The Political Economy of Decentralisation of Education in West Africa: A Review

This study reviews the decentralisation of education in six West African countries during 1980-2005 using a dual conceptual framework of systems theory of public policy and political bargaining model of management. The study notes that in many respects, decentralisation of education has been more spatial than substantial, essentially moving responsibilities for decision and operation a peg or two down but withholding authorities at the central level. The basic decision making for educational service delivery has been mainly transferred within the same legal entity, signalling the strength of deconcentration as the main mode of decentralisation in West Africa. These countries’ tools and techniques to organise school work and acquire and allocate resources to achieve educational goals are invariably based on the bureaucratic and flexible models of educational administration undergirded by a national governance model that is by and large monocentric and nurtures verticality. Thus, constrained by a political mindset that by tradition prefers physicality to functionality in local government enterprise and undermined by the absence of appropriate knowledge infrastructure for an advanced economy, decentralisation of education in West Africa more often than not stretches back into the past to define confinement rather than inspire refinement. To their credit, Nigeria, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Mali and Senegal have dedicated capital to restructure their education systems and thus fundamentally created the pressure for change by virtue of decentralisation. But unless funds follow functions religiously and central dominance gives way to local prominence generously, the prospects for leveraging the impact of decentralisation on educational flexibility and quality will remain modest at best.