Determinants of Implementation of Public Sector Projects in Kenya: A Case of Laptop Project in Public Primary Schools in Kangundo Sub-County, Machakos County

Abstract

In One-to-one laptop programs are becoming popular across the globe. However available evidence suggests that their implementations in schools are often faced with challenges. For example, even though the government of Kenya began supplying laptops to public primary schools in 2016; reports indicate that the gadgets have not fully been put into use in many schools. Most of the empirical studies done in this area have majorly focused on the level of success and factors influencing implementation of the project and not the extent to which specific variables determine implementation of the project, thus resulting to a research gap. In order to fill this gap, study focused on the determinants of implementation of the laptop project in public primary schools in Kangundo Sub-county. The study was guided by 4 research objectives: i.) To assess the extent to which teachers’ perception determine implementation of the laptop project; ii) To establish the extent to which teachers’ capacity in ICT determine implementation of the laptop project; iii) To establish the extent to which availability of facilities determine the implementation of the laptop project; and iv) To establish the extent to which availability of digital subject content determine implementation of the laptop project. The study was premised on three (3) theories; Technology Acceptance Model, Constructivist Learning Theory and Resource Based Theory. The study adopted descriptive survey design. It targeted all the public primary schools, all teachers in lower primary and all the Ministry of Education officials heading the four zones that constitute Kangundo Sub-county. The study targeted all the 74 public primary schools which have 222 lower primary teachers, 74 head teachers and 4 MOEST officials making a total target population of 300. It adopted stratified random sampling in stratifying the schools into four zones and randomly selected 22 schools. All 22 school heads and all 66 lower primary school teachers of the participating schools were purposively sampled. Additionally, the 4 MOEST officials heading the four zones were included, making a sample of 92 participants. Tools of data collection included questionnaires for teachers and school heads, an interview guide for MOEST officials and an observation checklist. The data analysis was conducted using SPSS. Content analysis was adopted in analyzing qualitative data whereas descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentages were used in analyzing quantitative data. Tables and figures were used to present the study results. The inferential analysis conducted shows that there was a significant relationship between independent and dependent variables. Both teachers’ capacity on ICT and availability of facilities were found to have significant effect on implementation of the laptop project while teachers’ perception and availability of digital subject content were found to have insignificant effect on the project in public primary schools in Kangundo Sub-County.