Educational Management

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://repository.chuka.ac.ke/handle/chuka/277

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Browsing Educational Management by Subject "Community participation"

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    Influence of community relations on management of public primary schools in Imenti central sub-county of Meru county, Kenya
    (Chuka University, 2024) Muriuki Nkaabu Douglas
    Parents and Community involvement in education facilitates the identification of community specific education issues and makes informed development management strategies. In resource-constrained countries such as Kenya, community participation is an effective instrument for mobilizing resources to improve the state of public primary schools’ education. While studies have globally examined the influence of community relations on management of public institutions, few have focused on public primary schools. The study examined the influence of community relations on the management of public primary schools in Meru County, Kenya. The study adopted descriptive and inferential research design with a target population consisting of 88Head teachers, 17sponsor and 704 class representatives to obtain a population of809respondents. The study used Krejcie & Morgan formula to obtain sample size of260 respondents. The sample size distribution included 29 Head teachers, 232 class parents‘ representatives and 6 sponsors’ representatives. The study used questionnaires and interview schedules as data collection instruments. A pilot study was conducted to test the reliability of the instruments from five randomly selected Public primary schools to a similar respondent in Imenti south Sub County which had similar characteristics to those of Imenti Central Sub-County. Reliability of the instruments was tested using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient and a correlation (r) of 0.797 was obtained and was considered high enough to judge an instrument as reliable for data collection. Further, the validity was ascertained with the assistance of the assigned supervisor and other expert from the faculty of education and resources development Chuka University. Data analysis employed descriptive statistics Version 26 of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) which helped in analyzing quantitative data. Qualitative data from interviews was analyzed and organized thematically in form of narratives and direct quotes. Data was presented in form of pie chart, graph, frequency distribution tables, percentages and average. The study found thatthe school management was not involving the parents and community members in decision making. The society cultural norms were not well aligned with the schools objectives which affected the schools management. There were no available systems to support families with needy children. It was also concluded thatcommunity politics in the areas was negatively affecting smooth learning of schools which compromised efficient management. The study recommends that the schools community need to participate in school-related matters to enhance schools management. Further, it is recommended that the local leaders should initiate dialogue between the management and the community on school-related matters to have a substantial impact on management. The local leadership needs to inform the community about the consequences of bad political interference with the schools as it negatively affects smooth learning and compromises efficient management. The findings will be of considerable use to educationists and school administrators through the creation of realistic education policies and strengthening of monitoring procedures.