Challenges facing headteachers in the provision of free primary education in Njoro district Kenya.

Abstract

ABSTRACT The Kenya Government policy to achieve Universal Primary Education (UPE) has to be een within developments in the wider international context. The Universal declaration of human rights, adopted in December 1948, stated that everyone has a right to education. In 1989, the convention on the right of the child stated that every child has a right to free basic education. The Ominde Report in 1964 proposed an education system that would foster national unity and development. The Gachathi Committee 1976 recommended the abolition of school fees from standard five to standard seven, by then fees for lower primary had been abolished in 1974. The sessional paper No. 6 of 1988 addressed financing of education as its running theme and was an outcome of the Kamunge Report. According to Vision 2030, Kenya will provide a globally competitive quality education training and research. According to the new constitution of Kenya (2010) every child has a right to free basic education. During the 2002 general elections, the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) made the provision of Free Primary Education parts of its manifesto following its victory. The Minister for Education, Science and Technology (MOEST) launched the Free Primary Education (F.P.E) to fulfill NARC's election pledge. Therefore this study investigated the challenges facing head teachers in the provision of Free Primary Education in Njoro District. The study reviewed the following themes, teacher-pupil ratio in primary schools, teachers' establishment in primary schools, adequacy and utilization of physical and instructional resources, management of Free Primary Education funds and academic performance among school learners. The researcher used a questionnaire, observational checklist and interview schedule. The head teachers are responsible for purchasing the required materials such as textbooks, exercise books and other learning aids. Simple random sampling was used for observational checklist and interview schedules which were 30% of 80 head teachers. All the 80 head teachers were given the questionnaires. The researcher analyzed data using statistical procedures such as means, percentages, modes and presented in frequencies, bar graphs, histographs and pie charts. Data was presented, analyzed, discussed and the results were achieved. The study established that the school management was not conducted well in various primary schools. There were also scarce physical and instructional resources due to high enrollment after the provision of free primary education.