Influence of Free Primary Education on Pupils' Academic Performance in Public Primary Schools in Laikipia West Sub-County, Laikipia County, Kenya

Abstract

Kenya's government implemented free primary education in 2003 as part of its attempts to attain universal primary education. Despite these attempts, worries about the educational quality have grown. Due to a rise in pupils’ enrollment, the teacher-to-pupil and pupil-to-textbook ratios, as well as classrooms, are strained. The purpose of this study was to find out how free primary education affects pupils’ academic performance in public primary schools in Laikipia West Sub County. The research looked into the impact of teaching-learning resources, pupil-teacher ratios, teaching-learning methods, and teachers' perceptions on pupil performance in Laikipia West Sub County public primary schools. The study was anchored on Cognitive Behavioral Theory, Systematic Approach to Instruction Theory and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory. The research employed descriptive survey design. The target population was 490 teachers from 49 public primary schools in Laikipia West Sub County. A sample size of 220 teachers was selected using simple random sampling method. The researcher also targeted 10 head teachers. Semi-structured questionnaires and interview guides were used to obtain primary data. Thematic content analysis was used to examine qualitative data, while quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The association between free primary education characteristics and pupils' academic performance was determined using correlation analysis. multiple regression model was used to determine the influence of independent variables on the dependent variable. Reliability results indicated Cronbach’s alpha values greater than 0.7, implying that the questionnaire was reliable. The findings also indicated that teaching learning resources, teaching-learning methods, and teachers’ perception had a positive and significance influence on pupils performance in public primary schools. Further, pupil teacher ratio had a negative and significant influence on pupils’ performance. The study concluded that the most significant predictor of pupils’ performance was teaching-learning resources, followed by teaching-learning methods, followed by teachers’ perception, and lastly pupil-teacher ratio. The study recommended the need for the government of Kenya through the Ministry of Education to provide sufficient teaching-learning resources to public primary schools; to provide sufficient teachers to public primary schools; to strengthen teaching-learning methods in public primary schools. In particular, key emphasis should be on subject matter, learner’s assignment, and assessment test. In particular, the focus should be on the following aspects: teachers class attendance, teachers’ responsiveness, syllabus coverage and overcrowded classrooms. This study makes a significant contribution towards policy, practice and theory in the field of education leadership and management.