Factors influencing the provision of holiday tuition in Laikipia West district, Kenya

Abstract

Holiday tuitions are worldwide academic support programs organized in schools with unauthorized fee (www.crownguardian.co.uklservices-holidaytuition.html-cached). They face the wrath of various governments due to political will to provide Universal Primary Education (UPE) in the Commonwealth countries. This is reverberation of Education for All (EF A) in Africa and Free Primary Education (FPE) in Kenya.

The researcher adopted survey design which allows seeking responses from a relatively large number of respondents with relevant experiences in the study area. The study sample included 8 public primary schools. There were 8 head teachers, 16 teachers and 324 pupils; all selected through systematic and simple random sampling methods. Data were analyzed through Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) using the Statistics Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version. Major findings established in this research are highlighted below. Only 25 percent of teachers cover the syllabus in the stipulated time. Malicious transfers accounted for 75 percent of teacher de motivation. Many school children are chronic absentees due to lack of food and 31.8 percent remain without lunch. Cases of absenteeism are mitigated for when relief from World Food Program is available: pupils remain in during holidays and teachers provide tuition with pay to upper classes.

Performances in KCPE mean score has improved during the last five years (from 228.6 in 2006. to 251.22 in 2010) in the sampled schools. Teachers credited 68.8 percent of success to holiday tuition programs. The 98.2 percent of pupils agreed to be beneficiaries of holiday tuition programs. Teachers ascribed 87.5 percent of syllabus coverage and 81.3 percent enhancement of attention to individual learners needs to these programs. It was recommended that the Kenya Institute of Education (KlE) should review the syllabus to facilitate coverage if the need for extra tuition must be nullified. The MOE should strategize on systematic promotion of Teachers as in other public sectors and provide special allowance to teachers pursuing higher education. Teachers Service commission (TSC) should provide financial support to teachers forfeiting their holidays to provide extra tuition. This would mitigate Iearning discrepancies in public primary schools as compared to private academic. The MOE should extend relief food to needy pupils. District personnel officers should consult when balancing teachers to avoid malicious transfers.

A replication of this study in Laikipia West district was :suggested in five to ten years from now. This would find out the development of the provision of holiday tuition A comparative study on holiday tuition should be done in other districts in Kenya. This should unearth bidden aspects of these programs because they are taking place on a substantial scale (Paviot@iiep.unesco.org)