The share of the development budget for education has decreased sharply.
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The right to free education, at least until the end of secondary school, is recognized in the Iranian constitution, as in many other countries around the world.
A right that itself entails a heavy duty for the government to maintain the quantity and quality of free and public education in Iran. Examining the share of education in the government budget and the Iranian economy can show what trend the government's spending and investments in the field of education have gone through. From this perspective, in this note, we have examined the developments in the education budget in Iran between 2008 and 2016, separating the current and development budgets. A review that shows that although the share of education in the public budget has increased during this period, the composition of education expenditures has shifted more towards current expenditures and the share of the development budget and educational investments has decreased.
Education's share of the public budget
Educational affairs in the Iranian government budget in 1395 amounted to nearly 51 trillion tomans, which accounted for nearly 15 percent of the country's general budget. In 1387, however, the total educational budget was nearly 12 trillion tomans, which accounted for almost 13 percent of the general budget. An examination of this time period shows that the share of education in the general budget fluctuated between 1389 and 1392, and after 1392, it had an upward trend.
Chart 2 below, by simultaneously showing the trend of changes in the inflation rate and the growth rate of the education budget, shows us that in most of the years examined in this note, the budget growth rate has been lower than the annual inflation rate. This could mean both a reduction in the purchasing power of educational supplies, equipment, and teaching aids in schools, as well as a reduction in budgets related to the construction of new schools and school renovation. This trend seems to have reversed since 2015, and the growth rate of the education budget has exceeded the inflation rate. The continuation of this trend could lead to compensating for the delays caused by inflation in the years before 2015.
It is also imperative to mention that all these numbers are calculated based on 100% realization of the figures announced in the budget laws. The reason for this assumption is the lack of publication of the realized budget figures for different matters. However, we know that in these years, the current budget realization rate has been approximately 85% and the development budget realization rate has been less than 60%, which means that the per capita education budget could be even lower than the amount calculated based on the budget laws.
Important changes in the composition of the education budget
The budget for educational affairs is calculated and allocated in the budget laws under two headings: current expenses and development expenses. Current expenses include items such as salaries and wages paid to teachers, professors, and employees, daily expenses for running organizations, schools, and universities, as well as the costs of purchasing supplies and consumables.
The share of these current expenses in the announced education budget in Iran has always been much higher than the development budget, and what is more interesting is that this share has grown rapidly from less than 82 percent in 2008 to more than 93 percent in 2016. On the other hand, the share of the development budget for education, which includes items such as renovation and construction of schools, provision of durable educational supplies, and modernization of educational tools, has increased from 18 percent in 2008 to less than 7 percent in 2016.
A sharp decline, which, if we consider it alongside the always incomplete realization of development budgets, shows that the pressure on education budgets in Iran has been completely transferred to the development budget. The share of educational investment (development budget) in the Iranian government's education budget has decreased sharply, while a look at the news and statements of Iranian officials shows that this cannot be due to the Iranian education system's lower need for investment. Rather, it shows that educational investments, which are necessary to maintain the quality and quantity of education in Iran, have fallen victim to the increasing burden of current costs in the Iranian education system.
Conclusion
Budget statistics between 2008 and 2016 indicate an increase in the share of education in Iran's public budget. However, a notable point is related to the composition of the education budget, which has changed more in favor of current expenses during this period. In such a way that in these years, the share of the development budget (investment) in the total education budget has decreased sharply, and governments have practically been unable to find a solution to compensate for this situation. This trend could be a warning for the decline in software quality and the increase in hardware vulnerability of Iran's education system in the coming years.
Source: Radio Farda
