Challenges Of State-Church Partnership In School Administration In The West Akim Municipality Of Ghana

ABTRACT

This study assessed the challenges of state-church partnership in school administration in the West Akim Municipality of Ghana. The descriptive survey design was employed to assess the stakeholders’ perception on the issue under study. In all 27 administrators of schools in the West Akim municipality were involved in the study. Questionnaires and interview guide were used to collect data for the study. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the data. The study found that the stakeholders see the partnership between the state and church in education as very important and so it should be maintained. However, with the administration of schools, respondents strongly believe that administration should be handed over completely to the churches. The Regional Managers of Unit Schools were of the opinion that the administration of unit schools be handed over to the churches. Among the challenges outlined by the respondents were spate of indiscipline among students and teachers, lack of recognition for unit heads, lack of good supervision by Regional Managers, and ineffective communication channels. It was also found out that there is no proper cohesion between the unit heads and the Municipal / District Directorate. It was suggested that the Director-General of education should come out clearly to outline each partner’s roles and limits in order to curtail the supervision and transfer problems associated with the partnership. Also, the Ghana Education Service should organize workshops for school administrators to sharpen their skills and some rules in mission schools should be applied to unit school as well.