How to manage a broken school

Here are some of the tried and tested tips on how to manage a broken school out of a plague of academic underachievement and how to skilfully steer the education system towards prosperity and academic proficiency.

At the policy level the system of education requires a data-driven human resource deployment plan. This is the one key element missing link, which if well taken care of, can kick-start a sustainable school turnaround game plan. This is to underscore the fact that the human element constitutes a kingpin in the quest for improved learning outcomes. It must be stated categorically that all broken schools are redeemable and therefore can be saved. However, there is one condition which must be met. All schools must be managed and managed well. Which principal can manage which school? Can principals at the stroke of a pen simply switch from one school to another willy-nilly? The question of deployment of school leaders is critical and must be given due diligence and attention.

There are three types of schools in the country. These are: chronically low achieving, mediocre (average achievers) and high performing schools. Chronically low achieving schools are many and mainly are located in the rural underdeveloped areas. Deployment of school leaders should take into consideration the nature of the school. The crème de la crème should be deployed in the chronically low achieving areas in order to give those schools a good chance for redemption. And additional incentives should be awarded to those patriots who selflessly agree to serve with loyalty and distinction in adverse work environments. Leaders make the impossible possible. Taking cognisant of this, schools skating on thin ice in particular must be placed under the care of capable hands, carefully identified through robust and watertight selection criteria. No two schools are the same and as such schools have varying degrees of challenges. This clearly renders obsolete and nonsensical a system of indiscriminate rotation and deployment of school principals between schools and across levels. When a leadership vacuum (vacancy) is created in a school, any replacement contemplated should be preceded by deep exercise of data processing intended to yield appropriate deployment of the right leader in the right institution. Data-driven resource allocations not least deployment of school managers should gain currency in the education system. The system must first think data before any action can be taken. Data should be processed not only to identify failing institutions but also to work out and calculate appropriate interventions. A school leadership deployment strategy should be a water tight agenda not easily influenced by power struggles, whims and practitioner wishes. This means a proper and data-driven leadership deployment plan should take into cognisance peculiar and unique circumstances of each and every school.

Editor's Comment
BDP primaries leave a lot to be desired

The BDP as a party known to have ample resources has always held its primaries well in time, but this time around that was not the case. The first leg of the primaries was held last weekend, with the final leg being billed for the coming weekend. This time around, the BDP failed to shine in its primary elections. The elections were chaotic; most if not all polling stations didn't open at the specified time of 6am. Loyal BDP members braved the...

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