Application of Information Technology in school administration in Public Senior High Technical schools in Upper West Region, Ghana

Abstract

The study seeks to examine the application of Information Technology in the administration of public senior high/technical schools in Upper West Region. The objectives of the study sought to examine how school administrators apply information technology in human resource administration, physical resource administration, financial resource administration and also to examine the challenges facing school administrators in the application of information technology in school administration in public senior high/technical schools in Upper West Region. A survey research design was used to conduct the study. The targeted population consist of administrators of public senior high/technical schools in Upper West (36 schools). The sample size was twenty schools (n=20) with each school having 6 participants. This brings the total sample size to one hundred and twenty (n=120). A simple random sampling procedure were adopted. Questionnaires were used to collect the data. The collected data were analyzed using both qualitative and quantitative approaches. From the analysis, the following conclusions were made: Most public senior high/technical schools have adopted the use of information technology as a good tool in their day-to-day operations, in the area of human resource administration, IT is applied in monitoring staff attendance, keeping of personal records of both staff and students, e-learning, training of teachers in basic application as students’ reports, enrolling students during admission. It is also used in financial administration of schools and many others. These were however not without challenges. These challenges have hindered the effective application of IT in school administration. They include lack of IT personnel, inadequate funds, lack of/inadequate computers and lack of backup power supply.