DECENTRALISATION AND DELIVERY OF SECONDARY SCHOOL EDUCATION: EXAMINING INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY IN TANDAHIMBA AND MTWARA DISTRICTS, TANZANIA
Abstract
Purpose of the study:
The significance of institutional capacity has been advocated in as one of the way to improve provision of social services such as secondary school education to the society. The aim of this paper was to analyse the capacity of secondary school management in education service delivery in Tandahimba and Mtwara districts, Tanzania.
Short introduction of problem statement:
Regardless of implementation of decentralisation in Tandahimba and Mtwara districts, the districts had been ranking among the lowest in the national examinations results of form two and four for the last five years.
Method/methodology:
Research design applied in this study was cross-sectional explanatory research which employed a semi structured questionnaire to collect quantitative data from 229 secondary school teachers and district education officers. Also, an interview guide was used to collect qualitative data from District Executive Directors (DEDs), Region Administrative Secretary (RAS) and District education officers (DEOs) as key informants, whereas a focus group discussion was used to collect data from teachers and parents. The quantitative data were analysed using measures of central tendency whilst the qualitative data was analysed using content analysis.
Results of the study:
The findings revealed that there is no shortage of skills, knowledge and teaching experiences but infrastructures and equipments. Therefore, this study concludes that the shortage of infrastructure and equipments might have been led to low level of academic performance as a result of provision of low quality education to secondary students.
Conclusion and policy recommendation:
Therefore, based on the findings the study concludes that, in case of soft resources (skills, knowledge and experiences) the schools have enough of them to deliver education effectively to secondary schools’ students. However, regarding to the hard resources (infrastructures and equipments), the schools record an acute shortage. Based on the findings, policy implications had been suggested to encourage lower level take initiatives and innovative measures in making sure proper education is provided to youths for the benefit of the nation bearing in mind that they are the tomorrow nation. This is only possible if the central government and LGAs devolves or shift powers to these lower units of the government such as schools and communities. Those powers should be exercised in order to bring the expected impact of decentralisation.
Keywords: Decentralisation, Institutional, Capacity, Resources, Infrastructure, Knowledge
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