Developments in the Kosovo education sector- to
follow up issues
Prishtina, 26 March 2008
Lida Kita
Issues from ETF 2006 Peer Learning FINANCING
Impact:
Kosovo
 Education Finance framework prepared, but to be followed-up
by MEST- how to link the reccomandations with the recent
development

Decentralisation and school autonomy discussion, taken
forward by World Bank- after status proposal concerning
education sector
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Strengthening the organisation and financing of the
education system in Kosovo

Developing the legal framework for primary and secondary
education
 Revision of Law on primary and secondary education to
accomodate the Status Proposal implementation
 Reforming the education financing mechanisms
 The exisitng education grants to municipalities are expected to
become part of non-earmarked block grant to municipalities
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Flow of General Education Budget
MEST
MEF
Municipal
Education Grants
Own Revenues (General Grants)
Capital Investment
Municipal Education Budget
Recurrent Budget (and a small amount for capital outlays) There are
no sub-accounts for schools, or direct cash transfers to schools. The
Municipal Finance Department procures Goods & Services and
distributes them to schools.)
Wages &
Salaries
Schools
Teachers
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Education Grants for each municipality = WS + GS +
CO
WS =
a)
b)

GS =

CO=
Total wages and salaries for (a) teachers and (b)
administrators and support staff:
Teachers: based on the pupil-teacher ratios of
21.3 for the majority and 14.2 for the minority
pupils
Administrators and support staff: according to
the existing staff as reported by each
municipality
Goods and services: a fixed amount per school
(€500 for pre- primary and primary and €1,000
for secondary) and a per student amount (€18
per the majority and €22.5 per the minority
student)
Capital outlays: €5 per student.
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Strengthening the organisation and financing of the
education system in Kosovo
 Regarding horizontal sharing, the current distribution formula is
assessed as being to a large extent transparent, simple, and
equitable. Some fine-tuning of the education sector indicators
would nevertheless be desirable
 For the education grant, the total amount has been less than the
formula-based amount because of the overall ceiling on
education expenditures, and this imposes risks of creating
unfunded mandates in education
 On the other hand, giving greater managerial autonomy to
municipalities and service providers which have proper internal
control and reporting mechanisms could improve effectiveness
and efficiency
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Improving the Education Financing Mechanism –
Next Steps

The MFE/MEST working group on education financing are
working on the next steps to be taken by these working groups
in cooperation with municipal education directors and other
stakeholders.
 Pilot Project on Formula-based Financing from the
Municipalities to Schools and Enhancing School Financial
Autonomy
 The World Bank-funded Education Innovation Project (EIP)
will support the MEST in piloting a project on formula-based
financing from the municipalities to schools and on enhancing
school financial autonomy
 Three municipalities, i.e., Drenas, Podujevo and Mitrovica,
were identified as candidates for the pilot project. The pilot
will be gradually expanded to other municipalities in later
years.
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Urgent need to improve both effectiveness and
accountability between municipalities and schools
 Municipalities allocate grant resources (from the education




grant) to schools without using objective and transparent
criteria
Schools do not know in advance the level of resources that they
can expect to receive. This has undermined service providers’
ability to plan and manage service delivery in a more efficient
manner
It is advisable that the Pre-University Education Strategy ’07‘17 operational plan proposes decentralizing the management of
the education grant.
It is positive that the Municipal Budget Department of the
MFE plans to gradually delegate budgetary decisions to the
level of service providers.
An appropriate legal and regulatory framework, as well as a
monitoring and evaluation system, needs to be in place, while
schools have an urgent need to build capacity in budgetary
planning, financial management, and public procurement.
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Strengthening the organisation and financing of the
education system in Kosovo (continue)
 Reviewing the current formula for education
grants/improvement:what factors should be reflected in the new
formula
 Piloting the formula-based financing from the municipality to
schools and enhancement of school financial autonomy
 School Development Grants-multiple-year school development
plans
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Objectives ETF Peer learning 2007

To engage policy makers and school directors in Kosovo in
analysing the impact of education and training policies on
school level and school management
 To contribute to improved policy and EU/IPA and other
donors’ projects design and implementation by drawing
lessons from the peer learning in 2007
 To promote capacity building and discussions among
stakeholders on how to involve all levels of the system in the
VET reforms process
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Key policy messages:
 ETF supporting MEST to organise a review on VET reform
progress as an input to the development of a sectoral strategy
for VET within the framework of the Pre-University Strategy
2007-2013 for Kosovo
 IPA 2008 Education and Employment components
1. Sector-wide approach in education
2. Vocational Training (VET) capacity building & Employment
promotion
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Key policy messages:
 To disseminate the findings and recommendations of the pre-
feasibility study on SWAp in educations/VET included
 To strengthen educational leadership and management of
education system and schools by defining carefully the roles
and responsibilities of each level, by promoting schoolenterprise relationships and by making School Boards more
effective,
 To enhance the quality of education by motivating teachers and
by better linking VET to LM needs.
 To organise in second half of 2008 the national workshop
together with the Ministry of Education and members of VET
Council to disseminate the review of the progress in VET
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