DR. SIMON MBUGUA NDUNG’U (PhD)
CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF EASTERN AFRICA,
NAIROBI, KENYA
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MOBILE: +254 720 343 001
DR. JAMES BILL OUDA (PhD)
MASINDE MULIRO UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE
AND TECHNOLOGY, KAKAMEGA, KENYA
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MOBILE: +254 771 698 900
ABSTRACT
Conflict between the state and the church is an international concern. Governments worldwide have cooperated in Catholic churches in providing education to their citizen. Catholic Church has a right to provide education which is based on its policy. The needs of each of the two groups create conflict in education sector. Literature on Conflicts between the Government and churches over management of schools revealed that the education sector has been affected by the standoff between the two groups since the Churches were withdrawn as managers of the schools in 1968. This has affected parents, students, teachers and other stakeholders of the affected schools. The conflicts interfere with learning time, as such schools are delayed to open or forced to close prematurely. Administration, management and ownership of the affected institutions are the source of these conflicts. This study was set to investigate the conflict between the Church and the state in management of Public Secondary Schools in Kiambu District and how this affects academic performance. The church manages the schools through the Board of Management (BOM).The study population consisted of secondary school principals, Board of Management (BOM) chairpersons, Parents Teachers Association (PTA) chairpersons, teachers, Catholic Priests, Educational secretary, Catholic Leaders and Quality Assurance and Standards Officer (QASO). Purposeful sampling and simple random sampling techniques were used to select the participants. Data for the research were collected using: Document analysis, Questionnaires, interview schedule and Interview guide. Quantitative data analysis was done using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20 while the qualitative were analyzed through emerging themes. Findings of the study revealed that the conflicts in management are there and are due to lack of cooperation between the sponsor (Church) and the State. The study also showed that sponsor is not involved in many school activities and that the school administration is not ready to have more roles assigned to the sponsor. It was established that the sponsor has now started registering own private schools to avoid conflict with the state. However, the sponsor should not abdicate her duty of bringing a holistic and therefore involvement in school activities is essential. The study recommends that there should be more cooperation between the Church (sponsor) and the state, the Church priests should be more involved in school decision making for they are in close contacts with the school administration.
Key words:conflict, church, Academic performance, Public Secondary school
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