Financial Resources Allocation Practices for Management of Secondary Schools in Rivers State

Abstract

The study determined the Financial Resources Allocation Practices for Management of Secondary Schools in Rivers State. Four research questions and four hypotheses guided the study. The study also adopted descriptive survey design. The population of study was 263 participants, and the sample was 164 participants comprising 148 principals of junior secondary schools and 16 staff of the State Universal Basic Education Board. The researcher designed an instrument for data collection titled “Financial Resource Allocation Practices Questionnaire” (FRAPQ) for principals of junior secondary schools and staff of State Universal Basic Education Board. The research questions were analyzed using mean and standard deviation statistics while z-test statistic was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 levels of significance. The findings revealed that the major financial allocation practices adopted for schools were funds from administrative charges parent-teacher association (as internal sources)and funds from the Universal Basic Education Board (as external practice); the challenges were high rate of corruption and misappropriation by school administrator among others while strategies such as strict adherence to government approved administrative charges and regular check against misappropriation of funds should become the norm among school administrators. Four hypotheses were tested significant and two not significant. It was concluded that the financial practices observed among schools’ administrators would not contribute to quality management of schools unless the strategies identified will be consciously implemented to avert the challenging forces, Hence, the government and school administrators should strive for more financial management practices to argument ones; and the government’s annual budget should be planned to specify monetary value for each school’s needs and such money also released to the school; and principals should be regularly monitored and checked on the effective use of the school budget for quality management of secondary schools in Rivers State.