Capacity Building Needs of Principals in the Management of Public Secondary Schools in Kabba Education Zone of Kogi State

Abstract

This study investigated the capacity building needs of principals in the management of public secondary schools in Kabba Education zone of Kogi State. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. The population of the study was seventy-six (76) respondents comprising of 20 female and 56male principals in Kabba Education Zone, Kogi state. The instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire designated with the title ‘Capacity building needs of principals in the management of secondary school questionnaire’ (CBNPEMSSQ). The instrument was subjected to face validation to determine its adequacy and appropriateness for the study. This was done by presenting it to three experts, two in Educational Administration and Planning and one from Measurement and Evaluation, all in the faculty of Education, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. To determine the reliability of the instrument, 20 copies of the questionnaire was trial tested in some public secondary schools in Okene Education Zone which were outside the study area. The internal consistency of the instrument was determined using Cronbach Alpha and reliability indices of .517,.754,.553,.593, and .570 were obtained for clusters A, B, C, D and E respectively while the overall reliability index was .887 which guaranteed the use of the instrument for the study. Data were collected from the research subjects with the help of two research assistants. Mean and Standard Deviation were used to answer the five research questions while t-test was used to test the five null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study revealed among others that the capacity building needs of secondary school principals for financial resources management in secondary schools in Kabba Education zone include Capacity for school budget preparation for school year; Capacity for making budget plans for the use of funds in the school; Capacity for making adequate financial provision in the budget to cover every aspect of the school management; Capacity for keeping accurate financial records for revenue and all items of expenditure; Capacity for wise spending of financial allocations in the budget according to financial regulation; Capacity for following account procedures laid down by the employers; Capacity for scrutinizing all vouchers, before signature for payment; Capacity for diversifying source of revenue for the school example through PTA and Capacity for exercising supervisory control over all expenditures of monies made by a delegated member of staff in the school. There was no significant difference between the mean rating of principals and teachers on capacity building needs of principals for financial resource management in Kabba education zone. Based on the findings of the study, the following recommendations were made; The government through the relevant ministries should organize capacity building workshop regularly for the principals for effective financial resource management for the attainment of the goals of secondary education. Principals should engage in further administrative training by enrolling for further studies in human resource management and educational administration for enhancement of their administrative effectiveness.