# **5. Findings**

- 5.1. What is the current status of textbook distribution in Zambia and what are the factors related to textbook availability?

## **Textbook availability in DEBS**

Before the intervention, textbooks were distributed across the districts unsystematically and unpredictably. According to the DEBS survey, 85 percent of DEBS reported receiving Grade 2 textbooks. However, after the curriculum revision in 2014, the old curriculum books were still circulated and only 63 percent of DEBS received new curriculum books that were procured in 2016 (Appendix Table A.1). The average time for books to reach DEBS offices from MoGE’s central warehouse is 13 months, but times vary significantly across DEBS. A quarter of DEBS reported receiving books within two months and another quarter of DEBS reported receiving the books after 19 months. For the case of Grade 4 textbooks that were targeted for the intervention of last-mile delivery of textbooks, distribution from the central warehouse to DEBS was organized in a way that all the textbooks were delivered to 27 selected DEBS in July/August in 2019. Based on the number of books distributed and the number of Grade 4 students in the sample districts, about 2–3 students are supposed to share the new curriculum textbooks (Ministry of General Education in Zambia 2019). In terms of the distribution practice from DEBS to schools, DEBS reported that on average 44 percent of schools had collected the Grade 2 books from DEBS on their own, compared to 55 percent for the Grade 4 textbooks.

## **Textbook availability in schools**

According to the school survey, 49 percent of schools reported receiving Grade 2 textbooks, including both new and old curriculum books delivered after the curriculum revision in 2015. Yet, only 28 percent schools received the Grade 2 books for the new curriculum. This low number is partly due to the fact that many DEBS did not receive the new curriculum books. However, even after taking into account textbook availability at DEBS, a large percentage of schools reported not receiving textbooks. Only 44 percent of schools reported receiving the Grade 2 textbooks. In terms of textbook-pupil ratio, 4–5 students shared one Grade 2 textbook in one of the local Zambian languages,<sup>4</sup> while every student had one Grade 4 textbook in one of the Zambian local languages.

At the baseline, 27 percent of schools reported receiving Grade 2 textbooks within one month after they were delivered to DEBS offices from MoGE’s central warehouse. After one month, however, the textbook distribution did not happen as quickly as expected; even after six months, only 31 percent of schools reported receiving the books. Post treatment, distribution time was shortened dramatically; 90 percent of schools received Grade 4 textbooks within two months.

Looking at how books reach schools from DEBS, the majority of schools collected the books from DEBS offices at their own expense, both in the baseline and end-line surveys. Among the schools that received the new curriculum textbooks, 69 percent collected the Grade 2 books from DEBS at baseline and 74 percent of schools collected the Grade 4 books from DEBS at end-line. The DEBS delivered books to only 14–15 percent of schools. This finding contrasts to the DEBS’s responses, which understated the proportion of schools collecting the books from DEBS—about 44 percent of the schools at baseline and 55 percent at end-line.

> 4 This combines both new and old curriculum textbooks.

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