School Based Factors Influencing Pupils’ Wastage in Public Primary Schools in Mwala Division, Mwala District, Kenya

Abstract

The information from Mwala District Development Plan 2008-2012, the DEOs inputs in her meeting with teachers in the division and the performance, it is clear that elements of wastage exists in public primary schools in Mwala Division, Mwala District. This gap is further observed in the Area Education Officer’s (AEO) enrolment records of the period 2005-2012. The records show that cohort analysis of Grade 8 of year 2005-2012, enrolment in Grade 1 in the year 2005 was 2146. By the year this Grade 1 pupils was completing Grade 8 in the year 2012, the enrolment was 1670. This was a difference of 476 pupils which accounted to 22.18%. The difference may have been due to dropout and repetition of pupils in the cause of this progression from one grade to the other. This shows low completion rates, hence wastage in education. The high enrolment in Grade 1 may have been caused by the inception of Free Primary Education (FPE) in 2003 by the government which allowed out-of-school children back to school without any payments for tuition. This made big number of out-of-school children to go back to school though the number reduced as time went on.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n2s1p194