A Perspective Of Corporate Governance Practices At Selected Private Schools In Lusaka District

This study was carried out among the private schools of Lusaka District to determine the level of corporate governance practices in selected private schools. The study set out to answer the questions:- What are the levels of compliance by private schools towards the appointment of Boards of Management?, How were these Boards of management appointed?, Which types of Board of Management have private school proprietors appointed?, To what extent do Boards of Management in the selected private schools of Lusaka practice the principles of corporate governance? By so doing the study assessed the level of compliance towards the appointment of management boards in private schools and the mechanism used to appoint the boards. Furthermore the study determined which type of management boards had been appointed in these selected private schools, and in addition measured the extent to which these boards of management where practicing corporate governance principles. Corporate governance is viewed as “the system by which companies are directed and controlled” (Cadbury Committee, 1992:14) and has become an important factor in the effective organisation and management of corporate entities.

The research employed the mixed research approach by utilising the survey research design because it was predominantly qualitative. The population of the study was 105 heads of schools of which 22 heads were sampled purposefully. To determine the practice of corporate governance principles seven heads and their board members were engaged from Nkhwazi Primary School, Rhodes Park School, Thorn Hill School, Woodford School, St Andrew’s School, Son Shine School and Little Lulu Primary

School. Primary data were collected using questionnaires administered to Heads of Schools and Board Members, including one-on-one interviews with officers at the DEBS Office. Secondary data were obtained from the DEBS Office and other literature. The quantitative data was sorted out, matched and then entered into the Microsoft Excel software. The qualitative data was sorted according to themes to manually derive tables for each variable.

The findings show that half of the private schools have boards of management in place which is contrary to the Education Act of 2011. It was discovered that there was no common mechanism to appoint the boards. It was further discovered that there was a fair balance between executive and non-executive types of boards. There was also evidence that these boards of management were selectively practicing principles of corporate governance. The corporate governance principles of the Combined Code were used as the variables to measure the level of adherence to corporate governance practices. 

Due to the importance of corporate governance in the management of business enterprises it was recommended that more effort needs to be put in by the regulating authorities to ensure that there is adherence to legal requirements of school registration and renewal. It has also been recommended that proprietors of schools be engaged by institutions such as the Institute of Directors of Zambia to sensitise and train proprietors on the matters of corporate governance