Assessment of head teachers' management of public funds: A case of selected public secondary schools in Northern Education Division

Abstract

Effective and efficient management of public funds in secondary schools is critical to the school's overall success. There is, therefore, an urgent need for secondary school head teachers to manage public funds effectively and efficiently if their schools are to attain their objectives and goals, which equals school’s success. The purpose of this study was to assess secondary school head teachers’ management of public funds in the Northern Education Division. Specifically, the study sought to ascertain whether public secondary school head teachers are conversant with, and are practicing the best practices for public fund management which include budgeting, budget implementation, financial accounting and financial reporting. A qualitative research approach which employed a case study design was used. Face-to-face, semi-structured, in-depth interviews were used to collect data from 9 head teachers, 8 chairpersons of Internal Procurement and Disposal Committee,10 bursars, 3 chair persons of Parents’ Teachers Association, and 3 Northern Education Division officials. Document analysis was also employed as another way of collecting data. Stratified random sampling was used to select schools while purposive sampling was used to select the respondents. The collected data was analyzed thematically. The study found that most secondary school head teachers that participated in the study have challenges in managing public funds effectively due to lack of knowledge and skills in public fund management. They were found to be competent in some best practices of public fund management, for instance in budgeting but when it came to budget implementation and financial accounting and reporting, they had challenges. They failed to strictly comply with policies governing management of public funds because the internal financial controls which they had set up were weak. Their accounting for funds from government subvention was consistent while their financial reporting for those funds was inconsistent due to intermittent funding from the government. The researcher, therefore, recommends that Ministry of Education should intensify head teachers’ trainings in public finance management.