The government introduced the Universal Secondary Education program in 2007. The purpose of this program is to ensure that all schools, whether they are public or private, with government-aided students, receive funding from the government. Parents pay additional fees to cover the costs of education. The schools are obliged to display all received and spent funds on the school’s notice boards and to appoint a Board of Governors that has to approve the budget for the school. These structures aim to improve the financial accountability of schools and to show parents show how school funds are spent.
For the second poll question in our Common Matters campaign in collaboration with The Initiative for Social and Economic Rights (ISER), we drafted a poll question mainly directed at parents who have children in USE schools about the financial accountability of the schools.
Poll: How informed are you as a parent about financial accountability at your child’s school that is implementing the Universal Secondary Education program?
13% said 'Good, money is accounted for and communicated to parents'
33% answered: 'Some accountability information is available, but it is not clear what funds are spent on'
54%, the majority, said 'Poor, parents are never informed'
See infographic below for detailed results for this poll.
Together with local media partners, Trac FM identifies and formulates questions regarding public services, the survey questions are later broadcasted on radio and people send in SMS participating in the poll questions free of charge, incoming SMS reports are visualized in smart graphic designs and relayed within seconds for radio presenters to update listeners on survey results.