Abstract:
Management and financial autonomy in Mozambican schools are a priority of the Ministry of Education and Human Development, as a means of raising the quality of services in this sector. The study aims to answer the question: To what extent does financial autonomy contribute to the management of the Direct Support Fund for Primary Schools? The general objective is to analyze the financial autonomy in the management of the Fund of Direct Support to Schools. The study approach is quantitative; it is an exploratory and descriptive study. The results of applied questionnaire survey to a sample of 41 people reveal that the ADE is important since the uncovered goods by the State Budget such as didactic material can be purchased. The financial management is a tool and experience of uniform and collective management for all primary schools in Mozambique. The study also shows that the fund is the only financial source for the operation of the school, and that the Direct Support to Schools program is one of the forms for the decentralization policy implemented by the Government. The theoretical assumptions underlying the research shows that the allocation of resources to schools is part of a broad process of government decentralization to promote the creation of technical, human and material capacities for the active participation of citizens in solving emerging problems. However, decentralization and autonomy are relatively limited because a school does not produce funds for self-management. This limitation is also due to the weak renewal of purchasing and receiving commission’s members, lack of managerial skills which reduce their professional performance in decision making on financial autonomy and management of funds
