Educational planning and learners academic performance in Public Secondary Schools A case study of Musanze District, Rwanda

Abstract

This study was carried out to examine the impact of educational planning on learners’ academic performance in public secondary schools of Musanze District. Specifically, the study sought to investigate the state of educational planning in the schools from 2010 to 2012. A sample of 35 Headmasters and 35 Academic Masters from 35 public secondary schools of Musanze District was used in this study.The study was guided by the following research questions: (1) What are the characteristics of educational planning in public secondary schools of Musanze District from 2010 to 2012? (2) What are the activities undertaken by the schools aiming at improving students’ academic performance from 2010 to 2012? (3) What are the problems of planning in public secondary schools of Musanze District from 2010 to 2012? (4) What is the state of students’ academic performance in public secondary school of Musanze District from 2010 to 2012? This study used a comparative descriptive research design and a purposive sample to collect and analyze the data. After the data had been collected, it was analyzed using simple statistical techniques (frequency, percentages). By means of the information about learners’ academic performance from 2010 to 2012 in Musanze District public secondary schools as well as some characteristics of educational planning in the schools, the researcher established whether there is impact of educational planning on learners’ academic performance. Likewise, after making comparison between learners’ academic performance in Musanze district public secondary schools and some aspects of school plans (school budget and realization of planned actions), the study revealed that educational planning affects learners’ academic performance in Musanze District public secondary schools. The study recommends that the Ministry of education should help public secondary schools to make effective plans through the provision of regular in-service trainings on educational planning and through the provision of the documents about educational planning to the secondary schools’ managers. The study also recommended that the government should provide the capitation grants to the secondary schools on time so as to enable them to realize their planned actions successfully.