MANAGEMENT RELATED CHALLENGES THAT INHIBIT THE INTEGRATION OF ICT INTO SECONDARY SCHOOLS’ FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING SYSTEMS IN KENYA

Information communication technology (ICT) is a major drive in global economies. It has been used in most sectors of the world economies. In most developed countries it is yet to be optimally incorporated in the education sectors as a tool for Education management. The purpose of this qualitative study was geared towards establishing management related challenges that inhibit the integration of ICT into secondary schools financial accounting systems in Kenya, taking North rift region of rift valley as case. The study sampled 60 from the targeted 1200 schools and by extension, the respondent using purposive sampling technique. Generic qualitative design and interpretive research methodology were adopted. Data was collected using interviews, observations, documentary analysis and structured questionnaires. Data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics and presented using frequency tables, percentages and bar graphs. The findings showed that the major managerial challenges included among others; secondary schools’ leadership ignorance of ICT policy in education, absence of ICT strategy, ineffective co-ordination between government officials at lower levels and school managers, institutional leadership little understanding of ICT in relation to financial management, schools limited capacity to plan and implement ICT integration and capital and operational cost and budgetary constraints in ICT integrations. Based on these findings it was recommended that hardware and software resources should be cost shared between schools and government. As was discovered in this study, high capital and operational cost of hardware is a big challenge that can impede ICT integration into secondary school accounting systems.