Practices and challenges in financial resource management at selected government secondary schools of Wolaita zone in Ethiopia

Abstract

The government of Ethiopia places a very high priority for poverty alleviation as part of its overall goals for socio-economic development. As a result, education is one of the four priority sectors that were identified as a major tool of the poverty alleviation strategy. The main objective of any educational system is to cultivate the individual capacity for problem-solving and adaptability to the environment by developing the necessary knowledge, ability, skill and attitude. To offer effective and efficient education for generation, human resources along with material, financial and time resources should efficiently be utilised for schools to attain their goals. This shows that educational activity cannot be successfully run without adequate financial support in addition to human, material and time resources. Therefore, to enhance educational activities, sound financial management is necessary. Accordingly, this research examined the practices and challenges in financial resource management at selected government secondary schools and put forward possible recommendations to overcome those challenges that hinder effective utilisation of school funds. This study was qualitative in nature and used a case study that allowed the researcher to achieve the study's goals of gaining an in-depth understanding of practices and challenges in school finance management at selected government secondary schools. Based on the analysis made and the reflection on the data, it is posited that school principals and other school governing body (SGB) members were not in charge of performing their duties effectively to manage school funds efficiently due to many reasons. Underperforming of principals and other SGB members in financial management resulted from employing less qualified accounting staff that maintain poor records and fail to observe accounting procedures. Moreover, there was a lack of professionalism in some areas as far as management of schools’ finance is concerned and called for qualified personnel in the management of school finances. It is important for school administration to understand that business management goes beyond allocating cash items but has vi to look at the school as an investment which would in due time pay dividends to the government but not at the study area. As a result, schools experienced problems of poor financial management. Mismanagement of funds leads to shortage of critical resources as money was not available for the purchasing of the necessary equipment and other school needs which often resulted in the unsatisfactory performance of the school community, parents, teachers, students and other stakeholders of schools. To enhance educational activities, sound financial management is necessary. Therefore, school principals in collaboration with other SGB members must be in charge of managing school resources to enhance the transparency in the deployment of resources. As a result, this study recommends that school principals as chief financial officer and other SGB members must have an authority of clarify the purpose of the budget process, choose the best strategy for implementing the budget, and monitor and control the budget not only to administer school funds effectively and efficiently but also to initiate and effectively participate all intended stakeholders at school financial administration that leads to effective and efficient supplementing of school funds.