Contribution of The Catholic Church to Instructional Resources and Appointment of School Administrators in Public Secondary Schools in Kenya. A study across Public Secondary Schools in Kisii Central Sub - County

Abstract

Kenya’s Legislation on Basic Education directs religious sponsors to participate in appointment of principals and provision of instructional materials to schools. In Kisii Central Sub-County, the Catholic Church participates in management of 29(39.7%) secondary schools. However, queries were being raised on the current contribution of the church as it had come to the fore that most sponsored schools were experiencing crises that had tended to be linked to the church’s participation in school management. For instance, out of 29 principals in the sub-county, 18 (62.07%) new principals; 23 (79.31%) deputy principals and 5 (17.24%) BOM chair persons were rejected by the church from assuming their positions between 2010 - 2013 in the Sub-County which was higher compared to neighbouring Sub-Counties, that is, Marani 1(4.54%) and Kisii South 2 (7.41%) Principals; while Masaba 3 (12%) and Sameta 3 (13.04%) both involving Board of Management. The objectives of the study were to establish the contribution of Catholic Church to instructional resources and to find out the contribution of the Catholic Church in appointment of school administrators to management positions of public secondary schools in Kisii Central Sub - County. The findings of this study indicated that the Catholic Church contribution to instructional resources was 50.8% in terms of laboratory equipment, text books and teaching materials and appointment of school administrators was 25%. This had positive influence on management Quality Index.