TOPIC 6

SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT
a) School boards of Management
According to the Basic education Act of 2013, the Board of management of schools consist of
the following members appointed by the County Education Board:

 Six persons elected to represent parents of the pupils in the school or local community in
the case of county secondary schools;

 One person nominated by the County Education Board;

 One representative of the teaching staff in the school elected by the teachers;

 Three representatives of the sponsors of the school;

 One person to represent special groups in the community;

 One person to represent persons with special needs;

 One representative of the students’ council who shall be an ex officio member

The chairperson the Board of Management is elected amongst the members of the board. For
public schools sponsored by faith-based organizations, the Chairperson of the Board of
Management is appointed by the County Education Board in consultation with the sponsor. For a
public school, the chairperson of the Board of Management is elected by the members in their
first meeting.

In appointing persons as members of a board of management, the nominating and appointing

authority shall observe and respect:

(a) The ethnic and regional diversity of the people of Kenya;

(b) Impartiality and gender equity; and

(c) Article 10 and Chapter Six of the Constitution.

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(2) The Board of Management may from time to time co-opt into its membership such persons as
it is satisfied possess skills and experience to assist in the discharge of the Board’s functions.

(3) The number of members of the Board of Management co-opted under subsection (2) shall not
exceed three at any particular time and such members do not have a right to vote at the meetings
of the Board.

(4) The members of the Board of Management shall elect their chairperson from amongst
themselves provided that the member to be so elected shall not be a person who was appointed
under subsection (1)(c).

(5) For public schools sponsored by faith-based organizations, the Chairperson of the Board of
Management shall be appointed by the County Education Board in consultation with the sponsor.
(6) For a public school, the chairperson of the Board of Management shall be elected by the
members in their first meeting.

(7) Despite subsection (5), a faith-based sponsor who does not make a significant contribution
and impact to a school or institution as contemplated under section 2 of the Act shall not be
consulted in the appointment of the chairperson of the Board of Management of that school or
institution.
According to the functions of the Board of Management of a basic education institution
shall be to-
(a) Promote the best interests of the institution and ensure its development;
(b) Promote quality education for all pupils in accordance with the standards set under this Act or
any other written law;
(c) Ensure and assure the provision of proper and adequate physical facilities for the institution;
(d) Manage the institution’s affairs in accordance with the rules and regulations governing the
occupational safety and health;
(e) Advise the County Education Board on the staffing needs of the institution;
(f) Determine cases of pupils’ discipline and make reports to the County Education Board;
(g) Prepare a comprehensive termly report on all areas of its mandate and submit the report to the
County Education Board;

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(h) Facilitate and ensure the provision of guidance and counseling to all learners;
(i) Provide for the welfare and observe the human rights and ensure safety of the pupils, teachers
and non-teaching staff at the institution;
(j) Encourage a culture of dialogue and participatory democratic governance at the institution;
(k) Promote the spirit of cohesion, integration, peace, tolerance, inclusion, elimination of hate
speech, and elimination of tribalism at the institution;
(l) Encourage the learners, teachers and non-teaching staff and other, parents and the community,
and other stakeholders to render voluntary services to the institution;
(m) Allow reasonable use of the facilities of the institution for community, social and other
lawful purposes, subject to such reasonable and equitable conditions as it may determine
including the charging of a fee;
(n) Administer and manage the resources of the institution;
(o) Receive, collect and account for any funds accruing to the institution;
(p) Recruit, employ and remunerate such number of non-teaching staff as may be required by the
institution in accordance with this Act; and
(q) Perform any other function to facilitate the implementation of its functions under this Act or
any other written law.
b) Government role in education
The following are the roles of government in education;
1. The government can subsidize education in several forms including
1. Provision of high quality education to the learners. Checks on the quality of Education
through QUASOs.
2. Provision of teacher and ensure that teachers are well paid so that they are motivated in the
provision of their services.
3. Curriculum formulation and implementation
4. Provision of teaching and learning material eg Text book
5. Provision of infrastructure like the CBC classrooms
6. Training of teacher by ensuring they subsidize education
7. Giving loans to higher education through HELB
8. Pay KNEC for Basic education examinations such as KCSE and KCPE.

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9. Provision of meals in schools in some parts of the country to school facing challenges such as
insecurity and famine.
10. Ensuring that all children get access to basic education
11. Formulates policies that govern education in Kenya
a) Centralized vs. decentralized school system and policy

Centralized

 Centralization in education is usually referred to the condition in which the administrative

authority for education is vested. The authority is not in the local community. Instead, it
is held by a central body which has complete power over all resources for example
money or budgets, information, people, and also technology.

 Centralization puts the responsibility for decision-makings at higher levels, concentrating

both authority and power at the top management.

 All decision makings and authorities are focused on the top tier of management which
may consist of few people who dictate the policy and make all the crucial decisions.

 Centralization in this case minimizes the roles or involvement of the individuals in the
bottom levels (Brennen, 2002).

 In the current practice, many believe that centralization does not fit the current trends of
participatory management, empowerment, and shared decision-making as, all educational
decisions and policies are all-round uniform. Those decisions and policies are from the
top, made by the top and should be implemented by the bottom levels.

 The curriculum, for instance is uniform regardless of relevance levels of students’ lives
and the environment. Hence, it may happen that the position and role of the students tend
to be used as an object and has less opportunity to develop their creativity and interest.

Advantages of centralization to the public.

1. Centralization develops uniformity of management since the phase of planning, management,
evaluation, and development of model of school and learning.

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2. It makes organizations becomes more efficient as all decision-makings are centralized and
planning and development gets more integrated.

3. It also reduces redundancies assets and other facilities, in which case the assets can be used
together without having to provide the same assets for different jobs.

4. It improves coordination; coordination becomes easier because of the unity of command.

Decentralized
 In decentralization, authority is passed down to the individual schools at the bottom
levels.

 The local communities or the regions then have some access to the decision makings and
policies in their areas under the supervisory of the top government

 Fiscal and decision-making authority is devolved from the higher to the lower levels of
government and organizational units. This can affect the way school systems make
policy about its resource and spending, organization of instruction (e.g. curricula,
textbooks, teaching methods, schedule), personnel management (e.g. hiring / firing, pay
scales, assigning teaching responsibilities, training), and planning and managing public
schools (Heredia-Ortiz, 2007).. Edquist, 2005). Those reasons however can 3 be
summarized in three broad categories: educational finance, efficiency and effectiveness,
and redistribution of power in education system.

 Decentralization is transmission of tasks and administrative responsibilities related to

specific functions, usually defined by central authorities. In this sense, the
decentralization of tasks does not necessarily mean a shift of power because the local
agents generally are only given the role of executing decisions that have previously been
made at a central level (Lane 1984 and Lauglo 1995 in Karlsen, 1999).

 Decentralization as devolution implies the transmission of authority and responsibility

from central to local bodies. Devolution is the only category of decentralization in which
local authority and independence are clearly increased (Karlsen, 1999).

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 Advantages of decentralization in education
1. People become involved in decision making process as well as good governance.

2. Brings public services closer to people as they have more opportunities to participate more
actively in decision-making process of local policies and activities than in the centralized one
(Saito, 2001).

3. Gives scope for creativity, resourcefulness, and personal enhancement particularly in the area
of problem solving

5. It save money by improving the efficiency of management.

6. Gives users more control over education

Disadvantageous of decentralization

1. It may foster more local royalty to regional identities than the national identity, which may put
the national integrity itself at risk (Saito, 2001).

2. Decentralization may increase corruption in education sector at local levels. This may be
related to the potential involvement they have in the decision making of certain policies and
procedures. As different areas in a country may have different resources,

3. Decentralization may encourage the development of resource-rich areas, but at the same time,
it may discourage the poor ones if control by the top is not well managed.

Assignment: Giving examples from the Kenyan education system discuss 10 functions
that have been centralized and 10 that are decentralized.

b) Effects of external examination

 An examination is a test prepared by someone outside the faculty of the school where the
examination is given (as by a testing bureau).
 It can also be defined as an exam arranged by people outside a student's own school,
college, or university.

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Governments worldwide draw to public examination systems to assess the abilities of students
for the next level of education

External examinations play a vital role in:

 The standardization in assessment.
 At the secondary and higher secondary levels, the external examinations are used to
universally decide which students are eligible for the next levels of education
 Students are promoted based on their examination scores/grades.
 Measure how well a person has learned a specific body of knowledge and
skills

Examination score is given utmost preference; consequently, both teachers and students direct all
their possible efforts to achieve desirable scores
External examination have an impact on content and methodology, teacher-designed
assessments, teachers’ attitudes, learning and school priorities and curriculum development
Researchers have found a strong correlation between the quality of external examination and
teaching-learning patterns in the schools. For instance, if certain topics or particular chapters
from prescribed books are frequently covered or ignored in the examinations; then, teachers and
students would also prioritize or ignore them accordingly.

Despite their many benefits, public examinations are criticized for promoting examination-
oriented pedagogies as the results of these examinations determine the quality and standards of
the schools

Research suggests that those institutions where examinations are conducted by external bodies
and whose performance and reputation are associated with the results, usually promote
examination- oriented teaching practices

Add more points from the notes below done by group 5.