Effect of Corporate Governance Practices on Performance of Public Secondary Schools in Kisumu Central Sub-County, Kenya

Abstract

Corporate governance practices are the process and structures used to direct and manage business affairs of the company towards enhancing prosperity and corporate accounting with the ultimate objective of realizing shareholders long-term value while taking into account the interests of other stakeholders. Education institutions are run and managed by the Board of Management (BOM) through the secretary who is the chief executive officer. Studies indicate that corporate governance practices have been adopted to some extend in this institution however their effect on performance has not been clearly brought out. The purpose of this study is to assess the effect of corporate governance practices on performance of secondary schools in Kisumu Central Sub-county. The conceptual framework constructed corporate governance practices as independent variables and school performance as dependent variable. Respondents' characteristics such as age, gender and marital status were set as controlling variables. The study adopted a descriptive survey. Stratified random sampling was used to arrive at the schools to bring in all the types of schools in the area of study. The sample comprised of fifty respondents drawn from ten out of twenty-two schools within the area. Both primary and secondary data was used. Descriptive statistics, correlation and regression technique were used in the analysis. The findings indicate that education of teachers and Leadership practices have significant effect on the performance of schools, however Leadership had a negative influence on performance, whereas education had a positive effect. The study recommends that BOM, Ministry of Education Science and Technology together with Teachers Service Commission should consider exploring other options other than leadership regarding the entire aspect of governance to ensure increased performance in schools. The findings of this study are important to stakeholders in education, especially educational administrators and policy makers.