Factors affecting the provision of quality education in some selected community schools in Mumbwa district

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Date
2016
Authors
Pola, Dickson
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Publisher
University of Zambia
Abstract
This study was conducted on the factors affecting the provision of quality education in community schools of Mumbwa district. The study used descriptive design with qualitative and quantitative method. The study used qualitative design which is interactive in nature, in order to come up with detailed, accurate and factual account of the perceptions and attitudes of stakeholders, the researcher used interview guide to conduct the in-depth interview. Apart from that the researcher used quantitative method this method allowed the use of questionnaire. Purposive sampling was used to select respondent for in-depth interview while simple random sampling was done to selected respondent to the questionnaire. The data collected using in-depth interview was arranged according to themes that emerged in the course of the study while data collected using the questionnaire was analysed by using tables, graphs, pie-chart and percentages. The following themes emerged as factors that affect the provision of quality education in community schools namely: Teacher professional teaching qualification, teacher motivation, teaching and learning materials, school infrastructure and availability of solutions to community school problems. The study has revealed that the number of trained headteachers have increased in community schools while the number of trained teachers is still low. There is slight improvement in the number of permanent structure of community schools, this has attracted trained primary school teachers to became headteachers in community schools. The study has also revealed that community schools have enough text books for grade one pupils. However, schools are still lacking text books for other grades. The increase in grade one books has been necessitated by the introduction of the revised curriculum. The study as also acknowledged that untrained class teachers in community schools are not well paid by the community and this has negatively affected the provision of quality education in community schools. It was also revealed that commu-iity school face a lot of problems or challenges in the management of schools unfortunately all schools visited has no written plan to solve the problem. Therefore, it was recommended that the ministry of education should deploy untrained teachers in community schools who should be paid by the ministry of education. Ministry of education to supply text books to community schools especially for grade 4 and 7. Ministry of education to speed up the construction permanent structures in community schools and lastly to make it mandatory that each community school through the PCSC draw the plan of work every year.
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Keywords
Education -- Zambia , School management and organisation -- Zambia
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