Facility Management in Ghanaian Public Second Cycle Institutions and Implications for Effective School Facility Management. A Study of the Upper West Region

Abstract

Education is a very invaluable part of every nation’s development agenda and a catalyst for building a better and more sustainable future for all. To this end, successive governments in Ghana through the GETFund continue to undertake substantial investment in facilities in public second cycle institutions as part of wider efforts to deliver quality education. Proper management of these facilities thus becomes imperative if their intended purposes are to be fully realized. Purposive sampling techniques were employed to select headmasters and teachers in charge of facility management from twenty-seven (27) public second cycle institutions in the Upper West Region for interviews. This study examined the current system of facilities management in the institutions studied to establish whether they were capable of ensuring effective school facility management. The study found out that the institutions had no designated departments in charge of the management of their respective school facilities and also lacked well-defined structures for effective school facilities management. It was also revealed that the utilities masters or madams who manage school facilities in public second cycle institutions have no estate or facility management background. The results of the study further established that effective facility management in public second cycle institutions is hampered by lack of technical knowledge of maintenance issues by those in charge of managing the facilities, poor financial base to support maintenance, low participation by community members in managing school facilities, and lack of operational guidelines on facility management in the second cycle institutions. The study recommends that estate offices be created and manned by qualified staff be set up in second cycle institutions. In addition, an operational policy manual should be developed to guide the management of facilities in second cycle institutions across Ghana. Keywords: Education, School Facilities, Facilities Management, Public Second Cycle Institutions. DOI: 10.7176/JEP/11-7-08 Publication date: March 31 st 2020