School resources as correlates of internal efficiency of public secondary schools in Jinja district

Abstract

This study was conducted to examine the relationship between school resources and the internal efficiency of public secondary schools. The availability, quality and utilization of school resources characterized school resources, while the dropout, repetition, promotion and graduation rates characterized internal efficiency. The study particularly sought to establish and recommend the kind of relationship that should exist between limited school resources and the internal efficiency of public secondary schools in Jinja District. The study was prompted by the fact that there was a bulge in enrolment of children joining Secondary Education as a result introducing Universal Primary Education (UPE). This bulge was not matched with increase in school resources. There was a marked increase in dropout and repetition rates while promotion rates were low. Despite this scenario, no investigations had been done to determine the effect of resource situation on the internal efficiency of public secondary schools in Jinja District.

The study was conducted through a longitudinal survey design of a reconstructed cohort of students who joined S.1 in 2002. Data was collected during the month of October 2007, using questionnaire and documentary analysis from 104 teachers and 224 students randomly selected from the accessible population. The data was analyzed using percentages and ANOVA techniques.

The study established that availability of adequate human and non-human resources affects the level of internal efficiency and that public schools in Jinja District did not have adequate resources. The quality of the available resources was poor and the level of utilization of these resources was just moderate and these also affected the level of internal efficiency.

The study concludes that public secondary schools in Jinja District do not have adequate, good quality and well-utilized school resources leading to low values of internal efficiency. The study recommended that the government of Uganda should ensure that the provision of adequate and good quality school resources is taken seriously as well as improving the rates of utilization of the available resources to optimal levels.