A Study of the Effective Implementation of Ministry of Education Policy Guidelines for Free Primary Education in Lugari District, Western Province, Kenya

Abstract

From independence in 1963 to 1987, the Government subsidized primary education but in 1988 cost sharing was introduced. In 2003 the government reintroduced the policy of funding most of the cost for primary education to fulfill International Agreements such as the World Conference in Jomtein (1990) which emphasized development of education in countries. From 2003 Free Primary Education has been implemented through specific MoE policy guidelines. These include unconditional admission of learners into public primary schools; government funding of the teaching-learning resources; empowering more of head teachers as AIE holders; enhanced in-service courses for teachers to handle all learners; empowering more of SMCs and SIMSCs on management of schools resources and monitoring of school activities by QASOs and auditors. This study therefore set out to evaluate the effective utilization of MoE guidelines in FPE implementation in Lugari District between 2003 and 2006. The literature review focused on research findings on the effective management of the human, financial, physical facilities, teaching-Ieaming resources and time and then linked the findings to gaps in the strategies of FPE implementation in Lugari District. The study used random sampling to obtain 34 (30 %) of the 114 public primary schools in Lugari District and chairpersons of SMCs of the schools respectively. In addition, purposive sampling was used to sample the 284 (18.8%) teachers including the head teachers from a total population of 1508 and the 14 (100%) educational supervisory staff in Lugari District. All the respondents in the study were 332. The study used questionnaires, interview schedules and a document checklist to collect data. The data was analyzed using quantitative and qualitati ve data analysis methods. The Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 10.0 computer programme was also used. The analyzed data was presented in frequency tables, percentages, pie charts, bar graphs, line graphs and correlation tables. Some of the major findings of the study were that the teachers used Alternative Teaching Approaches such as Multi-Shift to address understaffing and inadequate physical facilities; the involvement of SMC and SIMSC in resource management in the schools had led to effective utilization of the available resources; promotion of discipline in the schools was mostly done through guidance and counseling; the course content of the in-service courses organized for head teachers on effective finance management were inadequate and the monitoring of school activities by QASOs and auditors was still inadequate. From the research findings, the researcher drew a conclusion that most of the strategies for the implementation of FPE in Lugari District were effectively articulated save for the enhancement of head teachers as AIE holders and the monitoring of school activities by most officials. Some of the recommendations made were that in-service courses on resource management should be of longer duration; parents should be encouraged to support government efforts in the FPE programme and the monitoring of school activities by QASOs and auditors should be enhanced.