Quality of education offered in private secondary schools: a case of slum schools in Nairobi Province, Kenya.

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to investigate the quality of education offered in selected private secondary schools in Nairobi's slums; Kenya. The government has provided for the establishment of private schools to supplement the few public schools in the country so as to bridge the gap in access to education. Every student is entitled to quality education if the education they recieve should have any positive impact to their lives. This education and training should assist in establishment of human resourse base necessary for the generation of wealth and application to the creation of better standards of living and improvement of life. The quality of education offered in private secondary slum school, is questionable prompting this study which focused on teachers students, facilities and management characteristics that determine quality education. The study adopted an explanatory approach using a descriptive survey design on the 4 selected private schools. From these schools, 4 headteachers, 16 teachers - 4 from each school and 10 students per school were sampled, bringing the sampled population to 60 respondents. The research instruments that were used to elicit data were questionnaires for students, teachers and headteachers; unstructured interview schedules for teachers; and observation schedule that was used to investigate how resources were being utilized and actual class teaching - learning. Data collected was analysed using descriptive analysis according to the information obtained from questionnaires, observations, interviews and document analysis. Analysis also involved organizing data into codes, themes and categories to determine relationships in categories. Data was then presented in tabulation and discussion from which allowed for the formulation of summaries, conclusions and recommendations. The major findings was that headteachers and teachers in the slum private schools were not qualified to teach in those secondary schools and that their teaching experience was minimal. The teaching learning resourses were also not adequate to foster quality education. Based on these findings, it is recommended that school managers should be qualified, employ qualified teachers and offer them regular in-service courses. Teachers should also be motivated to concentrate on their work. The schools should also provide adequate teaching learning resourses.