Institutional factors affecting students' academic performance in selected government secondary schools in Kampala central division

Abstract

The study focused on examining the effect of institutional Factors on Students' Academic Performance" in Selected day public Secondary Schools. The specific objectives were to: establish the influence of teachers' characteristics on students' academic performance, determine the extent to which the head teachers ' supervisory role affects students' academic performance and establish the effect of school infrastructure on students' academic performance in public secondary schools in Kampala central division. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design with both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The sample of 152 respondents participated in the study. Simple random and purposive sampling techniques were used to select respondents. Interview guide and questionnaires were used to collect the data. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) aided data analysis. Quantitative data was analysed using descriptive statistics. Quantitative data was analysed based on observed themes. The data collected were analysed using frequencies, means, standard deviation and multi-regression analysis to explain A NOVA in students' academic performance. The study revealed that, the average failure rate in the four studied schools was 62.66%. Day mixed Secondary public schools in KCCA had no experienced and long-serving teachers which led to continuous trend of decline in students' performance. There were limited school infrastructure such as classrooms, teaching and learning materials; low staffroom space, desks and limited space for extra lessons. It is deduced from the findings that teachers were not so critical in classroom methodology, failed to complete the syllabus in time. Head teachers did not discharge their supervisory role appropriately. This included check the professional documents such as schemes of work, lesson plans, lesson notes, records of work done, students' exercise books and actual teaching in classrooms. The study recommended that, Government and other educational stakeholders should provide public day secondary schools with qualified and competent teachers, additional study time during the weekends.