Abstract:
The article reports on a qualitative study on empowerment and effectiveness of school boards
as community representatives in managing schools where the main objective was to examine
the access of school boards on financial and human resources of the schools managed together
with finding out the level of autonomy possessed by board members in influencing the schools’
decisions. Primary data were collected from 34 respondents and secondary data reviewed from
materials on empowerment and education policy of Tanzania. It was found that, school boards
have been provided with the opportunity to manage school affairs and so far, they have helped
the schools to excel in managing student discipline and community mobilization in improving
school infrastructure. Level of empowerment and effectiveness remains questionable due to
number of challenges including low resource capability, lack of managerial skills and low
autonomy levels. It is recommended that; review of school boards powers is needed to ensure
the use of decentralised framework to influence matters at school level. There is a need to
improve skills and capacities of Board members to achieve higher effectiveness.
