Effects Of Government Financial Measures On Improving The Quality Of Basic Education In The Democratic Republic Of Congo(2010-2020)

The aim of this study was to analyze the effects of government financial measures on improving the quality of basic education in DR Congo(2010-2020)," i.e.to assess the strength of the links between the various state financial policies and to determine how improving the basic education sector can strengthen the macroeconomic framework and guide development choices.This work also attempted to find the correlation between all the resulting components of the respondents' responses and to analyze the inter-correlation between them,in order to determine the effectiveness and significance of the existing relationships between them.Indeed,the economy of the Democratic Republic of Congo,a nation with a vast wealth of natural resources,continues to struggle.The process of structural transformation remains particularly difficult for the Democratic Republic of Congo.A state is considered "effective" when it offers its citizens maximum security by at the same time providing the basic needs of the lives of its people and ensuring a healthy economic environment that creates wealth.To do so,any Government should have a national policy agenda to ensure good governance of the economic activities that make up the every structure of its GDP.These government financial measures refer primarily to the set of strategic efforts the government is taking to encourage the development and growth of all sectors of the national economy.In this context,it is important to note that our current study focuses on the basic education sector in DR Congo.Education is the true alchemy that can bring a nation its next golden age.it is a dynamic process that begins one child birth.A child is surrounded by parents and other siblings and experiences his environment and reacts.The surrounding environment the physical and social environment transmits information and the child tries to learn from this information and responds.The UNESCO General Conference(1964)recognized that "illiteracy is a serious obstacle to social and economic development.Similarly,in the Democratic Republic of Congo(DRC),a strong education sector,one of the main sectors of national government policies(education,health,infrastructure,social and energy),is also fundamental to the country's economic,social and political transformation.The Congolese government has reportedly taken steps to improve the quality of basic education throughout the country and to promote structural transformation of its economic fabric.By conducting this present research,we are mainly focused on two key concepts,related to our statement problem,research questions and hypotheses such as government financial measures and quality basic education in the Democratic Republic of Congo,as the case study.Provide quality basic education is fundamental for all types of country transformation in several aspects of its economic activities.A quality basic education provides resources and directs policy to ensure that each child enters school healthy and learns about and practices a healthy lifestyle;learns in an environment that is physically and emotionally safe for students and adults;is actively engaged in learning and is connected to the school and broader community;has access to personalized learning and is supported by qualified,caring adults;and is challenged academically and prepared for success in college or further study and for employment and participation in a global environment.These combined concepts examine research related to these dimensions.It is important to keep in mind education's systemic nature,however;these dimensions are interdependent,influencing each other in ways that are sometimes unforeseeable.This concept also takes into account the global and international influences that propel the discussion of educational quality(Motala,2000;Pipho,2000),while ensuring that 5 national and local educational contexts contribute to definitions of quality in varying countries(Adams,1993).Establishing a contextualized understanding of quality means including relevant stakeholders.At least five key government financial policies have an impact on the quality of basic education(UNICEF,2019;MEPST,2016):student background,school environment,content,mechanisms and results.These elements provide a basis for quality monitoring.The main issues related to quality education,which revolve around the role of the teaching profession,were brought together during the Together for Quality Education campaign,launched in 2014.The three pillars of this campaign are quality teaching,quality teaching and learning tools and quality environments for teaching and learning.The campaign mobilized teachers on all continents and helped convince governments to create a separate goal for the basic education sector under the Sustainable Development Goals(Goal 4).There are various types of government financial measures targeted by Congolese education policy,among which we note the most remarkable:(?)that of education:it is to propose new programs and timetables,new evaluation mechanisms,and that of pedagogy through the generalization of the individualization of aid to students in difficulty,to promote free basic education;(?)teacher management:substantial changes to the definition of service and the rules of movement,and the way they work through the development of teamwork,teacher pay review(mechanization,income increase,...);(?)that of the operation of the school:driven directly by a good budget allocation in terms of operating costs,the opening or construction of schools with educational support,the proper management of these public funds,the refresher courses,indirectly by the extension of the role of the director as a result of all these new measures.All of these advances offer developing country,such as DR Congo,many opportunities for rapid catch-up by learning how to master the technologies,economic activities,financing and policies already available in more developed countries.Note that the main driver of structural change in the national economy is the private sector,without neglecting the vital importance of education.In order to carry out our study,this work consisted of four essential chapters as a whole,apart from the introduction and conclusion.The first part of our study is related to the government financial measures and the education sector in DR Congo,comprising two chapters recalling successively Theoretical and empirical literature review(Chapter 2),as well as the state of the educational system in DR Congo(Chapter 3).These first chapters of the work aim to better understand all the key words in our study:"government financial measures and improving the quality of basic education in DR Congo." For example,it takes into account notional considerations and literature review(Chap.2),their history,the state of the education system and government measures taken to address the concerns of the sector under analysis and the country's economic situation(Chap.3).Clearly,it will focus on the concepts that could provide a theoretical framework for this research.The second part deals with the effects of government financial measures and improving the quality of basic education in the DRC,on the other hand,includes two chapters recalling successive methodological procedures(Chapter 4)and Discussions and Results(Chapter 5),including the interpretation of data and verification of research hypotheses.Finally,the perspectives and priority areas for research are also presented in this chapter.Despite all that has been said in the previous part,it has helped us to highlight the causal effects of the financial measures taken by the government to improve the quality of basic education in DR Congo,both by international bodies and by national authorities needed to boost its economy.Thus,this thesis aimed to contribute to this growing field of research by providing empirical evidence on the role of governments in monitoring the macroeconomic framework and the quality of the country's resource-rich education sector such as the DRC.Improving the quality of basic education in the DRC is a cross-cutting policy to the four main players:teachers,students,school-based management committee and parents in the education sector in the DRC.Taking into account two main variables of our study(government financial measures and improving the quality of basic education),we propose a model tailored to these two variables,to the tools and strategies of economic development in the DRC and also to the data available to address the concerns of the study(see Figure 40,Chap.4).Indeed,there are different types of indicators targeted by the organizational structure of the PSPE in DR Congo.Input indicators predict improvement in the quality of basic education(products).The quality of the PSP education process is considered to be an intermediate variable that intersects with both different indicators and actors,considered to be explanatory variables of the predicted variable considered a product.The originality of the study on our conceptual model of the study(Black box),the theme of which is entitled "Process of improving the quality of basic education in DR Congo",is drawn from a Congolese author on the inputs and outputs of said conceptual model(See Figure 35)Professor LUBOYA T.(2018,p.68),in his thesis entitled "Efficiency of Administration and School Governance on High School Performance,DR Congo pilot:Test of education production function by mixed method and triangulation." This same was further delved into by myself Madam Chief of Scientific Works SIFA BURA H.(2020),in accordance with our field of analysis.It should be noted above all that DR Congo is one of the poorest countries in the world:about 74%of the population lives below the poverty line and 42.2%suffers from extreme poverty.The country also has one of the lowest enrolment rates in the world(39%)and a very high proportion of illiterates(70%),mostly women(85%).While encouraging progress has been made under the Access to School and Quality of Basic Education Project,the education system continues to address serious challenges that call into question the country's ability to achieve the Millennium Development Goals(MDGs)by 2015 or even 2025.Despite the government's efforts for better access to education,demand still exceeds the supply and quality of education continues to suffer from the shortage of qualified teachers,the archaic teaching content,the lack of textbooks,the high number of repetitions and dropouts,and overcrowded classrooms.Finally,despite a large part of the budget allocated to the education sector(9.5%of gross domestic product in 2011),the country has a small financial margin to improve the quality of basic education.According to the Congolese Government(2019),the project to improve access to school and improve the quality of education has three objectives,each part of the government's master plan:equitable access to basic education,improved quality of education and increased efficiency of the education system.However,this project focuses on three main components that aim:(1)to increase enrolment and retention rates for pupils(with priority for girls and children with special needs),within adequate structures for them to complete primary school;(2)better service to promote quality learning and teaching,and to reduce the rate of repetition and drop-out;(3)improving the management of the school system for more efficient use of resources.Kamel Cakici,in his study focused on "Improving quality,efficiency and access to basic education" aligns with this vision of the facts for a better future for economies and states.We can therefore say that the Access to School and Quality of Basic Education Project was conceived as a three-phase scalable program loan;in the second phase,all but one of the triggers for the transition to the third phase had been achieved.However,as discussions for the preparation of this third phase began,the 2009 Country Aid Strategy proposed to focus on the government's new priority,namely the expansion of the technical and vocational education and training(EFTP)sector and secondary education.In addition,after learning some of the lessons from the second phase,it was clear that the next IDA-funded operation needed to place greater emphasis on the management and sustainability of the education system,by consolidating institutional capacities and the structure of the Ministry of National Education and Vocational Training.As a result,the various financial measures taken by the DRC government have made little progress in the national economy.This is the case of the lack of political will in the recovery and sectorial transformation,such as the education sector,of national activities.Mixed methods were used to identify quantitative and qualitative methods for data collection and the office review method was also used to collect data.The data was collected and imported into SPSS for data analysis.Descriptive and deductive statistics(Rho Spearman correlation and binomial regression or binary logistic regression)were compiled to provide answers to research questions/hypotheses established for this study.After the protocols were collected,we processed or analyzed the data.Two types of analysis were performed.These are univariate analysis and bivariate analysis.With regard to univariate analysis,each answer to the various questions was stripped.The counting was questioned by question.We started by counting the anonymous identification data of the respondent(common,age or seniority and legal status)and then we stripped the questions of the research itself.Responses to semi-closed and open questions were stripped through content analysis.As for the bivariate analysis,we performed three types of statistical analysis:First,we calculated the central and dispersal trend indices,including averages,standard deviations and variances in issues related to government financial measures(Qr1a,Qr1b,Q2,Q3,Qr3 and Q4)and education quality(question 5).Secondly,we tested the influence of financial measures(Qr1a,Qr1b,Q2,Q3,Qr3 and Q4)on the quality of teaching(question 5)using qualitative data from the opinions of the actors during the interviews.This is the use of Spearman rho correlation coefficient(r)which is the correlation coefficient used when variables are not interval variables but ordinal variables.This is a non-parametric test(no hypothesis on parameters).In fact,the principle of this coefficient is to apply the Bravais-Pearson coefficient formula not on the observed values but on the ranks(for each variable the score observed by its rank is replaced).To clarify the size of the effect of the association's management,the correlation coefficient(effect size)varies between 0 and 1 and is interpreted as "<0.1:low,<0.3:modest,<0.5:moderate,<0.8:strong and? 0.8:very strong"(Cohen et al.,2007,p.521).Third?we conducted binominal logistic regression calculations to determine whether the variation in a forecast variable increases or reduces the probability of occurrence of the event being studied.1° the first statistical result presents the descriptive statistics(average,standard deviation and variance with N= 300 subjects or respondents)of the independent variables Qr1a,Qr1b,Q2,Q3,Qr3 and Q4 on the variable dependent Q5(the Congolese government's desire to ensure quality basic education).The table 5.50 shows descriptive statistics of the independent variables considered,which are presented as follows considering respondents' responses.2° the second statistical results presented the correlations of Rho Spearman between independent and dependent variables.Indeed,these tables showed that there was on average a strong and significantly positive correlation between the variable dependent Q5(related to quality and knowledge of financial policy in favor of education)and the independent variables Qr1a,Qr1b,Q2,Q3,Qr3 and Q4(related to government financial measures and education sector financing),with a confidence interval of 95%.The results also showed that there was on average a strong,significantly positive correlation between the variable dependent Q5(related to quality and knowledge of financial policy in favor of education)and the independent variables Qr1a,Qr1b,Q2,Q3,Qr3 and Q4(related to government financial measures and education sector funding),with a 95%confidence interval:(rS1=0.957?0.8)(rS2=0.519<0.8)(rS3=0,747<0.8)(rS4=0.464<0.5)(rS5=0.352<0.5)(rS6=0.843>0.8).This implies that the six independent variables have the potential to influence the Government's commitment to quality education in the DRC.In addition,the results showed that all sectors are positively correlated with each other(p<0.001).Thus,we can say that the six independent variables have the potential to influence the Government's desire to ensure quality education in the DRC and,in turn,strengthen the macroeconomic framework in DR Congo.3° The last statistical results showed binary logistic regression.It showed that all sectors are positive and significantly correlated with each other(p<0.001).The significance of the binomial regression coefficient was tested using Wald's statistic,referring to the distribution of Chi-Square.And the results showed that the value of the Wald test was 29,618.Using binary logistic regression,the results show that the variables of the six predictors(Qr1a,Qr1b,Q2,Q3,Qr3 and Q4)have the significant potential to influence or predict the improvement in the quality of basic education in the DRC and the strengthening of the macroeconomic framework(Table 5.52).This model of binomial regression is statistically significant,with 342,316 p<.001.The model explains between 6.81%(Cox-Snell R2)and 9.42%(Nagelkerke R2)of variation in the Congolese Government's desire to improve the quality of basic education in the DRC and strengthen the macroeconomic framework(i.e.a correct classification of 66%of favorable cases).Thus,the DRC's economy can be greatly strengthened by a better restructuring of education policy and government financial measures(Annex 1 1,point 2)Through the various data collected,we have demonstrated how government financial measures contribute to improving the quality of basic education in DR Congo as a whole;but not significant enough in macroeconomic balance,in terms of the impact on the social well-being of its population despite some positive results recorded during the periods under analysis.(1)In terms of government financial measuresThroughout our work,we have observed the contribution of government financial measures in the Congolese education sector and the nuanced effects that result from the lack of political will to finance education for several decades,which has resulted,on the one hand,in the decline of the living conditions of teachers in some public schools and the general decline in student training as a result of the demotivation of teachers to provide quality education to them.The above results clearly assess the Government's contribution to national education,which has proven to be 'not significantly effective' in improving the quality of basic education in DR Congo.Much remains to be done or realized in this sector.The Government assumes the crucial role of the Government as the number one moral authority of the Republic;which means that the burdens associated with the reforms are borne by it.(2)In terms of improving basic educationIn developing this work,it has also been observed the almost negligible impact of the Government's contribution to improving the quality of basic education in DR Congo.On the one hand,the government's financial measures have nevertheless had a positive impact on education,thanks to the recent launch of the free primary education program,which hopes to extend to the secondary level.(3)From the point of view of strengthening the macroeconomic frameworkIt should be remembered that education is one of the pillars of socio-economic,political and legal development.Its contribution to the macroeconomic framework could well ensure a structural transformation of DR Congo and ensure a modernized or better future for the nation.Unfortunately,due to its dependence on industrialized and emerging economies,the main indicators of the macroeconomic framework have not been spared in the context of an international crisis and the other types of external shocks affiliated with it(Covid-19,economic crisis,etc.).In dissecting this work,we have also observed the almost negligible impact of the contribution of educational financial policy to the strengthening or control of the national macroeconomic framework.This has taken a number of levels,including:the weakening of the rate of increase in growth rate and incomes;a decline in government revenues;lower fiscal support and the risk of re-indebtedness,currency amortization continues;the balance is still in deficit on the balance of payments;rising infant mortality rates and bitter poverty;Etc.The numerical results from international and local organizations further clarify our view by supporting the idea that the road remains very long and thorny.Inclusive growth and,in turn,sustainable development requires not only the deep and transparent responsibility of the State,but also the good faith of the Congolese people to respectfully or scientifically accompany government measures in favor of the national economy in general and education as a case study of our work,in particular.Therefore,it is important to stress that the development of a nation,such as DR Congo,remains the business of every man and every man.And this,by properly training today's youth to emerge from the competent future executives of tomorrow.The main findings of our study are summarized taking into account research objectives,questions and recorded statistical data.The Congolese economy is structurally characterized by low-value-added creation,due to the embryonic state of its educational fabric.Indeed,basic education in DR Congo remains virtually underdeveloped,despite some efforts by the political authorities and external partners to finance this sector,in order to promote access,quality and equity,because of its low coverage and its poor quality remarkable throughout the national territory.In addition,the development of this work revealed,respectively,the implication of the effects of government measures on the quality of Congolese education.At the end of our learning,we found remarkable evidence that the contribution of government financial measures to improving the financial policy of basic education and the control of the macroeconomic framework in the DRC did not have very significant effects through several pathways of propagation mentioned,analyzed and interpreted above.To address this,reform measures have been adopted with a view to economic recovery and improving the living conditions of everyone.Policies to transform the education sector and labor skills are the keys to national transformation in all its fundamental aspects and that institutional reforms to improve the effectiveness of these measures and the macroeconomic framework are crucial for inclusive development and economic growth by increasing the level of technology and promoting the competitiveness of national programs through effective review and adaptation services to the realities on the ground.Based on the various findings,we suggest:The Government should carefully review national programs in favor of basic education and adapt them to the realities on the ground;-That it strictly and strictly implement the texts governing the education sector,bearing"Organization and functioning of education in DR Congo";-It equips public schools according to reformed programs and new teaching methods(teaching materials and textbooks);-It improves the social conditions of educational actors;-Let it provide the continuous training of the actors in this basic education;-It should rehabilitate national infrastructure to facilitate the movement of all and;-Let it be involved with transparency,responsibility and will for economic recovery,because sustainable development,inclusive growth and the quality of life of the people are a matter for all people and every man.The recommendations were drafted with a view to better restructuring and improving the DRC's economic development,with a focus on job creation and poverty reduction in Congo.In addition,the study suggests that in addition to mining operations,the DRC will need to step up its investments in the acquisition of new technologies,particularly in the agricultural sector(agro-pastoral production and processing of goods),the services sector(transportation and telecommunications,construction of basic infrastructure,marketing of local products,etc.)and the education sector(improving the quality with some new reforms related to the world transformation).