PRINCIPALS' UTILIZATION OF ICT IN BUDGET PROCESS AS CORRELATE OF EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT OF PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN EBONYI STATE

Abstract

The study investigated principals' utilization of ICT in budget process as correlate of effective management of public secondary schools in Ebonyi State. Two research questions guided the study and two hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The correlational survey research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study comprised 233 principals of public secondary schools in Ebonyi State. Two structured validated questionnaires were used to collect data for the study. The questionnaires were validated by three experts in education and the reliability of the study was achieved through pilot study. The application of Cronbach Alpha yielded confficient values of 0.89 and 0.87 were obtained for PUICTBPQ and ESMQ respectively. The Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient was employed to answer the research questions and to test the hypotheses. The findings revealed a high positive relationship between principals' use of ICT in budgeting and effective school management. Additionally, the study showed that while both male and female principals benefited from ICT integration, the relationship was stronger among male principals. Based on these findings, the study recommended increased ICT training for all principals, improved provision of ICT infrastructure in schools, and gender-sensitive support programmes to bridge potential disparities.