Challenges Encountered By the Principals in Their Performance of the Various Operational Management Tasks Areas in Secondary Schools in Nairobi County, Kenya

All the heads of schools are tasked with the responsibility of promoting student academic achievement through organization and management of curriculum in schools. There are circumstances which hinder principals from fulfilling this responsibility to the letter. This implies that principals are facing challenges in their daily routine of promoting student academic performances. This study sought to find out the challenges encountered by the principals in their performance of the various operational management task areas in secondary schools in Nairobi County, Kenya. It adopted both qualitative and quantitative methods. The target population was all the principals/deputy principals, heads of departments, teachers, students’ leaders and members of the Boards of Management of all public secondary schools in Nairobi County. A sample of 30 schools and their 30 principals / deputy principals, 60 heads of departments, 120 teachers, 180 student leaders and 20 members of the Boards of Management participated in the study. Stratified random technique was used to select the schools, the teachers and the heads of departments to participate in the study. All principals/deputy principals, senior student leaders and their student leaders and heads of Board of Management of the selected schools automatically participated in the study while the other student leaders and other members of Board of Management were selected through random sampling procedure. Data was collected using questionnaires, focus group discussion and interview guide. The quantitative data collected was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22.0. The findings of the study established that the principals faced various challenges in performance of the administrative tasks. These challenges included; inadequate funds, shortage of teachers, student indiscipline, teacher indiscipline, drug abuse, teenage pregnancies, political interference, weak student leader’s bodies and poor school community relations. The study recommends that training of principals is of utmost importance so that the current and prospective principals possess the requisite certification in school management and this training of principals should also emphasize human relations skills to help them cope with students and staff personnel problems. Keywords: Principals, Performance, Challenges, Operational Managemen