Challenges facing school management committees in managing public primary schools in Abogeta Division Imenti south District, Kenya

Abstract

The study investigated the challenges facing school management committees ill managing public primary schools of Abogeta Division. It was comprised of five chapters. The introduction dealt with preliminary issues such as, background of the study, statement of the problem, purpose, objectives, research questions, significance of the study, limitations and delimitations of the study. Chapter two was on literature reviewed which was covered in ten subheadings.Evidence from the reviewed literature indicated that challenges in educational management existed in developed and developing countries such as Britain and Malaysia respectively. The third chapter dealt with research methodology. The study used descriptive design to assess the challenges faced by SMCs. The target population for the study comprised of headteachers, school management committee (SMC), chairpersons and treasurers from the 42 public primary schools of the Division. The target population was 126. The sample size was 63 respondents and 62 of them participated in the study. Two questionnaires were administered, one for SMC members and another for headteachers.

Analysis of the data, presentation, and summary was captured in chapter four and five. The analysis of data was based on the purpose and the objectives of the study. It was done using descriptive statistics which involved, frequencies, percentages, statistical tables and graphs, using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences

-....

Xlll

of meetings to be attended in a year. Parents' seminars and committee seminars should also be held. There should be prompt remittance of adequate funds, and there should be a management course for SMC members. TSC should employ ECD teachers, security should be enhanced and all stakeholders to be sensitized. In order to cope with the challenges, the headteachers reiterated that the LA TF and CDF funds needed to be used to assist parents who cannot pay fees for their children as bursaries. They also suggested that all stakeholders in the education sector need to work together. The headteachers also stated that the provincial administration needed to ensure that the parents took their responsibilities by taking their children to school and paying their fees. The headteachers also suggested that the ministry needed to reconsider disbursing funds based on the enrolment as it was inappropriate. The ministry also needed to send the funds at an ample time. The study recommended that more studies needed to be done to establish the role of school management committees on the performance of schools in the country. This should help establish if there should be a minimum qualification for the members of the committees.