Enhancing Alumni Participation through External Communication in Lusaka’s Public Secondary Schools

Abstract

This research sought to assess how external communication is employed for purposes of motivating alumni to support their former public secondary schools. It sought to reveal the preferred modes of external communication to alumni by school administrators; the factors that influenced the choice of these communication methods; and the influence these modes had on alumni participation. Public secondary schools in Zambia make up 87% of the total population of secondary schools but experience resource challenges, worsened following implementation of free education policy through increased student enrolments. Despite termly government funding ranging between K237,000 per school with the most streams per grade, to K96,000 per schools with the least, as well as access to Constituency Development Fund, challenges have persisted, necessitating the need for alternative funding from stakeholders, including alumni. Descriptive survey design was used, where structured questionnaires were distributed to 51 randomly sampled school administrators. Data was analysed using SPSS to compute descriptive and inferential statistics. Social media topped the means of communication among 78% of respondents. Availability of contact details for alumni, M=4.68, SD=0.769, was the highest factor influencing effective communication. For all respondents, 59% believed that engagement improved due to strategic communication. By event type, communication frequency significantly associated with alumni engagement at r = 0.715. Event attendance highest, M = 4.79, SD = 0.859, then promoting the school in public spaces M = 4.66, SD = 0.872, followed by donation to fundraising initiatives, M = 4.50, SD = 0.549 and volunteering in school programs, M = 4.16, SD = 0.588. Challenges included obsolete alumni databases and inadequate technological infrastructure for effective communication. Recommendations included strengthening digital communication infrastructure, improved contact management systems and crafting communication based on alumni preferred communication modes.