Role of Boards of Management (BOM) in Monitoring and Evaluation of Constituency Development Funded (CDF) Projects in Secondary Schools

Abstract

Boards of Management (BOM) have a paramount role in ensuring successful implementation of Constituency Development Funded (CDF) projects in secondary schools in Kenya. They not only have direct but also indirect role in; oversight, management, monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of government funded projects in accordance with prescribed guidelines set by the Ministry of Education. Most of the Boards of Management don’t perform this role fully leading to poor performance of CDF projects in secondary schools in Kenya. In Teso South Sub County of Busia County in particular, the situation is worse to the extent that most Principals have overpowered and ignored Boards of Management, leading to failure of CDF projects to achieve their desired goals in secondary schools. Some CDF projects are never completed due to embezzlement of funds by Principals. Other factors contributing to this scenario are yet to be established. The purpose of the study was to establish the role of Boards of Management in monitoring and evaluation of Constituency Development Funded (CDF) projects in public secondary schools. It consisted of 221 BOM members and 26 Principals of Secondary schools. Saturated sampling technique was used to sample out 26 Principals while Simple random sampling was used to sample out 72 BOM members. Data was collected by questionnaire and interview schedule. The study concluded that: Boards of Management (BOM) don’t frequently inspect and evaluate financial records in schools. The study recommended that: Boards of Management (BOM) should be given full mandate of inspecting and evaluating all the school financial records to ensure that school funds are well utilized on the required projects.