Capacitaciones

Schools receive revenue from many sources including secondary education subsidies. Mobegi, Ondigi and Simatwa (2012) noted that financial accountability is one of the major responsibilities of the school board and the school head. In this regard, it is essential that public funds including secondary education funds be directed effectively and used for the purpose for which they are allocated.

It is highly acknowledged that management plays a very important role in the provision of education at all levels. It is therefore essential to ensure that there is effective and efficient management system in place for delivery of education. The World Bank (2008) defined management in relation to school subsidy as the processes and practices established by legislation or through practice to realise educational funding objectives at the level of the school where the education system holds itself responsible for delivering the appropriate services and meeting its goals for educating students.

Government statutes usually include sections outlining the financial principles and practices which boards and heads must follow to achieve accountability for the funds they collect and receive to run their schools (UNESCO, 2009). The Ministry that overlooks educational issues also issues financial regulations from time to time whereby audited accounts of a given financial period must be submitted to facilitate financial decisions on, for example, allocation of grants and giving of loans (UNESCO, 2009).

In the context of school fund management, Rechebei (2010), asserts that accountability may take other additional meanings:

(i) the act of compliance with the rules and regulations of school governance; (ii) reporting to those with oversight authority over the school and

(iii) linking rewards and sanctions to expected results. Accountability in relation to management of school subsidy is therefore seen as a demand for efficiency, effectiveness and being held responsible for failure to meet expectations.

Heads of public schools prepare budgets for their schools and administer the funds each year. The budget serves as a guide to spending the school funds. The budget, according to Bisschoff (2003), is a mission statement of a school expressed in monetary terms. How the income is divided depends on the mission statement. The budget must reflect the school’s prioritised educational objectives, seek to achieve the efficient use of funds and to be subjected to regular, effective financial monitoring (Mestry, 2004).

The schools prepare the budget and administer school funds. This is because schools are state institutions and heads are expected by law to be accountable for the funds they manage. They account to all stakeholders who contribute to the school fund. Governments in Sub-Saharan Africa are seeking ways to improve the quality of secondary education in their countries. Governments worldwide are turning to school leaders to improve educational quality and are responding to greater demands for accountability from the public for the education system in which children are learning (World Bank, 2008).

Contemporarily, school leadership is becoming more challenging. Therefore, empowering school leaders is essential in making them more efficient. However, Bimpeh (2012) notes that making school leaders self-governing requires the institutionalisation of higher accountability mechanisms.

According to Nwadiani and Igbineweka (2005), there is a strong relationship between funds disbursement and accountability systems. Public expenditure is channelled through

government departments which are authorised to budget and spend money in the provisions of public utilities (Esser, 2010).

Public entities such as schools that utilise public resources for public service delivery can only be coerced to account for the resources allocated, used and spent through monitoring by external agencies (Mullins, 2010). Gautam (2009) describes the ways used by public agencies in overseeing the use of public funds as involving the total adherence to internal controls as measures put in place to limit the potential risk of fraud and mismanagement of finances. In a system where resources are properly managed, substantial benefits accrue to schools by way of high productivity and reduced wastage. Poor academic performance in most schools seems to have reached an epitome in the wake of the alleged inconsistencies in funds disbursement due to inadequate monitoring (World Bank, 2005).

Dubnik (2010) explains various modes of enforcing financial accountability using sources of control which are either internal or external and degree of control being tight or loose. Jamil, (2010) notes that external mechanism for enforcing accountability in public places include the legislature probing into the use of funds, control of political executives over public agencies, public hearings , interest groups, opinion polls and the use of the media.

Generally, to promote efficiency in the management of secondary education subsidies, the schools’ authorities must become more goal-oriented. In addition, there is the need to establish transparent and responsible expenditure mechanisms with increased accountability. To achieve this, requires the use of generally acceptable financial reporting procedures by school administrators.

In summary, there seems to be several issues associated with subsidising secondary education including equity, affordability, sustainability and efficiency. While some governments may be reluctant to subsidise education, the positive returns from this investment will significantly outweigh the costs. Many of the developing nations have thus realised that the principal mechanism for developing human capital is the education system. Thus, they invest large sums of money in education, not only as an attempt to

impart knowledge and skills to individuals, but also to impart values, ideas, attitudes and aspirations, which may be in the nation’s best developmental interest.