© IJARW | ISSN (O) - 2582-1008 December 2020 | Vol. 2 Issue. 6 www.ijarw.com IJARW1401 International Journal of All Research Writings 36 CONTRIBUTION OF SCHOOL HEADS’ LEADERSHIP PRACTICES TO STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN THE PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS OF MUZO SECTOR, GAKENKE DISTRICT, RWANDA Theophile Shyiramunda 1 , Faustin Bavugirije 2 1 PhD Candidate at Leipzig University, Germany 2 Secondary teacher at Rusoro secondary school in Gakenke district, Northern Province in Rwanda ABSTRACT There are several researches carried out on schools leadership but a little attention to the contribution of school heads leadership practices on students ‘academic performance has been paid. This study sought to analyze the contribution of school heads in enhancing their students’ academic performance in the Rwanda public secondary schools by taking into consideration a case of Muzo sector of Gakenke district .The choice of this study area is justified by the low performance of many students in the national examinations from the years, 2014 up to 2017. The contribution of school heads cannot be left behind when analyzing the causes of low students’ performance. Findings from the study revealed that shaping a clear vision of academic success is an important contribution that school heads should put into practice to enhance students’ academic performance. The study further suggests that cultivating leadership into others could be a better leadership’s practice of school heads, which in turn would lead to better students’ academic performance in national examinations. It is, therefore, recommended that school heads should receive regular trainings on best practices for effective management of their schools thus improving students’ academic performance in general. In addition to this, School Heads should establish a clear vision of academic success for all students, create a climate hospitable, improve instruction of their schools, and cultivate leadership into others to motivate them in order to run the school in a better way.The use of both questionnaires and interviews deemed important methods for data collection as the study employed both mixed approach design. Keyword: School heads, Leadership practices, public secondary school, students’ academic performance. 1. INTRODUCTION It becomes important that some governments bring major reforms in education for the sake of an improved quality education as far as access, participation, relevance and performance of children are concerned not only in Rwanda but also elsewhere in the world. In this regards, several reforms in Rwanda Education sector were introduced, the most recent being the establishment of both nine and twelve years basic education schools respectively in 2009 [1] for free and compulsory educations to all Rwandan children. Nonetheless, many complaints arose as those schools encountered poor students’ academic performance, which might be attributed to school leadership [2]. Previous researches have shown that the quality of school leadership is among the most influential factors for students’ success at their schools [3]. Then, the school heads’ leadership practice is usually attributed to the success or failure of a school as these school heads are the persons in charge of everything in the different activities of the school. The effective school leadership is particularly important in improving the performance of their students at schools [4]. There are six leadership strategies, which increase students’ academic performance at any secondary school such as: setting big goals, getting students invested in their learning, planning purposefully, making adjustments as necessary, improving and working tirelessly [5]. This point is very similarly to the study of [6] which has shown that school heads develop, support and evaluate the quality of teaching and this brings a big influence on learning outcomes while on the other hand the management of