Factors affecting the management of private primary schools in Kenya: a survey of Embu County

Abstract

Educational management is not only the most fundamental and precious resource but is also the most scarce in educational organizations. The school management is mandated by the Education. Act Cap 211 of the Laws of Kenya to manage private primary schools and ensure quality basic education is delivered to learners from pre-primary to primary levels. The study investigated the factors facing school management in managing private primary schools in Embu County and focused on school committee managerial competencies, working relationships, availability of financing and government policies as factors affecting management of private schools in Kenya. The study. used a descriptive survey design to assess the challenges facing management of private schools in Embu County, Kenya. Embu County has 150 private schools. To select the participating schools, the researcher used sample random sampling to select 50 private schools. It's from these 50 private primary schools that 55 respondents who included the District Education Officer, Area Education Officer, School management members and head teachers. A semi structured questionnaire was administered through drop and pick method to the respondents. Descriptive statistics such as means, standard deviation and frequency distribution were used to analyse the data. Factor analysis was used to determine the factor that greatly affected performance private primary schools in Embu County. Tables and figures were used to present the data collected for ease of understanding and analysis. From the findings, lack of head teacher's motivation and over-burdening head teacher with administrative responsibilities, inadequate facilities, understaffing of teachers and non-teaching staff, inadequate teaching and learning materials affected the management of Private Primary schools in Kenya. From the findings, the study concluded that management of private primary schools need to motivate the head teacher and avoid over-burdening them with all the administrative responsibilities. Adequate facilities, staffing of teachers and non-teaching staff, teaching and learning materials must be catered for in order to curb the management challenges in private primary schools in Kenya. Effective strategies also need to be formulated in order to effectively manage the private primary schools even when faced with the challenges of government policy on education, political influence and leadership styles.