Utilization and Management of Physical And Learning Resources for Academic Achievement in Public Secondary Schools in Kakamega County, Kenya

Abstract

Education in a school is determined by provision of resources, their maximum utilization and management. This study was carried out to assess the utilization and management of physical and learning resources for academic achievement in public secondary schools in Kakamega County. The instruments were questionnaires for the Heads of Department, Subject Heads and Teachers. Interview schedule was used to interview Principals. The target population consisted of Principals, HODs, Subject Heads and Teachers of all the 290 public secondary schools in the county. Stratification of schools was done by dividing schools in groups basing on the type of school; boys boarding, girls boarding, mixed day schools and mixed boarding. Random sampling was used to select the 79 Principals of the sampled schools and the 340 Heads of Departments while simple random sampling was used to select the 350 subject heads and 400 teachers who were used in the study. The collected data was analyzed and then presented using frequency tables, means, percentages, pie-charts and bar graphs. Data was analyzed using survey research design to conduct the study and organized using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The study also found out that inadequate funding by government was a major challenge influencing the provision, utilization and maintenance of resources in most schools in the county. The study also established that resources regarding on student welfare were utilized to a minimal extent. It is recommended the need for in-service training of teachers and educational administrators on the variety of teaching/learning available for use. It was also established that security was a challenge in some schools and therefore being a threat on safety of resources available in schools. The study recommended the need for government to increase funding to schools address teacher shortage issues. The study concluded it was important for Boards of Management to play an active role in management schools and measures be put in place to ensure proper record keeping to curb on embezzlement of school funds. Based on the study findings, it recommended that similar research to be undertaken on a wider area such as a Country for wider generalization and comparison of the research findings. Lastly it is recommended that further research should be done in the same locality on utilization and management of human resource who were omitted in this study.