Practices and Challenges of Educational Material Resources Management in Government Secondary Schools of Kaffa Zone

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the practice and challenges of educational material resources management in government secondary schools of Kaffa zone. To achieve the stated objective of the study, descriptive survey research design was employed in this study and a mixed method was used to conduct the study. Questionnaires of both closed and open-ended questions were designed and distributed to collect data from 106 teachers and 60 school leaders(principals, unit leaders and department heads) were selected by using simple random sampling techniques. unstructured interviews were also conducted with 6 PSTA chairman, 6 store keepers and 3 WEO,Becouse,away to understand the complex behaviorof people without imposing any aprior categorization which might limit the field of inquiry(punch 1998). Document analysis was also a part of this study. The quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive (mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics of independent sample (t-test) while the qualitative data (open ended questions, documents analysis and interview) were analyzed using content analysis approach. The finding of the study found that (teacher, M= 1.91, SD= 0.67) and (school leaders, M= 1.90, SD= 0.67) purchasing conducted in the school did not fulfill the need of all sub-units of the school and the school did not manage the distribution of purchased materials to the sub units of the school and (teachers, M= 1.91, SD= 0.71) whereas (school leaders, M= 1.77, SD= 0.78) there were no collaborative performance of staff in material distribution. Regarding the management of educational material resources planning and utilization, the result of the study illustrated that (school leaders M= 1.78, SD= 0.53) and (teachers, M= 1.60, SD= 0.52) teaching and non-teaching staff were not involved in realizing the proper planning and utilization of material resources and (school leaders, M= 2.25, SD= 0.63 and (teachers, M= 2.23, SD= 0.54) there were no continues usage of inventory control system. Based on the findings, one can conclude that misuse of educational material resources negatively affects the management of educational material resources and this in turn affects the quality of teaching-learning process in secondary schools of Kaffa zone. The secondary school leaders were preparing material resource planning without participation of the stakeholders. Also educational material resources were not identified, arranged, recorded and coded properly in the warehouse. There were poor coordination among WEO and secondary schools about management of educational materials resources planning and utilization. Inventory controlling system was very poor in secondary schools. Furthermore top manager’s interference that means the command of education officers was the main problems happened in secondary schools of Kaffa zone. Therefore, this study recommended that WEO should employ the right person such as trained lab technician, librarian, record officer at the right place and made continuous inventory controlling system in each secondary school. Also proper training on educational material resource management system was needed for principals, teachers and store keepers. To overcome the problems related with management of educational materials resources planningandutilizationactivities,schools should prepare proper specification in advance and based on the requested specifications purchase quality materials