ICTs’ Role in Strengthening Administrative Management in Catholic Secondary Schools of South West Cameroon

Information and Communication Technology use in schools has substantially influenced the efficiency and productivity of school administration. The study focused on how ICT strengthens administrative management in Catholic Secondary schools in the South West Region of Cameroon. The study employment convergent mixed method design and the target population was 22 schools, 22 principals, 22 school Bursars, 308 teachers, 1,440 students, and 756 parents are the number of CSS in the SWR of Cameroon A sample size of 264 comprising six principals, six school accountants, 60 teachers, 168 students, and 24 parents, was selected using stratified sampling, simple random sampling, purposive and snowball sampling. Data was collected using structured questionnaires. Delete a pilot test was conducted to validate the research tools and to test for reliability and validity tests. The study found out that ICT had dramatically facilitated communication, data recording and management, enhanced the quality of teaching and learning, supported curriculum planning, facilitated student assessments, facilitated budgeting, payroll preparation, and accounting processes in schools, and improved the accuracy and efficiency of financial tasks in schools. Despite this positive impact of ICT in schools, the study established challenges associated with the use of ICT that included; lack of ICT infrastructure, inadequate resources, lack of ICT policies, resistance to policies, electrical shortages, and lack of necessary skills and training to use ICT effectively. The study concludes that ICT improved administrative management in schools and recommended training programs for principals, teachers, school accountants, students, and parents on the use of ICT, improvement of infrastructure, increase of resources for ICT tools in schools, and enhanced utilization of ICT in teaching and learning. Keywords: ICT, Administrative Management, Efficiency, Catholic Secondary Schools, South West Cameroon