Entrepreneurial Activities as Sources of School Income in Kwekwe District Secondary Schools

Stephen Njini – Midlands State University
Thomas Edwin Buabeng Assan – Blue Crest College, Ghana
Burman Musa Sithole – University of Botswana
Ejoke Ufuoma Patience – University of the Free State
Email: stephennjin@gmail.com

Abstract: This study was motivated by numerous reports on inadequate financial resources in schools. Pragmatic Research Paradigm, Mixed Methods Research (MMR) approach, and explanatory sequential mixed methods research design guided the study. The study involved 56 secondary schools in 30 clusters in Kwekwe District of Zimbabwe. Disproportionate stratified sampling was employed to come up with four (4) clusters from which respondents and participants were drawn. The population of the study was 570 financial management school officials. A sample of 61 respondents answered close-ended questionnaires while a sample of 19 participants answered interviews questions. Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 20 was used to analyse quantitative data. Data derived from interviews was analysed using ATLAS.ti. Results of the study showed that sources of finances in Kwekwe District secondary schools were, parents, school projects, central government, non-governmental organisations, and alumni. Major impediments to financing secondary schools in Kwekwe District were, Covid 19 interruptions, delays in fees and levies payment, lack of viable income-generating projects, inflation, economic hardships, government education policy on exclusion of fees defaulters, and engagement of unscrupulous debt collectors. The study concluded with recommendations on revisiting government policy on fee defaulters and recommendations on capacity building of stakeholders on supplementing the school budget through entrepreneurial activities.