Challenges faced by area education officers (AEOs) in discharging their responsibilities in Machakos County - Kenya

Abstract

Thestudy set out to investigate the challenges that Area Education Officers (AEOs) face while discharging their responsibilities in Machakos District. AEOs have clearly specified roles in three broad areas: curriculum implementation, co-ordination of cocurricularactivities and management of personnel matters. The study employed General SystemsTheory based on the work of Ludwing Von Bertalanify to show that AEOs are a part of a system. The study was guided by research questions based on the three broad responsibilityareas for AEOs: management of curriculum implementation, coordination of co- curricular activities and personnel management. Review of related literature revealed that natiO:Q,svalue education of their citizens very much hence put in place systems of administration of their education. The study employed descriptive design research design. The target population of the study comprised of all the five AEOs in Machakos District. Since the target population was less than twenty, each case was studied in comparison with others. Purposive sampling was used to select all the five AEOsto participate in the actual study. A questionnaire designed for the AEOs was used as the main tool for data collection. Prior to the actual data collection procedure, a pilot studywas conducted In one division within the district. The aim of the pilot study was to helpidentify items in the questionnaire that would have been ambiguous or unclear to the respondents and changed them effectively. Descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentageswere used to analyze the collected data. The study established that the main challenges that make the work of AEO's difficult as they play their roles in these areas werelack / insufficient funds and lack of transport. The study recommends that divisions should be provided with vehicles to ease the problem of transport; the Ministry of Educationshould fund divisionsdirectly to avoid the problem of delayed and insufficient funds; and CDP money should be .fully utilized to provide material resources in the schools.