Factors that influence the need for private supplementary tuition in secondary schools: a case study of selected schools in Borabu district of Nyamira county, kenya

Abstract

Since the introduction of the 8.4.4 system of education in Kenya in 1981, the use of private supplementary tuition in schools (remedial classes or extra classes) and outside the schools premises (in holiday tuition centres) has kept on increasing in form, magnitude and intensity. The government of Kenya through the ministry of education and teachers service commission has tried severally to discourage the use of private supplementary tuition in schools without much success. The inability of the Kenyan government and other governments globally to completely stop the use of PST by students and their parents raises pertinent questions that deserve attention from policy makers, researchers and stakeholders in education. Some of these questions include; what are the factors behind the unquenched need for PST? What are the implications of using PST? Which subjects are popular in PST and why? Why has the government ban policy not been effective? Is it possible to formulate a national policy framework that would let PST be, but be regulated to eliminate abuse? To answer some of these questions and to understand the state of PST in Kenya some studies have been carried out, however such studies have majorly relied on data that has been collected from the primary school level and not much has been done using data from the secondary school level. The purpose of this study therefore was to investigate the factors influencing the need for PST among secondary school students, investigate the level of success of the ban policy in stopping the use of PST in schools and based on the outcome of the study propose a policy framework to replace the ban policy if found to be ineffective using mathematics as the focus subject in Borabu District of Nyamira County, Kenya. The study employed a descriptive survey research design. The target population was the secondary school students and mathematics teachers in the 23 registered secondary schools in the district. Proportional stratified sampling followed by simple random sampling was employed in selecting the final sample for the study. Questionnaires were used as instruments for data collection from the respondents. Validity of the instruments was done through experts in research and piloting. Reliability was tested by subjecting the instruments to a pilot study. Data analysis was done using descriptive statistics after data cleaning and coding. Quantitative data was then analyzed using frequency counts, averages and percentages .The findings of this study should stimulate continuous debate on the various facets of PST and also provide valuable insights that the government, stakeholders, scholars and researchers can rely on in their collective endeavor in addressing the “shadow” education system rationally with the sole purpose of coming up with a more sensitive and acceptable policy framework that would let all students in secondary schools benefit fully from PST irrespective of their social, economic and academic stature