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Will school level decision making improve access to better education in Sri Lanka?
(2013-09-11) Arunatilake, Nisha; Jayawardena, Priyanka; De Silva, Roshani
Achievements in Sri Lanka’s Education sector are praiseworthy, in many respects. However, problems of equity and quality of education are increasingly plaguing the education system in the country. This paper analyzes the effectiveness of one initiative – the Educational Quality Inputs (EQI) Scheme -- that seeks to improving educational inputs at the schools through decentralized decision-making. The study explores the factors that affect the utilization of funds allocated to schools under the EQI scheme and examines how these affect inequity. The study concludes that although the EQI scheme has some equalizing effects, existing discrepancies in the resource availability at the school level lessens the equity outcomes of the EQI scheme. Making funds available does not always result in improving education resources at the school level. Confirming international evidence on other educational decentralization experiences, the study finds that local level capacity to manage funds are important in efficient utilization of funds.