Stakeholder’s Perceived Reasons for Decentralization Reform in School-Based Management

Abstract

School-Based Management (SBM) is a strategy to decentralize decision-making authority to the individual school and devolution of authority is the fundamental concept in educational reform. This study analyses the dynamics of the SBM policy and implementation at the school level. The study was approached through document analysis of the perception of stakeholders at school levels through previous studies analyses. These approaches produced rich data on issues relating to SBM policy and community involvement. The SBM decree did not choose a particular model of SBM instead it imposed a uniform model regardless of school level, size, location, type of community or even the public nature of schools. It was concluded that the level of participation of the school stakeholders in the different school-initiated activities can be significantly affected. Due to the SBM regulatory requirements, it has failed to fulfil its original intention of improving the quality of education to the maximum standard. The stakeholders’ perceptionregarding school-based management implementation policy on the devolution of authority was determined to be moderate. It was discovered that the level of SBM implementation was on the minimum standard. It was suggested that there is still a need for the schools to be encouraged to achieve more development and graft on SBM implementation.