The Power of Persistence: Education System ... - EQUIP123.net

from political changes. After 15 years of nation-wide implementation, the
internationally known, though controversial, Autonomous School model was
eliminated with the election of the opposition political party, which is based
on the former revolutionary front that governed the country from 1979 to
1990. At the same time, however, successive governments and ministers have
continuously supported the demonstrably effective Active School reforms in
rural multi-grade schools. It not only survived the political transition, but also
has been adopted as national policy for being taken to scale, growing from
a small project intervention in 40 schools to serving over 48 percent of the
primary school students in more than 3,000 schools.
By 1990, after 15 years of economic stagnation and political crisis, the Zambian
education system was in a state of near collapse. The 1991 transition to a
multi-party democracy led to the passage of the National Education Policy in
1996 and ushered in fundamental shifts in MOE policy. Changes in the legal
framework allowed communities to operate schools and District Education
Boards (DEBs) to be established. Intensive donor engagement supported
Zambia’s transition to a SWAp, bringing along the development of increasingly
systemic management, planning, and monitoring activities. In the past 15
years, the education system has supported the enrollment of an additional one
million primary school children, a new regular standards testing regime, the
greater inclusion of decentralized actors into education planning and service
delivery, and the creation of a culture of planning and coordination between
the MOE and the donor community.
3. Implementing education system reform takes significant time, and is often
achieved through incremental changes.
The case studies provide insights into the time required to achieve fundamental
changes in an education system from the policy level, through institutional
changes, and into the classrooms. The case studies show that education systems
change incrementally over time rather than through a “big bang.” Some
countries have had periods of relatively intense reform efforts, particularly
in terms of changes in policies, procedures, or capacity development. Such
forward movements, however, are often followed by an ‘implementation dip’
or slowdown. Changes in policy and enabling legislation can sometimes be
accomplished relatively quickly under the right circumstances, but seldom have
a direct or immediate impact on practice. Financial changes, such as abolishing
school fees, have the most direct impact to increase school attendance, at
least in the short run, but can be disruptive to other goals of completion and
quality. Policy changes are critical and valuable to the extent that they can
affect the incentive systems—the ‘rules of the game’—that influence behavior
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SECTION 3: SUMMARY fINdINGS ANd CONClUSIONS