An assessment of the parents' and teachers' association (P.T.A) funding sustaining day secondary schools in Machakos District, Machakos county

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to investigate Parents' and Teachers' Associations funds in sustaining day secondary schools education in Machakos District. The statement of the problem was based on fact that most schools in the country and Machakos District in particular are lacking vital facilities and are unable to fully provide and implement school activities and programmes. The objectives of the study were centered on examining PT A funds in sustaining the provision of school physical facilities, teaching and learning materials, provision of school personnel and financing school co-curricular activities. The study was significant as it may provide information to education stakeholders on the need to revitalize PT A funds to ensure quality education in secondary schools. The study was based on the Classical Liberal Theory of Equity of Opportunity and Social Darwinism, and employed a survey research design. Machakos District has 30 day secondary schools. A sample of 30 PTAslBOG members, 10 Principals, 145 Teachers and 200 Students was selected. Questionnaires, interview schedule and an observation checklist were used to collect data. To test for the validity of the instruments, a pilot study was conducted in ten schools where the researcher used the test/re-test (repeatability test) since most questions were open-ended while for instrument reliability the correlations between the results of the separate tests were determined using the Pearson product correlation co-efficient formula which yielded a value of +0.8246 which the researcher found to have a stronger congruence. Responses to the open-ended items in the questionnaires, interview, responses and observation data were analyzed and recorded quantitatively while closed-ended items in the questionnaires were analyzed and reported using descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentages. The findings of the study revealed that PT A funds are inadequate in sustaining the provision of physical facilities as cited by 66.7% of principals. PT A funds were also found to be inadequate in sustaining the provision of teaching and learning resources as cited by 87.5%, school personnel as cited by all principals (100.0%) and financing school activities as cited by 75.0% of principals. The study recommended transparency and accountability when using PIA funds. The government and other stakeholders should also increase funding for provision of teaching and learning materials, the government should hire more teachers to alleviate shortage of personnel and also increase funding for school activities and programmes. The study recommends further research involving public boarding schools and also a similar study should be conducted to the rest of the country.