A study of the role of the sponsor in public secondary school administration in Kakamega district

Abstract

This study is about the role of the sponsor in public secondary school administration. The study is a result of research on the perceptions of both sponsors and headteachers on what this role is and ought to be. The study is divided into five chapters. In chapter one, the whole study is introduced through the background to the study, the statement of the problem, the purpose, objectives, hypotheses, significance, limitations, delimitation's, basic assumptions definition of significant terms and the orgnisation of the study. This is meant to set out what the study is all about. In chapter two, the literature relating to prior research on the issues of the study is reviewed. This is organized through the missionary introduction of education in Kenya, the government funding of education for Africans in Kenya, African Independent Schools, Government takeover of independent schools, post independent financing of schools and treatment of the sponsor and lastly the theoretical framework of the study. This literature generally reveals that education was brought to Kenya by missionaries who built schools next to churches. The missionaries constructed the schools, hired and paid teachers and generally maintained the physical facilities of the schools. It is this practice that led to the idea that the churches had sponsored the schools. The literature also reveals that each of the churches that came to Kenya was using education as a means of evangelisation of Africans. The churches therefore did not follow the same curriculum. After the Fraser and Phelps-Stokes commissions, the colonial government stepped in to standardize education for Africans through the provision of grants to the schools. To avert the resistance of churches to these grants, the government agreed to leave each church to maintain its religious traditions and to determine who was to teach in the schools. Some schools were set up by Africans as independent schools but these were soon taken over by the government. After independence, the government enacted the Education Act and the Teachers Service Commission Act consequent upon the recommendations of the Ominde Report. The Teachers Service Commission now employs and pays all teachers in public schools. The Education Act spells out the role of the sponsor. This study looks at this role of sponsor as spelt out in the Education Act and as perceived by both the sponsors and the headteachers. It also evaluates the Ominde Report and discusses whether the Education Act adequately implemented the recommendations of the Report at least in relation to the sponsor. In chapter three the research methodology is dealt with, particularly, the research design, the target population, sampling procedures and sample size, the research instruments and their validity and reliability and lastly the data collection procedures and data analysis techniques. In chapter four, the study deals with the reporting of data, analysis of data and discussion of findings. The data relates to the questionnaires send to headteachers and sponsors eliciting responses as to their perception of the role of the sponsor. The data is analysed in accordance with the six hypotheses of the study and the responses as analysed with the chi-square tests are recorded. Lastly, chapter five deals with the summary, conclusions and recommendations of the study. The research seems to show that the sponsors have no right to demand a say in the appointment of headteachers in the schools they sponsor because the Teachers Service Commission employs and pays teachers and the parents through the Parents Teachers Association build and maintain the schools. The research makes various recommendations in relation to the future treatment of church sponsors by the government.