When asked about the changes in the education system since the PA took over in 94’, 68 percent of teachers in Gaza believed that it stayed the same or deteriorated. Compared to that, in the West Bank, 65 percent believe it has improved since the creation of the PA. Pay and conditions remain an issue for both sets of teachers, however.
The MoE is regarded as effective and its Five Year Plan is so far considered to be proving successful. The problems that remain are principally budgetary. (Only 10 percent of the MoE’s budge comes from the PNA, while 50 percent comes from foreign donors and 40 percent from local donors.)
Donor driven programs are widely agreed not to be the ideal way to fund an education system and tailoring the money given to fit a variety of needs can be restricting and difficult to do. The 40 percent provided by local donors reflects the importance an educated population has for wealthy investors.
Students with special needs are a significant problem in schools in Palestine, with many teachers unaware that they have special needs students in their classes. Over 50 percent of teachers in the West Bank said that there are no students with special needs in our schools. In Gaza as many as 78 percent of teachers claim that no such students are in their schools. However, in private schools, a majority 74 percent of teachers realize there are special needs students and provide some kind of special care for them. Students with special needs are not necessarily mentally handicapped or retarded. They term includes students who are dyslexic, have Attention Deposit Disorder, are slower learners, etc.
Projected results of the Five-Year Plan
Officially, by the end of the plan period, i.e. the end of school year 2004/05, when all projects will have been implemented, a number of important results should have been reached:
Result-1: the unified, national Palestinian system of education will be in place and functioning, and the new, Palestinian curriculum will be the principal unifying force.
Result-2: the quality of the teaching-learning process in schools will have improved significantly. Pupils will attain good levels of effective learning achievement and skills. What and how pupils learn will be directly relevant to their social and economic environment, facilitating their insertion in the labour market at levels, which are in line with both their level of competence and the needs of the employers.
Result-3: the cost-effectiveness of the education process will increase significantly, with course completion rates rising to about 95 percent in both basic and secondary education (from 87 percent and 83 percent respectively in 1999/2000). The number of pupil-years invested in basic education (Grades 1-10) will decrease from 12 to 11.
Result-4: planning and management capacity will be further developed. Resources will be managed in a more cost-effective way. The role and functions of the Ministry of Education and of District Education Offices will be modernized, its structure made more functional, its work processes more efficient.
Result-5: coordination among relevant stakeholders will be improved. A well informed resource allocation process will function, guiding the education decisions of national authorities as well as helping donors to effectively coordinate their activities and bring them in line with national priorities. This process will include medium-term planning, plan implementation, monitoring, evaluation and impact assessment for all essential system components.
Result-6: donors will have placed their activities within the framework of the national, Palestinian education sector policy, as expressed in the Five Year Education Plan. They will have adjusted their specific, individual approaches so as to effectively support the implementation of the plan’s action programs.
Result-7: education will have progressed in quantitative terms. Universal basic education will have been maintained, and considerably higher numbers of youths will access secondary education. Gender parity, which was already attained for Grades 1-10 before the start of the Plan period, will also be reached for general secondary education. The education system will be more complete in terms of institutions (e.g. a vocational education system, training centers for teaching personnel and sector management staff, resource centers, libraries).
