Primary school teachers’ perceptions of adequacy and quality of physical facilities in public primary schools under Free Primary Education

Abstract

The Free Primary Education (FPE) programme was commissioned in Kenya in January 2003 to provide basic education to all children of school going age and to ease the burden of cost sharing from the parents. However, even though the public primary school class teachers were to shoulder the greatest responsibility in the implementation of this programme the assessment of the success of this programme has not involved the class teachers who are main stakeholders. The study aimed at determining the primary school teachers’ perceptions of adequacy and quality of physical facilities in public primary schools under FPE. The study revealed that the overall quality of the physical facilities provided by the FPE programme to the primary schools in Ndaragwa division on Nyandarua County was found to be moderately adequate, while the adequacy was found to be adequate. In addition, the quality of teachers and pupil’s sanitary facilities were found to be Inadequate. Chalks, desks, staffroom, and playing fields were found to be adequate, while that of ICT facilities were found to be Inadequate. The study recommends that the stakeholders should harmonize the physical facilities within the schools to avoid overcrowding in particular schools. These physical facilities should be proportional to the enrolment of the school.

Key words: Primary school teachers, perception, adequacy, quality, physical facilities, Free Primary Education