As Chart 3.3 shows, the salary of the average civil servant ranges toward the low end, as measured in proportion to the GDP per capita of the country. Such a low ratio is not surprising, given the fact that the wage index in Comoros has not been systematically adjusted in over a decade, while government policy is generally to allow advancement along this scale only in exceptional cases. There is also no adjustment of salaries to inflation, meaning that salaries are reduced every year relative to the cost of living.

The increase in the wage bill might be justified with commensurate increases in service delivery quality. Indeed, Comoros maintains high teacher to student ratios, particularly when compared to Sub-Saharan Africa.

**_Chart 3.4  Student to teacher ratios in Comoros and Sub-Saharan Africa as a whole, 2008._**

||Ngazidja|Moheli|Anjouan|**Comoros**|**Sub-Saharan Africa**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|Primary|20.6|31.3|33.4|**26.1**|**40.7**|
|Middle|17.2|31|24.2|**21.6**|**Sd 258**|
|High|4.1|22.4|19.4|**9.1**|**econary: .**|

Sources: PASEC, 2008; and UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2008.

The relatively low student to teacher ratio found in Chart 3.4 should lead to an advanced quality of schooling, at least in basic subject areas, though, without figures of teacher absenteeism and double shifts, it is difficult to determine whether these ratios represent actual teachers in the classroom. However, the literature on the determinants of the quality of education emphasize that the student to teacher ratio only contributes slightly towards overall quality of education, with numerous other factors playing an important role - for instance, materials, good learning conditions, well trained teachers and parent involvement in the school.

Measures of student competence suggest that the system is not succeeding in teaching students basic subjects such as math and science. Nationally, only 18.4% of students have a minimum competence in math at the 8<sup>th</sup> Year level, while 27.3% have such competence in science, as Chart 3.5 below demonstrates.

**_Chart 3.5   Competence of 8th Year Students in Math and Science Subjects, 2004_**

||% students atminimum<br>|competence<br>|% students at desired<br>|competence<br>|
|---|---|---|---|---|
||_Mathematics_|_Science_|_Mathematics_|_Science_|
|Ngazidja|20.0|26.6|0.9|2.8|
|Mwali|7.9|15.7|0.0|0.0|
|Anjouan|19.8|33.1|1.1|0.4|
|**Total**|**18.4**|**27.3**|**0.8**|**1.5**|

Source: Ministry of Education, 2010.

At the high school level, only 29% of public high school exam takers in Ngazidja passed their high school degree exam, called the baccalauréat (BAC), while over 44% of private high school exam takers passed this exam.<sup>7</sup> Such poor performance in both sets of schools suggests that the system fails to prepare students properly for these exams, and that the public system in particular does not educate their students to a level necessary to graduate them to university.

Overall, the efforts to reform the civil service are not new. Indeed, the government, along with international institutions, has undertaken a variety of programs to address the sizeable wage bill, salary arrears and non-meritocratic recruitment of civil servants. Some recent steps are being taken towards restructuring the civil service. The Government of Comoros has launched the Economic Governance Technical Assistance Project, which works on a number of fronts, one

> 7 Ministry of Education, 2010.

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