The Role Of Foundation Bodies In Management Of Muslim Founded Secondary Schools In Mbale District December 2013.

Abstract

The study investigated the influence of the role of foundation bodies on management of Muslim founded secondary schools in Mbale district. This was prompted by the observation that, there was friction between members of Bugisu Muslim district council (BMC) as a foundation body, and some other stakeholders in some schools, over school management issues. On the other hand, some other stakeholders in those schools were also complaining about the failure of some members of foundation bodies to perform properly their roles in the management functions of their schools as outlined in the Education Act of 2008, and yet the earlier studies had not addressed this particular problem. The study was based on three objectives namely, i. Influence of the role of foundation bodies on management of students discipline, ii. Influence of the role of foundation bodies on curriculum offered in Muslim founded schools, iii. Influence of the role of foundation bodies on policies in Muslim founded schools. A cross section design of study was developed where a survey was conducted to gather information from the respondents using questionnaires, interview guide and documents review. These instruments were administered to randomly sampled teachers, members of Board of Governors and members of foundation bodies, School administrators and students’ leaders were sampled purposively while both education officers for Mbale Municipality and Mbale district were considered. The data collected was analyzed using descriptive methods of frequency distribution and percentages that were generated by the SPSS Program Version 17.0. The major findings of the study indicated that foundation bodies have high influence on maintenance of students’ discipline in schools, foundation bodies have moderate influence on schools’ curriculum and foundation bodies have high influence on schools policies. The study further revealed that school founders’ influence, which is in most cases exercised indirectly through BOG committees, is more reflected in designing physical items, which distinguish those schools as Muslim founded, but less influence is felt in the development of internal structures that guide in the daily management issues such as enacting by-laws, guiding on school culture and designing mechanisms of monitoring schools. From the findings of the study, it was recommended that, members of foundation bodies improve on their role of guidance and counseling in order to guide the conduct of members of school staff and students in line with the desired core values and norms. It was also recommended that members of UMEA strengthen their inspectorate role to ensure that, their recommendations during curriculum review are implemented at school levels. It was also recommended that members of foundation bodies enact by-laws, which can guide school administrators to formulate functional policies, which can aid in the implementation of major policies passed by the Ministry of Education and Sports.