Constraints faced by headteachers in the implementation of free primary education in Kirinyaga east district, Kirinyaga county, Kenya

Abstract

Since the inception of FPE, it has faced several problems of which the government has been struggling to solve. The central problem ofthis study is that despite the Government efforts to provide Free Primary Education (F.P.E) with an aim of attaining Universal Primary Education (U.P.E), the initiative has continued to be elusive. The purpose of this study was to investigate the constraints faced by the Head teachers in the management and implementation of (F.P.E) in Kirinyaga County of Central Kenya. The study was guided by the following specific objectives: to determine the availability of both teaching and learning resources as well as other physical resources and the implications in implementation of FPE Kirinyaga County, to analyse the effect of the timeliness, amounts and other logistics of the FPE policy in the smooth running of the primary schools under FPE, to find out the effect of enrolment levels in the schools on the capacity of infrastructure and human resource and to identify the social-cultural factors viewed by head teachers and teachers as contributing to the failure of the FPE programme. Simple random sampling was used to sample schools for the study whereas purposive sampling was used to recruit class teachers into the study. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentages while qualitative data were analyzed thematically. A questionnaire was used to collect data from Head teachers and teachers while interview schedules were used to collect data from District Education Officers (D.E.Os). A total of 181 respondents were targeted by the study out of which 167 responded giving a response rate of 92%. The study found that facilities and resources such as classrooms, text books, exercise books, desks and games facilities were inadequate. It was also found that most respondents strongly agreed that inadequate teachers to handle the growing number of pupils affect the implementation of FPE in schools. The study further found that all head teacher interviewed did not receive the Government funds in good time. There was also high enrolment of pupils resulting from the introduction of FPE. The study also found that there was inadequate number of teachers in the schools to handle the growing number ofteachers and limited resources such as text books. It was finally found that poverty affected the implementation of FPE to a very large extent followed by parental ignorance. The study concluded that non availability of teaching and learning resources in primary schools, late disbursement of funds and the inadequacy of funds and socio-cultural factors such as poverty and parental ignorance posed a challenge to the head teacher in the implementation of FPE in Kirinyaga County. It was recommended that the government should disburse the funds allocated for the implementation of FPE in good time to facilitate the implementation of the programme in schools. It was finally recommended that another study be done to suggest on the ways of improving the implementation of PPE in other districts.