156/YOUR MONEY OR YOUR LIFE!
months without being paid. This lack of operating funds has been
compensated by the establishment of tuition fees, and special charges
collected through parent associations and local communities. This
has meant the partial privatisation of essential social services and the
de facto exclusion of broad sectors of the population, especially in rural
areas.
Two explicit conditions for adjustment loans are: a freeze in the
number of diplomas awarded in teaching colleges; and an increase in
the number of students per teacher. Education budgets are being
slashed; children spend no more than a half-day at school. 'Two-way
flow classes' are created as a result, with each teacher taking separate
morning and afternoon classes (N'Diaye, 1995). Each teacher now
does the work of two; the money saved goes towards repaying
government debt.
These measures - carried out in the name of 'cost efficiency' - are
still seen as falling short of the mark. In sub-Saharan Africa, some
lenders have proposed a system whereby a teacher would lose his or
her salary in exchange for a small loan for setting up their own
'private school'.
In this system, however, the Ministry of Education would still be
responsible for maintaining the 'quality' of teaching.
In Africa, primary school enrolment had risen from 41 per cent of
eligible children in 1965 to 79 per cent in 1980. By 1988, however,
it had fallen back to 67 per cent (UNDP, 1992).
In Zambia, between 1990 and 1993, the government spent S3 7
million on primary education and SI.3 billion on debt servicing. In
other words, for every dollar invested in primary education, 35 left
the country to repay the debt. By 1995, the government was
spending six times less on primary education than ten years before.
In fact, 80 per cent of primary school expenses were borne by the
children's families.
Healthcare
The international institutions claim that state subsidies to healthcare
create undesirable 'market distortion' which 'benefit the rich'.
Moreover, in the name of'greater equity' and 'efficiency', they argue
that users of primary healthcare services should pay user fees, even
if they are from an impoverished rural community.