DECENTRALIZING EDUCATIONAL PLANNING

EVAL IS BASED ON QUESTIONNAIRES ADMINISTERED TO REGIONAL, ZONAL & COMMUNITY EDUC GROUP(NEC) OFFICIALS IN PUNO, ICA & CUZCO. PARTICIPANTS WERE TRND IN PERU & OVERSEAS IN EDUC PLANNING, STATISTICS, BUDGETING & ADMIN. COURSES FOR PLANNERS HAVE ASSISTED MOE TO TRAIN PLANNING PERSONNEL AT VARIOUS LEVELS & TO CARRY OUT RSRCH IN LONG-TERM PLANNING & STATISTICS. NEC, ZONAL, REGIONAL & CENTRAL MOE PLANNING OFFICES WERE EQUIPPED. A MAJOR PURCHASE OF 5000 PUBLICATNS WAS DISTRIBUTED THROUGHOUT THE SYSTEM. MAJOR LIMITING FACTORS BEYOND PROJECT PERSONNEL CONTROL ARE THE UNDERFINANCING & OVERAMBITION OF EDUC REFORM. UNFEASIBLE SOLUTIONS WERE APPLIED TO PROBLEMS AFTER INADEQUATE TESTING, CAUSING THE GOP COMMITMENT TO DECENTRALIZATN TO DECLINE. THE SPLITTING OF PLANNING FUNCTIONS BETWEEN REGIONAL & ZONAL LEVELS HAS RESULTED IN COORDINATN PROBLEMS BETWEEN OSPE, THE SECTORAL STATISTICS OFFICE(OSE) & THE ORGANIZATION & METHODS OFFICE(OOMM). OSPE WASTES EFFORT SATISFYING SHORT-TERM REQUESTS FROM HIGHER LEVELS, PREVENTING LONG-RANGE INNOVATN. OSE SHOULD SUPPLY RELEVANT INFO FOR OSPE TO MAKE PLANNING DECISIONS, BUT COORDINATN BETWEEN THE TWO OFFICES IS MINIMAL & OSE HAS NOT SUGGESTED WAYS TO USE THE INFO. WHILE ZONAL OFFICES HAVE GAINED SOME RESPONSIBILITY & AUTHORITY IN PERSONNEL ADMIN, BUDGETING, PLANNING & FINANCL MGMT, NEC DIRECTORS & SCHOOL PRINCIPALS ARE TOO DEPENDENT ON ZONAL OFFICES FOR AUTHORIZATN IN HIRING, DISMISSING & TRANSFERRING TEACHERS. THE NEC CONCEPT HAS NOT BEEN PROMOTED ENOUGH TO ENGAGE PARENTS, TEACHERS & COMMUNITY GROUPS INTO PARTICIPATN IN THE EDUC PROCESS. IF EDUC REFORM CONTINUES INTO PHASE II (WHICH PLACES LESS EMPHASIS ON PARTICIPATN),BEFORE NEC HAS CAUGHT ON, THEN THE CHANCES OF SCHOOL DISTRICT LEVEL DECENTRLZTN WILL NARROW. WITH REMAINING FUNDS, ALL ACTIVITIES & COMMODITIES SHOULD BE SHIFTED TO A NARROWER GEOGRAPHICAL AREA -- ONE REGION, ONE ZONE & SIX NEC"S WITHIN THAT ZONE. APPENDED TO THIS REPORT IS AN OSPE EVAL RPRT MEASURING PROJCT PERFORMNCE.