Memoire Online - The nature of schools and academic performance of pupils in primary schools in Gasabo district Kigali City

I, Damien Nzabihimana, declare that this thesis is my original work and has never been presented for any award in any university or any institution of higher learning. In any instances where the work of others has been used, due acknowledgement has been given.

«I confirm that the work reported in this dissertation was carried out by the candidate under my supervision».

«This dissertation entitled the nature of schools and academic performance of pupils in primary schools in Gasabo District Kigali city presented by Damien Nzabihimana in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master in Education management has been examined and approved by the panel on oral examination with the grade of PASSED.

DEDICATION

This work is dedicated to Miss Virginia Nyirantibizerwa who does not cease to fully support me all the time.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This research has been a result of the contribution and effort of several individuals. Indeed, I wish to express my sincere thanks and gratitude to my supervisor Mr. Ochan Joseph for his tireless effort he put in guiding me on how to go about it.

In the same way, I thank all my lecturers in the School of Postgraduate Studies for their great contribution towards my training at Kampala International University.

I owe my appreciation to teachers and head teachers of the schools where all the primary data for this study were obtained. I also thank the staff of the Rwanda National Examinations Council (RNEC) who accepted to provide me with the secondary data used in this research.

My appreciation also goes to my classmates for the encouragement and moral support rendered to me during the time of undertaking this study. Through sharing, we encouraged and built esprit de corps in one another to achieve the common goal, despite all difficulties encountered individually or collectively.

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to establish the relationship between the nature of schools and the academic performance of pupils in primary schools in Gasabo district Rwanda. Specifically the study wanted to (i) compare the academic performance of pupils in public and private primary schools in Gasabo district Rwanda; (ii) to establish the effect of availability of school facilities on pupils' academic performance and (iii) to establish the effect of teacher Quality on pupils' academic performance in Gasabo district Rwanda. The study was done by developing a conceptual framework relating the nature of schools to pupils' academic performance. Using a descriptive cross-sectional survey design, data were collected from 40 teacher and 10 head teacher using questionnaires and interview guide as the main data collection instruments. Also data on PLE results for 300 pupils in the selected primary schools was obtained which was used in comparing pupils' performance in the two categories of schools. Data were analyzed using frequency tables and summary statistics and lastly using t-test in comparing pupils' performance in private and public primary schools in Gasabo.

The study revealed that there is a difference in the academic performance of pupils in public and private primary pupils in Gasabo district with pupils in private primary schools performing batter than their counterparts. School facilities and teacher quality were also found to be affecting academic performance in Gasabo district. The recommendations of the study were (i) Government providing public and private subsidized primary schools with required facilities so as to create in them a welcoming environment for teaching/learning process, (ii) the Ministry of education should reduce the bureaucracy in the school administration, allowing public schools to diversify their sources of funding (iii) Politicians and other officials of Rwanda should also keep monitoring and evaluating the quality of public education in primary schools and take general decision in favor of all citizens of Rwanda as far as education is concerned and (iv) the value of a teacher's quality in terms of experience, qualification, ability to prepare for lessons should be honored and compensated in order to give teachers the motivation to adequately do their jobs and support pupils learning to improve on their performance.

TABLE OF CONTENT

LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.1: Sample categories of respondents ..................................................................28

Table 4.1: Respondents by category ...............................................................................32

Table 4.2: Sex category of respondents .........................................................................33

Table 4.3: Respondents by qualification .........................................................................33

Table 4.4: Respondents by working experience .............................................................34

Table 4.5: Two tailed test for difference in pupils performance ....................................35

Table 4.6: Respondents resource demand and supply in private schools.......................36

Table 4.7: Respondents resource demand and supply in public schools........................42

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Conceptual Framework: .......................................................................................9

LIST OF ACCRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS

MINECOFIN: Ministère des Finances et de la Plannification Economique [it was formerly called « Ministère de l'Economie et des Finances i.e. Ministry of Economy and Finance» (today's «Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning»)

CHAPTER ONE

PROBLEM AND ITS SCOPE

1.1. Background to the Study

Education is the primary agent of transformation towards sustainable development. It increases people's capacities to transform their visions for society into reality. All countries strive for quality education for their sustainable development. The government of Rwanda, like any other African country, considers education as a fundamental human right and an essential means to ensure that all Rwandans realize their full potentials. It places special emphasis on basic education as a priority area within the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP) because of the strong correlation between education and improved economic opportunities, better life and fewer children (family planning), especially for girls. [Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MINECOFIN), 2005:40].

The Government of Rwanda cannot satisfy educational needs of its increasing population, so the private sector also plays a great role in educational development by creating schools known as private schools which operate at all levels of education from the nursery to the tertiary and enroll a good number of people. In the past, the historical growth in enrolment was largely a public sector phenomenon, involving schools financed almost entirely by the government and managed either by the government itself or, in the case of private subsidized schools, by churches and other organizations. (World Bank, 2004: 32).

At any education level, the quality of education depends upon several factors such as: school facilities, teachers' qualifications, teachers' motivation, management and administration, etc. In other words, a quality school is a school where: pupils respect their peers, their teachers and their school management; have a voice in decision-making, are interested and engaged in their learning; accept responsibility; receive feedback and encouragement from their teachers and feel valued. In addition, teachers work together and share ideas, feel valued and are given support to be innovative, employ teaching strategies that are varied and personalized to meet the needs of all learners. Others are that administrative and support staff work as valued partners with principals and teachers to ensure that students are supported in their learning and that school systems work effectively to support teaching and learning.

The school as a whole is committed to continuous improvement and forms learning partnerships within and beyond the school. It develops plans and targets that address its goals, seeks feedback on its performance, uses data to reflect on its outcomes, reports openly and honestly and celebrates its achievements. It is known that an individual's quality of life and the well being of the society depend on the quality of education. Pupils' performance in primary leaving examinations will greatly depend on the quality of education that pupils have gained in school.

The key concepts in this study are that nature of schools (independent variable) which is conceptualized in terms of two categories; public and private schools and performance of pupils (dependent variable) conceptualized in terms of score in assessment test given to pupils' national examinations.

Parents or guardians are always trying to make the best decisions for their children and their future. They often have to choose whether to send their children to private school or keep them in public schools. Parents will have one or more factors that concern them. According to the National Center for Education Statistics [NCES] (2002), when looking at public or private schools, number of factors comes into play which include; Academic reputation and college preparation; School size and Class size; Safety reputation; Special programs; Costs; Religious and Moral instruction; Location and Ideology.

Public schools offer a general program, designed for all while private schools have the flexibility to create specialized programs for learners. For example, private schools may use art or science in all classes, or take children on outdoor trips. They can create their own curriculum and assessment systems, although they also respect the general program of the Ministry of Education.

In Rwanda, at many aspects private subsidized schools do not differ significantly from public schools in that, public education is education given to the children of the general public by the government, at national, regional, or local, and from the kindergarten through to the university levels. Public education is inclusive, both in its treatment and admission of students. Public education is often organized and operated to be a deliberate model of the civil community in which it functions. It is not a mistake to say that private subsidized schools respond to public education. The differences found there do not have significant impact on pupils' academic performance. They are about the recruitment of management staff, the type of religion to study, some additional funding from the religious congregation that founded the school. While they share many characteristics in common: public and private subsidized schools get the same funding from the government in accordance with their respective enrolment, their teachers are paid by the government, they have the same obligations to enroll all children without any discrimination etc. In this study, these two types of schools will be considered alike under the same term «public education» and «public school».

Admissions into public and private subsidized schools are by social demand. So to enroll in a public school or private subsidized school parents simply register children by filling out the necessary forms. Public schools and private subsidized schools must accept any resident pupils who apply for admission, regardless of sex, race, religious affiliation, economic status or physical or mental handicap; while private schools are not obligated by any laws regarding admission. Therefore, private school admission is competitive. Also, private schools are not required to provide educational programs for children with special needs. Private schools are also under no obligation to keep a student enrolled. If a child's behavior disrupts the school's milieu, they can be discontinued. Another scenario to keep in mind is that if a child's academic progress is not acceptable, they may be discontinued as well.

According to Rwanda National Examinations Council, (RNEC) 2009, prior to the period 1994, certification and selection to high levels of learning were based mainly on schools' internal assessments which were characterized by subjectivity towards ethnicity, regionalism, nepotism, favoritism and total corruption. This was followed with a law no. 14/1985 of 29th June 1985 concerning primary integrated rural trade and secondary education which was: Emphasizing exclusivity and not competence based on individual performance.

One of the challenges of the Government of national unity (Government set after 1994 genocide) was to establish a body that would eradicate at all costs all forms of discrimination in education system and establish on objective, fair, and transparent system in which the main indicator for equity in education system is the individual performance level and the right of choice to any school or institution in Rwanda. It is for this reason that the Rwanda National Examinations Council was created by the Presidential Decree of 01/05/2003.

Since the RNEC was created, the comparison between public and private primary schools shows that pupils of private primary schools tend to perform better than their counterparts of public and/or private subsidized schools. The RNEC has a culture of celebrating excellent performance of pupils in the top ten positions in final examinations and for the case of PLE, almost all the top ten come from private primary schools. This became an issue concern to the researcher and it prompted a research on the effect of the nature of primary school on pupils' academic performance in Gasabo District.

1.2 Statement of the Problem.

Since the creation of the RNEC, the difference in performance between private and public primary schools of Rwanda has been a reason for privileged parents to opt to enroll their children into private primary schools. As asserted by The Centre for Research on Evaluation, Standards & Student Testing (2009), the Right School is Only the Beginning of a Lifetime of Educational Enjoyment. Finding a good school for one's child is only the initial step. The education of the child is above all a cooperative effort that involves the school, teachers, parents and the community. Since almost all primary schools of Rwanda follow the same curriculum set by the MOE, then could the reason why people think the private schools are better be because the teachers and/or the quality of teaching are better than those in the public schools (who, it is believed, are more well paid and more qualified with schools which have better facilities)? If this is true, then it would be necessary to know why then public teachers are not doing well. If this is not true then why public teachers and the MOE's officers and staffs (who are looking after the quality of public schools) send their own children to private schools (which just show their own lack of faith in the quality of their own teachings/system)? Afolabi A.O. (2005) examined the influence of a specified primary school education experience on the academic performance of junior secondary students and found that students with private school background performed better than their counterparts with public school background in English and Mathematics. While this study was comparing performance in private and public schools it was not in Rwanda's context a gap this study thought to bridge.

In addition, in Rwanda, as in any third world county, private primary schools are attended by privileged children from rich or privileged homes. For example, in Rwanda, by simple observation it is true that there is almost no private primary school in rural districts while in Kigali city districts, the number of private primary schools tend to surpass the number of public and private subsidized ones. In rural areas those schools cannot find customers simply because rural families are generally poor. According to Winkler and Vander G. (1996), pupils from poor families are also condemned to attend poor schools where modern infrastructures such as electricity and other related development indicators are still inexistent, pupils will have many occasions to be absent from school looking for subsistence means, and there may be so many problems relating to health and malnutrition, problems that tend to dramatically limit educational opportunities by lowering and impeding concentration and cognitive development. While a number of factors account for the varied academic performance of pupils in primary schools, the nature of the schools seem to play a key role, hence the need for this study to determine the effect of the nature of the school on the academic performance of pupils using the case of Gasabo district in Kigali city Rwanda.

1.3. Purpose of the Study

This study aims at comparing pupils' performance in public and private primary schools of Gasabo District. It also establishes the relationship between availability and adequacy of school resources and pupils' academic performance.

1.4. Objectives of the Study

1. To compare pupils' performance in public and private primary schools in Gasabo district Rwanda.

2. To establish the relationship between school facilities and pupils performance in Gasabo districts in Rwanda.

3. To establish the relationship between teacher quality and pupils academic achievement in Gasabo district Rwanda

1.5 Research Questions

1. What is the difference in performance between public and private primary schools in Gasabo district Rwanda?

1 What is the relationship school facilities and pupils performance in Gasabo districts in Rwanda?

2 What is the relationship between teacher quality and pupils academic achievement in Gasabo district Rwanda

1.6 Research Hypotheses

1. There is a significant difference in performance between public and private primary schools in Gasabo district Rwanda

2. There is a significant relationship school facilities and pupils performance in Gasabo districts in Rwanda?

3. There is a significant relationship between teacher quality and pupils academic achievement in Gasabo district Rwanda

1.7. Scope of the Study

Geographically, the study was carried out in Gasabo District, one of the three districts (GASABO, KICUKIRO, NYARUGENGE) making up Kigali City, the capital city of RWANDA. In content terms the study compared the performance in PLE of pupils in private and public primary schools for a period of three years (2005 - 2007). It established the relationship between school facilities, teacher quality and pupils academic performance.

1.8. Significance of the Study

To Rwanda primary school managers, the findings of the study will help them establish how to enhance quality in their education;

To education planners, the study findings will help them find out how school resources play an important role in the teaching/learning process and hence to pupils' performance;

To parents and/or guardians, the study findings will guide them in identifying reason why they should seek quality education instead of any other motive to enroll their children in such and such primary schools;

To the government of Rwanda and other policy makers the study findings will provide information the inequality in education and they will also reveal to them that this inequality is not only closed by setting central exams but also by considering other factors.

1.9. Operational Definition of terms

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1. Conceptual Framework

Figure 1: Conceptual Framework of Pupils' Performance in Private and Public Primary Schools

The conceptual framework in Fig. 2.1 is a schemer or model that reflects the interrelationship between the two variables in the study. According to the model (Fig. 2.1) the independent variable (i.e. nature of schools) is conceptualized in terms of public and private primary schools which are assumed to affect pupils' academic performance (dependent variable). The framework further reflect that there are other factors referred to as intervening variables which are assumed the moderate the relationship between the independent and the dependent variable.

2.2 Theoretical perspective

Attribution theory (Weiner, 1980, 1992) cited in Weiner, B. (2000) is probably the most influential contemporary theory with implications for academic motivation. It incorporates behavior modification in the sense that it emphasizes the idea that learners are strongly motivated by the pleasant outcome of being able to feel good about themselves. It incorporates cognitive theory and self-efficacy theory in the sense that it emphasizes that learners' current self-perceptions will strongly influence the ways in which they will interpret the success or failure of their current efforts and hence their future tendency to perform these same behaviors.

According to attribution theory, the explanations that people tend to make to explain success or failure can be analyzed in terms of three sets of characteristics:

First, the cause of the success or failure may be internal or external. That is, we may succeed or fail because of factors that we believe have their origin within us or because of factors that originate in our environment.

Second, the cause of the success or failure may be either stable or unstable. If the we believe cause is stable, then the outcome is likely to be the same if we perform the same behavior on another occasion. If it is unstable, the outcome is likely to be different on another occasion.

Third, the cause of the success or failure may be either controllable or uncontrollable. A controllable factor is one which we believe we ourselves can alter if we wish to do so. An uncontrollable factor is one that we do not believe we can easily alter.

An important assumption of attribution theory is that people will interpret their environment in such a way as to maintain a positive self-image. That is, they will attribute their successes or failures to factors that will enable them to feel as good as possible about themselves. In general, this means that when learners succeed at an academic task, they are likely to want to attribute this success to their own efforts or abilities; but when they fail, they will want to attribute their failure to factors over which they have no control, such as bad teaching or bad luck.

The basic principle of attribution theory as it applies to motivation is that a person's own perceptions or attributions for success or failure determine the amount of effort the person will expend on that activity in the future. There are four factors related to attribution theory that influence motivation in education: ability, task difficulty, effort, and luck. On the basis of this theory the study suggest that pupils' academic performance is determined by the nature of schools.

2.3 Related Literature

The Determinants of Student Performance

Education is a very costly project for nations and individual families. Therefore, it is very crucial to understand the factors affecting its provisions and the performance of learners. The majority of studies on student performance have related student performance to various aspects of education, such as school quality, teaching quality, teacher remuneration, class size, and Learners' characteristics.

Remuneration refers to payment or compensation received for services or employment. This includes the base salary and any bonuses or other economic benefits that an employee or executive receives during employment, (Investopedia, 2010). Thus teacher remuneration refers to the total compensation received by a teacher, which includes not only the base salary but options, bonuses, expense accounts and other forms of compensation. A study on schools in India investigated the relationship between performance-related pay and student achievement (Kingdon & Teal, 2002), addressing the important issue of endogeneity in the relationship between pay and achievement. They found strong evidence that performance-related pay in the private sector affects student achievement, but no evidence of a similar cause-effect relationship in public schools. In Rwandan education system, private schools teachers are better paid than in public schools. This difference in payment is very important at primary school level where a private primary school teacher earns up to three times the salary of a public primary school teacher. The fact that a teacher is well paid plays an important role on his /her work performance and on his/her pupils' performance as well. Even though the salary may not be the main motivator of teachers, it plays a very important role in this issue.

Regarding the importance of teachers in general, Archer (1999) and Armentano (2003) argue that teachers are the most important influence on student progress, even more important than socioeconomic status and school location. Furthermore, Darling-Hammond (2000) concludes that measures of teacher preparation and certification are by far the strongest correlates of student achievement in reading and mathematics.

Teachers are central to any consideration of schools, and a majority of education policy discussions focus directly or indirectly on the role of teachers. There is a prima facie case for the concentration on teachers, because they are the largest single budgetary element in schools. Moreover, parents, teachers, and administrators emphasize repeatedly the fundamental role that teachers play in the determination of school quality. Yet there remains little consensus among researchers on the characteristics of a good teacher, let alone on the importance of teachers in comparison to other determinants of academic performance. Teacher quality is the concept that embodies what the teacher does and they can do in terms of their assigned roles in the school. Related to the concept of teacher quality is teaching quality and it has been observed that one way of determining the quality of teaching in schools is by looking at the intermediate outcome of student performance (Sanders, 1999). There are several ways to evaluate a student's «quality» attributable to formal education, but the most tractable indicator is how he or she performs in tests (World Bank, 2003).

Teacher quality involves the level of qualification and research on the value of a teacher's advanced degree is mixed: some studies show that while additional teacher education has a positive correlation with student achievement in some cases, others find that it negatively affects achievement (Greenwald, Hedges, & Laine, 1996; Hanushek, 1986). Goldhaber and Brewer (1997) found that a teacher's advanced degree is not generally associated with increased student learning from the eighth to the tenth grade, but having an advanced degree in math and science for math and science teachers appears to influence students' achievement. The same results were not found to be true for teachers of English or history. In the same way Goldhaber and Brewer (1997) suggest that the findings of other studies about the impact on student achievement of teachers' advanced degrees are inconclusive because they considered only the level of the degree and not the subject of the degree, which may affect student achievement in different ways than the degree level. Nevertheless, results from all the studies seem to imply that there is not a positive correlation between teachers having advanced degrees in subjects other than those they teach and student achievement.

There is a wide range of findings on the relationship between years of teaching experience and student outcomes. Hanushek (1986) found that fewer than half of the 109 previous studies on the estimated effects of teacher experience showed that experience had any statistically significant effect on student achievement; of those, 33 studies found that additional years of experience had a significant positive effect, but seven found that more experience actually had a negative impact on student achievement. Other studies show a stronger positive relationship between teacher experience and student outcomes in some, but not all, cases they reviewed (e.g., Greenwald et al., 1996). Murnane (1995) suggests that the typical teaching learning curve peaks in a teacher's first few years (estimated at year two for reading and year three for math).

It is also plausible that a positive finding on experience actually results from the tendency of more senior teachers to select higher-level classes with higher achieving students (Hanushek, 1986). Thus we might reasonably infer that the magnitude of the experience effect, should it exist, is not terribly large.

Teacher absenteeism, an observable indicator of teacher effort and performance, has been the focus of several recent studies. Chaudhury et al. (2000) report on surveys in six developing countries that yield observational data on absence of teachers and health workers: India, Uganda, Peru, Ecuador, Bangladesh and Indonesia; averaging across the six countries, they found an absence rate of 19 percent among primary school teachers. Teacher absence predicts lower scores of pupils in tests in general.

Being still on human resources concern, various educators for example, Ukeje (1970) and Fafunwa (1969) have written extensively on the prime importance of teachers to the educational development of any nation albeit simple, complex, developed or developing. From the writings of these educators, one can infer that whatever facilities are available, whatever content is taught, whichever environment the school is situated and whatever kind of pupils are given to teach, the important and vital role of the teacher cannot be over-emphasized. Assuming that necessary facilities are adequately provided for, the environment is conducive to learning, the curriculum satisfies the needs of the students and the students themselves have interest in learning, learning cannot take place without the presence of the teacher. Fagbamiye (1977b) noted that schools with stable, experienced and qualified teachers usually have better school facilities in terms of school buildings, books and equipments than those schools which have difficulty in attracting experienced and qualified staff. Teachers' conditions in private primary schools of Rwanda seem to be better than those of their counterparts of public primary schools and thereby, their motivation differs accordingly; therefore, this has an effect on pupils' academic performance.

About class size, a comparative study of public schools among US states found that in Tennessee, smaller class sizes contribute positively to student learning, particularly in fields like elementary reading (Darling-Hammond, 2000). In another assessment, Angrist & Lavy (1999) use regression-discontinuity design and find that reducing class size increases fourth- and fifth-grade test scores in Israeli public schools. For the case of Rwandan schools, public primary schools are very crowded (especially because of EFA principles) at an extent of 70 pupils and beyond per class while in private primary schools, a big class doesn't hosts more than 35 pupils. This can be a positive factor of good pupils' performance in private primary schools of Rwanda in that teacher can individualize his/her teaching very easily if the class is not too big. Similarly, Case & Deaton (1999) separate their sample of South African data into races, notably Blacks and Whites, and look at the impact of pupil-teacher ratio on education attainment, enrolment, and numerical and literacy test scores. Especially for the test score results among Blacks, they find that when school facilities and education attainment are included as controls, a higher pupil-teacher ratio has a negative effect on mathematics score but a positive and insignificant effect on literacy. If higher pupil-teacher ratio has a negative effect on math score it is because math asks a great concentration and, in most cases, an individualization of teaching. Being so, all teaching subjects that need a great concentration like geography, physics, chemistry etc. are likely to be negatively influenced by a high pupil-teacher ratio.

In enumerating the factors that could be responsible for varying intra-and inter-school/academic achievement, Coombs (1970), listed four important factors including the acute scarcity of instructional resources which he said constrained educational systems from responding more fully to new demands'. He claimed that, in order to do their part in meeting the crisis in education, educational systems will need real resources that money can buy, they will need a fuller share of the nations' manpower, not merely to carry on the present work of education, but to raise its quality, efficiency and productivity. They will need buildings, equipments and more learning materials.

Momoh (1980) carried out a research on the effects of instructional resources on students' performances in WASC examination in Kwara State. He correlated material resources with academic achievements of students in ten subjects. Information was collected from the subject teachers in relation to the resources employed in teaching in five schools. The achievements of students in WASC examinations for the past five years were related to the resources available for teaching each of the subjects. He concluded that material resources have a significant effect on students' achievement in each of the subjects. For the case of primary schools of Rwanda in general, it is very clear that public primary schools do not have enough means in terms of money to buy the required instructional materials as they have almost only one funding source which is the government and for private subsidized primary schools they can get another additional funding source, the founder (e.g. religious congregation) of the school, but in several cases this funding is not always operational. These schools are restricted from making money by the law, local leaders at all levels and by the parents' feeling that primary education is given freely in the light of UPE. While private primary schools have varied ways of making money as they have no restrictions, they can order the increase of the cost of education whenever they want, they can do school businesses like opening a boutique, farming, etc.; they can ask parents to buy any material needed at any cost and time if it deems necessary.

The overall framework of schooling and schooling outcomes can be posited as having supporting inputs which flow into schools where schooling conditions are set to produce what we want to recognize as school outcomes (Heneveld 1994; Heneveld &Craig 1995). Contextual factors in generating school outcomes are the political will to embark on and support a schooling system, the economic muscle to support and sustain the system, the cultural milieu and how the school system aligns itself to the global trends in education. All these help to shape the kind of outcomes we expect to see in children who pass through the system. Directly linked to schooling itself are moral, material and human resources made available to the school where a conducive climate with the right mix of conditions are manipulated in a classroom to produce desirable outcomes.

About the learners' characteristics as factor to academic performance, very important are the children themselves with regard to how ready they are to blend into the mix we call schooling. It is clear that the factors are connected in an intricate way since we are dealing with social issues where how one factor influences an outcome cannot be entirely independent of the many other factors in the process.

However, when basic and fundamental elements of schooling are considered it is possible to change the outcomes considerably because there is little influence from external factors. When rudimentary schooling systems are considered most external influences become minimized and changes in the basic elements of schooling can lead to measurable changes in the outcomes.

Factors Affecting Private versus Public School Decisions

Public primary schools are schools that are provided by state funding. More than ninety percent of the primary school children today in Rwanda attend public primary schools. Private primary schools are primary schools which are funded by private persons (parents) or private institution (e.g. Churches). Clearly, there are many more public schools that provide education to Rwandese pupils than their counterparts private.

On the availability and adequacy of school resources, it is obvious that in Rwanda as in any other third world country, private schools are more favored than public ones. Considering the relationship between educational resources and students' academic performance, teacher's qualification and adequate facilities may be determinants of assessing academic performance of students. Hence the availability or non-availability of facilities and their adequacy in schools have an effect on the academic performance of pupils in primary schools of Rwanda. This is in agreement with some educationalists who believe that teaching materials facilitate teaching and learning activities, which result in effective teaching and improve academic performance. The school is an essentially human organization; because it has human operatives, clients and products, hence students' performance has positive relationship with the quality of teachers. The importance of adequate staffing of a school is clearing demonstrated by the way parents continue to drift from one school to another in search of school with better -qualified teachers. For efficient educational management, facilities help the school to determine the number of pupils to be accommodated, number of teachers and non-teaching personnel to be employed and the cost determination for the efficient management of the system.
The school climate is determined by the resources, especially class rooms under which the teachers and pupils operate which influences attitude in teaching and learning. Un-conducive classroom creates stress on teachers and pupils resulting in negative attitude toward school and learning by pupils. Facilities below approved standard could also lead to reduction in quality of teaching and learning in schools causing poor pupils' academic performance.

The school environment affects academic achievement of pupils. Facilities such as, desks, seats, chalkboard, teaching aids, and cupboard are ingredients for effective teaching and learning. A good education policy or programmed to guarantee quality outputs, it must be serviced optimally with appropriate trained and motivated teaching staff, adequately supplied with necessary facilities and equipment.

In other words, a good school must have adequate resources which may be divided into three categories: Financial resources, human resources and physical (material) resources.

The human resources are teachers and the non-teaching staff, and physical resources mean facilities including classrooms, desks, toilets, offices, books and teaching aids; all these resources cannot be acquired without financial resources.

Because public schools are required to admit all students, the students attending them paint a picture of the community they come from. As such, there is often a diverse mixture of backgrounds present in public schools. Private schools tend to be more homogenous due to the admission and selection process and the type of student that will apply to take part in a private school based on its reputation. One common reason for sending a child to private school is the smaller class sizes. Private schools can afford to keep class sizes small, thus providing more frequent interaction and attention on the teacher-student level which is a desirable feature. When the law says that all children have the right to be educated, this includes students with special needs. Public schools offer education programs for those who are physically or mentally handicapped in some fashion and provide teachers who are qualified to work with these needs. As mentioned before, private schools can admit or deny an applicant based on their own criteria, and this includes special educational needs. Although there are some private schools intended solely for those with these needs, many private schools do not accept special education cases.

As stated above, when looking at public or private schools, the following factors come into play: Academic reputation and college preparation, school size and class size, safety reputation, special programs, costs, religious and moral instruction, location, ideology.

Academic reputation plays a big role when considering private versus public schools. Unfortunately for most families, children must go to the public school that their home is zoned in. Usually there is a perceived or statistically supported issue with a public school's academic record that flags a parent's concern and willingness to move their child into a private school. Private schools usually have a more rigorous academic reputation but this depends upon the country and the education level. For example, in Rwanda, private primary schools have a more rigorous academic reputation than public ones while there is an opposite phenomenon at secondary school level. However, there is exception in lower catholic seminaries because they have a more rigorous academic reputation as their students are the best performers at O' and A-level leaving examinations. In fact, students who are enrolled in private secondary schools are those who have failed the PLE as those who succeed are immediately admitted into public secondary schools. For the lower catholic seminaries, students are chosen among the best pupils before the PLE are passed.

CHAPTER THREE

METHODOLOGY

3.1. Research Design

This study employed a quantitative paradigm with a descriptive correlational design to compare the academic performances of pupils in private and public primary schools of Gasabo District in PLE for 2005-2007. The study was correlational because it involved correlating the independent variable (i.e. nature of schools and dependent variables, pupils' academic performance).

3.2. Research Population

All the P.6 leavers 2005-2007, head teachers, and teachers of upper primary level from 80 primary schools of Gasabo District constituted the population for the study.

3.3. Sample and Sampling Procedures

Using a stratified random sampling, out of 80 primary schools, 10 primary schools were chosen and the choice was based on the status of the school (government funded or not), therefore five schools were government funded (public schools or private subsidized schools) and five were private. From each of the 10 sampled schools 30 best performing students at the PLE 2005-2007 selecting 10 pupils from each of the three years, making a total sample of 300 pupils. Again, using the same sampling technique, 4 teachers (2 males and 2 females) from each of the selected primary schools were chosen in accordance with the initials of their surnames in ascendant order to be interviewed about their school facilities and their teaching as well as about their motivation towards their job; every head teacher of the selected school was also interviewed. So apart from 300 pupils whose marks were analyzed, also 50 teaching personnel (Teachers and head teachers) were also selected to be part of the sample. Thus the total sample of all respondents was 350.

Table3. 1: List of 10 Schools Selected and Number of People Taken in Sample

3.4. Instruments

In this study, there was a need to use both primary and secondary data. For primary data, the tools which were used include questionnaires, interview guide, and Inventory form. For secondary data it was necessary to read the results of PLE 2005- 2007 of primary schools taken into the sample. The relevant literature was also consulted for the purpose of this study.

3.4.1. Interview Guide

The interview concerned head teachers or their deputies where head teachers were not available on the day of interview. The interview guide that was used in this research was structured (i.e. it was based on pre-established elements of which the informants were required to take into account when responding). It included 15 questions related to teaching quality as well as school quality in general.

3.4.2. Questionnaire

Questionnaire included only alternative questions where the respondent had to choose only from the alternative levels using the Likert scale ranging from 1 for strongly disagree to 5 for strongly agree. The questionnaire was made up of 10 questions related to the factors affecting the academic performance of pupil availability and adequacy of educational resources and their impact on pupils' academic performance; and the teachers' general opinion about their profession. Questionnaires were distributed to Head Teachers and 4 teachers of upper primary level in every selected primary school. And the researcher had to pick them after 7 days.

3.4.3. Inventory form

This tool helped the researcher to evaluate the availability and adequacy of educational resources at each school and the general school environment. It was made up of 31 items grouped into 4 categories of educational resources: Physical, material, human and financial.

3.5. Validity and Reliability

To test the validity and liability of the data collection instrument a pre-test on the field and a pre- coding were done to measure the applicability of the research instruments and the results they would generate. The pre-test was done in Huye District in Southern Province of Rwanda and it concerned four primary schools, two were private and two public. Its results guaranteed the quality assurance at 80% as 16 out of 20 respondents repeated almost the same answers.

3.6. Data Analysis

The data were analyzed using summary statistics involving frequency tables showing categories and percentages. At bi-variate level Student's T-test was used to find out whether there is a significant difference between performance of pupils of public primary schools and that of their counterparts of private primary schools. To measure the availability and the adequacy of school resources in public primary schools and in private primary schools, there was an appreciation based on figures between demand and supply of every item concerned. Items were made up of various educational resources required by any school for better education. The relationship between teacher quality and pupils performance was analyzed qualitatively using the data provided by head teachers using the interview method.

3.7. Ethical Consideration

Before the data collection from the field, the researcher sought for permission and clearance from all the relevant authorities especially the Mayor of Gasabo District, and The Director of Education, Youth, Culture and Sports of Gasabo District.

All the information from respondents was used for only the academic purposes and all respondents were told to keep anonymity on the questionnaires. The anonymity was also kept on interview schedules. Only codes were used to differentiate respondents and interviewees, like School A, Teacher B etc.

3.8. Limitations of Study

There was reluctance of some key informants which was assumed to be a result of their limited understanding of the research topic or to weakness found in their school administration. It is usually known that most people do not like to disclose their weak side. Some informants did not have enough time to fill questionnaires and/or inventory forms in that case, the researcher was obliged to interview them and to complete questionnaires and/or forms in their place. Some respondents tried to give wrong information in order to cover their weakness for example lack of some important educational facilities. To minimize on the limitation of inadequate understanding of the topic the researcher made an effort to explain to the respondents what the research is all about and to control the problem of fear to disclose the weak points of the schools the researcher assured respondents of anonymity

CHAPTER FOUR

DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA

4.1. Overview

This chapter deals with presentation, analysis and interpretation of collected data. The presentation, analysis and interpretation were concerned with the comparing academic performance of pupils in public and private primary schools, the relation between teacher quality and pupils academic performance as well the relationship between school facilities and pupils academic performance in Gasabo district.

4.2 Background of the Respondents

This section gives the distribution of respondents by category (i.e. Teachers, head teacher and pupils), sex, age, qualification and experience.

Table 4.1 reveals that pupils contributed the biggest percentage (85%) of the respondents and head teacher contributed the lowest (3.0%)

Table 4.2 show that among the staff that participated in the study (i.e. teachers and head teachers) males dominated the sample by contributing 64% of the respondents suggesting their large number in the schools of the study area.

Qualification of respondents

According to table 4.3, the majority (70%) of the respondents were A' level certificate holders (out of whom 22 were from public schools and 13 from private school) while degree holders were slightly above diploma holders with 16% and 14% respectively. Out of the 8 degree holder 3 were from public schools and 5 from private schools. All the seven diploma were from private schools. The finding suggests that A level certificate holders dominated the sample.

Working experience of respondents

The study findings in table 4.4 suggest that majority of the respondents (58%) had experience of five years and less followed by those with experience of (10 years and above and those of (6 -10) constituted 24% of the teaching staff and head teachers.

The first objective of the study was to compare the performance of pupils in public and private primary schools in Gasabo district Rwanda from which it was hypothesized that, there is no significant difference in performance of pupils in public and private primary schools in Gasabo district Rwanda. To test this hypothesis two sample t-tests was used. Table 4.5 show descriptive statistics and t-test result.

Table 4.5: Two-Tailed t-Test for the Difference in Pupils' Performance between Public and Private Primary Schools

The hypothesis tested was Ho_1: There is no significant difference in the academic performance of pupils in private and public primary schools of Gasabo district.» Considering the results in table 4.5, the P value is 1.4966E-24 or 1.4966x10^-24 Since the P. value is below 0.05, there is a significant difference between the two distributions. This leads to the rejection of the H_0,implying that there is a significant difference in academic performance between pupils in private primary schools and public primary schools of Gasabo district. This is also confirmed by the value of t. t-cal. 2.290 >t-critical 1.645.

4.3 School Facility Availability and Pupils Academic Performance

The second objective of the study was to establish the relationship between school facility availability and students academic performance. The study also intended to establish how available and adequate are educational resources in private and public primary schools of Gasabo District? Data was collected using an observation check list and the findings are presented in table 4.6 and 4.7

Table 4.6 Resource Demand and Supply in 5 Selected Private Primary Schools of Gasabo District

Resource	School name	AA		BB		CC		DD		EE
Resource	Items	Dds*	Spls*	Dds	Spls	Dds	Spls	Dds	Spls	Dds	Spls
Physical	Offices	3	3	3	3	4	4	2	2	3	2
	Classrooms	22	22	42	42	38	38	52	40	20	20
	Toilets	30	20	42	42	32	32	24	24	30	25
	Classrooms with electricity	20	20	42	42	42	42	40	40	20	20
	Playgrounds	3	2	4	3	4	3	4	2	3	1
	Laboratory	1	0	1	1	1	1	1	0	1	0
	Clinical room	1	0	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	0
	Craft room	1	0	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	0
	Staff room	1	0	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
	Library	1	0	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	0
	Computer room	1	0	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	0
Material	Chairs	30	25	72	72	75	65	70	56	28	24
	Tables	24	18	56	56	68	68	60	50	24	19
	Suitable desks	330	330	678	678	556	556	800	750	363	365
	Projectors	1	0	2	2	2	2	1	0	1	0
	Text Books &other reading materials	700	500	5000	3875	5000	4510	1500	1400	1235	849
	Computers	10	3	80	63	70	52	50	40	25	2
	Computers with internet connection	3	1	45	45	25	20	40	5	3	1
	Printer	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
	Maps	10	8	25	25	20	20	6	6	14	7
	Charts	52	52	48	48	43	43	30	18	40	21
	TVs	2	1	2	2	2	2	1	0	1	0
	Radios	2	1	3	3	4	4	2	1	2	1
	School buses	5	0	2	2	3	2	3	0	2	1
	Photocopier	1	1	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1
Human	Enrolment	550	550	1468	1468	1111	1111	1200	1039	760	726
	Class size	25	25	35	35	29	29	30	28	38	36
	Qualified Teachers	24	24	46	46	50	50	42	42	20	20
	Counseling officers	1	0	1	1	2	1	1	0	1	0
	School nurses	2	0	2	2	2	1	2	1	2	0
	Administrators	7	7	6	6	4	4	7	7	4	2
	Supporting Staff	4	3	14	14	7	7	16	16	3	2
Financial	Budget	Not revealed	Not revealed	Not revealed	Not revealed	Not revealed	Not revealed	300,000,000frw	187,000,000frw	Not revealed	Not revealed

The tables 4.4 and 4.7 show that the inventory of educational resources in selected schools comparing the figures in the demand and supply columns. In general, private primary schools have reached or were about to reach in supply column what was stated in demand column. However, for some few items, even private primary schools did not attain a satisfactory degree of supplying themselves what they had stated in demand column. This is the case of items like: staff room, craft room, clinical room, projectors, counseling officer, school bus and school nurse where two out of the 5 selected private schools did not get any of those resources while they consider them necessary for the education of their pupils. For laboratory, only two out of 5 private primary schools have managed to have one each. For the rest of items, private primary schools of Gasabo have relatively acquired a satisfactory level of availability and adequacy of educational resources.

In contrast, the public primary schools selected did not reach required educational resources they aspired as there is a very significant gap between their demands and their supplies. Even for the basic educational resources like books, classrooms, maps, charts public primary school selected showed a big gap between the demands and the supplies. As other items are concerned, for example, enrolment, classrooms and teachers, the situation is worse. In fact, willing to implement the UPE and EFA principles, public primary schools of Rwanda in general ( and those of Gasabo are included) enroll very many pupils while educational resources remain very few. The number of teachers doesn't increase as the enrolment increases too. This causes a high pupils-teacher ratio and a big class size.

In all 5 private primary schools selected, pupils follow the system called `going unique' commonly known as `gonginike' in Kinyarwanda whereby they study from 7h30 am to 1h30 pm and go home for coming back to school the following day. In this system, the classroom is used by only one class and teacher is supposed to spend the same number of hours at school as his/her class. But in all 5 public primary schools selected as in all public primary schools of Rwanda the system practiced is called `double shift' whereby one classroom is used by two classes on the same day. The first group uses the morning and goes home to come back to school the following day in afternoon while the group that comes in afternoon today will come back to school tomorrow in the morning. However, teachers remain the same. This means that a public primary teacher teaches two classes on the same day and so he doubles the number of hours spent by each of his/her classes.

As computers and internet connection are concerned, even though the availability and adequacy of these resources are not well distributed among private primary schools, the number of computers per school varies between 3 to 80 computers and there is at least one computer connected to internet. In 5 public primary schools selected, the number of computers per school varies between 2 and 18 computers and only one public school has access to internet with 18 computers all connected. All the other 4 do not have internet connection. This means that they cannot access online educational resources while in all private primary schools; the online resources are commonly utilized for the best quality of education they deliver. However, in the inventory, children's personal computers were not counted as they are not part of the schools' property (through the project named `one laptop per child' a good number of children especially in Kigali City have their own laptops which they acquire at a very low price with a certain sponsorship of the government and these are adapted to primary school children with special software designed to teach Sciences and Geography).

As the financial resources are concerned, only one of the 5 private schools selected accepted to reveal to the researcher the budget they expected to use in 2009 and what they actually used. Other private primary schools refused to reveal their budgets and there could not be any other mechanism to be used by the researcher to be aware of those budgets. However, the equilibrium which tends to be between demands and supplies in other educational resources in those private primary schools can allow the researcher to believe that there tends to be equilibrium between the demand and the supply in financial resources in these schools. It is important to note that the salaries of teachers and other staff members are deducted from the same budgets too in private schools.

In public primary schools, the budgets mentioned in the inventory are used to purchase some basic educational resources and to pay teachers' bonuses as their salaries are paid by the central Government. However, those budgets are still insignificant as the gap between their demands and their supplies is still great.

The figures in the inventory of educational resources allowed the rejection of the second hypothesis which said: `There is no significant difference in availability and adequacy of school resources between private and public primary schools of Gasabo district' and hence, there is a significant difference in availability and adequacy between private and public primary schools of Gasabo. Educational resources are more available and adequate in private than in public primary schools of Gasabo District.

Table 4.7 Resource Demand and Supply in 5 Selected Public Primary Schools of Gasabo District

Resource	School name	A		B		C		D		E
Resource	Items	Dds	Spls	Dds	Spls	Dds	Spls	Dds	Spls	Dds	Spls
Physical	Offices	3	1	3	1	3	2	3	1	3	1
	Classrooms	36	33	38	30	42	42	25	21	15	11
	Toilets	70	42	25	25	40	36	20	12	27	27
	Classrooms with electricity	33	2	30	5	42	42	25	15	11	11
	Playgrounds	4	2	4	1	4	0	4	1	4	2
	Laboratory	1	0	1	0	2	1	1	0	1	0
	Clinical room	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0
	Craft room	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0
	Staff room	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	1	1	1
	Library	1	0	1	1	1	1	1	0	1	0
	Computer room	1	0	1	0	1	1	2	1	1	0
Material	Chairs	40	30	40	30	120	69	50	30	27	27
	Tables	40	20	36	33	70	40	40	30	20	20
	Suitable desks	1375	575	800	722	966	800	600	500	475	330
	Projectors	1	0	2	0	1	1	2	0	2	0
	Text Books &other reading materials	3500	1800	6000	3992	6000	3650	2000	1500	4136	3386
	Computers	10	0	30	2	31	18	50	7	30	2
	Computers with internet connection	10	0	2	0	31	18	7	0	2	0
	Printer	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
	Maps	30	4	25	2	30	10	25	10	10	10
	Charts	30	2	46	14	50	25	30	10	20	20
	TVs	1	0	3	0	1	0	1	0	1	0
	Radios	3	1	3	0	1	0	2	1	1	0
	School buses	2	0	2	0	0	0	2	0	2	0
	Photocopier	1	0	2	1	1	0	3	2	1	1
Human	Enrolment	2750	3190	2423	2514	3500	3684	1660	1724	900	950
	Class size*	38	48	32	42	42	44	33	41	30	43
	Qualified Teachers	44	44	45	42	51	48	29	29	15	15
	Counseling officers	1	0	2	0	2	0	2	0	1	0
	School nurses	1	0	2	0	1	0	2	0	1	0
	Administrators	3	2	3	1	3	2	3	1	3	1
	Supporting Staff	4	3	2	1	5	3	4	2	3	2
Financial	Budget	29625000rwf	27115000rwf	15565299rwf	13573900rwf	42875000rwf	30458000rfw	28482500rwf	10912800rwf	15043260rwf	13500000rwf

Regarding the relationship between school resource availability and pupils' academic performance data collected through the questionnaires to teachers and interviews to the head teacher revealed a relation between the two variables in all the two categories of schools. The study established that resource availability (in terms of physical, human and financial) positively affect pupils' academic performance. Teachers and head teachers of both public and private primary school of Gasabo agree at the extent of 80% that the academic performance in their schools is generally the result of school facilities and hard work. But on the availability and adequacy of the general climate of the school, a big gap is realized between the views of private and public primary school teachers and head teachers.

On the collaboration of parents/guardians with the school for better education of their children, it was realized that in private primary schools this collaboration is very high (84%) while in public primary schools, it is too low (8%). Asked whether school Social Climate was conducive i.e. the status of their school vis-à-vis teacher satisfaction with school structure, parental involvement, differentiation in student programs, principal's report of time devoted to instruction, and open versus closed classroom; 72% of teachers and head teacher in private primary schools ticked `yes' versus only 24% of their counterparts of public primary schools. This shows that teachers and head teachers of public primary schools of Gasabo are generally dissatisfied with their school social climate and this is very dangerous vis-à-vis their own work performance and obviously pupils academic performance.

On the question whether pupils receive the feedback of their home works and quizzes quickly and regularly, 96% of respondents from private schools ticket `yes' versus 16% of public primary schools who ticked `yes' too. This shows that in public primary schools, teachers delay to (or do not) give feedback to their pupils as home works or quizzes are concerned while the regular and quick presentation of such feedback could constitute a source of motivation to pupils. Teacher turnover is experienced at 44% in public primary schools versus 8% in private primary schools.

Teachers are involved in decision making on issues related to teaching/learning process at the extent of 64% in public primary schools versus 24% in private primary schools of Gasabo. This shows that in public primary schools, teachers are given a chance to decide on how and what to teach while in private primary schools this chance is too small. Asked whether their respective school's environment favor the teaching/learning process, only 44% of respondents in public primary schools ticked yes versus 92% who ticked yes too in private primary schools. This means that, teachers and head teachers of private primary schools of Gasabo are more satisfied with the environment they work in than their counterparts of public primary schools.

Class sizes were also identified as determinants of academic performance. Studies have indicated that schools with smaller class sizes perform better academically than schools with larger class sizes. Kraft (1994) in his study of the ideal class size and its effects on effective teaching and learning in Ghana concluded that class sizes above 40 have negative effects on students' achievement. Asiedu-Akrofi (1978) indicated that since children have differences in motivation, interests and abilities and that they also differ in health, personal and social adjustment and creativity generally good teaching is best done in classes with smaller numbers that allow for individual attention.

4.4 Teacher Quality and Pupils Academic Performance

The third objective of the study was to establish the relationship between teacher quality and pupils' academic achievement, from which a research question was developed that, is there a significant relationship between teacher quality and pupils' achievement. Teacher quality in this study was conceptualized in terms of preparation for class, teacher commitment, managing and monitoring pupils learning and teacher experience. Data was collected through questionnaires and interviews and analyzed qualitatively. According to the findings of the study it was established that teacher quality significantly affect pupils performance in private and public primary schools in Gasabo district. It was pointed out by the respondents that prepared teachers adequately deliver in class and thus makes pupils understand the lesson content which positively influence their performance. The respondents also revealed that experience help the teacher to deal with many situations, to have an understanding of the pupils' needs and to cater for them, as well as creating a conducive environment for learning. Thus generally teacher quality was taken to affect performance.

CHAPTER FIVE

FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1. Introduction

This chapter presents the discussion of the major findings, in relation with the background and literature review. The researcher's personal views are also included arising from statistical inference, observation and interpretation of situations encountered during the study. The conclusions are given based on the findings and consequently, recommendations were made based on the conclusions. Other areas for further researches have also been indicated at the end of this chapter.

5.2. Findings

The outcome of the analyzed data showed that there is a significant difference between the academic performance of pupils of private and public primary schools. The findings confirm what was found by Afolabi (2005) in his study which examined the influence of a specified primary school education experience on the academic performance of junior secondary students I, in Methodist Grammar School, Bodija. This Nigerian scholar realized that students who had private school background outperformed their counterparts who attended public primary schools in English and Mathematics. These findings answer the first research question by showing that private primary schools of Gasabo District perform better than public primary schools.

These findings seem to discredit, to some extent, the standard of education in the public schools since their products could not compete favorably with the products of the private schools. This may be flashing the danger light as regards the future of the next generation of elders and the fate of education industry in Rwanda. The anticipated future problem becomes more evident when one considers the proportion of the Rwandan people living below the poverty line vis-à-vis the financial involvement of sending one's child to the private schools where resources are available and adequate, and where pupils and teachers are motivated and where finally, good academic performance is expected from.

The outcome of this study also showed that in private primary schools resources are more available and adequate than in public primary schools. Firstly, the inventory of educational resources in private and in public primary schools has shown that there is a big gap between the demands and the supplies of educational resources in public primary schools of Gasabo while this gap is very little in public and seems to be inexistent in private primary schools. These results allowed the rejection of Ho.2 and hence to state that in private primary schools resources are more available and adequate than in public private schools'. The important effects of inadequacy or lack of educational resources are lack of motivation, tiresome teaching and learning, inattention to individual learners, high rate of school dropout, low quality of teaching and learning etc. which cause finally the poor academic performance.

Secondly, in testing the degree of the difference between teachers and head teachers' views on the effects of inadequate educational resources on academic performance, the results showed that teachers and head teachers of private primary schools of Gasabo are more proud to work in their school environment than their counterparts of public primary schools. They also showed that they are generally satisfied with how their pupils learn and how they are evaluated. However, in public primary schools, there is a big gap between what teachers and head teachers wish to deliver as education to their pupils and what they actually deliver because of very limited educational resources.

When the difference in academic performance is compared to the difference in availability and adequacy of school resources in both private and public primary schools of Gasabo district, it becomes clear that both adequate supply of good teachers and school resources greatly influenced students' academic performance in PLE. These results confirmed the views of some writers like Fafunwa (1979), Fagbamiye (1977), Fayemi (1991), Moronfola (1982), Momoh (1980) and Popoola (1981).

From the above findings and the ideas ad hoc; enrolling one's child in private primary school predicts his/her good future as there is no doubt that the private school proprietors pay more attention to their teacher's input into the pupils than do the public schools (Salawu & Adedapo, 2001). They also spend substantial amount of money to provide instructional materials for the teaching and learning process. They take their students out on fieldtrip, excursions and so on, which are not obtained in most public schools. Unless the political leaders pay attention on this gap between private primary schools and public primary schools, the segregation in education will continue to prevail while the government of Rwanda created RNEC aiming to establish a body that would eradicate at all costs all forms of discrimination in the education system and establish on objective, fair, transparent system in which the main indicator for equity in education system is the individual performance level and the right of choice to any school or institution on Rwanda. In accordance to the difference in performance realized between pupils of private and those of public primary schools, and to the economic level of most Rwandans, the right to good quality may not be accessed as only well - to - do Rwandans may manage to enroll their children in quality schools that is enrolling them into private primary schools. For sure it is what is done by rich people and high ranked officials of Rwanda even those of the Ministry of Education.

To increase the provision of adequate material resources for the teaching of all subjects is much recommended. It is opined that human, physical and financial resources do not necessarily make much difference in terms of pupils' learning outcome. It is the efficient use of these resources and not just the availability that matters. It is therefore recommended that the resources made available to the primary schools should be efficiently utilized and the school environment should be made conducive for learning in order to improve pupils' learning outcome.

The study findings established a relationship between teacher quality and pupils' academic achievement in Gasabo and this finding relate with a wide range of findings on the relationship between teacher quality in and student outcomes. Hanushek (1986) found that fewer than half of the 109 previous studies on the estimated effects of teacher quality showed that quality had any statistically significant effect on student achievement; of those, 33 studies found that other factors were also had a significant positive effect, but seven found that more experience actually had a negative impact on student achievement. Other studies show a stronger positive relationship between teacher quality and student outcomes in some, but not all, cases they reviewed (e.g., Greenwald et al., 1996). Murnane (1995) suggests that the typical teaching learning curve peaks in a teacher's first few years (estimated at year two for reading and year three for math). It is also plausible that a positive finding on quality actually results from the tendency of more senior teachers to select higher-level classes with higher achieving students (Hanushek, 1986). Thus we might reasonably infer that the magnitude of the quality effect, should it exist, is not terribly large.

5.3. Conclusion

On the basis of the discussion of the findings on each of the objectives the following conclusions were made.

The pupils of private primary schools of Gasabo perform better than their counterparts of public primary schools in PLE. This doesn't come randomly, as they are well prepared from the early first classes. Though having the teachers of almost the same qualification, and pupils of almost the same background, private primary schools motivate more their teachers and their pupils than public primary schools do through various ways: good pay to teachers, small classes, good working environment, conducive environment for learning (availability and adequacy of school resources), regular evaluations, good collaboration between school and parents/guardians, guidance and counseling services made operational, excursions etc.

Educational resources (human, physical, material, and financial) are more available and adequate in private primary schools than in public ones; while these resources should be made available to the school to create conducive climate to produce desirable outcomes. (Heneveld 1994; Heneveld & Craig 1995). The lack of some necessary facilities in public primary schools is justified by the financial resources which are very few due to the lack of variety of funding sources. These schools are only funded by the government through the annual budget (but for the case of private subsidized schools, there may be another funding source, though irregular that is the founder of the school e.g. a church) while private primary schools have alternative sources of funding. They can raise tuition, and they also can raise significant amounts of money from a variety of development activities, including annual appeals, cultivation of alumni and alumnae, and solicitation of grants from foundations and corporations. The strong allegiance to private schools by their alumni makes the chances of fund-raising success a real possibility in most cases. And this allows them to supply themselves with required facilities at any cost.

There is good collaboration between private primary schools and parents/guardians of pupils for their best education while in public primary schools such collaboration is too little.

In Rwanda, children of high ranked politicians and other officials are more enrolled in private primary schools than in public primary schools. This gives a view that even politicians and these other officials recognize the low quality of public primary schools in comparison to private ones.

On the third objective, the study concluded that teacher quality has a bearing on pupils' academic performance and that pupils studying in private schools where teachers have quality exhibited in terms of their academic proficiency and experience tend to perform better than pupils in public schools where teachers are mainly A' level certificate holders,

5.3. Recommendations

On the basis of the above findings and conclusions, the following recommendations were made

The government of Rwanda should do its best to provide public and private subsidized primary schools with required facilities so as to create in them a welcoming environment for teaching/learning process by treating teachers humanly (giving them reasonable salaries, treating them as other civil servants so that they cease to take the teaching career as a transition while they are searching good jobs),

The Ministry of education should reduce the bureaucracy in the school administration, allowing public schools to diversify their sources of funding, providing public primary schools with staff in charge of guidance and counseling and increasing the number of teachers and classrooms to reduce the pupils-teacher ratio, as this would also contribute to close the segregation in education based on the choice of quality school where to enroll one's child (poor parents/guardians are forced to enroll their children in public schools because private schools are expensive).

Politicians and other officials of Rwanda should also keep monitoring and evaluating the quality of public education in primary schools and take general decision in favor of all citizens of Rwanda instead of taking individual decisions of enrolling their own children into private primary schools (as they have financial means) because they realize the low quality of public primary schools.

The RNEC should conduct a study on the factors of performance in PLE and use its results to advise the government and to revise the way PLE are prepared and administered if not, it will keep saying that it combats segregation in education at all cost while it contributes to increase it by giving the same test to pupils while their studying conditions have not been the same.

Teachers and head teachers of public primary schools should use the resources available in their respective schools efficiently to increase the performance of their pupils in general and in PLE in particular.

Parents and guardians should collaborate regularly with the public primary schools for better education of their children by helping children correct their home works, giving them enough time at home to revise their notes, hiring private monitors for them where it is possible, visiting them regularly at school to know how they progress in learning and their discipline at school.

The value of a teacher's quality in terms of experience, qualification, ability to prepare for lessons should be honored and compensated in order to give teachers the motivation to adequately do their jobs and support pupils learning to improve on their performance.

5.4. Suggestions for Further Research

· The relationship between educational resources and pupils' academic performance in primary schools of Rwanda;

· The role of parents/guardians' collaboration with primary schools in the academic performance of pupils.

REFERENCES

Adeosun, V.O., (2001). The RelativeEfficacy of Pictures and Realia in the Teaching of Verbs in Junior Secondary Schools. UNAD. J. Edu., 2: 50-56.

Afolabi A. O. (2005). Comparison of Private and Public School Products' Performance in Mathematics and English Language from Educational Technology Perspective. In Ilorin Journal of Education Retrieved at http://www.unilorin.edu.ng/unilorin/journals/education/ije/aug2005/

Ajayi, I.A. And E.O. Ashaolu, (2002). Relationship between Availability of Resources and Students' Academic Performance in Pre-Vocational Subjects in Junior Secondary Schools in Ondo West Local Government Area of Ondo State. J. Edu. Innovat. Dev., 1:247-253.

Ajayi, I.A., (1999). Unit Cost of Secondary Eduction and Students'Academic Achievement in Ondo State, Nigeria (1991-1995). Ph.D. Thesis University of Ibadan, Ibadan.

Ajayi, I.A., (2002). Resource Factors as Correlates of Secondary Schools Effectiveness in Ekiti State. Nigerian J. Counseling and Applied Psychol.1:109-115.

Ajayi, I.A.,2(007). Issues in School Management. Ikeja,Lagos:Bolabay Publications.

Akpa, S.U udoh and E.O. Fagbamiye (Eds), Deregulating the Provision and Management of Education in Nigeria. Jos: The Nigerian Association for Education Administration and Planning (NAEAP).

Angrist, Joshua D. and Victor Lavy. (1999). «Using Maimonides' Rule to Estimate the Effect of Class-size on Scholastic Achievement.» The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 114(2), pp. 533-575.

Asiedu-Akrofi, K. (1978). School Organisation in Modern Africa. Tema : Ghana Publishing

Ausubel, D. P. (1973). The Psychology of Meaningful Verbal Learning. New York, NY:

Australian College of Educators, [Undated]. What Makes a Good School? Retrieved at http//www.austcolled.com.au accessed on 13.03.2009

Ayodele, J.B, (2005). Fundamentals of Systems analysis in Education. Ikeja ,Lagos: Balabay Publications.

Balogun, J.A. (1995). Resource Allocation as it affects Teaching and Learning in Government Technical Colleges: a Case of Two Technical Colleges in Oyo state of Nigeria. Unpublished M. Ed. Thesis. University of Ibadan, Ibadan.

Broom, L. (1973). Sociology: A text with Adopted Reading (4th ed.). New York: Harper and Row.

Case, Anne, and Angus Deaton. (1999). «School Inputs and Educational Outcomes in South Africa.» The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 114(3), pp. 1047-1084.

Chike-Okoli, A. and P.S Sarki, (2005). Influence of Physical Classroom Environment on Academic Performance in Public and Private Schools, in: G.O.

Cohen et al., (2000). Research Methods in education. 5^th edition, Rutledge Falmer 11 New Fetter Cane; London.EC4 PCEE.

Coombs, P.H. (1970). The World Educational Crisis: A system Analysis. New York. Oxford University Press.

Ehrenberg, R., & Brewer, D. (1994, March). Do school and teacher characteristics matter?

Evidence from "High School and Beyond." Economics of Education Review, 13(1), 1-17. (EJ 483 386)

Fafunwa, B. (1969). «The purpose of Teacher Education» in Adaralegbe A. (Ed.) A Philosophy for Nigerian Education, Ibadan. Heineman Educational Books (Nig.) Limited. P. 84.

Fagbamiye, E.O. (1977). «Inequalities in Nigerian Educational Administration», Lagos Education Review. A Journal of Studies in Education, vol. 1, April 1977.

Fayemi, T.A. (1991). The effects of Instructional Resources on the Learning of History in Selected Secondary Schools in Ogbomoso Local Government. An Unpublished B.Ed Thesis.

Goldhaber, D., & Brewer, D. (2000, Summer). Does teacher certification matter? High school teacher certification status and student achievement. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 22(2), 129-145. (EJ 615 883)

Greenwald, R.H. & Laine, R. (1996, Fall). The effect of school resources on student achievement. Review of Educational Research, 66(3), 361-396. (EJ 596 389)

Grinnell, R. and Williams, M. (1990), Research in Social Work, 1^st Edition: Peacock Publishers Inc. New York.

Hanushek, E.A 1981. Throwing Money at Schools. J. Analytical manage, 1:19-41.

Heneveld, W. & Craig, H. (1995). Schools count, World Bank Technical paper No. 303.

Heneveld, W. (1994). Planning and monitoring the quality of primary education in Sub-Saharan Africa. World Bank AFTHR Technical Note No.14.

http//: www.rnec.ac.rw Consulted on 15^th March 2009 and on 10 February 2010

Hanushek, E. (1986, September). The economics of schooling: Production and efficiency in public schools. Journal of Economic Literature, 24(3), 1141-78.

Kadzamira, E. (2001). Research on school effects on students' achievement in developing countries with special reference to Malawi: Methodological issues. Zimbabwe Journal of Educational Research, 2(13), p.109-141.

Kerlinger, N.F. (1986), Foundation of Behavioral Research, 3^rd Edition, Holton Rechant and Wiston Inc. New York. (Fort Woorht. Harcourt USA)

Kingdon, Geeta and Francis Teal. 2002. «Does Performance Related Pay for Teachers Improve Student Performance? Some Evidence From India.» Centre for the Study of African Economies Series Ref: WPS/2002--06.Oxford University, Oxford.

Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (2005), Poverty Reduction Strategy. Annual Progress Report, Kigali (unpublished).

Momoh, S. (1980). A study of the relationship between Instructional Resources and Academic Achievement of Students in Ilorin Local Government Kwara State. An Unpublished M.Ed Thesis.

Moronfola, B. (1982). Effects of Instructional Resources on the Academic Achievements of Secondary school Students in Ilorin Local Government of Kwara State. Unpublished M.Ed Research Thesis.

Musaazi, J.C.S. (1982). The Theory and Practice of Educational Administartion and planning. Macmillan London and Basingstoke.

National Center for Education Statistics [NCES]. (2002). Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS: 1999-2000).Washington D.C., USA.

Popoola, T.A. (1980). An investigation into the relationship between instructional resources and students academic performance in Secondary Schools in Abeokuta Local Government Area of Ogun State of Nigeria. An Unpublished M.Ed Thesis.

Salawu, I. O. & Adedapo, Y. A. (2001). Perception of private secondary school teachers to the provision of teaching facilities in schools as is result of wage increase. Journal of Professional Teacher Trainers (JPTET), 3 (1&2), 156-163.

Thomas, H. 1990. Education Cost and Performance. A Cost Effectiveness Analysis. London: Cassel Education Ltd.

Ukeje, D. O. (1970). «Performance Oriented Teacher Education»: Report of the 5th Annual Conference, Western Council of the Association for Teacher Education in Africa. P. 59.

Winkler Donald and Jacques Vander Gaag, (1996). Children of the Poor in Latin America and the Caribbean. Paper n^o 1, Lasch. Washington D.C: World bank.

World Bank. 2003. World Development Report 2004: Making Services Work for Poor

World Bank (2004). Education in Rwanda:Rebalancing Resources to Accelerate Post-Conflict Development and Poverty Reduction. World Bank, Washington D.C.

Weiner, B. (2000). Intrapersonal and interpersonal theories of motivation from an

Murnane, R., Willett, J., & Levy, F. (1995, May). The Growing Importance of Cognitive Skills in Wage Determination. The Review of Economics and Statistics, 77(2), 251-66.

Strauss, R., & Vogt, W. (2001, March). It's what you know, not how you learned to teach it: Evidence from a study of the effects of knowledge and pedagogy on student achievement. Paper presented at the annual meeting of American Educational Finance Association, Cincinnati.

Walsh, K. (2001). Teacher Certification Reconsidered: Stumbling for Quality. Baltimore, MD: Abell Foundation. (ED 460 100)

APPENDICES

APPENDIX A: TRANSMITTAL LETTER

Mr/Ms/Mrs Nzabihimana Damien Reg. no MED/19043/72/DF is a student in the Faculty of Education. He is now carrying out a study about «The Nature of Primary Schools and the Academic Performance of Pupils in Gasabo District, Rwanda» as one of the requirements for the completion of his/her studies towards a Master's degree in Educational Management and Administration. He/She is thus introduced to you.

APPENDIX C: TIME FRAME

APPENDIX D: INTERVIEW GUIDE FOR HEAD TEACHERS

5. How do you rate your teachers in terms knowledge of the subject they teach

6. How effective are your teachers in managing and monitoring pupils learning

7. How does this school perform in PLE in general and how has it performed in the last three years

10. Are the teachers in your school satisfied of their work and of the salary they get?

11. What pedagogical aids do you have at your school? Are they enough compared to the quality of education you wish to deliver?

12. To what extent do the parents and guardians of your pupils collaborate with the school for the better education of their children?

17. How is the evaluation system in this school? Are tests given weekly? Monthly? Per trimester? Occasionally? No test other than regular exams?

APPENDIX E: QUESTIONNAIRE TO TEACHERS

Please put a tick mark (V) reflecting your response in the space provided for this purpose.

To ensure the validity and reliability of data, you are kindly requested to answer the questions as truthfully as possible and according to your independent opinion.

In this section please indicate the extent to which you agree with the following statements. Your respective answers are to range from a minimum of 1 (for strongly disagree) to a maximum of five (for strongly agree)

APPENDIX F: OBSERVATION GUIDE/INVENTORY FOR EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES

APPENDIX G: MAP OF KIGALI PROVINCE SHOWING LOCATION OF GASABO DISTRICT

APPENDIX I: TOP 10 PERFORMERS - P6 Acad. Year 2009

Public Schools			Private Schools
Academic year & school code	To 10 performers of the school	Marks )	Academic year & school code	Private schools	Marks
A 2007		1. 65.3	AA 2007		1. 62.3
		2. 53.3			2. 60
		3. 53.3			3. 59.7
		4. 52.3			4. 58.7
		5. 49.3			5. 58.3
		6. 49.3			6. 58.3
		7. 48			7. 58
		8. 47.7			8. 56.3
		9. 47.3			9. 56
		10. 46			10. 55
B		1. 53.7	BB		1. 77.3
		2. 52			2. 75.3
		3. 51.7			3. 69.7
		4. 50.7			4. 65.7
		5. 49			5. 60
		6. 48.7			6. 59
		7. 47.7			7. 57.7
		8. 47.7			8. 57.3
		9. 47.3			9. 56
		10. 46.7			10. 55.7
C		1. 60	CC		1. 91.3
		2. 57.7			2. 89
		3. 55.3			3. 87.3
		4. 55			4. 86.3
		5. 54.3			5. 84
		6. 54.3			6. 82.3
		7. 53.7			7. 81.7
		8. 53.3			8. 79.7
		9. 51.3			9. 76.3
		10. 50.7			10. 75.3
D		1. 74.7	DD		1. 81.7
		2. 74.3			2. 79.7
		3. 70.3			3. 76
		4. 63.7			4. 74
		5. 63			5. 74
		6. 62.7			6. 72.7
		7. 61			7. 72
		8. 59.7			8. 71.3
		9. 58.7			9. 71
		10. 57.7			10. 68.3
E		1. 69	EE		1. 78.7
		2. 65.3			2. 78.7
		3. 63.3			3. 77.7
		4. 61.7			4. 75.7
		5. 60.3			5. 74.3
		6. 55			6. 73.7
		7. 55			7. 73.7
		8. 54			8. 73
		9. 53.7			9. 72
		10. 52			10. 68.3
A 2006		1. 66	AA 2006		1. 70.7
		2. 65.7			2. 70
		3. 64.3			3. 64
		4. 64.3			4. 63.7
		5. 61			5. 63
		6. 60			6. 62.3
		7. 59.3			7. 62
		8. 57.7			8. 60.7
		9. 57.7			9. 60.7
		10. 55.7			10. 58.3
B		1. 81.7	BB		1. 82
		2. 70.3			2. 78.3
		3. 65.7			3. 78.3
		4. 58.7			4. 72.7
		5. 56.3			5. 72.7
		6. 56			6. 71.3
		7. 54.7			7. 71
		8. 54.7			8. 70
		9. 54.3			9. 69
		10. 54.3			10. 68.3
C		1. 68.7	CC		1. 90
		2. 68.3			2. 89.3
		3. 67			3. 89
		4. 64.3			4. 87.3
		5. 63.3			5. 85.3
		6. 63.3			6. 85
		7. 62.7			7. 84.3
		8. 60.7			8. 83.3
		9. 57.3			9. 82.7
		10. 56.7			10. 82.3
D		1. 76	DD		1. 88.7
		2. 75.7			2. 85
		3. 75			3. 84
		4. 73.7			4. 83.7
		5. 72			5. 82.3
		6. 68			6. 82
		7. 67			7. 81.7
		8. 66.3			8. 81.7
		9. 66			9. 81.3
		10. 65.7			10. 81
E		1. 66.7	EE		1. 62.3
		2. 65.7			2. 62.0
		3. 63.3			3. 58.7
		4. 59.0			4. 57.7
		5. 57.0			5. 52.7
		6. 56.3			6. 52.7
		7. 56.3			7. 52.0
		8. 55.7			8. 51.0
		9. 54.0			9. 50.3
		10. 53.7			10. 47.3
A 2005		1. 60.0	AA 2005		1. 71.7
		2. 58.3			2. 71.7
		3. 57.0			3. 71.3
		4. 56.3			4. 71.3
		5. 55.7			5. 67
		6. 55.7			6. 67
		7. 55.3			7. 66.7
		8. 54.7			8. 66.7
		9. 54.3			9. 61
		10. 54.0			10. 61
B		1. 72.7	BB		1. 81.3
		2. 61			2. 80.7
		3. 61			3. 79.7
		4. 60.7			4. 78.7
		5. 60.3			5. 70
		6. 59.3			6. 69.3
		7. 59.3			7. 67.7
		8. 59			8. 67
		9. 57			9. 67
		10. 55.7			10. 66.7
C		1. 72.3	CC		1. 93.3
		2. 72			2. 91.3
		3. 66.7			3. 88.0
		4. 66			4. 87.7
		5. 65.3			5. 87.3
		6. 61			6. 86.3
		7. 60.7			7. 85.0
		8. 58.3			8. 85.0
		9. 58			9. 83.7
		10. 57.3			10. 83.3
D		1. 79	DD		1. 83.0
		2. 77			2. 81.7
		3. 77			3. 79.3
		4. 73			4. 79.3
		5. 72			5. 77.7
		6. 72			6. 76.7
		7. 71.7			7. 76.0
		8. 71.3			8. 75.3
		9. 70.3			9. 74.3
		10. 70.3			10. 74.0
E		1. 79	EE		1. 89.3
		2. 78.3			2. 83.7
		3. 74.3			3. 83.7
		4. 69			4. 83.7
		5. 66.7			5. 82.7
		6. 66.3			6. 82
		7. 65			7. 81.3
		8. 64.7			8. 80.7
		9. 64.3			9. 79
		10. 63.7			10. 77
N	150			150
Mean	61.07511			73.4
Variance	65.40607			114.7948
SD	8.087402			10.71423
P. value	1.4966E-24