Abstract:
The main purpose of this study was to investigate the practices, challenges, and opportunities of
school improvement program in primary schools of Silte zone, southern Ethiopia. The descriptive
research design was employed to conduct the study; the mixed research method was employed to con
duct the study, to manage both quantitative and qualitative data. Random sampling technique
was employed to select the 10 government primary schools. 260 respondents were selected
from10 selected primary schools selected by simple random and purposively schools which was
included 176 teacher respondents, SIPC 42, principal 12, student representatives 6, and educa
tional experts 21. The data collection instruments were questionnaire, semi structured interview
questions for primary data collection and document analysis. Interview was made with 21 educa
tional experts who have experience about the school improvement program. The data were ana
lyzed by using SPSS software 2 version in which simple descriptive statistics such as frequency,
percentile and mean distribution were used for data analysis. The findings of the study revealed
that self-enquiries conducted in the primary schools were not continuous and regular as
they should have been (55.3%), the program has been strongly influenced by lack of the alloca
tion of necessary budget it was not sufficient to carry out the SIP, the program was not well im
plemented in most primary school in Silite zone constructive support and regular checking and
feedback. The study also concluded that the preparation made by both the school leadership
and Silite zone educational office is low and not satisfactory and the major weakness of the
implementation of the program is due to schools leadership failure in involving the community
representatives and the community at large in key areas of the schools. Finally, the study rec
ommended that Silite zone and woredas education office in collaboration with primary school
leadership needs to design a strategy to ensure sustainable participation of the community mem
bers in both labor and financial support activities to the SIP
