Challenges Faced By Board Of Governors In Secondary Schools Management: A Case Of Taita – Taveta County, Kenya

ABSTRACT The search for quality education has been winding and tedious. It dates back to the days of the missionaries, who introduced the first formal education in the form of 3 R’s; a Rithmetic, Read, wRite. The Africans disenchanted by this type of education attempted to manage their “own” education but flopped due to lack of technical know-how. A reprieve came after independence when the government ensured the education of a Kenyan child was at par with that of the white. Subsequent commissions have maintained this status quo and ensured it remained a standing Government objective since then. This is because it is considered by different stake holders as an important vehicle for self advancement, socio-economic and political development. However, this has also seen a rapid expansion of the number of schools. The government, overwhelmed by the increase in the number of schools, instituted board of governors (BOGs) in secondary schools under the Education Act Chapter 211 (1968) to help them in the management. It was hoped that, BOGs as legal managers (and agents of the M.O.E & TSC) would help the government to implement and articulate policies at school levels. Nevertheless, problems still abound. The quality of education is still low as depicted by results in many Districts. The researcher also looked at school governance in other countries vis-à-vis performance. The purpose of this study thus was to investigate the challenges faced by BOGs in secondary school management. The main objective therefore was to determine the extent to which these challenges affected BOGs effectiveness and the strategies they use to redress them. The researcher targeted Head-teachers and the BOGs in 15 public secondary schools in Taita District. However, due to logistical constraints, only 8 (eight) schools were included in the study. The researcher stratified the schools into Provincial and District and then used Purposive Sampling in each stratum to ensure uniform distribution. Only questionnaires were used. However, Piloting was done after which questionnaires were delivered and then collected by the researcher. Data analysis entailed Descriptive Statistics using the statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS).