Assessment of Teacher-Bursars’ Effectiveness in Management of Finances in Public Secondary Schools: A Case of South West Education Division

Abstract

This study sought to assess teacher-bursar’s effectiveness in the management of finances in public schools of South West Education Division. Teacher-bursars’ effectiveness in managing financial resources is determined by the way they execute their tasks as required by Ministry of Education, Science & Technology and other established generally accepted accounting practices. However, system theory of management guided the execution of this study. Explanatory sequential mixed method was used as a research design. As such, it incorporated questionnaires and interviews. In the first phase, questionnaires were administered to head teachers and teacher-bursars. Numeric data from this phase informed the interviews done in second phase, targeting management officers at the division. The division had 118 schools from which a simple random sample of 91 schools was selected. From the sample of 91 schools, 69 head teachers and 65 teacher-bursars were involved. Apart from that, three officers from the division were purposively sampled. SPSS version 20 analysed the study’s numeric data while inductive content analysis was employed in analyzing categorical data. The findings revealed that 81% of head teachers appointed teachers as bursars based on trustworthiness. The study established that 89% of teacher-bursars were incompetent in the management of public funds. In addition, 62% of head teachers demonstrated that teacher-bursars were failing to account for funds allocated to specific vote heads. SWED management collaborated these findings by stating that financial statements produced by teacher-bursars did not give a true and fair view of school’s financial position. This study has recommended Government to revisit the criterion of appointing teachers as bursars. Training of teacher-bursars should be prioritised. Universities and teacher training colleges should consider introducing a course in basic financial management in their curricula in order to prepare individuals for responsibilities such as head teachers and bursars. Finally, this study is of great value to all stakeholders in education sector in enhancing teacher-bursars’ effectiveness in managing school finances. This is because the stakeholders can make use of the research findings to intensify in-service trainings at divisional levels to benefit teacher-bursars on the various ways of ensuring effective management of school funds. Further, it is hoped that the findings will be used by the Government in the formulation of education policies which would eventually focus on effective management of financial resources in public schools in Malawi.