Abstract:
This study was designed to examine the quality of public primary education of schools in
Jigjiga administration city of Somali regional State. School leadership practices and challenges
that may be deteriorating their efforts to improve quality education was the focus of
the study. To carry out the study descriptive research encompassing both qualitative and
quantitative was employed. Primary and secondary data of the research were collected
through questionnaire distributed to 187 research respondents including teachers and community
representatives such as PTA and KETB selected using stratified, simple random and
available sampling techniques. In addition, further supplementary was collected from school
principals and Jigjiga administration education office experts through Interviews and document
analysis and the data was analyzed using frequency and percentages and then discussed
quantitatively and qualitatively. Thus, the study found that school leaderships were
unable to define and communicate school vision and missions, most of them did not have
the required professional competencies, unable to frame school goals and manage instructional
program, promote school climate and involve stakeholders in school management
process. Furthermore, the study also revealed that heavy workload , lack of instructional materials
, poor communication , shortage of time to perform instructional activities , unsatisfactory
communication between the staff the school leadership , lack of in service training in
the areas of instruction both for teachers and school leadership were the most serious factors
that hindered their efforts in improving quality education. As a result, it was recommended
that the concerned educational authority to build the leadership capacity of school principals
by providing frequent in-service and pre-service as well so that their performance can be
improved. School leadership should also be very proactive in managing teaching and learning
process by cooperatively and collaboratively working with stakeholders and overcome
critical factors that hamper their effectiveness by employing shared leadership styles. The
school leadership should give due attention on quality of the primary school, particularly
instructional improvement.
