Resultados según Objetivos específicos:

School governing bodies in Southern Sudan are an expression of democratic process of engaging the community to participate in the governance and management of the school

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(Southern Sudan Education Act, 2008). Evidences from research have maintained that most of the Sub-Saharan African governments have created formal educational structures [School Management Committee (SMC) and Parent Teachers Association (PTA)] that enhance community participation in school governance (World Bank, 2008). Indeed for the community to be effective and to be able to hold the schools accountable the community should have skills in accessing school information and the schools have to make information easily accessed by the community. This study has revealed that the school governing bodies that represent the community in the governance and management of the schools lacked training on their roles. For example this has been pointed by one of the informants that:

[We] are not trained about what we are supposed to be doing at the school. We were appointed by the government and since then we are not trained on our executive roles. I am just using my mobilization and managerial skills in managing my team.... and because of lack of training for the members, four of my members in the committee have withdrawn from being members of School Management Committee. (Male SMC Chairperson of School B: 3rd August, 2009)

This lack of training and or skills to perform their roles resulted to withdrawal of some executive members from performing their assigned roles in the governance and management of the schools under study therefore this presents a limitation in the quest to holding of the Head teachers and teachers accountable by the SMC and PTA who represent the community in this matter and is an obstacle to educational decentralization.

According to the informants the government as a policy maker is responsible for the training of the school governing bodies (SMC and PTA), Head teachers and the teachers, but this has not always been the case as there has been lack of training materials although my experience reveals that the NGOs all along the period of the war have trained limited members of the SMC and the PTA. The NGOs could not do much; beside the NGOs do not have the mandate to develop government policies and manuals for the training. Therefore lack of training has been presented in this study as an obstacle for community participation in school governance and management.

Analysing from the data above one can hold the view that the roles of the SMC and the PTA to some extent, are underperformed based on the fact that some of the members are inactive (see chapter four); and this is due to lack of training on the roles of the SMCs and the PTAs as reported by both SMCs and PTAs Chairpersons of both schools A and B of this study. The lack of training on managerial skills is assumed that it may limit the performance of the SMCs and the PTAs in school governance and management. Indeed community participation

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in school governance and management is viewed essential; and evidences from research have revealed that the community that is represented by the SMC and the PTA in school governance and administrative structure face a limitation of lack of training in order to perform their roles in the governance and management of the schools in most of the developing countries (World Bank, 2008). And that for the communities to be able to hold the schools accountable the school governing bodies must know the standards to which schools can be held accountable (ibid) which in this case to some extent the community in this study lacks as per the data.

For instance this is in line with evidence from research which maintains that in most cases when it comes to decision making process the elite manipulates and take advantage of the SMC and PTA who represent the community in the governance and management of the school (Daun, 2007 & EFA Global Monitoring Report, 2009). I tend to suggest that community representatives must be empowered with skills on school governance and management so as to have a genuine participation in the governance and management of the schools and to be able to hold the teachers and Head teachers accountable. As Fullan (2007) argue that for the SMCs and the PTAs to improve educational quality the SMCs and the PTAs as the school governing bodies have to be empowered to bring educational change. In other words for the community to be able to participate fully in the governance and management of the school, so as to improve educational quality and school governance, empowering the community with skills in the governance and management of the school is overarching in achieving the intent of community participation in school governance and management in this policy of educational decentralization in Southern Sudan.

On the other hand in the context of this study I want to acknowledge that despite the lack of training on managerial skills, the community of this study have been performing their roles as the SMCs and PTAs members of the schools are (a) literate persons with experiences on financial and human resources management and control (b) the SMC and PTA members are actively involved in the governance and management of the school with exception of few who do not show up (see chapter four). This is evident in the fact that the PTA and SMC of the two schools for this study are skilled persons and only that they lacked training on their roles in the governance and management of the school; and I was able to realize this in my informal conversation with the informants. It is therefore my belief that if the SMCs and the PTAs are given relevant skills they can deliver quality services to their schools on behalf of the community and the parents.

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5.2.3 Mismatch of authority between SMC, PTA and the Head teacher

In what Fullan (2007) refer to as the power of the three; the teacher, pupil and the parent who in this case are stakeholders in the schools of this study, I found some mismatch and or conflicting ideas in terms of the relationship within the school governing bodies which represent the community in the governance and administrative structure of the school, in terms of authority and or decision making and appointment and this posed another limitation as there are administrative and managerial conflicts within the school governance and administrative structure.

This study found that there is a mismatch between the SMC, PTA and the Head teacher in the school governance and administrative structure in regards to roles, power and authority. The data revealed that the SMC is an appointed body; and some of the members of the SMC executive body are nominated by the Head teachers. Two of the members of the SMC executive body are elected by the Parents and totalling to nine executive members. Meanwhile the PTA executive members are democratically elected by the Parents. The SMC is revealed by the data as the authority in the school, and the Head teacher is the legal authority in the school; and on the other hand the Head teacher is employed by the PTA. Analysing the data from this view point it presents that there are role conflicts between the SMC, PTA and the Head teacher. It can be deduced that since the Head teacher is the one nominating some of the SMC members he or she may nominate people who are related to him or her, or people who cannot question his or her creditability in the governance and management of the school; and on the other hand the SMC members who are nominated by the Head teachers faces conflicting loyalty, while the Head teacher will also face conflicting loyalty as he or she relates with the SMC and the PTA who are his or her employers in the governance and management of the school. In a way there is conflicting loyalty between the SMC, PTA and the Head teachers which proves to be a limitation and a challenge to the SMC, PTA and the Head teacher in the governance and management of the school.

Role conflict occurs when there are contradictory expectations held by an individual occupying a position; “the conflict can occur between roles, within a role or within a role set” (Bush & Middlewood, p. 71). For example when people are either uncertain about their own or others roles or positions and or when people appear to have overlapping in power and authority for when equal powers are given to both Head teacher and the Deputy Head teacher and or the SMC and the Head teacher in school which is evident in the data presented in chapter four. For instance there is hierarchical conflict between different expectations about

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power and authority in the school governance and administrative structure a case in point is the authority and power of the Head teacher and that of the Chairperson of the SMC and the PTA as analysed above.

In line with the above conflicting roles between the SMC, PTA and the Head teacher, a study by Daun (2007) stated that:

.... At one extreme, practically all power stays with the principal, and the other members are just to give advice or legitimize the headteacher‟s proposals. At the other extreme, the principal is recruited by the site council or board and be fired if the site board is not satisfied with his or her performance. (p. 42)

In order words the Head teacher is in tension and or in role conflict as he or she is seen as the authority in the school. At the same time the SMC is the legal wing of the government with a vested authority and leadership to oversee all the activities in the school, and at the same time the PTA whose authority and leadership is mandated by the community and the parents is the employer of the Head teacher. I tend to argue here that the mismatch between the SMC, PTA and the Head teacher may have been due to lack of clarity on the roles of the SMC and PTA, and lack of training on the roles of the SMC, PTA and the Head teachers for some of the Head teachers lack managerial and leadership skills. On the other hand I tend to suggest that if the SMC, PTA and the Head teachers are given training on their managerial and leadership roles and responsibilities these conflicts or mismatch will be limited as some of these conflicts will be rectified in the training.