Challenges Facing Public Secondary School Heads in the Management of School Projects: A Case of Mathira Constituency.
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Date
2013-08-29
Authors
Wamunyu, Joseph King’ori
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Abstract
Within the complex operation in project management in the 21st century, the school heads play a very vital role in the management of school projects. However, the management of these projects has not been smooth. For example, in Mathira constituency there are many examples of stalled infrastructure projects, projects that have taken too long to complete and which eventually lead to escalating of the project cost, unsatisfied needs in the schools community that was supposed to benefit from the project and curriculum and co-curricular programs that have failed to take off. The general objective of this study was to determine the challenges faced by school heads in managing school projects in Mathira Constituency. The specific objectives of the study were; to determine whether school heads in Mathira Constituency have adequate project management skills to enable them effectively manage school projects; to establish the financial management challenges facing school heads in management of school projects in Mathira Constituency; to determine how the management of the project constraints affect the successful implementation of school projects in Mathira Constituency; to establish the stakeholder involvement challenges in management of school projects in Mathira Constituency and to establish the monitoring and evaluation challenges facing school heads in management of school projects in Mathira Constituency. The target population included all the thirty three (33) public secondary schools in Mathira constituency, Nyeri County. Data was collected using a semi-structured questionnaire where the principals, the members of the BoG and the teachers will be the respondents. Descriptive statistics such as the frequencies and percentages were used to analyse quantitative data while content analysis was used to analyse qualitative data. The findings were presented using pie charts, bar charts and frequency distribution tables. The study found out that school heads in public secondary school in Mathira constituency faced major challenges in the management of the school projects. It was also found that although most of the school principals (93.33%) have been trained in project management they still experienced challenges related to project management skills, financial management, management of project constraints, stakeholder involvement and project monitoring and evaluation while managing the school projects. The study recommended that the government through the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) and/or Ministry of Education (MoE) should organize training programs on project management, financial management and monitoring and evaluation for school heads. This was found important because it would ensure that they were well equipped with the necessary skills needed to effectively manage the school programs and projects entrusted to them in public secondary schools. The study further recommends that the preparation and development of school leaders in project management should be systematic from the Heads of Departments to Deputy Principals and eventually to Principals.
Description
HD 69 .P75W31