This study sought to establish level of accountability of education actors in relation to current status of education delivery and its resultant academic performance of secondary schools in Tandahimba and Mtwara Districts, Tanzania. The study was underpinned by Principal-Agency Theory and Public Choice Theory and it employed the cross-sectional explanatory design through questionnaire as source of data from 229 respondents who were sampled from the population of 563 education administrators. Furthermore, seven district level officers were purposively selected for in-depth interview while 10 teachers and 10 parents were conveniently selected to participate in the focus group discussion. Quantitative data was analysed using descriptive statistics whilst qualitative data was analysed using content analysis. The quantitative findings indicate that education actors were accountable in their roles. However, the qualitative findings revealed that heads of schools and school management teams were not accountable for involvement of parents in school management; some heads of schools were burdens to schools since they did not have managerial skills, experience and knowledge. The findings are in line with the theoretical thinking of public choice theory, which proposes that lower accountability of education actors compromises delivery of quality education in secondary schools. Based on the findings, this study recommends that the local government should enhance the accountability of head of schools and school management teams by involving community and parents in the management of schools. Moreover, heads of schools have to be trained after being appointed so as to impart them with managerial knowledge and skills so as to regulate their performance and eventually their accountability.

This study sought to establish the community participation in the decentralized secondary education in Mtwara Region. The study employed the cross-sectional descriptive design. The population consisted of 627 secondary school teachers, 48 councilors, 48 WEOs, two DEOS, two DSQAOs and 119,952 parents and board members. A total of 129 teachers were sampled using a simple random sampling procedure. In addition, 48 councilors, 48 WEOs, DEOs and two DSQAOs were selected using the census sampling method. Furthermore, 50 parents and board members were selected using the convenient sampling procedure. Therefore, the total sample was 279 individuals who filled questionnaires. Data was analyzed through descriptive statistics. The study revealed that parents and community members perceived to be involved in attending village meetings. They also attended school meetings for education matters but were not effectively engaged in budgeting and decision making. They agreed that they participated in monitoring and implementation of school projects but their involvement in setting priorities was minimal. Furthermore, they raised a concern regarding rare feedback from school administrators. On the contrary, teachers and school managers perceived a high participation of parents and community members. Therefore, much as parents and community members were involved in the decentralized secondary education, their involvement still needs improvement in such areas as budgeting, priority setting and decision making.