Influence of Headteachers’ Financial Practices on Management of Physical Resources in Public Primary Schools in Igembe Central Sub-county, Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of headteachers’ financial practices on management of physical resources in public primary schools in Igembe Central Sub-County Kenya. The objectives of the study were to determine the influence of headteachers’ financial competence on management of school physical resources; to examine the influence of budgeting on management of school physical resources; to assess the influence of financial record keeping on management of school physical resources and objective four aimed at establishing the influence of headteachers adherence to financial rules on management of school physical resources. The study used descriptive survey method with simple random sampling method to get the sample size. The population of the study consisted of 24 headteachers, 24 deputy headteachers and 24 Board of Management chairmen. Questionnaires and interview schedules were used to collect data from the respondents. The collected data was analyzed quantitatively by use of frequencies and percentages and presented in tables, bar graphs and pie charts followed by discussions. The study findings indicated that headteachers in public primary schools in Igembe Central Sub-County regularly attended courses on finance management with a big chunk of these courses organized by Kenya Primary School Heads Association, followed by the Sub County Audit Office and Kenya Educational Management Institute. The courses organised by Kenya Educational Management Institute and Ministry of Education Science and Technology rated highly in efficacy among the majority of the respondents. It was further found out that most of the headteachers attended courses which lasted for few days since most of them received a certificate of attendance. The study findings also indicated that majority of the headteachers were conversant with most of the budget making processes but in some of the processes such as determining sources of income, setting savings and debt pay off goals, recording spending and tracking progress, some headteachers were ineffective. The study also found out that the headteachers kept receipts of all financial transactions and made sure that they advertised for tenders for projects thus avoiding inflated costs. On adherence to financial rules, the study findings indicated that headteachers in public primary schools in Igembe Central Sub-County knew the importance of banking with a government owned financial institution since most of the schools did so. However, few schools checked their bank balances regularly and the majority of the administrators did not bank monies received in the schools on time. Based on these findings the study drew recommendations such as headteachers attendance of financial seminar which last long period, regular check up of school accounts balances as well as daily banking of school monies. The study further suggested that researchers may do studies on influence of headteachers academic qualifications on management of finances in public primary schools and influence of headteachers financial practices on academic performance in public primary schools among other suggestions.