Segregation of duties

Tshwarelo Hosia | Tuesday April 22, 2025 14:20

It is founded and anchored on the principle of collective responsibility. It is a system of governance recognising the participation of all constituents of a school in the smooth running of the organisation. For power to be effective and magnified, it should be distributed and shared.

The system of school governance that works well for schools is the one that creates ample room for student participation on their academic life and well being. Power should be shared with the humblest position to the highest in the system. Investment in student leadership is beginning of a power sharing deal. In every school there are monitors and prefects. Their existence should not be for ceremonial purposes but should be active roles aimed at raising academic achievement levels while ensuring that students and staff have thrilling, fun-filled and academically thriving interactions. Schooling should be a beautiful experience and must be enjoyed by those involved in it. Teaching and learning thrive in a loving and caring environment. All the players in a school should first love the work they do, secondly love one another and thirdly pray together for their common good. People who work and live together are not supposed to see one another as adversaries and competitors. They are allies and true comrades in arms with a common denominator and vision. But no world or work environment is ideal, free from trouble. Attainment of some form of utopia appears to be a pipe dream, difficult to achieve.

But striving to make our work environment better than yesterday should be a daily preoccupation. Challenges will always spring up in the course of managing schools. The most critical assignment of a school is keeping students happy, orderly while re- positioning them for participation in engaging and thought provoking class room interactions. Students, if not well managed, can become their worst enemies when it comes to learning, posing a serious threat to the goal of achieving better and prosperous future. Young as they are, not all of them understand the purpose for which they are in school.

When not properly shepherded, students could expend their energies on matters peripheral to their learning. Engagement in anti social behaviour, drinking, smoking, drug peddling and love affairs could become powerful distractions and preoccupations. A school that has almost half of its student population derailed from the core business cannot accomplish its mission of achieving improved learning outcomes. Who should get involved in the discipline of students? All hands are required on deck. It is desirable to have self discipline.

The reality is that all students can govern themselves. A coalition of forces is required to reign in students. Maintenance of law and order begins with students themselves. Segregation of duties therefore becomes fundamentally important in this endeavour. Students should not cause unnecessary trouble, instead they should take responsibility to stay on the right side of the law while also respecting their teachers. Peers should guide, reprimand and correct one another. This is where the role of monitors and prefects becomes more relevant. To perform their functions effectively and efficiently, prefects and monitors should be adequately trained. A school that has a vigilant and agile student leadership can hardly go wrong. Some negative developments, which may escape the attention of staff and school managers, can be detected and nipped in the bud by student leaders. Schools should therefore accord prefects and monitors the respect they deserve so that the students could also do likewise.

To enhance their efficiency, prefects and monitors should be given a bit of autonomy and space to preside over minor cases of student misdemeanors and recommend remedial actions to management. Participation of students in the resolution of problems builds a sense of pride and collective ownership. Students can be become problematic when they feel unappreciated and marginalised. When a feeling of hopelessness creeps in among students they can mobilise themselves to seek an increased stake in the administration. Consequently, skirmishes and clashes can become the order of the day, which could have the potential to derail attention from the academic business. To get the train back on the rails demands an increased participation of students in matters of governance.

Beyond their teaching responsibilities, teachers have parental duties at school. Some of the students come from unloving ,uncaring and hostile family backgrounds. Other students are parents and have to shoulder overwhelming responsibilities at home. Coupling learning with social responsibilities can be a daunting exercise. Where there is a vacuum, teachers step into the picture as substitute parents. Teaching by its very nature is synonymous with love. It requires a breed of teachers ready to literally become de facto social workers, who can raise money to feed, clothe, transport and counsel their students. Motivated teachers do their all to raise the morale of students who join the school, over burdened with a lot of social ills. Offering comfort and support to students are voluntary additional responsibilities born of a spirit of love.

This is the reason teachers carry these responsibilities with no lack of effort. The teachers need morale boosting as well if the culture of giving back to students is to be sustained. They bring their best selves when their students and school managers fully recognise teachers as substitute parents. It should be understood that teachers generally mean well and whatever they do is in the best interests of students. Entrusting teachers with responsibilities is a form of incentives, which also gives them an opportunity to hone their management skills. There is no justification for school managers to be tempted to monopolise power because concentration of power in the hands of one person cannot serve is an overwhelming task and cannot serve any school very well. Giving teachers an increased stake in the administration of their institutions should be promoted. Teachers when treated well and properly engaged can reciprocate the efforts of their managers. They would naturally give their best selves to their schools when they feel respected and empowered. Conflicts and mutual suspicions can become the order of the day when it is felt that managers are withholding vital information they should be generously sharing or recklessly releasing information that should be treated with confidentiality. Management of information, including addressing the development of negative tendencies, is very important in keeping a school focused on what matters most. Segregation of roles enables the school principal to give undivided attention to critical policy and classroom matters, providing technical assistance where needed. Successful principals make teaching their number one priority ahead of any other considerations.