Stakeholders’ Awareness On Policy Statements Towards Improvement Of Teaching And Learning Facilities Among Pre-Primary Schools In Kyela District In Tanzania

ABSTRACT

The achievement of pupils at primary schools depends on proper development in their early years at pre-primary schools. However, the teaching and learning of children at pre-primary school attached to the public primary school has encountered challenges of teaching and learning facilities. This study examined stakeholders‘ awareness on the educational policy statements towards improvement of teaching and learning facilities among Pre-primary schools in Kyela District. The study employed mixed research approach througha cross-sectional design. The sample of the study comprised four (4) Ward Education Officers(WEOs), Six (6) Head teachers and twelve (12) Pre-primary school teachers. Data were collected through Questionnaires, interviews, documentary review and observation. Quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS version 20 to obtain frequencies, percentages and mean value while qualitative data were analyzed through content analysis to obtain different themes. Findings show that, implementation of pre-primary education policy statements regarding teaching and learning facilities have encountered challenges due to scarcity of funds from central government. The most critical challenge was the lack of qualified pre-primary school teachers. It was also revealed that Fee Free Education policy does not cover pre-primary school, making it dependent on private sources of funds for training and capitation grants. Therefore, these findings suggest that stakeholders‘ awareness on the educational policy statements on teaching and learning facilities have implication on the frequency use of these facilities among pre-primary school teachers. Thus, this study recommended sharing of the information regarding pre-primary education policy statements among educational stakeholders for the purpose of improving the use of teaching and learning facilities at pre-primary schools.