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THE INFLUENCE OF LOCATION OF A PLACE ON LEARNERS PERFORMANCE IN UPE SCHOOLS

CHAPTER ONE

1.0 INTRODUCTION

This chapter covers the background of the study, Statement of the problem, purpose of the study, research objectives, research questions and scope of the study, significance of the study and definition of terms.

1.1 Background of the study

For decades, series of studies have suggested the importance of school as social environment of learning. Some of these studies examined locational planning and their attendant consequences on achievement of pupils in schools. The studies were intended to assist education authorities to decide where a particular type of school should be located; the size of a school in each location; whether a new school should be built or otherwise among others (Mbakwe, 1986). The World Bank recommended that the following data were needed for rationalizing and drawing up of both the urban and rural school map. Schools which includes physical aspects, site, type of building, usage, capacity, teachers (numbers, qualification, and age); students which include enrollment in school by age, individual data in age, sex, previous schools, home, location of mode transport, time taken in home/school journey, parental background; Rural and Urban Area Data which include land use administrative map on as large a scale as possible, planning reports, settlement patterns and the likes are required. These school locational planning techniques have been reportedly used by a number of countries to solve their educational problems (World Bank Guidelines 2012).

Making a critical analysis of locational factors, Hallak (2011) surmised that provision of education in rural areas is normally fraught with the following difficulties and problems; qualified teachers refuse appointment in isolated villages; villagers refuse to send their children to schools because they are dependent on them for help; parents hesitate to entrust their daughters to male teachers; some villagers have few children for an ordinary primary school; lack of roads or satisfactory means of communication makes it difficult to get books and teaching materials to the school which place difficulties in the way of organizing school transport among others.

According to Banford (2013), some of the schools apart from the fact that they are too costly to run, some have been deserted by their pupils, teachers in the development of a stereotype about rural schools, Boylan (1998) reported that rural schools were inferior and lacking in the range of facilities with high staff turnover and suffered from lack of continuity in their curriculum.

The issue of poor academic performance of students in Uganda has been of much concern to the government, parents, teachers and even student themselves. The quality of education not only depends on the teachers as reflected in the performance of their duties, but also in the effective coordination of the school environment (Ajao, 2001). Education is an essential factor for effective development of any country like Uganda. The western education adopted by Uganda is highly based on individualism, socio-economic and internationalization which are geared

towards national development.

The current Ugandan education structure has been in place since 1963 and came as a result of recommendation made by the Castle Commission. The country’s formal education system starts with seven years of primary school (ages 6-12), which is ‘supposedly’ compulsory and free according to the current Universal Primary Education policy/programme. It is followed by six years of secondary education for ages 13-18, which is non free and non compulsory, though plans are under way to make it universal. This level is succeeded by three to five years of University or tertiary education depending on the profession selected by the individual (Kakuru2010).

Primary education is central to the whole system and to the life of citizens in general. It enables individuals to acquire literacy, numeric and communications skills, as well as developing cultural, moral and spiritual values (MOES, 2009). It is for this reason that primary education has been made “free” through UPE programme.

The introduction of UPE accompanied by government commitment, including political leadership resulted into a surge in primary school enrolment from 2.7 million pupils in 1996 to 5.3 million in 1997 and to 7.1 million in 2005.  The ever increasing primary school enrolment has consequently led to improvements in gross enrollment ratio (GER). Whereas GER in the decade preceding 19976 had increased by only 39%, by 2004 GER had risen by 104.42% (Bategeka et al., 2004). This suggests that Uganda is on the verge of attaining the UPE Millennium Development Goals (MDG) in as far as access is concerned.   However, much as primary school enrolment has been a success, the concern now is with regard to The influence of location of a place on learners performance in UPE schools  this study therefore intends to investigate into The influence of location of a place on learners performance in UPE schools with specific reference to Kilimatongo, Bujwa and Bugoma primary schools.

1.2       Statement of the Problem

Education is a fundamental human right according to the United Nations international children’s fund, (UNICEF, 2009), countries across the globe invest significant amount of their GDP on improving of the quality of education as it is viewed as aback bone of the economic development of a country.

According to the Ministry of Education And Sports record, (2014), the government of Uganda allocated hundreds of billions to the ministry in order to ensure the development of education sector by improving on the quality of education and reducing on the number of student drop out this is further evidenced by the improved budgetary allocations to the education sector. For instance, whereas in 2011/2012 education comprised 15% of the total government expenditure, by 2012/2013 it had reached 17%, (MOES, 2013). but despite the numerous efforts by the Uganda government to invest heavily in the ministry of Education & sports the quality of education has remained poor , this study therefore intends to investigate into The influence of location of a place on learners performance in UPE schools  with specific reference to Bugoma, kilimatongo and Bujwanya primary schools.

1.3    Objectives of the study

1.3.1 General objective

The overall purpose of this study is to establish the location of a place on learners performance in UPE schools  with specific reference to Bugoma, kilimatongo and Bujwaya primary schools.

• Specific objectives

1. To examine the factors that influence Learners performance in primary schools.
2. To identify strategies aimed at improving learners performance in primary schools?

• To identify the relationship between location of a place and learners performance in school.

1.4    Research Questions

1. What are the factors that influence Learners performance in primary schools.
2. What are the strategies aimed at improving learners performance in primary schools?

• What are the relationship between location of a place and learners performance in school.

1.6       Scope of the Study

1.6.1        Study Scope

The study will cover the factors that influence Learners performance , strategies aimed at improving learners performance and the relationship between location of a place  and learners performance in schools..

1.6.2 Geographical Scope

The study will be carried out at Kayunga District.

1.6.3 Time scope

The period of data to be considered in the schools will be from 2012-2016 and while the study will be carried out from august to December 2016

1.7       Significance of the Study

1. The study will help future academicians with information regarding the factors that influence Learners performance in primary schools.
2. The study will also help future researchers with information regarding the strategies aimed at improving learners performance in primary schools.

• The study will also help government officials with information on the relationship between location of a place and learners performance in school.

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.0 Introduction

This chapter will cover the review of the literature on the influence of location of a place on learners performance in UPE schools, but it will specifically cover, the factors that influence Learners performance in primary schools, the strategies aimed at improving learners performance in primary schools and the relationship between location of a place  and learners performance in school.

2.1 The factors that influence Learners performance

According to Megan (2002), “research on school climate in high-risk urban environments indicates that a positive, supportive, and culturally conscious school climate can significantly shape the degree of academic success experienced by urban students”. Furthermore, researchers have found that positive school climate perceptions are protective factors for boys and may supply high-risk students with a supportive learning environment yielding healthy development, as well as preventing antisocial behaviour. A positive school climate results in positive outcomes for school personnel as well, Characteristics of school climate, especially trust, respect, mutual obligation and concern for others’ welfare, can have powerful effects on educators’ and learners’ interpersonal relationships (Center for Social and Emotional Education, 2005).

Safe, collaborative learning communities where students feel safe and supported report increased teacher morale, job satisfaction, and retention. The interaction of various characteristics of school and classroom climate can create a fabric of support that enables all members of the school community not only to learn but also to teach at optimum levels (Freiberg, 2010).

Conversely, a negative school climate interferes with learning and development. Organizational climate is assumed to have some effect upon the success of a school in accomplishing its objectives (Singh, 2006). Various studies documented that students in schools with a better school climate have higher achievement and better socio emotional health. The school climate–student achievement connection has been well-established in the research (Freiberg, Driscoll, and Knights, 1999).

According to Akande (2015), learning can occur through one’s interaction with one’s environment. Environment here refers to facilities that are available to facilitate students learning outcome. It includes books, audio-visual, software and hardware of educational technology; so also, size of classroom, sitting position and arrangement, availability of tables, chairs, chalkboards, shelves on which instruments for practical’s are arranged (Farrant, 1991 and Farombi, 1998). Writing on the role of facilities in teaching, Balogun (2002), submitted that no effective science education programme can exist without equipment for teaching. This is because facilities enable the learner to develop problem-solving skills and scientific attitudes. In their contribution, Ajayi and Ogunyemi (1990) reiterated that when facilities are provided to meet relative needs of a school system, students will not only have access to the reference materials mentioned by the teacher, but individual students will also learn at their own paces. The net effect of this is increased overall academic performance of the entire students.

According to Hallak (1990), facilities form one of the potent factors that contribute to academic achievement of students in the school system. They include the school buildings, classroom, accommodation, libraries, laboratories, furniture, recreational equipment, apparatus and other instructional materials. He went further to say that their availability, relevance and adequacy contribute to academic achievement of students. He however, quickly added that unattractive school buildings and overcrowded classrooms among others contribute to poor academic achievement of the students in primary and other levels of education.

2.2 Strategies aimed at improving learners performance in primary schools

Poverty reduction in rural households as stated by Njeru and Orodho,(2003). The two writers consent that the critical factors that are responsible for the low access and poor participation and retention in education is poverty.

High rates of poverty at household level have made poor households either not to enroll their children in primary schools or fail to sustain an uninterrupted participation of those who are enrolled due to inability to meet various requirements.

This has resulted in adequate provision of learning facilities to the enrolled, poor quality education and poor performance among leaners.

The above statement is supported by the UNESCO background paper which poses that poverty cannot be overcome without specific, immediate and sustained attention to enhancing access to education (UNESCO, 2002). Poverty is thus addressed in two avenues. First, inability to meet indirect costs for schooling, such costs are school learning and teaching materials, uniforms, transport to and from school and food Several studies done in Malawi, Ghana, Zambia, Ethiopia and Tanzania have shown that children are hindered form effective participation in schooling due to inability to afford such costs, this has also accelerated their poor performance in their respective classrooms, (Kelly, 2007).

In conformity with this situation, Mingat (2002) established that the richest households, 76 percent of their children attend school compared to 40% of the poorest households. This means that children from poor households have much lower attendance than those from richer households, this has also meant that children from poor house hold have poor performance . UNESCO (2002) asserts that the level of the family income is one of the most powerful factor that influences primary school enrolments rates in the developing countries. (Onyango, 2000), showed that parental socio-economic background influences their children’s participation in education. This is especially so for the developing countries where children of the poor families are not provided with adequate educational materials and most are not apt to enroll in school if enrolled, they are more likely to drop out of school than children who are from better-off families.

Briggs, (1980) cited in Mbai (2004) contends that poor families may contemplate bearing the cost of sending their children to school but might abandon the whole exercise when more exercises are demanded.

A report carried out in contemporary economic policy magazine in January 2001 entitled “Determinants of school enrolment on performance in Bulgaria,” revealed that the role of the income among the poor and the rich is a major determinant for school access. Those poor families are constrained in their investment in education and withdraw from school prematurely.

Ending child labor, According to Mutegi (2005) conversation of the rights of the child defined a child as anyone below the age of 18. Child labor is destroying a generation of children. Children who start working when they are young never grow as they miss out on education. The Koech Commission TIQET (1999) also found that child labor is a rampant practice that continues to keep children out of school, especially in the prevailing situation of poverty at the household level. Children in different parts of the country are involved in activities such as fishing, picking of coffee, tea, Mira, hawking and petty trading. In addition many school age girls are employed as house girls and child menders in urban and rural areas. This habit contravenes the children’s rights as stated below “every child shall be protected from economic exploitation and any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with child’s education” (Children’s Act, 2001 pg. 153). One of the most serious obstacles to school enrollment is child labor. Children who work tend to have erratic school attendance and poor concentration in class. For example, using household survey data from MOES (2011) found a link between child labor and reduced educational attainment, as measured by grade repetition. Guarcello et al. (2008) also identify child labor as a major obstacle to achieving universal primary education and other development goals.

Children from poor households are particularly vulnerable because the opportunity cost of schooling is substantially higher for them. Such children may have to work in the fields, grazing the family’s animals or protecting crops against predators. Both Psacharopoulos (2009) and Priva (2010) found that children from poor households who work contribute significantly to total household income. Priva argues that banning child labor could reduce the welfare of the households intending to send their children to school. .

TIQET (1999) thus concluded …All these forms of labour, whether paid, interfere with children’s participation in education, either denying them access and retention or hindering their effective participation, by causing dropout and absenteeism.

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Organization are working towards ending gender discrimination this is normally by non government organization and civil rights activist, according to burke et al, 2006 most NGO are ion the developing world trying to agitate for equality, Other factors that influence retention of pupils in school include the gender of the child. Burke and Beagle (2004) found that female parents may favor girls; in that the mother’s schooling is associated to a greater degree with a daughter’s attendance than a son’s attendance. A correlation has also been documented between low attendance at school and children from ethnic minorities, children who are disabled, and children in conflict or post-conflict regions.

Moreover, where these issues exist, they tend to exacerbate the gender differences.

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Reduction of Birth rates: Birth order also affects schooling. We may start with the premise that a large number of children in a household has negative causal effects on the quality of education. This is because given equal resources; parents with more children have fewer resources to commit per child than parents with fewer children. Park and Chung (2007) found a strong but negative causal relationship between sib ship size and education of the first-born and second-born children in rural Bangladesh. Using evidence from the Turkish Demographic and Health Survey, Kirdar et al. (2007) also concluded that birth order affects schooling, to the detriment of the middle children. They found this impact to be more pronounced in poor families, and they maintain that scarce financial resources are the underlying cause of this birth order effect.

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Creation of small and manageable sizes of families, According to West (1980) cited in Otunge (2004) large numbers of children in a family of limited income result in overcrowding in the home and this may in turn have a serious effect upon behavior. West further adds that parents in overcrowded accommodation cannot protect or supervise their young children as they might wish. According to Ruther (1980) cited in Otunge (2004) large family size is quite strongly associated with social disadvantage. The large family size limits the parental involvement in the academic welfare of each child. Thus leads to low participation of the child in school activities and may eventually lead to dropout

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Encouraging adult education so that they are taught the benefits iof eduction to the society, A study done by Ngau (1991) on grade repetition and school dropouts in Uganda primary schools reveals that parents level of education is important for children’s educational support. Peasant parents who are also poorly educated are disadvantaged. While these parents try to provide the best education to their children, the priority family goal is “survival” as the family does not even have proper and adequate medical care, food and shelter. Teenage children with educated mothers are less likely to become pregnant (Vila 2002).

According to Onyango (2000) better educated parents appreciate the value of education more than illiterate ones. In this case, educated parents  are able to assist their children progress in education both materially and morally hence retention of children in school

Education of children on the core values of society especially the language and the culture of a given society, Language and medium of instruction is another factor that influences access and retention. Learning using a foreign language or another ethnic group language which one is not familiar with is not easy especially in the early years of schooling. It demands one to learn the language before learning the content. The double task discourages one from catching up with schooling. As such pupils either perform poorly or repeat classes a practice that usually leads to drop outs.

Enhancing proper supervision and indiscipline of children,  Poor supervision and indiscipline in schools has pushed many pupils to engaging in frustrating activities, such as smoking, drinking of  alchol, miraa chewing among others. It has been observed that teachers pass time in the staffroom chatting, gossiping or simply whiling away their time while classes remained untaught and the syllabus remain uncovered (UNICEF, 1998). The low performance of students eventually means that education does not fetch enough benefits as an investment; parents get demoralized and see education as a waste of time and the resources that could be invested elsewhere.

Changing children’s attitudes towards education,  Parkinson (1976) defined attitudes as either mental readiness or implicit predispositions that exert some general and consistent influence on a fairly large class of evaluative responses. Altitudes are reinforced by beliefs and often lead to particular forms of behavior. Thus we can infer that our perceptions and our value system are shaped by our altitudes which start at a very early stage after birth. Dorothy (1947) suggested that at birth a child is exposed to the values and practices of the human group very early in life, and that one becomes a cultural being by learning the ways of his people.

Attitudes and practices have a big influence on education. It is the culture and attitudes that mould the society, and determines the way of life According to the 1995, primary census MOEST (1998) the commonest reason for dropping out of school is lack of interest on the part of parents owing to their own illiteracy.

Government increased fight against HIV/AIDS, Education, in addition to being a goal in itself, is a powerful driver of progress toward the other MDGs (Bruns et al. 2003). Research indicates that education for boys and girls is an effective preventive weapon against HIV/AIDS. Better education also contributes to natural resource management, including preservation of tropical rain forests (UN Millennium Project2005). However, Bruns et al. note that most of the positive externalities associated with primary education require that children complete at least seven years of schooling.

 HIV/AIDS is slowing down the growth of the school aged population; this has lowered enrolment in primary schools. Dropout rates have been accelerated by effects originating from the deadly disease (Kasonde-Ngandu, 2013). Parents show discrimination to send children to school because little is occurring, teachers are frequently absent, few learning materials are available and employment prospects are slender. Parents also choose not to send their infected children to school urging that they will die young before they have been able to garner any economic returns for what was spent on their education UNESCO, (2012).

Campaigning against early pregnancy, Teenage pregnancy is another major factor influencing retention of girls in primary schools. When pupils get pregnant in school, they have to go and stay at home until they give birth. The return of such pupils will depend on family support and the ability to maintain both the child and their daughter. All things being equal, there are few poor families which are in a position to take on the double responsibility and so, the majority of the girls who get pregnant do not return to school (Ngau, 2015)

Repetition according to researchers; Ngau (2012) and Theuri (2014) has negative psychological effects on pupils because it tends to lower pupil’s self-esteem and damage peer relations. Hence it has been cited as a major cause of school dropout. Refuting the views of its proponents who see it as an appropriate investment in pupil recovery since as it argued children do not all acquire knowledge and/ or attitudes at the same rate.

Peer group influence:

Fobih (2009) in a study in Ghana found that peer group exerts considerable influence on the adolescent by setting a pattern of values and behaviours for the individuals. In the greater Accra region of Ghana, peer group was found to have influenced members to drop out of school to join such activities as going to the beach and lorry parks (i.e. bus or train stations) to work as carriers of baggage or packages during school hours. Fobin (2014) also found that having early sexual relations is a vital factor associated with drop out among adolescent situations

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LOCATION OF A PLACE  AND LEARNERS PERFORMANCE

Residence: Children living in rural areas are less likely to attend school because the distances are greater, the facilities are poorer, and the need for child labor is greater. In particular, younger children are affected by the distance to school since they are less able to walk sizable distances. . Number of schools are highly dispersed this  force children to traverse difficult terrain and lack of transport makes access to schools more difficult for primary pupils.  Moreover, poorer households are more likely to be rural than urban (Filmer and Pritchett, 2008). Poor households spend more proportionately on education than do the rich (Kadzimira and Rose, 2013), which means that they have less money to spend on other household necessities like food and medical bills.

In 2000 only 8% of all primary schools under UPE program, had sufficient latrines for the pupil’s, and only one third of these schools had separate latrines for girls. This implies that 92% of all schools suffered from lack of latrines and two thirds had not separate toilets for boys and girls. This has a negative effect on the pupil’s survival in schools as many of the drop out of schools due to sanitation related sickness. This is evidenced in the report from the Ministry of health (2000) that about 2.7% of all pupil’s’ time is lost to sickness from sanitation related illnesses and most of them never return in schools. This phenomenon is common in rural schools than in urban which show some discrepancies in the implementation of UPE program that contributes to the limited retention (MOFPED 2007). Besides latrines/toilets, water is necessary for maintaining equality of access, survival, output and outcome of education for all pupil’s. However, access to clean water for many schools has remained a problem in the reality of UPE, an issue that pushes pupil’s out of schools (Juuko and Kabonesa 2007). According to the MoES 2014 abstract, most primary schools use well/spring water (33.24%), followed by the borehole water of 28.63% which is not safe for drinking while very few urban schools use piped water. The fact that the Government had not taken the responsibility of providing water to these schools, fetching water for school and teachers have become another burden for the pupil’s and especially those in the rural where water is scarce making pupil’s from rural areas to be more disadvantaged than those in urban areas who have piped water. This double burden of making pupil’s miss classes while struggling for communal water with the villagers as well as pupil’s labouring is a serious problem that is affecting UPE in practice which consequently leads to limited retention.

Level of funding of UPE schools , most schools located in rural areas donot receive enough funds as those in  urban areas this has affected the level of retention, Instructional materials include textbooks, teachers’ guides, blackboards, chalk and other class facilities that are necessary to ensure good quality education. Although the Government seems to have purchased a large number of textbooks as part of UPE programme implementation strategy, accessing them is limited to few schools which are well equipped. Worse still, due to high enrollment rates, these books are never enough; for example in (2004), it was reported at national level that textbook copies for primary four were on average 238,475 to 1,045,514 enrolled pupil’s, which is equivalent to 1:23 pupil’s, followed by primary three with an average of 214,217 to 1,150,525 pupil’s and then primary five with an average of 187,725 to 923,709 pupil’s enrolled (Juuko and Kabonesa 2007). In some cases, due to lack of space, books are often kept in stores under lock which makes it impossible for pupil’s to access them (Bategeka and Okurut 2006). The most affected schools are known to be those in the rural and urban slums. Since lack of instructional materials affects both pupil’s and teachers, many teachers get discouraged by this situation and de-motivated to teach which lead to poor quality education and in turn, pupil’s drop out as a result of poor quality of education.

Pupil’s in war zones ,  Implementation of UPE programme has had a lot of challenges in the Northern Uganda. For over two decades; this area has experienced a devastating civil war waged by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) against the Government. This war did not only result into massive displacement of the entire population to camps, but seems to have been pupil’s-targeting and depriving their right of education. For example, the recent report of the abducted pupil’s amounts to about 26,662 (MoES 2007). UPE programme in practice has not taken into consideration the needs of pupil’s from this part of the country as there are few schools/classes within camps. The equality of survival in this situation has been extremely low to those who enroll and those who attempt to persist to continue the equality of output and outcome may not match their counterparts in safe areas due to moving up and down from one camp to another while saving their lives and looking for food (Tomasevki, 1999). In Bundibugyo the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) insurgency affected time for pupil’s to go to school and some of them dropped out of school because of this war in late 1990s.

Pupil’s with Disabilities , in rural areas donot get enough support interms of infrastructural support this has affected their ability to stay in schools,  One of the paramount motives in implementing UPE programme in Uganda was to make primary school education accessible to all and pupil’s with disabilities were encouraged to join the mainstream schools. Though this looks a good entry point to the disabled in accessing education and especially to those who had been stigmatized before UPE program, it appears that special arrangements for these pupil’s are missing (Ssekamwa, 1999). For example in UPE schools, pupil’s who are visually impaired lack white canes and Braille machine paper, pupil’s who are physically handicapped lack wheelchairs, crutches and other facilities that they may need depending on their level of disability. Pupil’s who are deaf have little or no access to skilled teachers in sign language and interpreters. Further impacting problem is lack of transport due to the costly maintenance of vehicles and daily transportation of pupil’s to school (ibid). In addition, lack of adequate knowledge and skilled teachers to handle pupil’s with traditional disabilities is a factor worthy considering as a strong case against the success of UPE in ensuring equality survival in school for these pupil’s.

Under UPE, good quality of education is reflected on pupil’s’ ability to read, write and speak English (MOFPED) 2002: In order to improve the quality of primary education, the government has devoted some resources to procure some textbooks and construct some classrooms. The increase in education inputs explains the gradual improvement of some education quality indicators from the time UPE was introduced. Nevertheless, these improvements have not always translated into better outputs and outcomes of UPE programme education as evident in the results of a National Assessment of primary education Performance taken between 1996 and 2000, that education performance in terms of pupil’s’ numeric, reading, science, social studies knowledge and skills have deteriorated following the introduction of UPE programme, (Bategeka and Okurut 2006). Some parents look at UPE with poor quality which makes it a sound reason for some of them to take their pupil’s to private schools. Some of the reasons behind poor quality education are for example automatic promotion policy that came with introduction of UPE as a way of minimizing Government expenditure. This has greatly undermined the quality and skills acquired by pupil’s as well as encouraging both pupil’s and parents to wrongly assume that what matters in order to gain promotion is to do exam and not necessary to pass (MOFPED 2002). This problem affects mostly poor pupil’s whose parents cannot afford coaching fees after common classes. During one of the interviews under automatic promotion process policy; this problem was emphasized as follows; UPE programme emphasizes promotion rather than efficiency. It is so bad that pupil’s in schools can neither read nor write their names yet they keep being promoted to higher classes. UPE programme promotes failures, for example a pupil’s who scores 80 marks out of the 400 can take the 12^th position out of 600 pupil’s. These are all failures and yet they are promoted to the next class” (ibid). In this regard, UPE in practice ignores the factor concerning quality education; an issue that makes the rate of survival in school for poor pupil’s very low as they avoid wasting their time and money in school without gaining appropriate skills.

Through UPE programme, it is the responsibility of the Government to provide adequate and well trained teachers. It should also monitor their work as well as cater for their well being so as to motivate them for providing quality education (Bategeka and Okurut, 2006). However the analysis on teacher’s quality reveals that a large proportion of primary school teachers lack appropriate training. For example, in 2003, there were 145,703 primary school teachers, of whom 54,069 (37%) had no formal teacher training and only 7,960 had just a teaching certificate, obtained after training on completion of primary education. The majority of unqualified teachers are deployed in UPE rural schools (ibid: 5). With this, one can easily see the extent to which UPE in practice does not guarantee equality of output to pupil’s in rural and other disadvantaged areas as untrained  teachers are less likely to give low quality teaching, an issue that contributes to school dropout.

According to 2007 primary education assessment report made by the Dutch Operations evaluation Department, between 20% and 30% of teachers are absent from school at any given time with the main reasons for being delayed and low salaries, long distances from their homes to schools and inadequate supervision (MoES, 2007). In the same report, Joseph Eilor, found that absenteeism of teachers was highest in rural and northern parts of Uganda. As teachers dodge their work at school, pupil’s also dodge in response to their teacher, a factor that compromises the rate of their survival in school as most of them never come back as the proverb says that; “when the cat is away, the mice play all ever”, whenever teachers are absent, the pupil’s also skip schooling.

The presence of wars in some parts of the country has greatly affected the ability of such children to access education and to fully stay in schools,  Corporal punishments and harassment destabilize pupils and prevent them from completing their school. They do not lead to school dropout alone but also expose them to physical and psychological dangers. It is however sad to note that even after introduction of UPE programme, corporal punishments like heavy beating, digging ant-hills and slashing bushes still exist which compromise equality of survival for pupil’s in schools. This is just a sample of the incidents in UPE schools but the story is that corporal punishments threaten many pupil’s in schools which make them run away forever and never to return in school anymore.

Although sexual abuse and harassment is a crime and discouraged by law in Uganda, several reports in the press still show sexual abuse by male teachers on female students. This makes many young girls to get unwanted pregnancies and others get intimidated by their teachers, a reason that explain girls’ dropout more than boys (Kakuru, 2003).

Bandura (1973) studied and discovered that there is significant relationship between parents’ characteristics (both educational and occupational status) and thepupil attitude, values, feelings and guidance towards learning. This was indeed true because some parents particularly village parents were responsible for spoiling their pupil’s against regular attendances of school days, later on dropout of schools.

According to Durojaiye (1972), we must recognize the factors that are usually conditions of many African homes and everyday-living conditions as probably inadequate for our pupil’s to acquire large parts of their potentialities. The quotation implies that in our African setting, we had numerous problems that contribute to the poor performance of our pupil’s. For example lack of enough funds to manage our home problems like pupil’s education, health matters, feeding methods dressing and sleeping habits. Also these and many others caused a lot of imbalance in a pupil’s attitudes towards school life, hence making him/her for school life nothing but an academic prison. Finances might therefore be directed to boys at the expense of girls.

Durojaiye (1972) recommended that plans might exist for home-school contacts where parents get to know their pupil’s teachers for the effectiveness of their pupil’s. And this helped teachers to know more about the learner’s backgrounds and then discuss some learning problems where parents were able to help. The school’s major responsibility was to transmit knowledge to pupil’s; parents also must concern themselves with the work of the school and what are being taught to their pupil’s.

According to Fantana, (1981) poor living conditions and the un stimulating environment experienced by many lower socio-economic families may hinder the educational progress of pupil’s. Also such pupil’s said that they had nowhere at home to sit and read quietly or do their home work. And this led some pupil’s not to complete primary education.

Watson (2002) pointed out that pupil’s did not complete primary education due to some family reasons. Because of poor economic status of families, parents did not have much to support their pupil’s education. And the priority was given to boys and girls were made to leave school and began to do home activities all the time.

Fantana (1981) says that, success in learning a subject by pupil’s relates closely to the learner’s home background. He goes further to state that pupil’s of the white collar job and middle class parents have a greater chance of success while those of the blue collar jobs have the least. Pupil’s who exhibit a high level of motivation tend to come from higher socio-economic status families and perform better. Several studies, point out that socio-economic status is a significant independent variable that affects completion of primary level.

Mullar (1982), found out that, home background affects pupil’s completion of primary level in Uganda. He revealed that males from poor homes perform better than those from rich ones. The reason given was that the poor boy’s rough home life becomes a source of encouragement and inspiration to perform better for a bright future. Meanwhile, girls from good homes were found to perform better than those from poor ones. The reason here was that rich girls have less economic worries and therefore stabilize on books while poor girls waste time looking for money from men and consequently some e end up dropping out of school.

In times of diminished food resources, girls and their mothers are often last to be fed, resulting in a diet low in calories and protein. An estimated 450 million adult women in developing countries are stunted as a result of lack of pupil’s protein for energy.  Iodine and iron deficiencies have significant consequences for pregnant women and their off springs. The alarming increase is the number of girl’s infected with the HIV virus. Adolescent girls are at high risk of contracting HIV because their low social status often pressures them into situations where they are forced to have unprotected sexual intercourse with men. Girls are often treated as inferior to boys, both within the home and by society at large. They are socialized to put themselves last, which in turn undermines their self-esteem and their ability to reach their full potential as human beings. When a girl is prevented from going to school or is too exhausted to pay attention in class because of her work load at home, she is being denied her right to education. Girls carry the bulk of responsibility for the house work while boys study play or attend to their interests and hobbies, so girls are discriminated (Njeuma,:1993)

According to Odaet and Buye, (1997), domestic affairs effected girl’s completion of primary education because girls did a lot of work than boys in many societies because of culture. They get involved in food preparation, pupil’s care, grinding millet and so on. And this situation worsens as the girls grow older, and denied rights of getting enough time to rest and read their books for a better performance and later on does not complete primary education. They compared groups of successful and unsuccessful learners and found out that parental re-enforcement positively correlates with academic performance and achievement. Socially girls were believed to do much work like helping their mothers in home activities and this led them to have less time to concentrate on their studies compared to boys. And this affected their concentration and later on dislike of schooling.Mullar (2012).

The National Action Plan on women, (2011) shows that the low priority given to the girls education, their heavy domestic work load, demand for girl pupil’s labour have significant effect on the girl’s education. Since they bear the burden of additional household work and may be withdrawn from school altogether.

Njeuma, (2013) shows that sending girls to schools has high opportunity costs especially for rural parents who depend on girl’s domestic work. Education costs for girls (fees and uniforms tend to be higher than that of boys thus limiting their education). This is because most parents can afford sending a daughter to school in torn or ill fittings clothes. Bawn, (2009) found out that the curricular and most educational materials in schools were designed with interests of boys.

CHAPTER THREE

METHODOLOGY

3.0 Introduction

This chapter presents the methodology which consists of the research design, area of study, study population, sample population and selection, sampling technique, data collection method, data quality control, data collection procedures and limitations of the study.

3.1 Research design

The research will use cross sectional survey research design. The function of a qualitative and quantitative research design will ensure that the evidence obtained enables the researcher to answer the initial question as unambiguously as possible.

Qualitative approach: this approach gathers information based on an in depth understanding of human behavior and the resources that govern the behavior depending on the why and how of decisions making based on theoretical analysis and assumptions of the respondents. This approach will mainly deal with information which is in words , this will be used because it deals with smaller population and it puts emphasis on uncovering more about people’s experiences.

Quantitative approach: this approach will be used to collect information that is in numerical form.  This approach that deals with numerical expression in figures in terms of quantity which involves measurement of quantity and amounts, However quantitative approach will be used because of the following reasons; this approach eliminates behavioral biases were by the behavioral beliefs are done away with, the approach leads to accuracy were by results are not guessed, operational risks are reduced. This approach will be used in a way of getting actual figures and taking on calculations then getting answers.

3.2  Area of the study

The study will be carried out at kayunga district with specific reference to the schools of , bugoma church of Uganda p/s, Kilimatonogo and bujwa p/s , these schools were chosen because of the poor performance of these schools.

3.2 Study Population and Sample Size

The study will target school administrators, teachers and pupils.

  Table: Sample size of the respondents

Source: Primary data

3.3  SAMPLING TECHNIQUES

According to (Amin, 2005) sampling involves selecting a sample of the population in such a way that samples of the same size have equal chances of being selected.

The respondents will be selected using purposive sampling techniques. Berg (2006) purposive sampling, the researcher chooses the sample based on where they think would be appropriate for the study. A Purposive sampling technique will be used because it’s cheap.

3.4 DATA SOURCES

Source of data will be from both primary and secondary sources.

• Primary data

Primary data will be obtained from the questionnaires administered on the target respondents to gain opinions and information on the influence of location of a place on learners performance in UPE schools.

• Secondary sources

Secondary data is data which has been collected by individuals or agencies for purposes other than those of a particular research study. It is data developed for some purpose other than for helping to solve the research problem at hand (Bell, 1997). This will comprise of literature related to the influence of location of a place on learners performance in UPE schools. Secondary data will be sourced because it yields more accurate information than obtained through primary data, and it is also cheaper

3.5 Data Collection methods and instruments

The major instruments for data collection will be questionnaires and interview guide. Surveys will be just one part of a complete data collection and evaluation strategy. The major method of data collection for the study will be the survey, which will be done using selected instruments like questionnaires. The questionnaire will provide respondents with ample time to comprehend the questions raised and hence, they will be able to answer factually.

3.5.1 Questionnaires

The questionnaire will be used to collect quantitative data. The researcher will administer the questionnaires to different respondents in business, administration, teaching, and farmers, which will be designed basing on study objectives and questions. Respondents will read and write the questionnaires themselves. The questionnaires will be close ended and will be considered convenient because they will be administered to the literate and its anonymous nature will fetch unhindered responses.

The researcher will distribute questionnaires to the respondents and then respondents will answer the questionnaires themselves after wards the researcher will collect the questionnaires from the respondents.

3.5.2 Interviews

Qualitative data will be collected from the participants using interviews. The interview guide will be structured. The interviews will be held with head teachers, and will take approximately thirty to sixty minutes. This will be used since it’s the best tool for getting first-hand information /views, perceptions, feelings and attitudes of respondents. Both formal interviews will be used to get maximum information from the different respondents to participate in the research.

3.6 RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY OF RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS

3.6.1Validity and Reliability

The two terminologies emphasis data quality control

3.6.1. Validity

This refers to the extent to which results can be accurately interpreted and generalized to other populations (Oso and Onen, 2008). These writers further define validity as the extent to which instruments measure what they are intended to measure.

The researcher will  analyze the data collected and were need arises, the instrument will be re-adjusted and re-design to improve reliability and validity.

3.6.2. Reliability

Reliability refers to the extent to which an instrument is able to measure one thing over and over again while producing the same results.

3.7 Data processing and analysis

The raw data will be coded, edited, and arranged ready for analyzing only completed raw data will be analyzed using statistical tables and graphs.

Qualitative data will be used to analyze the response from the data

3.8 Anticipated limitations of the study

Financial constraint, cash flow may not flow as   expected but this will not affect the study. Respondents may delay in filling the questionnaire and fear to give information, but they will be persuaded that the information will be kept secret.