Influence Of Stakeholders Involvement On Performance Of Parents Association Projects In Public Secondary Schools: A Case Of Lugari Sub-County, Kakamega County, Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of stakeholder involvement on performance of Parents Association projects in public secondary schools in Lugari sub-county. Stakeholder involvement is an important basic element envisaged in the Kenya constitution 2010 and the Basic Education Act 2013. The objectives addressed in the study were: to examine how the school management, parents, government and religious sponsors influence the performance of Parents Association projects in public secondary schools in Lugari Sub-County. The researcher used census for all principals of the schools. The researcher sampled 30 principals, did a simple random sampling for 1 member of Board of Management, 1 member of the Parents Association from each school. Ten religious sponsors and five Ministry of Education officials were also sampled. The sample size was 105. Questionnaires were used as data collection instrument for the study. Data was analyzed and presented through descriptive statistics in form of tables, percentages and frequencies. The findings for this study were that school management especially the principal in conjunction with the BOM is tasked various roles such as; planning, monitoring and evaluation and commissioning of Parents Association projects. It was established that the major financiers for secondary school Parents Association projects were the parents through payment of PTA levies. Others are the Government the religious sponsors and other well-wishers. The research also revealed that the government mainly deals with auditing, supervision, monitoring &evaluation and providing legal frame work for the operation of all schools. It was established that majority of schools in Lugari sub-county are catholic sponsored making 36.7 % of the respondents. It was also established that the major (100%) role for the sponsors was spiritual guidance through the Christian Unions and the Young Christian Societies. However, they were still involved in sponsoring some students (30%) and planning (60%) through the BOM as members. Based on the findings from this study, the researcher recommends that the ministry of education should continuously in-service the school principals on school management. Secondly, for the parents, the school management should involve the parents in conception of projects, planning, and implementation and even in monitoring school projects so that they will own the decisions and therefore be able to give the needed support. Moreover, the Government should increase their financial allocations to secondary schools so that the schools can have sufficient money to finance their planned school projects, Parents Association projects inclusive. The government through Ministry of Education officials should also genuinely audit, monitor and evaluate school projects so as to ensure compliance. For the religious sponsors of secondary schools, the researcher recommends that they should increase their financial support to schools rather than just propagating their faith in schools. Further study can be done on influence of the principals on resource mobilization to finance secondary school infrastructure. Moreover, study can also be done on the effect of school infrastructure on the performance of students in Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (K.C.S.E). In addition, research can be done on influence of Sub-county Quality and Assurance Officer‟s visits on completion of school infrastructural projects. Furthermore, research can be done on influence of student council on the completion of school projects.