In Azerbaijan, 600 manats per year are spent on one category of students, and 30,000 manats on another

Elnur Aliyev, Advisor to the Minister of Science and Education, stated to journalists that a per capita financing system will be introduced in schools by the end of 2026: "This is currently a pilot project. It will be implemented in a group of schools. This year, the project will be launched in several schools."

According to statistics, there are currently 4,431 general education schools in the country, educating 1.6 million students. Only 32 of these schools are in the private sector, while the rest are funded by the state.

At the 16th Congress of Azerbaijani Teachers last year, the Minister of Science and Education, Emin Amrullayev, also mentioned that per capita financing in schools is unevenly distributed. He stated that in 477 educational institutions with up to 30 students, 7,000 manats are spent per child: "There is even a school where only one student is educated, and 64,000 manats are spent annually on that school... We could do better things with this amount. While an average of 600 manats is spent per student in one of Baku's large schools, this figure is 30,000 manats in some remote village."

The Ministry of Science and Education informed Turan that the project will start in several schools this year, but will be extended to 100 schools by 2026. The Ministry noted that the transition to per capita financing in secondary schools is reflected in the "2022-2026 Social Development Strategy": "That document includes the task given to the Ministry of Science and Education."

According to the Ministry, per capita financing in general education schools means calculating the funds allocated for each student: "In the traditional model, there is a general fund, which is divided among schools based on certain expense items. However, in per capita financing, the general fund is calculated per student. This means that equal funds are allocated to students regardless of which school they attend, creating fair and equal opportunities for students."

The Ministry emphasized that per capita financing will increase the accountability and responsibility of schools: "In this system, when a student goes to a school, they bring the allocated funds with them. This means that when a student leaves the school, the funds decrease. Therefore, schools will be more sensitive to the education of their students."

It was noted that in the new system, schools will have their budgets based on the number of students, and each school will be able to spend these funds on specific needs: "This will ultimately serve to improve the quality of education."

Education expert Nabatali Gulamoglu also told Radio Azadliq that developed countries have long adopted this system: "But in these countries, civil society is strong and monitors the entire flow of finances. In Azerbaijan, however, civil society is almost non-existent. Therefore, will it be possible to implement this control in the country? This raises many questions."

According to the expert, transparency must first be ensured for the transition to this financing system: "Many school principals must be replaced with teachers who can manage education. They should then be given autonomy to form their pedagogical teams. Only then do financial issues arise."

N. Gulamoglu points out that the state allocates 4.55 billion manats annually to education: "This amount is divided among various sectors. Some of these sectors are prone to corruption. I have calculated that up to 2,500 manats per student is allocated annually. Parents should enroll their children in schools where this amount is spent on the student in the new financing system."

According to him, parents' committees should monitor the expenditure of funds in this system: "Most of the funds should go to teachers' salaries, and in this case, very knowledgeable tutors will also come to teach in schools. As a result, there will be a flow of students to those schools, and the school's budget will increase. However, how realistic this is in Azerbaijan remains questionable."