Free Secondary Education and the Changing Roles of the Heads of Public Schools in Tanzania: Are They Ready for New Responsibilities?

This study investigated the management capacity of heads of public secondary schools in the implementation of Free Secondary Education (FSE) policy in Singida municipality. The study was descriptive research survey which employed both qualitative and quantitative research designs. Questionnaires and interviews were used to collect data from 200 teachers, 10 school heads and 5 municipal secondary education officers. The findings indicated that heads of public secondary schools in Singida municipality possessed managerial skills to run their schools effectively despite of being faced by several challenges, like inadequate funds to cater for some of the school needs, misconception by parents that FSE policy catered for all the fees and rapid increase of student enrollment. The findings further revealed that school heads use informal and formal coping strategies like community participation and informal peer coaching to manage the challenges of FSE.