Resources Allocation as an Institutional Determinant of Strategic Plan Implementation in Public Secondary Schools in Kenya.

Resources Allocation as an Institutional Determinant of Strategic Plan Implementation in Public Secondary Schools in Kenya.

Jeremiah Mulinge Kawinzi¹ Dr. Redempta Kiilu² &Dr. Janet Mulwa³

¹Ph.D Candidate, ²Lecturer, ³Senior Lecturer

School of Education, Department of Educational Administration and Planning South Eastern Kenya University, Kenya.

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2024.801033

Received: 29 December 2023; Accepted: 01 January 2024; Published: 28 January 2024

ABSTRACT

The study sought to examine the influence of school resource allocation on Strategic plan implementation. The study used a descriptive survey research design. The study targeted 351 public secondary schools, 351 public school principals, 1,404 class teachers and 1,755 academic Heads of Departments from which the sample of 105 principals, 176 academic Heads of Departments and 140 class teachers were derived. The respondents were sampled using stratified sampling technique. A questionnaire and an interview guide were the data collection instruments. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze data. Data was presented by used of frequency distribution tables and pie charts. Pearson’s product moment correlation coefficient and multiple linear regression was used to analyze the inferential data. The set level of hypothesis testing was at 0.05 level of significance. This may be significant to the school Board of Management policy makers in terms of know-how skills formulation, implementation and evaluation of strategic plan. This study found that resource allocation does not influence strategic plan implementation. Based on these findings, the study recommends that; the Government need to provide enough funds at the right time to finance the implementation of the schools’ strategic plan and to ensure schools have enough physical resources, enough human resources, and adequate learning resources. The researcher conducted Hypothesis testing using a multiple regression model at the 5 percent level of significance. The results of hypothesis testing gave a negative coefficient of -0.0168 on resource allocation was realized with a p-value of 0.714 which was not statistically significant at the 0.05 level. . Hence we fail to reject the hypothesis that, resource allocation has no effect on strategic plan implementation. This indicates that, resource allocation does not have a statistically significant effect on strategic plan implementation in public secondary schools in Machakos County.

Key words:  Strategic Plan, Implementation, Public Secondary Schools, Kenya

INTRODUCTION

In the whole globe education is recognized as a basic human right for all children. This is in line with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural organization (UNESCO) each is entitled to right of education (United National Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organizational, 2009). Planning and implementing educational strategic

plans in schools has proved to be a strong means of achieving sustainable development goals (UNICEF, 2015). A strategic plan is a step-by-step guide, created by a school or organization, to map out how it will realize goals, and set a foundation so the whole company knows what will happen and what is expected Mintzberg (2004). Globally, strategic plan implementation is important for it dictates the success and failure in education. Many public and private organizations like ministries, parastatals, legal services, hospitals, financial services, and churches formulate strategic plans to track their performances.

A study conducted in Malaysia showed that the three most challenging obstacles on strategy implementation include those pertaining to the environment, management information systems, and human resource (Zakaria & Omar, 2013). Nyamwanza (2013) found out that inadequate preparation before strategy implementation accounts for the main reason as to why many organizations’ strategies fail and recommended that necessary preparations be carried out before embarking on strategy implementation. Kenya, like most emerging economies has faced challenges in expanding public healthcare coverage especially with declined resources and increased public demand for same.

Kenya is currently allocating more funds to the education sector compared to the other economic sectors. The ministry of education introduced strategic plans in schools in order to achieve the objective the objectives and goals contained in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 4). The SDG4 aims at achieving lifelong learning, equity, effective learning and relevance education. The ministry of education initiated strategic management in all schools in line with the social pillar of Vision 2030. According to the ministry of education policy, (MoE, 2012) the Ministry gives the blueprint for strategic plans where all the schools must prepare a strategic plan.  The big problem facing strategic plan is implementation. This will lead to a challenge of national realization of overall educational goals and objectives. The study sought to identify in depth how resource allocation in school development plans in public secondary institutions in Machakos County influence the strategic plan implementation.

The Sessional Paper No. 1 of 2005 on Education, led to changes in expected returns on investment in education in terms of productivity and skilled manpower through a Sector Wide Approach to Planning (SWAP). Though the emphasis was on the access, relevance, equity, quality and the strengthening of governance and management, the expected outcomes on investment in education was to equip all the citizens of Kenya with basic quality education as well as training. Education sector in Kenya has for long time been faced by several changes according to the global goals of education, which forms the wider delimitation of the national policy, set out in the Economic Recovery Strategy (ERS) and domesticated in the Sessional Paper No. 1 of 2005, on a policy on Education Policy, Training and Research.

A research study carried out by Omboi and Mucai (2011) to examine the determinants influencing strategic plan implementation of Government Tertiary schools, Meru central District asserted that strategic plan implementation is strongly affected by resource allocation. Resources can be allocated by the board of management and firm leadership. The study found out that enough allocation of equitable resources of human factors like inadequate staffing is a barrier to the strategic plan implementation of the council. The current study dug deeper to investigate how other resources within learning institution contribute towards strategic plan implementation in public secondary schools in Machakos County, Kenya.

Strategic plans are very important instruments in the current times of performance contracting in Kenyan education changes. Many institutions of education have formulated strategic plans in line with their needs, objectives and status. In the year 2003, the ministry of education made it a requirement for schools to formulate a domestic strategic plan document to help them development. Canole’s (1999) and Lane et al.’s (2005) found out that there is a positive relationship between strategic plan implementation general institution performance and strategic plan terms of structures, co-curricular activities, and resources. Proper implementation of strategic plans greatly contribute to great achievement in institutional success all round. The ministry of education made strategic plan in the year 2006 and required schools to made domestic strategic plans.  All the schools adopted this ministerial policy. In as much as many studies have asserted that there are challenges   facing the implementation of strategic plan in Kenya, Abdikadir (2015); Nakhumicha (2014); David (2012); Onkundi (2011), it is vital to ensure that implementation matrix varies from one organization to another. Many studies have been conducted in Kenya, but their outcomes are not generalizable to contexts such as Machakos County. In addition, resource allocation in school development plans were not studied in depth as possible determinants of strategic plan  implementation in these public secondary schools in Machakos County. Schools formulated strategic plans since it is the requirement from the ministry of education. However, statistics from County Director of Education points that out of the 351 public secondary schools, only 25% have embraced the strategic plan implementation in the schools’ general progress. This alarming low statistics despite the government policy to embrace performance based approaches one of which being strategic plan implementation. It is against this background that the researcher was interested in conducting this study on institutional determinants of strategic plan implementation in public secondary schools in Machakos County, Kenya.

Siambi (2021) did a study to evaluate resource allocation influence on the implementation of strategic plan in universities in Juddah, Saudi Arabia.. The study outcomes indicates that the barriers to the successful strategic plan implementation were insufficient resources.

In the study Mariam (2015) to investigate the influence of resource allocation on strategic plan implementation in public secondary schools in Dodoma region, Tanzania. The researcher found out that there was a positive and significant correlation between strategic plan implementation and resources allocation in public secondary school.

Mukabi (2020) did a research to study the effects of resource allocation on the strategic plan implementation in public secondary institutions in Kakamenga County, Kenya. The study found out a positive correlation between the resource allocation and strategic plan implementation in public secondary school. The research recommended for additional resources should be allocated to public secondary schools to facilitate smooth implementation of the strategic plan in public secondary schools.

Mulandi (2022) did a study on the effect of resources allocation on the strategic plan implementation in Katulani Sub County, Kitui County. The research outcomes indicated a positive significant relationship between the resource allocation and strategic plan implementation in public institutions. The research recommended that government has an obligation of channeling more financial resources in schools for successful implementation of strategic plan. The researcher further recommended that institutional principals should come up with other income generating activities for the purpose of boosting the strategic plan implementation in public secondary institutions.

Kakle (2023) carried out research to investigate influence of resource allocation on strategic plan implementation in public secondary institutions in Taita Taveta County Kenya. The study found out that public secondary institutions in Taita Taveta formulated strategic plan with set objectives and goals.  The study found out that 98% of the prepared strategic plan had been implemented. The study found out that lack of adequate resources in public secondary schools was a major factor which negatively affected the implementation stage of the strategic plan. The searcher asserted positive statistically relationship between resource allocation and strategic plan implementation in public secondary schools.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE

This study was guided by the following objective:

1. Examining the influence of resources allocation on the implementation of the strategic plan in public secondary schools in Machakos County.

METHODOLOGY

The researcher used descriptive survey research design to analyze data. Inferential data analysis was done using Pearson’s Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient and multiple linear regression. The study targeted 351 Public Secondary School principals, 1,404class teachers and 1,755 academic HoDs from which a sample of 105 principals, 176 academic HoDs and 140 class teachers was derived. Stratified sampling technique was used to sample the respondents. A questionnaire and an interview guide were the data collection tools. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze data. The data was presented by use of frequency distribution tables and pie charts. Pearson’s product-moment correlation Coefficient and multiple Linear Regression was used to analyze the inferential data.

RESULTS

Influence of Resources Allocation on the Implementation of the Strategic Plan

This study sought to determine the influence of resource allocation on the implementation of strategic plan where Table 1 and table 2 gives the responses of principals and class teachers and HoDs on the various indicators of resource allocation in public secondary schools in Machakos County.  Resource allocation was measured using five indicators for the class teachers and HoDs but six indicators were used for the school principals. Mean and standard deviation (SD) statistics for each questionnaire items were tabulated. The findings of table 1 and table 2 are as indicated respectively.

Table 1: Responses of Principals on Influence of Resource Allocation on the Implementation of Strategic Plan

Results in 1 have shown that 9.52 percent of the school Principals agreed with the statement that funds provided by the Government are enough and come at the right time while 89.52 percent of the school Principals disagreed with the statement that funds provided by the Government are enough and come at the right time. Moreover, 48.57 percent of the school Principals agreed with the statement that parents pay their fees on time to enable the implementation of programmes while 47.61 percent of the school Principals disagreed with the statement that parents pay their fees on time to enable the implementation of programmes. The school Principals who agreed with the statement that the school has enough physical resources were 7.62 percent while 83.81 percent of the school Principals disagreed with the statement that the school has enough physical resources. In addition, 8.57 percent of the school Principals agreed with the statement that the school has enough human resources while 89.52 percent of the school Principals disagreed with the statement that the school has enough human resources. Furthermore, 34.29 percent of the school Principals agreed with the statement that the school has adequate learning resources while 60.95 percent of the school Principals disagreed with the statement that the school has adequate learning resources. The school Principals who agreed with the statement that there is enough finance to implement your strategic plan were 7.62 percent while 90.48 percent of the school Principals disagreed with the statement that there is enough finance to implement your strategic plan. The mean scale rating for the school Principals ranged from 1.390 to 3.057 indicating that the school Principals disagreed with regard to resource allocation in public secondary schools in Machakos County. In particular, a mean rating of 1.390 for the statement “funds provided by the Government are enough and come at the right time” (SD=1.061), and a mean rating of 1.419 for the statement “there is enough finance to implement their strategic plan”. These indicates that the school Principals strongly disagreed with the statement that funds provided by the Government are enough and come at the right time, and  that there is enough finance to implement their strategic plan in public secondary schools in Machakos County. In addition, a mean rating of 1.638 for the statement “the school has enough physical resources” (SD=1.048), a mean rating of 2.000 for the statement “the school has enough human resources” (SD=0.855) and a mean rating of 2.419 for the statement “the school has adequate learning resources” (SD=1.343). These indicates that the school Principals disagreed with the statement that the school has enough physical resources, enough human resources, adequate learning resources in public secondary schools in Machakos County.

This study sought to establish from the class teachers and HoDs, the influence of resource allocation on the implementation of strategic plan, the findings are as indicated in table 2.

Table 2: Responses of Class Teachers and HoDs on Influence of Resource Allocation on the Implementation of Strategic Plan

The results given in table 2 have indicated that 33.68 percent of the class teachers and HoDs agreed with the statement that the strategic plan provides guidelines for the school budget while 65.99 percent of the class teachers and HoDs disagreed with the statement that the strategic plan provides guidelines for the school budget. Moreover, 51.36 percent of the class teachers and HoDs agreed with the statement that the school strategic plan implementation is always budgeted for while 47.95 percent of the class teachers and HoDs disagreed with the statement that the school strategic plan implementation is always budgeted. The class teachers and HoDs who agreed with the statement that the school sources adequate funds for the strategic plan implementation were 57.83 percent while 40.48 percent of the class teachers and HoDs disagreed with the statement that the school sources adequate funds for the strategic plan implementation. In addition, 52.04 percent of the class teachers and HoDs agreed with the statement that there is adequate physical facilities needed for strategic plan implementation while 45.58 percent of the class teachers and HoDs disagreed with the statement that there is adequate physical facilities needed for strategic plan implementation. Furthermore, 54.76 percent of the class teachers and HoDs agreed with the statement that the school strives to recruit suitable staff for strategic plan implementation while 43.88 percent of the class teachers and HoDs disagreed with the statement that the school strives to recruit suitable staff for strategic plan implementation. The average scale rating for the class teachers and HoDs ranged from 2.333 to 3.245 indicating that the class teachers and HoDs were neutral with regard to resource allocation in public secondary schools in Machakos County. The highest mean rating of 3.245 was for the statement “The school strives to recruit suitable staff for strategic plan implementation” (SD=1.602). The statement with the lowest mean rating of 2.333 was “The strategic plan provides guidelines for the school budget” (SD=1.688) in which the class teachers and HoDs disagreed that the strategic plan provides guidelines for the school budget.

An analysis of resources allocation on the Implementation of the Strategic Plan as presented in table 1, shows that 89.52 percent of the school Principals disagreed with the statement that finances availed  by the Government is adequate and is deposited in schools’ accounts in time, 83.81 percent of the school Principals disagreed with the statement that the school has enough physical resources, although 52.04 percent of the class teachers and HoDs agreed with the statement that there is adequate physical facilities needed for strategic plan implementation. In addition, 89.52 percent of the school Principals disagreed with the statement that the school has enough human resources while 54.76 percent of the class teachers and HoDs agreed with the statement that the school strives to recruit suitable staff for strategic plan implementation. Furthermore, 60.95 percent of the school Principals disagreed with the statement that the school has adequate learning resources and 90.48 percent of the school Principals disagreed with the statement that there is enough finance to implement your strategic plan although 57.83 percent of the class teachers and HoDs agreed with the statement that the school sources adequate funds for the strategic plan implementation.

Based on the interview guide the average size of school land in acres was 4.78; the average transport in terms of bus and van was 0.71; the mean number of classes were 13.08, laboratories were 1.93, dormitories/hostels were 4.76, and staff houses were 8.91. Furthermore from the interview guide the average number of teaching staff and non-teaching staff were 32.18 and 13.97 respectively. The interview guide also revealed that during the last five years the school has undertaken development projects namely on average 3.79 class rooms, 1.08 laboratories, and 1.39 dormitories. The average approximate costs was KShs 5,707,536 class cost, KShs 5,303,867 laboratory cost, and KShs 4,700,787 dormitory cost.

Hypothesis Testing for the Influence of Resources Allocation on the Implementation of Strategic Plans

The researcher did Hypothesis testing using a multiple regression model at the 5 percent level of significance. The results of hypothesis testing gave a negative coefficient of -0.0168 on resource allocation was realized with a p-value of 0.714 which was not statistically significant at the 0.05 level. Hence we fail to reject the hypothesis that, resource allocation has no effect on strategic plan implementation. This indicates that, resource allocation does not have a statistically significant effect on strategic plan implementation in public secondary schools in Machakos County.

DISCUSSION OF THE RESEARCH FINDINGS

Influence of Resources Allocation on the Implementation of the Strategic Plan

The study was also guided the third research objective examined influence of resources allocation on the implementation of the strategic plan in public secondary schools in Machakos County. Findings from second objective are indicated in table 4.9, table 4.10 and table 4.16 indicated that based results from the multiple regression produced a negative coefficient of -0.0168 on resource allocation with a p-value of 0.714 and not statistically significant at 0.05 level. Hence we fail to reject the hypothesis that, resource allocation has an effect on strategic plan implementation. This indicates that, resource allocation did not have statistically significant effect on strategic plan implementation in public secondary schools in Machakos County. The research outcomes negates those deduced by Nyadeje (2014) in Homabay County, Kenya that there is a correlation between strategic plan implementation and resources availability. Additionally, the study negates findings by Adoniyi (2014) in Nigeria which showed that resource allocation in the implementation of strategic plan is significantly related to effective administration for principals in secondary schools.

The negative sign and lack of statistical significance is attributed to the fact that the school Principals on average disagreed with regard to resource allocation in public secondary schools in Machakos County. In particular, Principals strongly disagreed with the statement that finances availed by Government are adequate are deposited in the schools accounts in time, and that there is enough finance to implement their strategic plan in public secondary schools in Machakos County. Moreover, institutional Principals disagreed with the statement that institutions have adequate physical resources, sufficient human resources, and enough teaching resources in public secondary schools in Machakos County. Similarly, lack of statistically significant influence of school structure on strategic plan implementation was as a result of the class teachers and HoDs who were neutral with regard to resource allocation parameters such as “the school strives to recruit suitable staff for strategic plan implementation” in public secondary schools in Machakos County. The negative sign is attributed to the class teachers and HoDs score in they disagreed with the statement that the strategic plan provides guidelines for the school budget. This outcomes agrees with the findings of Nyadeje (2014) in Homabay County, Kenya that many schools have no sufficient funds for strategic plan implementation and that most schools rely on government capitation to implement their strategic plans.  Similarly, Adoniyi (2014) in Nigeria, asserted that for successful implementation of strategic plans the government should slot money to public secondary schools.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Emanating in line with study results and the conclusions thereof, this research made the following recommendation that: The Government need to provide enough funds at the right time to finance the implementation of the schools’ strategic plan which provide guidelines for the school budget and to ensure schools have enough physical resources, enough human resources, and adequate learning resources are in public secondary schools in Machakos County. Other researchers can study in other  regions outside  machakos to evaluate the infleucce of resource allocatation on  strategic plan implemention.

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