Teachers’ Perceptions on Adequacy and Utilization of Physical Resources in Public and Private Primary Schools in Lurambi Sub-County, Kenya

Abstract

Availability, adequacy and effective utilization of educational resources are crucial in facilitating an effective teaching/ learning process for academic achievement. This comparative study investigated the effect of school resources on academic achievement of public and private primary schools in Lurambi sub-county, Kenya. Based on the study, this paper presents and discusses the findings on teachers’ perceptions on adequacy and utilization of physical resources in public and private primary schools. It was hypothesized that there was no significant difference in adequacy and utilization of physical resources in public and private primary schools in Lurambi sub-county, Kenya. It targeted 4992 participants, comprising of 78 head teachers, 390 teachers and 4,426 class 8 pupils of the public and private primary schools in Lurambi sub-county of Kakamega county. Data from headteachers and teachers were obtained by use of semi-structured interview schedules and questionnaires respectively. Data was analysed by means of descriptive statistics, and thereafter a Welch’s t-test used to test hypothesis. The study found that there was a significant difference in adequacy [F (1, 96.625) = 27.727] and utilization [F (1, 63.509) = 23.155] of physical resources in private and public primary schools, p < 0.001 at α = 0.05. Private schools had a higher level of adequacy as well as utilization of school resources in all categories than public primary schools, except for playgrounds. The study thus recommends that the government should step up provision of resources to public schools in order to enhance performance to match private schools.