Challenges Facing Leadership and Management of Church Sponsored Secondary Schools in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya

Abstract

The Kenya’s Education Act 1968 and revised 1980 makes provision for the appointment of sponsors in school management and empowers them to participate in the management of schools or colleges that they sponsor. However, in recent years, the leadership of these schools has faced a numerous of challenges that threaten to undermine their effectiveness and sustainability. This paper reports on the findings of a study conducted in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya on the challenges facing leadership and management of church sponsored secondary schools. The question that underpinned this research survey was; what would you consider being the most serious problems with the sponsor? The study utilized a survey design which comprised 81 principals drawn from 81 secondary schools. The schools were purposively sampled. Data was collected through the use of questionnaires, both open and closed-ended and was analyzed using Statistical package for social sciences resulting in descriptive statistics and were expressed as percentages. The study findings report that some schools blamed sponsors on a number of areas: undue interference with the running of the schools, harassment and intimidation of the principals and also promoting unnecessary transfer of school principals. SDA church and Catholic Church were associated with the issues of intimidation and harassment, undue inference and unnecessary transfers of principals. The study concluded that conflictual relationship between the sponsors and principals undermine positive outcomes of the teaching and learning process. To address these issues, it is recommended that a formalized and transparent framework for the roles and responsibilities of sponsors in school management be established. This framework should be developed collaboratively by the Ministry of Education, representatives from church sponsors, and school leadership.