IMPLEMENTATIONAND CHALLENGES OF SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM IN THE SECONDARY SCHOOLS OF KELLEM WOLLEGA ZONE, OROMIA, ETHIOPIA

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the Implementation and Challenges of School Improvement Plan in the Secondary Schools of Kellem Wollega Zone, Oromia, Ethiopiain order to identify the strengths and weakness and then to provide feasible recommendations for the identified problems. To this end, answers to the basic questions pertaining to the planning and implementation practices of SIP, stakeholders’ involvement, implementation strategy and monitoring and evaluation mechanism, and potential challenges encountered in SIP process were sought in the study. To this end a descriptive survey design was employed for the study. The study was conducted in 3 schools selected by usind simple random sampling method. One school was selected by using purposive sampling for pilot testing. Through the application of sample random sampling;15 school leaders, 72 teachers, 571 students, 6 PTA members, 6 KETB and 6 SIC from three sample woredas out of 11 total woredas and 1 town administration. The data collected through questionnaire were analyzed quantitatively in terms of numbers, percentages and average mean. In addition to this, interview were analyzed , interpreted and reported qualitatively. The findings of this study indicate that extent to which schools organized necessary resources such as human power for SIP implementation, the extent to which schools involve teachers and students in the implementation of SIP, the degree to which teachers and students gained information and training in relation to SIP and the degree to which principals and department heads involve in plan Implementation practices were found to be good. This implies that the secondary schools of the zone were found at the best beginning in school improvement planning. On the other hand, the study has revealed that the financial and material resources that the school organized for SIP implementation, the extent to which parents and community gained information and training for SIP implementation, the schools were not yet developed their internal capacity that enables them to solve so many problems that were challenging them in school improvement planning. Therefore, it is recommended that, Woreda administration office and Woreda educational office should work effectively with schools and consider the case in depth and try to allocate adequate budget based on need identification for secondary education activities so that they could cope with the growing number of students. On top of this, creating awareness and enabling environment for stakeholders like community, parents and NGOs to share the expected financial burden should also be emphasized. On the other hand, the school leaders and different committees appointed in the schools should be collaboratively work with all stakeholders to develop the sense of ownership of the school and help schools as a source of income to solve the problem of materials and equipment is identified in the study.