Availability And Functionality Of Secondary School Facilities In Improving Learning And Teaching Environment In Tanzania: A Case Of Rungwe District Council

ABSTRACT

The study sought to assess the availability and functionality of secondary school

facilities in Tanzania. A descriptive research design was employed whereas Rungwe

district was used as a case study. A sample of 10 public and private schools were

used. It utilized a sample of 152 participants whose responses were collected through

the survey, interview and observation. Secondary data were collected from school

records, documents, journals, books and internet. The data were given both

qualitative and quantitative treatment. The findings of the study have revealed that

school facilities in schools are inadequately procured in public schools something

which has been contributing to poor academic performance. In addition to that, the

results indicated that the few school facilities that are available in secondary schools

improve learning and teaching environment in school system and increase efficiency

and effectiveness of teachers and students as they act as a motivating factor; hence,

contributing to academic achievement. Lastly, the results exposed the major

challenges towards ensuring availability and functionality of learning and teaching

facilities which are; inadequate funding of secondary schools, mismanagement of

school facilities, inadequate and low quality teachers. Based on these findings, it is

concluded that first there are inadequate learning and teaching facilities in secondary

schools and this situation is worse in community based secondary schools. Secondly,

learning and teaching facilities in school system increase efficiency and effectiveness

of the staff and students; hence, contributing to academic achievement. Suggestions

for the procurement of more facilities which are functional in public secondary

schools are made in order to enhance learning and teaching to the students and

teachers in order to rise academic performance.