Impact of the free primary education policy on quality of education in public primary schools in Mombasa county, Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate impact of the free primary education policy on quality of education in public primary schools in Mombasa County, Kenya. The study was carried out within Mombasa County, Kenya. The research design employed was descriptive survey design. The target population comprised of 88 public primary schools within Mombasa County, distributed within the four old constituency boundaries of; Mvita, Changamwe, Likoni and Kisauni. There are a total of about 1645 teachers, deputy head teachers and head teachers in those schools. Out of the 88 public primary schools, a sample population of 9 primary schools were picked through stratified random sampling and the entire 203 teachers, deputy head teachers and head teachers in those schools were selected through census sampling technique. The data collection instruments used included; questionnaires, interview schedule, observation schedule and content analysis of documents. The reliability of these instruments was determined using test retest technique, Spearman Rank Correlation Coefficient as well as piloting. Validity of the instrument was determined through seeking expert opinion from the supervisor and other lecturers. Analysis of the data was done using Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) software and data presented in form of tables among others. The study found out that with the implementation of the FPE policy, access to primary education had increased tremendously. However, with increased enrolment came along some quality challenges. Increased enrolment did not come along with increase in number of teachers and increase in school infrastructure. Meanwhile, though not adequately, the policy has been lauded for increase in provision of teaching and learning materials such as textbooks. Based on these findings, the study recommends the need for the government to allocate additional funding to employ more teachers to reduce pupil teacher ratio, improve on schools infrastructure such as classrooms so as to create conducive learning environment and avail more instructional materials among others