The Capacity of School Boards in Administration And Management of School in Tanzania. A Case of Public Secondary School in Same District

ABSTRACT

This study was focused on assessing the Capacity of School Boards in Administration and management of Public Secondary School in Tanzania. The major objective of the study was to examine the capacity of school boards in the administration and management of public secondary schools towards improvement of its effectiveness. Various literature review such as theoretical review and empirical literature review focused on the capacity of school boards were employed to increase awareness and solution to the problem. Cross-sectional studies which are observational in nature and are known as descriptive design was used in data collection and analysis, data were collected through questionnaires, interviews and documentary review. The findings revealed that board members often lack knowledge and skills required, so accountability falls to the headmaster. Among the different types of skills required were team work, financial management skills and the capacity to appropriately select members, develop school plans and monitor and evaluate school performance. Some evidence points to the fact that in schools with low socio-economic status, it is even more difficult to find skilled board members. Lack of fund seemed to be another finding which drags down effective performance of the school boards. Respondents declared that no funds posted by the government to handle meeting or seminar to the members of the school boards for building capacity of their duties and responsibilities for improving performance of the school. This also accelerated poor decision making and lack of seriousness among the board. The conclusions of this study highlighted to elect local citizens to run public secondary schools to ensure that vii the schools reflected the community‘s values and distinct economy. It is important to acknowledge that school boards as the central governance tool may be updated to compete successfully in school improvement. The recommendations of the study based on national, regional and administrative level to keep school board members as critical stakeholders positioned to drive coherent, effective, and sustainable implementation of national interventions designed to improve public secondary school boards.