I’m not sure
what is expected of me”.

141. Making time management work successfully is based on two key
factors:
how a manager plans his time and how he implements the detail of
what he does.
The first of these two factors creates an important foundation upon
which he can then build and work.
The second consists of a multitude of operational factors, practices,
methods and tricks, all of which can individually and positively affect
the way in which work is accomplished.

142. THE TOP TIME WASTERS
 Following are the most well known thieves that gang up to steal
some of the precious time away from productive use of managers.
Poor Planning: Failure to see the value of planning and getting
impatient to get something done are the causes of poor planning.
Crisis Management: Most often, crisis management is an offspring
of lack of prioritization of tasks.
Procrastination: generally triggered off by the fear of
failure/success, perfectionism, wanting to do it all or incorrect
priorities.
Interruptions: interruptions and distractions arise due to lack of
planning, poor concentration and lack of control over environment.

143.  They are unnecessary thieves of a manager’s time and come in
many forms-drop in visitors, telephones, e-mails, unscheduled
meetings, poor communications and confused chain of authority etc.
 Not Delegating: Wanting-to-do-all by oneself if yet another thief
that could let the managers lose control.
 Unnecessary Meetings: if a meeting is held without a specific
agenda and nothing productive comes out of it, clearly that meeting
was unnecessary.
 Poor Physical Setup: Not having the things that the managers
need frequently within easy reach.
 Poor Networking: Failing to develop a good network base will
cause them to waste time creating what they might have had through
their communication network.

144.  Bad Attitude: Nothing sinks a day more effectively than having a
poor attitude. It causes the managers to dwell (settle) on the problems
and not the solutions and makes if possible to throw the day away.
When they are burdening others with their problems and complaints
they are forfeiting their valuable time.
 Negative People: Being surrounded by negative people could mean
the managers are spending a lot of their time listening to them but
getting nothing much or purposeful from them.

145.  Toward Effective Time Management: There are many activities
where the whole is greater than the sum of the individual parts.
Time management is similar.
The individual techniques, ideals and tricks may allow
individual to make some progress towards an effective and
efficient way of working, but only approaching the process on a
broad front will lead to sustained practice that will ensure
continuing effectiveness.
Four categories, as shown here under, seem to bring some order to
the picture:

146. 1. Planning: This is the prerequisite to all actions. Many tasks are
involved: research, investigation, analysis and testing amongst
others. This area may also involve consultation and ultimately the
communication of plans and is, of course, the key to decision
making.
2. Implementation: Simply stated, doing things-of all sorts-whether
intangible of which the key one is making decision or tangible.
Specific tasks divided into two sorts.
First, individual tasks; these are free-standing.

147. They may be major or minor. For example, a writing task may
entail composing a two-line e-mail or a 20 page report.
Second, progressing tasks where a series of closely linked actions
contribute cumulatively to achieving an overall result.
 Moving offices would invoice such actions and such things may be
more clearly visualized rather than described. Tasks in both
categories may well need to be linked to planning activity on
whatever scale.

148. 3. Monitoring and Control: Checking may well be necessary to
ensure things are being done in the best possible way and brining the
desired results. Checking may be simple editing the draft of a report
or running it through the spellchecker, for example. Or it may be
complex, as are many financial control systems.
4. Communicating and dealing with people: This clearly overlaps
with the other three categories of activity, but is inherent in the work
of almost everyone. Whether it is briefing concerned staff members
or reporting to them. Meetings and other forms of communication
with them are essential parts of their work and take up a major part
of their time.

149. In all four categories, there will or should be a strong link with
objectives and achievement of results. All tasks and all actions should
focus on the overall aims and are often of little significance in
themselves. Effectiveness is measured ultimately by achievement.
The Opposite of Time Management: Time Management is not
wasting time! Procrastination could be the opposite of effective time
management. Spending time on activities that produce nothing of
value to your life or to someone else life is considered wasting your
time.

150. IMPORTANCE OF TIME MANAGEMENT
1. It is clear that some of the importance of time management are
minimizing stress and improve quality of life.
2. What should a person do to manage his/her time effectively?
Effective time management is a primary means to a less stressful
life. These practices can help you reduce your stress and reclaim
your personal life.
Do you find yourself overwhelmed by the number and complexity
of projects that need to be completed at work each day?

151. As the day flies by, do you often feel as if you haven't paid enough
attention to each task because other tasks keep landing on your desk,
co-workers interrupt you with questions or you can't get it all
organized?
You probably know that managing your time effectively will help
you get more done each day. But it has important health benefits, too.
By managing your time more wisely, you can minimize stress and
improve your quality of life.

152. But how do you get back on track when organizational skills don't
come naturally?
To get started, choose one of these strategies:
1. Plan each day: Planning your day can help you accomplish more
and feel more in control of your life. Write a to-do list, putting the
most important tasks at the top. Keep a schedule of your daily
activities to minimize conflicts and last-minute rushes.
2. Prioritize your tasks: Time-consuming but relatively unimportant
tasks can consume a lot of your day. Prioritizing tasks will ensure that
you spend your time and energy on those that are truly important to
you.

153. 3. Say no to non-essential tasks: Consider your goals and schedule
before agreeing to take on additional work.
4. Delegate: Take a look at your to-do list and consider what you can
pass on to someone else.
5. Take the time you need to do a quality job: Doing work right the
first time may take more time upfront, but errors usually result in time
spent making corrections, which takes more time overall.
6. Break large, time-consuming tasks into smaller tasks: Work on
them a few minutes at a time until you get them all done.
7. Practice the 10-minute rule: Work on a dreaded (make anxiety)
task for 10 minutes each day. Once you get started, you may find you
can finish it.

154. 8. Evaluate how you're spending your time: Keep a diary of
everything you do for three days to determine how you're spending
your time. Look for time that can be used more wisely.
9. Limit distractions: Block out time on your calendar for big
projects. During that time, close your door and turn off your phone,
pager and email.
10. Get plenty of sleep, eat a healthy diet and exercise regularly: A
healthy lifestyle can improve your focus and concentration, which
will help improve your efficiency so that you can complete your work
in less time.

155. 11.Take a time management course: If your employer offers
continuing education, take a time management class. If your workplace
doesn't have one, find out if a local community college, university or
community education program does.
12.Take a break when needed: Too much stress can derail your
attempts at getting organized. When you need a break, take one. Take
a walk. Do some quick stretches at your workstation. Take a day of
vacation to rest and re-energize.

156. INFORMATION MANAGEMENT IN EDUCATION
1. What is the definition of information management in education?
2. What are the principles that we have to follow to manage our time?
Information management (IM): is the collection and management
of information from one or more sources and the distribution of that
information to one or more audience.
This sometimes involves those who have a stake in, or a right to
that information.
Management means the organization of and control over the
structure, processing and delivery of information.

157. Information, as we know it today, includes both electronic and
physical information.
The organizational structure must be capable of managing this
information throughout the information lifecycle regardless of source
or format (data, paper documents, electronic documents, audio, etc)
for delivery through multiple channels that may include cell phones
and web interfaces.
Given these criteria, we can then say that the focus of IM is the
ability of organizations to capture, manage, preserve, store and deliver
the right information to the right people at the right time.

158. Information management requires the adoption and adherence to
guiding principles that include:
Information assets are organizational assets. This principle should
be acknowledged or agreed upon across the organization otherwise
any institutional case and support for IM will be weak.
Information must be made available and shared. Of course not all
information is open to anyone, but in principle the sharing of
information helps the use and exploitation of organizational
knowledge
Information as organization needs to keep is managed and retained
centrally. In other words the retention and archiving of information
should be centrally managed so that it could be readily available to
users.

159. However, within the boundaries of an education system, there is a
mechanism at work designed to provide specific and planned direction
to the process of change.
This mechanism is referred to as a management information system
(MIS).
A properly functioning MIS of an education system is capable of
feedings external environmental and internal performance information
to decision makers.
The information enables the decision makers to change the character
of the output so that it matches the shifting demands of the society.