Management of public day secondary schools through infusion of information and communication Technology in Githunguri sub-county,Kiambu county,Kenya
Abstract
The relevance of information and communication technology (ICT) in educational management can be seen all over the world. Due to ICT's importance in the society and possibly in the future of education, identifying the possible obstacles and enablers to integration of these ICT projects in schools would be an important step in improving the quality of teaching, learning and management. Despite Kenya government support for ICT integration in schools and the many benefits associated with ICT integration in the management of schools, access and availability of ICT in public schools in Kenya and Githunguri Constituency in particular is still patchy. A taskforce established in January 2011 to find ways to realign the education system with the new constitution conducted a situational analysis, and one of the findings was that "just about 2% of schools in the country have the requisite ICT infrastructure". The study sought to establish the status of management of public day secondary schools through infusion of information and communication technology in Githunguri Sub-County, Kiambu County, Kenya. This research sought to determine the management of public day secondary schools through infusion of information and communication technology. The study was carried out in Githunguri Constituency, Kiambu County, Kenya. The specific objective of the Study were to: establish the departments of day secondary school that have been functionally integrated with ICT for service delivery; find out the status of day secondary schools' principal's current awareness on the use of information communication technology in the day to day running of their schools' affairs; determine the resources mobilized by secondary school boards of management in integrating information communication technology in the teaching and learning processes; and establish the strengths that could be exploited in integrating ICT in the running of a day secondary school. The study used descriptive research design to guide the study. The target population of the Study was 270 participants comprising of 22 principals, 22 deputy principals, 26 senior teachers, class teachers, heads of departments and accountants from all the 22 public day secondary schools in Githunguri Constituency. Primary data was collected from the various individuals by use of self- administered questionnaires which are structured, interviews and observation. Secondary data. was collected from publications and information obtained from the internet. The data collected was coded, cleaned, analyzed and presented through tables, graphs and charts. The study's main findings were that lack of awareness towards the need for ICT integration among principals; inadequate ICT literacy among principals, deputy principals and heads of departments, inadequate ICT resources and related infrastructure and lack of technical support for heads of departments as well as low resource mobilization by board of management influenced ICT integration in public secondary schools to a great extent. The main conclusions of the study are that low level of awareness, negative attitude towards ICT integration among principals, ICT illiteracy among principals, deputy principals, inadequate ICT resources and related infrastructure and lack of technical support were the main hurdles towards ICT integration in school administration in public secondary schools in Githunguri Sub County, Kiambu County, Kenya. The study recommends that the ministry of Education in conjunction with the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development should come up with tailor made ICT integration programs to impart relevant skills, knowledge and attitude to school administrators.
Keywords: Management, infusion, information technology, functional integration, strengths