Wastage in Schools: What Are The Emerging Internal Efficiency Concerns in Public Primary Schools in Kyeni Division, Embu County, Kenya?

Abstract

The thrust of this study was to examine the causes of wastage in public day primary schools in Kyeni Division, Embu County, Kenya. The study was premised on the systems theory Systems theory first   propounded by  Bertalanffy (1950)  which  views an organization as a social system consisting of individuals who cooperate within a formal framework, drawing resources, people, finance from their environment and putting back into that environment . A descriptive survey research design was adopted.  The target population was 26,250 pupils and 560 teachers in public day primary schools in the study locale. Stratified random sampling was used to select a sample of 521 subjects, comprising   10 head teachers, 10 school management committee (SMC) chairpersons, 400 students, 100 teachers and one Quality Assurance and Standards Officer. The main research instruments were questionnaires, interview schedules, focus group discussions guidelines and observation checklists. Data was processed and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS.  The findings of the study were that schools lacked enough resources which affected the quality of teaching-learning resulting into low pupils’ academic achievement. There was also increased dropout, repetition as well as low completion and transition rates.  It was recommended that in order to increase internal efficiency of  schools,  the Government of Kenya, through the Ministry of Education should increase  budgetary allocations to the schools, recruit more teachers,  undertake regular in-servicing of teachers to improve their pedagogical skills and  economically  empower parents   to enable them meet both direct and hidden costs of education, amongst others. [257 words].

Key Words: Pupil Teacher ratio, Wastage,   Inefficiency, Public Primary Schools, Kyeni Division, Embu County, Kenya.