PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES OF PRINCIPALS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ENUGU STATE

Abstract

This study ascertained the personnel management challenges of principals in secondary schools in Enugu State. Descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. Two research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. The study was carried out in secondary schools in Enugu State. The population for the study comprised all the 329 principals and the 8628 teachers in Enugu State. The sample for the study was 896 respondents. They were made up of 33 principals and 863 teachers in the secondary schools in Enugu State. Proportionate stratified random sampling technique was adopted for the sampling. Stratification was based on education zones in the state and 10% of the principals and teachers in secondary schools in each zone were sampled. The instrument for data collection was a researchers’ developed questionnaire which was faced-validated by three experts. Two of the experts are in Department of Educational Management and the other expert is from Measurement and Evaluation Unit of Department of Science and Computer Education all in the Faculty of Education, Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT). The instrument comprised 12 items allocated to each research questions. The reliability of the instrument was determined using Cronbach Alpha in which 0.84 was determined for section A and 0.80 for section B with an overall reliability index of 0.82 which made the instrument highly reliable. A 4 point response scale of Very Great Extent (VGE), Great Extent (GE), Low Extent (LE) and Very Low Extent (VLE) was used. The researcher was assisted by two research assistants in the administration and collection of data. Mean and standard deviation were used for analysing the data collated. One of the findings was that staff welfare service is a personnel management challenge of the principals in secondary schools to a great extent. One of the recommendations made was that, Enugu State Government should ensure payment of staff salaries and allowances as at when due and the provision of other incentives. It will elevate the level of hard work and performance of the personnel in secondary schools.