The impact of the proliferation of private secondary schools on the academic performance of students in Mbale Municipality

Abstract

DISSERTATION: This research was carried out to assess the Impact of the proliferation of Private Secondary Schools on the Academic Performance of Students in Mbale Municipality. It was borne out of the concern that the Municipality was losing out in the national competition to get admissions to public universities on government sponsorship unlike in the previous years. The research was a case study in four randomly selected private secondary schools. A total of 160 respondents were chosen as representative samples out of which 140 were randomly selected and 20 were purposively selected. To facilitate data collection the researcher used the questionnaires, interviews, observation and document analysis as research tools. The findings of the Research were that the schools are indeed facing declining academic standards arising from inadequate equipment and facilities together with manpower related challenges. The schools should urgently provide more facilities like classroom, labs, libraries and toilets. Manpower issues also need to be addressed both in terms of their availability, conditions of work and above all supervision especially by government. Further research is needed on the relationship between the amount of fees paid in a school and the academic performance of that school.