Exploring strategies to fund and manage school development funds in public secondary schools in the Khomas region in Namibia
Since Independence the government of the day strives towards quality education for all. Educational financial constraint issues came to the fore, when the announcement was made by the Minister of Finance that the paying of compulsory school fees for secondary education will be abolished as from the beginning of the 2016 academic year. Although about 25% of the National Budget is for education, only about 20% of that amount is for education resources and day-to-day expenses. This required that schools should find alternative funds to finance the School Development Fund, since various authors indicated that funds supplied by government are just not enough for effective and efficient education delivery. The study therefore aims to identify financial sources and financial management strategies to fund School Development Funds. The study will also investigate to what extend public secondary schools are aware of these resources and if the human resources have the necessary expertise to manage the School Development Fund effectively. The qualitative research design was used. Three public secondary schools, excluding special schools, from the twenty seven registered schools in the Khomas Region were selected. One school each was randomly selected from the low income group, the average income group and the high income group, using the maximum variation sampling method, whereby financial information from previous years was used. The major findings of this study were that principals do not have the financial knowledge and skills to find or efficiently manage various financial resources, like sponsors, donors, alumni, crowd funding, thrift shops, On-Line-Landing-Pages and investments, as well as investing these funds for sustainable income, which is available for effective education delivery. The study recommended that persons with due knowledge should be appointed at schools and that their job descriptions extended in order to take advantage from the various financing sources obtainable by schools. Secondly, principals should receive in-depth financial training and have more authority in the financial decision making by using an effective School Management Model. Lastly, management of school buildings and facilities should be part of the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture who should decentralise the control there-of.
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