Financial management in education in South Africa Edition: 1

The South African government has been spending, on average, almost 22 per cent of the annual budget on the funding of public education since 1994. Every citizen’s fundamental right to education is enshrined in chapter two of the South African Constitution. These two facts are indicative of the priority that is given to providing quality education through a system of public schools in this country. However, despite an impressive list of achievements attesting to improvements in public education, there is a growing concern about the quality of the output of the South African education system and, along with that, an insistence on accountability regarding the return on investment in education.