An investigation on challenges faced by secondary school Teachers in curriculum implementation: a case study of Buuri Sub-county, Meru county in Kenya.

Abstract

Policy makers in Kenya have shown an increasing interest in expanding and strengthening the country's secondary education system, but many challenges remain. As the country successfully boosted primary school enrolment rates to nearly universal coverage, the number of children seeking secondary education has soared. In an attempt to enhance access, programmers such as Free Day Secondary Education (FDSE) have been launched by the government. Yet secondary education must fill dual roles: providing skills, knowledge, and technical training for youth planning to enter the labour force, while at the same time preparing others for continuing their studies in higher education. Unfortunately, secondary education may fail to fulfill these roles due to a myriad of challenges. Delayed disbursement and inadequate government subsidies, a shortage of physical facilities, teaching learning resources, teachers, the inability to pay for compulsory items are collectively threatening to compromise the quality of secondary education. This study was to investigate the factors affecting the implementation of secondary education in Buuri District. The study looked at the teacher-student ratios, time allocation, the physical facilities and the poverty levels. The researcher adopted a descriptive survey research design to conduct the study. The target population consisted of all public secondary schools in Buuri District. The district has a total of 29 public secondary schools. The target population was 29 principals, 29 deputy principals, 116 Head of Departments (HoD) and all the teachers in these schools. Data was collected using two sets of instruments, a questionnaire for the respondents and an observation guide. Data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS 2009). The analyzed data was presented using frequency distribution tables, bar graphs, pie charts and frequency polygons. The findings of this study will provide information to all stakeholders in the education sector that could be useful in ensuring success of implementation of secondary education. The government, through the Ministry of education, could use the study in evaluating and strengthening access to education. The information will be useful to parents in determining the necessary contributions they ought to make towards secondary education; the parents will also be aware of the extent of government support towards free day secondary education and thus make them adequately prepared to meet their responsibilities towards education of their children. The study covered the adequacy of time allocation, learner-teacher ratio and adequacy of physical facilities directly related to classroom teaching. Recommendations made pertaining, time allocation, availability of physical facilities, the cost of education and the number of teachers that satisfy the enrolment patterns