Financial resources and staff development in secondary schools in Jinja district, Uganda

Abstract

The study sought to establish the relationship between financial resources and staff development in secondary schools in Jinja District in Uganda. The study was guided by three objectives which were to: examine the relationship between parents‟ contributions in form of fees, government contributions in form of grants, and internal income-generating projects and implementation of staff development programs in secondary schools in Jinja District. The study used a correlation design and data were collected using questionnaires, interviews, and documentary analysis methods. Quantitative data was analyzed by use of descriptive and inferential statistics. Qualitative data was analyzed using content analysis where data was divided into themes which helped to sort out data according to the relevancy of each piece of work. The results showed that some parents do not pay school dues in time; government funding in form of grants was inadequate and irregular and internal income-generating projects were lacking and where they existed, poorly managed. It was further discovered that there is a weak positive relationship between financial resources and staff development in secondary schools in Uganda. It was concluded that if income from parents can be planned properly, government grants released timely, and internal income-generating projects established in secondary schools in Uganda, these resources could be used to increase staff development programs. From the findings it was, therefore, recommended that; a significant portion of the budget should be allocated to staff development, the government should come in strongly to fund, set a policy and follow up on staff development programs in secondary schools stating percentages of their contribution meant for the programs encouraging synchronizing of staff and organizational goals. Schools should set up income-generating projects to supplement school income in running school programs. However, the need to carry out further studies was observed which included: staff contribution in the identification of professional training needs in secondary schools, the role of staff in the budgeting process, and staff contribution in designing professional development programs to recognize and regularly plan for continuous professional development.