Abstract

The shift from Direct Support to Schools (DSS), where the district office was responsible for the management of funds, to Primary School Improvement Grants (PSIGs), an arrangement that empowers School Management Committees (SMCs) to manage finances could be a welcome development in management of school finances. This kind of decentralisation in financial management also challenges the SMCs to acquire additional skills for effective resource management. This study explored how SMCs in Zomba Educational Districts were coping with the task of managing school finances. The study used a qualitative approach. It employed an embedded multiple case study design and was guided by Cammack’s conceptual framework. Data was generated through interviews, document analysis and observation method. Data analysis was conducted using framework analysis. Collegial model was used as a theoretical framework to interpret the findings. Findings of this study suggest that despite its usefulness, the transition from DSSs to PSIGs has created its own set of challenges. Previous studies concentrated on management of DSS. By considering School Development Fund (SDF), this study found that SMCs for urban schools under this study were able to raise more money through SDF. The extent of poor record keeping by SMCs was higher in the management of SDF than School Improvement Grant (SIG). SMCs in all the four schools under this study were managing SDF as a parallel budget instead of supplementing the SIG budget. This study concludes that there is need to employ Collegial model in the management of finances in public primary schools in Malawi in order to counter some of the challenges that SMCs face in management of finances.

More details

School	: School of Education
Issued Date	: 2017

Download full document