| dc.description.abstract | Financial management is an important aspect of education in Kenya today. The
public secondary school Board of Governors is expected to oversee management
of monies for constructions, buying new books and bursaries provided for
disadvantaged students. This calls for some skill in financial management on the
part of the BOG. The purpose of this study was to establish factors affecting
BOGs in financial management of public secondary schools in Mukurwe-ini
District. The objectives of the study involved evaluating the extent to which BOG
members’ age, gender, level of education and experience affected effective
financial management of public secondary schools in Mukurwe-ini district. The
study targeted all the 273 members of boards of governors and 30 head teachers
of public secondary schools in Mukurwe-ini district. 9 principals and 27 BOG
members were sampled through disproportionate stratified random sampling
technique. Data was collected through questionnaires and interviews. Quantitative
and qualitative techniques were applied in data analysis with the help of SPSS
version 20 for windows. The study found that most of the members of boards of
governors were older members of the public with at least 40 years. Majority of the
school boards in public secondary schools in Mukurwe-ini were composed of
males. The study found that the school boards were composed of highly qualified
individuals with the entire lot in the study having acquired higher education. The
researcher established that the BOG members had many years of experience. The
researcher concluded that the high mean age of members, high academic
qualifications and many years of experience influenced financial management
positively as such individuals were well equipped with information on managing
funds from their various fields of study. The study concluded that having older
members of society was good for the school boards in that such individuals
brought in years of experience in management to the school. In addition, such
members were more likely to have acquired high levels of academic qualification.
However, the youth were largely ignored for membership to school boards, This
could be attributed to their lack of high qualifications and few years of
experience. The study also concluded that having more members who had
acquired higher education qualifications influenced financial management
positively as such individuals were well equipped with information on managing
funds from their various fields of study. In addition the highly qualified BOG
members would be able to make informed decisions on varying matters in
management of finances. The study recommended that the ministry of education
should amend BOG guidelines and make it mandatory for inclusion of the youth
in the school boards and amend BOG guidelines to make it comply with the two thirds
gender rule in the constitution. Minimum requirements for potential
candidates should be raised to Bachelor’s degree. BOG members tenure should be
increased to over 10 years to ensure preservation of knowledge and experience
and ensure continuity. | en |
