Impact Of Free Primary Education On Pupil’S Academic Performance In Public Day Primary Schools In Bungoma Central Sub County, Kenya

Abstract

The study was to investigate the impact of free primary education on pupils’ academic performance in public day primary schools in Bungoma Central Sub County; Kenya. The study was guided by the following specific objectives, to determine the extent to which increased enrolment influence pupils’ academic performance in public primary schools in Bungoma Central Sub County, to establish how learning materials influence pupils’ academic performance in public primary schools and to examine the influence of increased enrolment on the ability of teachers to offer quality education in public primary schools in Bungoma Central Sub County. The study adopted the systems theory of management as its theoretical framework which explains the coordination different subsystems in achieving results. The study used descriptive survey design. The target population for this study consisted of all the 40 head teachers and 890 teachers from the 40 public primary schools in Bungoma Central Sub County. The sample size consisted of 137 participants and one sub county education officer, one quality assurance and standards officers, three curriculum support officers and 40 head teachers purposively sampled making a total of 137 respectively selected by the census and 10% as postulated by Mugenda and Mugenda. The study utilized questionnaires and interview schedules as instruments for data collection. The data collected was analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively using descriptive statistics. Findings of the study were presented using frequency distribution tables. Results of the study showed that increased enrolment affected pupils’ academic performance, the available resources were inadequate and that it was difficult for teachers’ ability to provide quality personal assistance to pupils in public day primary schools in Bungoma Central Sub County. The study therefore recommends that more teachers should be employed to reduce the increased teachers` workload so that teachers can effectively attend to pupils. More funds should also be allocated to schools by the government to procure more teaching-learning resources. The NGOs and international partners should financially support Free Primary Education for the success of the programme. The study also recommends that constant inspection should be carried out by the Ministry of Education for the success of the programme. Lastly the study recommends that school administrators should look for various stakeholders to improve on resource mobilization.