Management of financial resources in public secondary schools in Tanzania: a study of Ulanga district in Morogoro region

The study examined management of financial resources in public secondary schools. It identified sources of school funds, regulations and procedures governing the management of financial resources, and determined the involvement of the school management team, the school board and other key stakeholders in the management of the school financial resources. Qualitative research approach and case study strategy were used. Data were collected through interviews, observation, Focus Group Discussion (FGD) and documentary review. Content analysis was used in analyzing the data. The study revealed that schools have continued to rely heavily on school fees. The other sources were not reliable to help schools function optimally. The school heads did not follow, in a strict sense, set principles or procedures laid down by the government to manage school funds. In so doing, they found themselves blamed for misuse of school funds. Issues related to school funds were not treated openly by the school management and so in most cases, information were released in the SMT meetings and staff meetings only. Students and other stakeholders like community members had no access to finance reports before formal meetings that took very short times to listen and respond on issues that are raised from the reports. Based on the findings, the study recommends that school heads need to work closely with the community surrounding schools by timely providing them with information that will help them to push the authorities to release more funds for the schools and on time and ensuring that to make availability of resources in schools should not be the work of teachers only but also the community members. Also, community members need to engage in formal and informal discourses on how to broaden the resource base for their particular schools in order to make ends meet. Moreover, the system of check and balance of school revenue, allocation and expenditure should be strengthened. Finally , heads of schools and school accountants should be trained in order to equip them with the knowledge and skills of managing financial resources, while ensuring that the school staff and community is informed on matters related to financing and financial resources management.