176 Brooke Zobrist and Patrick McCormick
education has risen in recent years. In the 2000s, spending as a proportion
of GDP fell from 0.4 per cent in 2002–03 to 0.1 per cent in 2007–08, before
again rising significantly to 7 per cent by the end of the decade.^20 Spending,
when calculated as a proportion of the total budget, has been quite low in
recent years. According to EFA, Education Sector Development Plans under
the Fast Track Initiative (FTI) Framework that the Myanmar government
released in 2004, the recommended spending on education should be
6 per cent of GDP. In 2006, Myanmar’s spending rate for education was
five times lower than the regional average of 3.6 per cent.^21
For the 2010–11 academic year, however, the Department of Educational
Training and Planning reported a total expenditure, including capital
costs, of approximately $231 million.^22 Based on the Department’s figure
of eight million enrolled students, annual spending per student from the
first to final year of high school is roughly US$30.^23 In February 2012, the
Minister of Finance reported the total expenditure on basic education for
the 2012–13 academic year increased to approximately US$757 million,
which is 4.9 per cent of the total government budget,^24 while about a
year later, the Hluttaw announced a further increase to approximately
US$1 billion, or about 5.8 per cent of the national budget.^25 This figure
raises government spending to roughly US$94 per student, but given
problems with the accuracy of government data, this figure may not
be reliable.^26 Salary costs comprise around 80 per cent of the education
budget (compared to 70–90 per cent in most developing countries)^27 and
capital costs are about 5 per cent of the budget, leaving little for school
supplies and maintenance. A further caution is that the education sector
has begun to attract more foreign aid, so that as the amount being spent
in education increase, it will become more difficult to untangle the total
state input from that international assistance.
DECENTRALIZATION IN MYANMAR’S
EDUCATION SECTOR
Models and Debates
Decentralization is generally understood as some form of devolution of
power, responsibility, and decision making. It has risen to prominence across
the world since the 1980s. In the midst of a reform or transitional process,
powerful outside development agencies may recommend or require that