A-C with just one year’s allocation of new teachers.<sup>20</sup> MoEST has instructed DEMs to follow this approach in the allocation of the 2017 deployment of new teachers; it is expected that significant reductions in the variation between per-category PTRs will be observed once the deployment is complete.<sup>21</sup>

# **5.3. Revised incentives for teachers in hardship schools**

As noted above, even if teachers were allocated more equitably to schools at qualification, teachers tend to move away from remote areas over time through transfers to less remote schools. Projections based on the 2016 deployment of new teachers suggest that any elimination of category disparities in PTR achieved by targeted allocation of new teachers could be undermined by this movement within two years.<sup>22</sup> To reduce this ‘leakage’ and pressure on DEMs to reallocate teachers away from remote areas, we developed a data-driven model to revamp hardship allowances.

As described in Section 2, Malawi has a scheme in place to pay incentives to teachers serving in remote areas. The current scheme is diluted, with around 80 percent of teachers eligible, and of limited value, at around one-seventh of average teacher salaries.

When initially introduced in 2010, the allowance scheme paid an amount worth around one-fifth of average teacher salaries, with three-quarters of teachers eligible. Even this weak scheme appears to have had some impact. The proportion of teachers working in schools eligible for the scheme increased from 77 percent in 2010 to 80 percent in 2017, suggesting that at least some teachers responded to the scheme by requesting transfers to eligible schools.<sup>23</sup> Evidence from other countries suggests that a scheme in line with the original proposal – targeting around 20 percent of teachers with an incentive worth around 30-40 percent of the average teachers’ salary – would be highly effective in encouraging teachers to remain in or move to eligible schools. Gambia introduced an allowance in 2006 which paid an amount equivalent to 3040 percent of salary to teachers in hardship schools, defined by distance from the nearest main road. In the first year of implementation, 24 percent of the teachers in the regions of the country where the allowance was available had requested transfers to hardship positions (Mulkeen, 2010).

For Malawi, we devised an updated remote allowance scheme, employing the A-C categorization as a basis for increasing additional remuneration. The scheme was designed to be revenue-neutral, employing the level of funding currently distributed to 80 percent of teachers under the current scheme and targeting it more effectively at teachers in remote areas. Within this framework, it is possible to design a scheme which increased the allowance for teachers in the most remote schools

> 20 Around 3,500 ODL graduates are also expected to be deployed to schools in 2017; this represents the final year of ODL deployment, so our analysis focuses on IPTE deployment which is ongoing.

> 21 The World Bank will monitor the 2017 allocation, subsequent movement of these teachers through the system, and future allocations of new teachers, as part of ongoing activities to evaluate the impact of the classification of teachers. 22 Table 17, in Annex 1 (available online: see page 40)

> 23 The total number of teachers operating in Malawi increased by more than 50% during this period. Precise estimation of the number of teachers who responded to the allowance scheme is not possible, owing to the difficulty of separating new teacher from the incentive effect when measuring increased staffing in eligible schools.

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