CURRENT STATUS AND CHALLENGES FOR PROVIDING QUALITY PRIMARY EDUCATION IN JIGJIGA ADMINISTRATION CITY OF THE SOMALI REGION, ETHIOPIA.

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.