The Role of Information Communication Technology (ICT) In the Management of Schools: A Case Study of Primary Schools in the Zimbabwean Harare Province (2024)
Rosewitha Mbiriyakura, Rittah Kasowe · International Journal of Humanities Social Sciences and Education · 2024
In the 1980s typewriters and duplicating machines were being replaced by ICT.Before the introduction of ICT more work and many people were employed to produce documents.One document could be re-typed many times until they were no corrections to be made on it.If more copies were required, it was typed on a stencil for it to be run on a duplicating machine.This process resulted not only in time wastage but also in the loss of man-working hours and paper.The introduction of computers made the work easier as corrections on documents were made on the computer screen and more copies were easily produced.This saved time and less people were employed for the same job leading to the reduction of costs and improvement of efficiency.In the 1970s manual systems were used in the management of schools followed by a computerization fever in the 1980s and 1990s.The year 2000 compliance brought another dimension which saw the private sector shading off their hardware to schools to avoid the millennium bug.These machines were not 2000 compliant which meant that it was not possible to change the date beyond 1999.The computers needed to be replaced.The argument then was that these machines could be used in schools to impart basic skills to both pupils and school management.Some of the donations came from both local companies and international organizations such as the World Bank and UK Peace Child.The World Bank hardware was used in the World Links programme.The programme computerized secondary schools although it also focused on community service, that catered for the entire local communities.This certainly was expected to benefit primary schools as well.The Government was active in promoting ICT.Syllabuses were developed for both primary and secondary schools.Secondary school teachers were trained at Belvedere, Chinhoyi Technical Teachers Colleges and universities.It was a requirement for a teacher to be computer literate at both Abstract: The study covered schools in the province of Harare.A representative stratified sample was carried out in coming up with the number of both the primary and secondary schools.Ninety-four schools were sampled and this represented one third of all Harare schools.These comprised of 18 government secondary schools, eight non-government secondary schools, 36 government primary schools, and 32 nongovernment primary schools.A quantitative methodology was employed.The main instrument used was a questionnaire and telephone interview was used to follow-up and clarify unclear issues.The heads of schools were used as the research subjects.The study showed that ICT played an important role in the management of schools and this was supported by literature.It showed that 86% of the schools had office computers and 26% had Internet connections.Business software, PASTEL and PAYPLUS, were used by only one school.Many advantages like data storage and speedy document processing were being experienced in the use of ICT although there were problems and challenges such as high inflation, material shortages, skilled manpower shortages and insufficient funds.The education ministry had a challenge of connecting the schools to its offices although many schools had office computers.The study recommended that the Ministry should connect school business systems to its own system.The Ministry could make use of existing facilities to improve communication between different education structures.Further research was recommended to assess the effects of ICT on e-learning