The Ministry of Science and Higher Education is to increase the Higher Education cost sharing tuition fee from 15 to 30 percent in the next academic year. This decision comes as repayment rates are declining. The Ministry of Revenue collected 488 million birr from the cost sharing repayment scheme last fiscal year.
Ethiopia developed the cost sharing plan to serve as an alternative source of supplementing revenue in a bid to open more opportunities and make students responsible citizens and customers.
Cost-sharing in Ethiopia has been implemented since 2003 with the objectives of generating non-governmental revenue, expanding access, and improving equity and quality in higher education.
Students are expected to pay 15 percent of their tuition fee while the remaining 85 percent is sponsored by the government.
The revenue from cost sharing is less attractive as the country spends a huge amount of its budget on education. However, the scheme is believed to be a more attractive, simple and manageable alternative in the Ethiopian higher education landscape. It is also an attempt to ensure equitable access to students of any background, as there is no need to stipulate income of parents to determine the repayment amount.
Government financing of education has been generous. It is similar to the amount spent on transport and other infrastructure. Public spending on education in Ethiopia has increased by 70 percent in real terms between 2003/04 and 2011/12. In this period, education accounted for roughly 20 percent of total government spending.
According to the figure from the Ministry of Revenue, repayments from cost sharing increased over the last three years from 238 million in 2016/17, to 314 million birr in 2017/18 and 488-million-birr last year.
Calculating appropriate tuition fees and costs, giving every citizen a tax identification number (TIN) and decentralization and strengthening the tax collection and information system are important for successful implementation of cost sharing in Ethiopia
“The importance of consolidating the national ID scheme is a wasy to trace who works where in order to collect or deduct the payment”, said Bahiru Awel, Revenue Administration Director at the Ministry of Revenue.
Lack of awareness by private organization employers to deduct 10 percent from the gross salary and pay it back to the tax collecting ministry after a six month grace period, lack of central data system to trace where someone is working, and the low amount of job opportunities are some of the challenges when it comes to collecting the educational revenue.
Surprisingly, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education has not organized data on how many graduates repay their cost sharing except data on the disciplines that are calculated in service years.
“Graduates who work in government offices and those who need their original documents pay the most as the experience shows,” Bahiru adds. The minister has decentralized the collection mechanism to make the program more accessible.
Cost sharing rate increases, repayments decline
REFLECTION ON ABSURDITIES
Whichever way one tries to look at things, one encounters, rather consistently, gross absurdities everywhere. These absurdities, unseen and unheard, at least since reason and rationality were made the guiding lights of collective human existence, have become frightfully dangerous. To be frank, the current absurdities border the realm of lunacy! What is even more disturbing is the fact that the majority of the global sheeple (human mass) still remains oblivious to these comprehensive maladies. It is now clear that dominant interests of the world order have gradually and meticulously installed numerous absurdities as the organizing principles of late modernity!
At this point in time inquiring minds are forced to look back and reflect on the overall human experience, particularly as they pertain to those eras when collective sanity was considered a blessing, rather than a bad omen to be avoided by any means! We believe this reminiscing exercise should include, amongst other things, the critical transformative phases when humans managed to subdue the uncompromising natural challenges of the planet. Drawing lessons from such ‘life and death’ experiences might shed some light on the current conundrum. After all, civilizations are stages of accomplishments that are borne from facing and overcoming adversities, be they natural or manmade! At this juncture, it is worth scrutinizing our current existence that is consciously undermining the resolve to enshrine sanity across the world. Is the existing generalized level of comfort/convenience, at least within the confines of the human universe, the culprit behind the numbing of the masses? It seems the relatively comfortable existence that became possible, mostly due to the availability of cheap/convenient energy, namely fossil fuel, has softened both the mind and flesh of modern humanity, to its peril!
Looking at our collective situation from a different perspective yields a disturbing scenario. One would think the comfort level achieved by humanity would pacify the ‘struggle for existence’, at least within the family of the dominant species. The actual reality is, unfortunately, much gloomier than that. Even in the best of times, the preoccupation of elites/leaders of organized societies seem to be the aggressive manipulation of everything so that all benefits accrue to the canny few. It seems the teaching of the mahatma has yet to sink in the psyche of entrenched interests. ‘There is enough for everybody’s need, but not enough for everybody’s greed’, Gandhi. By and large, humanity’s creative capacity has been captured by the psychopaths/sociopaths of our modern world system. Since, enslaved minds do not have much of a leeway when it comes to forging new modes of existence, despite immense innate capacity, humanity is made to suffer unnecessarily. The lunatic system or the senile system, to use Samir Amin’s phrasing, is on track to completely destroy life and life support systems of the planet, while massive capacity with a potential to rectify the situation is rendered useless and idle! Late modernity has demoted critical thinking to allow space for mediocrity and stupidity to organize society, resulting in a generalized zombie-fied existence!
In the arena of modern economics/business, the situation is truly astounding. Companies that destroy capital, not only financial, are regarded as leaders in their respective sectors. Here again is Bill Bonner, a forthright and credible thinker, always trying to clarify the stupidly mystified nonsense of our world system. See his article next column. As usual, Charles Smith also has something to say about the lunatic system. See his article on page 38. We admit, relentlessly debunking the absurd narratives of the existing sick order is not for the faint hearted or light headed. Caitlin Johnstone, John White head, Adam Taggart, James Kunstler are amongst the foremost critics of the system. See the article on page 33. There aren’t many critically minded individuals who are willing to labor so that enlightenment can come to the dormant sheeple of our planet. We salute them all! To contrast the above writings with the ongoing lunacy of the establishment, we have added a recent political pronouncement of a one Mr. President of the western world. Besides showing the perverted reality of their make-believe world, it also demonstrates their usual political flip-flops. Guess who said the following? Hint; it is not an extract from Vladimir Putin’s ground breaking Munich speech (2007)!
“I would like to say that today the world is living through a historical moment; the multilateral approach is often criticized, and we should think about ways to rebuild this world and this order. This means we should look for new cooperation mechanisms that will be useful to all of us. In this case, in this context, our bilateral relations as well as relations between Russia and the European Union play a key and determinative role. I am thinking about everything that has happened over the past few decades, what has managed to drive us apart. I know that Russia is a European country in its heart of hearts. And we believe in a Europe that spreads from Lisbon to Vladivostok. The main problem is not Russia but instead the United States. With that same breath this president continued: “That readmitting Russia to the G8 would be a ‘strategic error’ and a sign of ‘weakness,’ unless the situation in Ukraine was resolved first”. President Macron of France.
Here is another clear message to us all, especially to our pompous ‘useful idiots’. “Most people like to think of themselves as occupying an ideological middle-ground, just because ‘I’m normal and you’re a freak’ is an egoically comfortable position. In reality, most of these people belong to a violent extremist ideology of endless war and corporate kleptocracy.” Caitlin Johnstone. Good Day!
Electronic Procurement to improve audits
To improve the government’s procurement process Ministry of Finance (MoF) has begun implementing a pilot program on Electronic Government Procurement (EGP).
The government hopes this will improve the way they obtain equipment. The process has been also criticized by the partners like the World Bank, because it has been subject to corruption.
MoF says they have already purchased the network equipment they need additional hardware and software is in the bidding process. At the same time the experience of other countries that have better knowledge about electronic procurement has been looked at, according to HaJi Ibsa, Public Relation Head of MoF. They have already examined four countries’ experience.
About 70 percent of the government’s budget has flowed to procurement. Therefore, it’s concerning that it is one of the areas that experiences the most audit discrepancies. The Office of the Auditor General has reported many problems. First the EGP will be implemented in a pilot level during the current budget year in selected government offices.
The scheme would cut direct connection in the procurement process, while some challenges like skilled labour and related technological problems could become issues.
The government has stated that it is interested in expanding electronic trading and has even invited companies to start operating in the country. Alibaba has recently expressed an interest in starting its electronic market in Ethiopia.
To improve their ease of doing business ranking, public procurement is expected to be improved. Work in this area may be extended until 2020 since the World Bank will come up with new programs in this area.
The Ministry has tried to implement the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) which is also designed to increase clarity in government offices. However, that program failed to meet expectations.
Since the implementation process, which has taken eight years so far, only 52 public offices have been integrated under IFMIS. However in the past budget year 78 additional offices started using IFMIS, which is an automated method that enhances efficiency in planning, budgeting, procurement, expenditure management and reporting in Ethiopian government offices, supported by international partners.
Addis’ homeless come from elsewhere
A recent study from the Addis Ababa City Administration Bureau of Labor and Social Affairs indicates that 92 percent of people who are homeless in Addis Ababa have come from other regions outside the Capital.
Most people begging on the street have come from the Southern Nations, Nationalities and People’s region, Oromia and Amhara Regional states. Only eight percent of those grew up in Addis. There are around 51,000 beggars and street children living in Addis. Of these 78 percent are between 13 and 45 years of age. In many cases these people end up in prostitution. Most street begging occurs in Kikos, Ledeta, Arada and Bole Sub Cities.
According to the city’s draft law, prostitutes, homeless children and beggars cannot ask for money in public places including transport services and parking areas as well as along the streets of Addis Ababa. A person giving money to beggars will face a 2,000 birr fine.
Endashaw Abera, Social Welfare Director at the Bureau told Capital that begging on the city streets is a disease that eats into the fabric of social, economic, religious, political and educational structures.
“We are in trouble, the number of street children is increasing and some able-bodied people who instead of doing some work, undertake to begging as their profession. We are drafting a law to stop it and returning some to their families and for others we will provide jobs,” he said.
“Street begging affects not only the geographical and social structure of urban areas; it also portrays the country in a bad light to tourists and foreign visitors. The simplest and most humane way to get rid of beggars is to stop giving them money. As soon as begging is not profitable, they will find something else to do to earn a living. If you have a culture of begging, it means that you also have a culture of giving money to beggars. You must educate the people who are giving the money to organize and find a more constructive way to help,” he said.
Some sociologists recommend that the government build the economy and create jobs before banning the beggars from the street. Currently the city administration is building a shelter at Kality for elders, young girls and women and children who are on the street. So far 250 people have joined the shelter but there is room for more. Eight NGOs have agreed to work with the city administration to help people transition from begging.
