• Sending grants directly to schools assures that the money will reach the schools.
• There a lot of leakages that happen when money passes through other spending agencies.
• Schools can now be audited.

Zambia National Education Coalition (ZANEC) says government’s move to start sending grants directly to school bank accounts will bring about a reduction in cases of misapplication of funds by the Ministry of General Education.
Speaking in an interview with Money FM News, Organization Executive Director George Hamusunga said sending the grants directly to the schools is an assurance that the money will reach the intended beneficiary institutions.
Mr. Hamusunga noted that there a lot of leakages that happen when money passes through the other spending agencies, as evidenced by research findings around tracking the flow of funding from Ministry of Finance to Ministry of Education and later to the schools.
He observed that in some instances, if the money passes through the Province or district, and sent to the schools, there are several vertical and horizontal leakages that take place, especially given the funding challenges that the entire education system is currently facing
“Actually, the first time that the current Permanent Secretary for Ministry of General Education Dr Jobbicks Kalumba was taken to the Ministry, that is the first thing that he committed to doing, based on our recommendations. As you know, money behaves like water, when it rains water has to flow downstream, but it cannot flow downstream before it satisfies its filtration where it is.”
“Therefore, even in our own budget tracking ways, which we do our research around tracking the flow of funding from Ministry of Finance to Ministry of Education to the schools, we have found out that we have a lot of leakages that happen when money passes through the other spending agencies. For instance if the money passes through the Province, the district, then it goes to the school, there are lot of vertical and horizontal leakages that take place, especially given the low funding or the funding challenges that the entire education system now is facing,” Mr. Hamusunga stated.
Mr. Hamusunga also pointed out that when the school grant goes through Provincial level, it may be misapplied to pressing issues being faced even if the money is meant for schools.
“Some of the pressing issues actually are very genuine like the death of employees who are entitled to funeral grant, which is not budgeted and they have no money. If it goes to the district also they will have different challenges like supporting the administration of examinations, so they misapply that money which was meant for schools. So sending the money directly to the schools assures us that all the money that is intended to go to the schools, reaches the Schools, it is the best.”
Meanwhile, Mr. Hamusunga states that during the amendment of the 2011 Education Act, the Organization asked government to withdraw the Act from Parliament because there was an inclusion of provisions that did not allow audits to be carried out at School level.
He said it is gratifying that Schools can now be audited, in order for stakeholders to be sure that the money is being applied accordingly.
“We made government to withdraw that Act from Parliament so that the provision is removed and we are happy it was removed. So meaning that even if money goes directly to the schools, first most of the schools have either trained people in Accounts or they have none-financial accountants who are managing the funds, but above all they are subject to audits.”
“So Schools can be audited in order for us to be sure that the money is being applied accordingly, that is the best practice and that is what we expect even as we move into decentralization. We need this money to be going to the local level where the spending agencies are,” he said.
According to the Ministry of General Education Accountant General Kennedy Musonda, government will now start sending grants directly to School bank accounts in order to avert misapplication of Money by the Ministry.