Effectiveness of the board of Governors in the Recruitment of Secondary School Teachers in Gucha District

Abstract

The teaching force in schools in Kenya is one of the engines behind development in the last 50 years. Through the expansion of education and the consequent recruitment of teachers, the Board of Governors (BOG), the boards have played a crucial role in steering the country towards development of crucial manpower required in the different sectors of the economy. As in any market economy, the recruitment of teachers in Secondary is now demand driven. Prospective teachers apply to fill individually advertised vacancies directly to the schools affected. The recruiting panel is chaired by the Board of Governors who take the centre stage. The role the BOG helps to identify the right candidates of the skill and knowledge required for the teaching profession. However this cannot be carried out with utmost effectiveness without capacity building of the BOG members. Accordingly, this paper is based on the findings of a study which examined the effectiveness of the board members in the recruiting of the secondary school teachers in Gucha district, Kisii County, Kenya.  The study was guided by two objectives which were further broken down into research questions. The study used descriptive research survey design. The target population was all the 70 secondary schools in Gucha District as at the time of the study. The target of the study therefore is 70 head teachers, 70 teachers already recruited in the schools by BOGs and 280 boards of governors’ members. The sample size in this study was 21 schools hence 21 head teachers, 21 teachers recruited by the Board of Governors’ and21 Board of Governors’ chairmen. The results revealed that the majority the BOG members were form of form four level of Education and did not have any other training on preparation in the recruitment teachers. Since the teachers to be recruited are of university degree holders, the BOGs effectiveness was found to want hence ineffectiveness. It is the argument of this paper that enhancing effectiveness of BOG members’ recruitment skills is likely to enhance the quality of the teachers recruited and therefore their effective contribution to development through educating.

KEY WORDS: Effectiveness, board of governors, recruitment, quality education.