DECENTRALIZED EDUCATIONAL MANAGEMENT IN SOUTH EASTERN ZONE OF TIGRAI: POLICY AND PRACTICE

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to assess the practice of decentralized educational management in in south eastern zone of Tigray and thereby identify the strengths and weaknesses so as to provide alternative recommendations to the identified problems. A descriptive survey method was employed to carry out the study. The primary sources of data were 2 Woredas education office heads, 16 Woredas education office experts, 6 secondary school principals and 48 parent teacher association members. Stratified random sampling technique was employed to select experts. Woredas education office heads, secondary school principals and parent teacher association members were selected by utilizing availability sampling. Questionnaire was the main data gathering instrument while interview and documents were also employed. The collected data were analyzed quantitatively by using descriptive statistics, and qualitatively by using narration. The study indicated that the capacity of south East of Tigray zone in implementing and managing decentralized education was weak because of challenges like lack of adequate resources, lack of coordination, lack of support (training), lack of time/ work overload, lack of familiarity of tasks and lack of knowledge and skills in their work. Based on these findings, the researcher recommends that necessary training should be given to local education stakeholders, recruit education personnel competitively, enhance the participation of stakeholders in the management of education by providing some necessary incentives to them and reducing the challenges for the management of decentralized education.