The government policy on 100% transition and introduction of Free Primary and Secondary Education has been touted as an accelerator many problems school management face in trying to accommodate every growing number of students. Since its inception in 2003, more students now attend school, however a number of challenges continue to plague the implementation of these programs including overstretched facilities such as classrooms, latrines, hostels and laboratories and overcrowding. It may be a fact that dilapidated; crowded or uncomfortable school infrastructure leads to low morale among the students, teachers and the parents. Ilence this leads to the drop in achievement when school facilities are inadequate.

Education does not exist in a vacuum but in an environment structured of physical facilities, human and material resources that are used in teaching and learning. The specifications given for the establishment, management and material resources in public secondary schools are stipulated in the laws and policies that govern the county's education' system. The goal of infrastructure system in secondary schools seeks to increase school enrolment of students, enhance staff motivation and to improve academic achievement of students [1]. There is a link between school architecture and its users, (students and teachers); Research has shown that a well-planned school with clean and safe learning environment are important for academic achievement. Physical facilities play a key role in the attainment of the school's intended objectives and overall quality performance in national examinations. Public secondary schools are often characterized by lack of infrastructure facilities such as adequate classrooms, latrines, hostels and laboratories.

In Nigeria, a study by Ejionueme [2] stales that the physical infrastructure in secondary schools were poor and would continue to adversely affect the contributions of secondary education to the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs). Educational facilities contribute directly to jr remotely to the teaching and learning processes in the educational system. These facilities and environment also portray the quality of the institution in terms of their staff or students, friendliness, safety and relevance [3]. In East African especially in Tanzania, poor physical infrastructure is a common feature in many educational institutions. Most schools are characterized by ramshackle infrastructure. In addition, new programs and expanded intake have been suggested without matching development of the physical infrastructure [4].

In Kenya, Most schools rarely meet the basic standards of health and inspection, because they have poorly infrastructure. With the introduction of 100% transition there is need for effective planning for physical facilities, human and material resources. Organization, coordination and supervision are required in scheduling the use of space equipment and relating availability of effective teaching and learning. The Free Primary Education was limited at reducing illiteracy levels in the country as it aims that by 2015 every Kenyan will be able to read and write (Universal Primary Education and Education for All) by the year 2015. This policy has however worsened the quality of education due-to high enrollments in secondary school due to 100% transition with limited physical infrastructure such as classrooms, limited human resource such as teachers and limited teaching and learning resources.

Statement of the Problem

The government policy on 100% transition and introduction of Free Primary and Secondary Education has been touted as an accelerator many problems school management face in trying to accommodate every growing number of students. This high admission has led to inadequate infrastructure, strained human resources and inadequate teaching and learning materials. The effect has been increased numbers of students in class against few teachers, making teaching and learning ineffective. This eventually leads to poor performance in academics for generally all the schools. This provides reasonable justification for the huge investment of resources in the provision of education. Education is seen as the engine room for the transmission of culture, information, knowledge and values from one generation to the other. It is also important for the transmission of societal core values and other pieces of information necessary for growth and development. Societal transformation and better living conditions. This all-important role played by education has prompted national leaders to ensure that all citizens have access to education irrespective of the ability to pay for it. In view of this, Kenyan Government has pushed for a policy on 100% transition. The increasing number of enrolment of students due to 100% transition creates pressure on leadership, management and administration of academic institutions especially in Kisii to accommodate the allocated students. Kisii feels the highest heat as the land is limited restricting construction of extra infrastructure. The population is also fast growing and the students to join form one is also high. This has also been caused by free primary education leading to over enrolment. Samuel, notes that government’s investment in education is anchored on the maxim that the end justifies the means and the principle of prime beneficiaries. In spite of government’s scarce resources and competing projects of other areas of society such as road construction, water supply, provision of electricity among others. Government heavy investment in the procurement and utilization of human and material resources have shown that it occupies an important position.

Adeogun, in his study discovered that, there exists a positive relationship between instructional resources and students‟ academic performance. He asserted that, schools endowed with more resources performed better than schools that are less endowed. Collaborating this, Babayomi, asserted that, private schools, because of the availability and adequacy of teaching and learning resources performed better than public schools.

Dada, posited that, the quality and quantity of these materials (school plant and facilities) have been identified as significant factors determining students‟ performance. He further stated that the relevance and appropriateness of these learning resources to the local environment are important to the achievement of the national objectives and goals.

In a school environment, learning infrastructure includes; classrooms, laboratories and libraries. Fisher, conducted research on the impact of school infrastructures on student outcomes and behaviour in Georgia and established that academic achievement improves with improved building conditions, lighting levels air quality and temperatures. He further established a correlation between school class size and student achievements. Having large classes can affect student’s achievements. Mark, in a study of factors affecting learners' performance in schools in Canada: maintained that one cannot expect high level of students’ academic performance where school buildings are poorly located and substandard.

Literature Review

The National Development plan of the Republic of Kenya sets the goal of industrialization by the year 2030. However, the education to develop human resources needed is not given much attention. 

Human resource in Kenyan school particularly in the secondary schools refer to the students, teaching staff, non-teaching staff, bursar, librarian, laboratory attendants, clerks, messengers, mail runners, gate keepers, gardeners and cooks as well as educational planners and administrators. However, the emphasis is on management of human resource as well as the factors related to academic achievement in public secondary schools in Rivers State. Agabi [5], in focus on effective teaching in schools, classified human resources into teaching and non-teaching staff which serve as an indispensable tool in the manipulation of other factors in any production process and he also said that the school enrolment may rise or fall depending on the administrative capacity of the school as well as availability of quality teachers to promote academic achievement. Human resource involve the skills and expertise of educated manpower in educational organizations such as principals, teachers, students and non-teaching staff. They constitute very important inputs in, the process of teaching and learning.

Human resource management is the deployment and management of personnel by an institution or organization. The primary role of human resource management is that of deploying the organization’s manpower resource so as to enable people to make a flexible, multi skilled contribution to the overall aims of the organization or institution. Armstrong [6] defines human resource management as a strategic and coherent approach to the management of an organization’s most valued assets: the people working there who individually and collectively contribute to the achievement of its objectives.

Human resource management in public secondary schools therefore refers to the management of teaching and non-teaching staff so that the staff will do their work willingly and to the best of their ability in order to achieve the overall aim of the school. Essentially, human resource management can be redefined as the part of management that deals with people at work.

The human resource manager role is multidimensional. He is an administrator, welfare officer, supervisor and an intermediary between management and employees. Thus a human resource manager is a trained personnel in personnel management. In the case of a secondary school, the human resource manager is the principal. Some of his roles include: Analyzing and designing job, recruiting and living employees, managing performance and motivation. Motivation appears to be the most important issue in human resource management. This is so because the efficiency of the organization or institution and the extent to which the objectives are achieved depends on how well motivated the workers are. If workers are highly motivated they tend to make their highest contributions.

Unfortunately, in recent years, the performance of Kenyan secondary school education has steadily declined. One manifestation of this ugly trend is the huge educational wastage and lapses in human resource management and utilization [7]. Public secondary school managers experience a lot of management difficulties in the management of staff and learners. In spite of several attempts made by Rivers State Government, private school owners, school managers and even Parents Teachers Associations (PTA) and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) to improve human resource management and maximum performance through staff promotion, improved staff wages and salaries, staff in service training and development, good working condition of staff, security motivation, provision of modern facilities and staff welfare service. There are still problems associated with the procedure of recruitment of qualified and experienced applicants, the level of utilization and management of recruitment staff and efficient management of human resource in general.

To reverse this trend and to ensure that effective achievement is guaranteed towards the realization of expected objective, educational managers in secondary schools have to live to their responsibilities and expectations of galvanizing and motivating teaching staff, providing congenial environment and quality teaching tools, providing good working environment, maintaining good interpersonal relationships with teachers and students and showing good leadership competences, skills and qualities.

This research is not an isolated enterprise. Previous studies have been conducted related to human resource management and students’ academic performance. Okumbe [7] in his study of Human Resource Management in School Administration in Delta State, Nigeria revealed that school resources are being mismanaged and underutilized due to lack of qualified personnel and management of resources needed for the improvement of instruction. Similarly, Stephens and Schaben [4] showed that poor staffing affects academic achievement process because the students may lack teachers who are competent in skills, knowledge and abilities, as well as motivated to address their academic challenges. Finally, Heitor [8] in the work titled “relationship between principals and staff in the administration of secondary schools in Rivers State” provided evidence that principals’ human resource competence and facilitates cordial relationship with staff, which in turn facilitates students’ academic performance.

What these reviews have shown is that human resources if well managed, have the potentials to be a source of academic achievement in our public secondary schools. Given all we have observed about the unique nature of education and academic achievement, it follows that the need for the management of human resources is increasing seriously and the leaders of education should thus perceive it. This can only be attainable if the extent to which management of human resources are identified, as well as identification of possible factors militating against the effective management of human resource in Rivers State.

Over the years, educational institutions have developed into complex and functional field of endeavour from the previous simple experiences. Changes in technology, economic, social and political sectors have contributed immensely to this development. Therefore, for educational institutions to stay abreast in this rapidly changing environment, they must adapt to the new technologies and the changing life world. These issues pose many problems and challenges for school managers. Consequently, the management of physical and human resources in the school system are of the utmost importance in order to achieve the overall goals and objectives of the schools.

Technological advancement has resulted in the use of new methods of teaching while government intervention in education has induced constant changes in national educational policies in Kenya. Also, the demand for better pay, more benefits, less work by the staff and the lack of basic infrastructure in the schools are some of the problems the human resources manager has to cope with and manage properly to enable him meet the set goals and objectives of the school system [9]. Human resources management in education implies effectively coordinating the activities of staff, students and parents so as to achieve educational aims and objectives [6]. The National Policy on Education, clearly spells out the broad responsibilities of managing schools as employment, promotion, deployment and discipline of teachers among others. Successive governments in Kenya have made efforts towards the effective management of human resources in educational institutions. However, certain challenges still persist with staff training and development, teachers’ workload, performance evaluation, supervision of instruction, conditions of service, staff turnover and motivation, disciplinary problems among students and teachers, promotion policies and so on.

To adequately handle the forgoing challenges, efforts should be geared towards the effective management of staff and students in secondary schools. The importance of human resources management has been stated but there is not much information on its relationship with the academic performance of students in secondary schools. High academic performance is one of the objectives of secondary education in Kenya. For secondary schools to achieve high performance in the public examinations, they must recruit qualified teachers, they should secure modern buildings, adequate facilities and equipment should be provided to enhance teaching and learning while supervision of teaching is carried out for quality control. Other bodies that could influence students’ academic performance are administrators, managers, guidance counsellors, Parents Teachers Association (PTA), curriculum specialist, funding agencies, non–teaching staff, inspectors and examination boards.

There are diverse schools of thought on how students should be measured or evaluated to show academic performance. According to Chiriswa [10], teachers’ written tests have been used for at least one hundred and fifty years to determine students’ academic performance. The report of Ouma [12] supports the view that non–school resources inputs such as students’ family background factors contribute more to students’ academic performance than the impact of school resources such as expenditure on teachers’ salaries, laboratory facilities and equipment, books and quality of teachers. These variables according to Ouma [12] have negligible effects on students’ academic performance.

Any organization that does not plan for its human resources will often find that it is meeting neither the personnel requirement nor its over-all goals effectively. For example, a school may decide to introduce new subjects into its school curriculum, if the school does not make adequate arrangements for the teachers to handle these new subjects, the subjects will remain on the time table without being taught. To further buttress this point, when the federal government launched the 6:3:3:4 system of education, it spent huge financial resources on equipment for technical education. However, the human resources required to operate the equipment was not considered. Consequently, the equipment were left to rot in the rain and many of the equipment were eventually stolen by hoodlums.

With regards to the current educational policy, the supervision of instruction is the process of overseeing the work of teachers with the aim of assisting them to solve their instructional problems so that students can benefit maximally from classroom activities [5]. This can be effected with the involvement of the principal or any other official appointed by interacting with teachers and students in the classroom regularly to monitor the teaching and learning process. According to Heitor [8], the supervisor has the responsibility of monitoring and evaluating all staff activities and programmes of their organization. The major reason for this is to ensure dutiful compliance of all staff with established laws and declared goals through quality assurance, maintenance of standards and quality control. This view is in line with the National Policy on Education, which declared that supervision is a device for quality control. The goals of the school can be achieved through the continuous supervision of the teaching staff and the non- teaching staff.

The evaluation of staff is conducted as it determines their performance, in as much as it also determines the academic performance of students. In performance evaluation of staff, care should be exercised to ensure that it is the performance and not the personality of the employees that are evaluated. In the study by Akposheri, she found out that there was significant relationship between teachers who were highly rated during evaluation and the academic performance of students.

Another aspect of human resources management in the school is the workload of the staff. This is the amount of work assigned to a teaching position. Staff workload include teaching subjects, administrative duties, supervision of students and other activities. In the research findings on teachers’ workload by Ajayi [13], teachers saw their workload increased because they spent fifty-three hours a week preparing their lesson notes for teaching and marking scripts. The teachers reported that they modified their teaching methods to enable them cope with the stress of the workload. When that happened, it was difficult for them to accomplish all their objectives because of the lack of time.

Consequently, the performance of the teachers and the students was impaired. Ikworayebe, stated that in Edo State the allocation of teaching load to teachers is done through the number of periods of teaching. The maximum teaching workload per teacher is twenty-five periods while the minimum is eighteen per week. This policy is not strictly adhered to. Some teachers may be allocated less than the minimum teaching periods while others may have more than the maximum. This affects students’ academic performance. In the junior secondary schools in the federal capital territory, Abuja, teachers’ workload was one of the factors that inhibited students’ performance [14]. They also stated that some teachers taught as much as thirty-five periods a week while others taught less than six periods. Such discrepancy indicated that the workload was not equitably distributed in the school. It would be preferable to have a uniform policy that will ensure an equitable distribution of teachers’ workload that will enhance teaching and learning. The National Policy on Education, stipulates a teacher student ratio of one to forty. However, a visit to some of the schools in Egor local government area revealed a clear departure from this policy. Teachers had classes with over a hundred students. This is due to the population explosion and the inability of the local government to employ more teachers. This situation has led to too much workload for the teachers. This certainly affects the academic performance of the students.

The study applied mixed methods approach and concurrent triangulation research design in which researcher implemented the quantitative and qualitative methods during the same timeframe and with equal weight. The target population was comprised of 6554 respondents in this case consisted of 25 school principals, 548 teachers, 2688 form one students, 1853 form three students and 1640 form four students of all the 25 public secondary schools in Kenyanya Sub County. The sample size of the study will be 698 respondents. The instruments for data collection were questionnaire, interview schedule and observation list. Piloting was done in Kisii Central to test the reliability, validity, dependability and credibility. Quantitative data was analyzed by use of descriptive and inferential statistics employing the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 23) and presented in tables, frequencies and coefficient correlation. Qualitative data was analyzed in themes and presented in narrative form. When data analysis was conducted, a significance level of t<=0.05 was set.

Descriptive Statistics

Quantitative analysis was used to analyze the data obtained. The findings were presented in the sub-sections that follow.

Some teachers are not experienced, are under qualified and cannot handle the 100% transition.

The findings obtained were shown in the Table1.

From Table 1, 65.3% of the respondents disagreed that some teachers are not experienced, under qualified and cannot handle 100% transition. 2.4% of the respondents were undecided on whether some teachers are not experienced, under qualified and cannot handle 100% transition. 32.3% of the respondents agreed that some teachers are not experienced, under qualified and cannot handle 100% transition. Majority of the respondents disagreed that some teachers are not experienced, under qualified and cannot handle 100% transition. According to Ameba, poor staffing affects academic achievement process because the students lack teachers who are competent in skills, knowledge and abilities, thus leading to unpreparedness which affects the transition process. Based on the findings it was important to ensure that schools had majority of teachers who are experienced and can help out the less experienced ones. This will be an advantage to the school since it will help in the transition process of making sure that learners are well settled in their new environment.

Responses on the statement that: “Our school principal is well-skilled in personnel management which will enable him/her to smoothly spearhead the transition process” are presented in Table 2.

From the findings in Table 2, 1.1% of the respondents disagreed that the principal is well skilled in personnel management which helps him spearhead the 100% transition. 2.6% of the respondents were undecided on whether the principal is well skilled in personnel management which helps him spearhead the 100% transition. 96.3% of the respondents agreed that the principal is well skilled in personnel management which helps him spearhead the 100% transition. Majority of the respondents agreed that the principal is well skilled in personnel management which helps him spearhead the 100% transition. Kaegon, asserted that the principal’s human resource competence facilitates cordial relationship with staff, which in turn facilitates students’ academic performance. It was important to note that if the school head was knowledgeable on how to handle his/her staff and students, the same could be applied in ensuring that new learners were settled and ready to kick start further studies. This would have improved the readiness through the 100% transition process.

Table 1: Some teachers are not experienced, under qualified and cannot handle 100% transition

Source: The researcher, 2019

Table 2: Our principal is well skilled in personnel management which helps him spearhead the 100% transition

Source: The researcher, 2019

Table 3: Our school has CCTV surveillance to help in monitoring the school

Source: The researcher, 2020

Table 4: Correlation

Source: The researcher, 2019

Table 5: Linear regression analysis for objective 2

Source: The researcher, 2019

Furthermore, respondents were subjected to the statement that “The school is fitted with CCTV to support monitoring of the school”.

The findings obtained are shown in the Table 3.

From Table 3, 96.3% of the respondents disagreed that their school had CCTV surveillance to help in monitoring the school. 3.6% of the respondents agreed that their school had CCTV surveillance to help in monitoring the school. Majority of the respondents disagreed that their school had CCTV surveillance to help in monitoring the school. Technological advancement has resulted in the use of new methods of monitoring learners. The use of CCTV surveillance improves the efficiency level of the security staff and the school’s disciplinary committee [15]. The 100% transition process was never an easy process. Though, adoption of technology was seen as something complex and expensive, a different perspective would shed some light on the futuristic advantages it had to offer. Since some schools had been facing challenges in managing staff especially in the security sector due to increased enrolments, CCTV tech would have been a viable solution in managing the transition process.

Inferential Statistics

Further quantitative analysis was conducted on the data obtained. The techniques used were correlation and linear regression.

Correlation

The findings obtained were shown in the Table 4.

From the Table 4, there was one significant correlation whose implementation would have positively impacted the school management preparedness in the 100% transition of learners in Kisii central sub-county. Ensuring that teachers are experienced and qualified to handle the transition and having school heads that are experienced in human resource management. This had a correlation coefficient of 0.652**.

Linear Regression

The findings obtained were shown in the Table 5.

From the Table 5, all the other variables were significant predictors of improving the transition process on school management preparedness. Their significance levels were less than .05 which meant that there was a 95% confidence level that these variables would increase the schools’ management preparedness on the 100% transition of the learners. The constant variable was also a significant predictor of increasing the schools’ management preparedness on the 100% transition of the learners.

Based on the findings it was important to ensure that schools had majority of teachers who are experienced and can help out the less experienced ones. This will be an advantage to the school since it will help in the transition process of making sure that learners are well settled in their new environment. It was important to note that if the school head was knowledgeable on how to handle his/her staff and students, the same could be applied in ensuring that new learners were settled and ready to kick start further studies. This would have improved the readiness through the 100% transition process. Though, adoption of technology was seen as something complex and expensive, a different perspective would shed some light on the futuristic advantages it had to offer. Since some schools had been facing challenges in managing staff especially in the security sector due to increased enrolments, CCTV tech would have been a viable solution in managing the transition process.

In Identify the type of human resource available for school management preparedness for 100% transition, based on the findings it was important to ensure that schools had majority of teachers who are experienced and can help out the less experienced ones. This will be an advantage to the school since it will help in the transition process of making sure that learners are well settled in their new environment. It was important to note that if the school head was knowledgeable on how to handle his/her staff and students, the same could be applied in ensuring that new learners were settled and ready to kick start further studies. This would have improved the readiness through the 100% transition process. Though, adoption of technology was seen as something complex and expensive, a different perspective would shed some light on the futuristic advantages it had to offer. Since some schools had been facing challenges in managing staff especially in the security sector due to increased enrolments, CCTV tech would have been a viable solution in managing the transition process. The findings indicated that was a problem in management of their supporting staff as a result of increased learner enrolment and lack of increasing staff to support the transition. Though there were financial challenges involved in handling emerging learners’ needs, a balancing off had to be done to ensure that the situation was manageable.

Recommendations for Further Study

• Evolving research must be conducted to vividly understand how school management readiness influences academic performance and its effect on the transition cycle

• How does the aspect of financial sustenance affect the transition cycle? Is it all about the availability of financial resources in spearheading 100% transition?

How can the adoption of technology further the attainment of continuous improvement in handling increased secondary school enrolments? 

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