SUSTAINABILITY PLANS FOR RESOURCES MEANT FOR TEACHING VOCATIONAL AGRICULTURE FOR COMPETENCE-BASED GRADE FOUR AGRICULTURE IN PUBLIC PRIMARY SCHOOLS NJORO SUB-COUNTY

Abstract

The purpose of this paper was to examine the sustainability plans put into place for teaching and learning resources by public primary schools in Noro Sub-County of Kenya. The setting created ideal opportunity to evaluate the ways teaching and learning resources are stored, the replacement of damaged, lost and malfunctioning tools and resources. In addition, the study evaluated the maintenance schedule/program for various resources. The study sample consists of 96 public primary schools in Njoro sub-County. The results indicated that storage of teaching and learning resources was collective responsibility among parents, teachers, the school and students. More than 63% of parents stored farm tools, 70% of students kept textbooks and the schools kept laptops, tablets, flash disks and pictures. With regard to replacement and repair resources, 70.8% of parents stored farm tools, while 92.7% of camera, 95.8% memory cards and 96.9% of pictures were not replaced. Schools and KICD were responsible for tablets and laptops replacements. In addition, results indicated that 51% of teachers had a maintenance schedule every month, 6.3% had maintenance after every two terms, 7.3% had a schedule for maintenance after a year and 35.4% said they had no maintenance schedule. The study was conducted within one Sub-county and thus the results may not give a generalization of public primary schools in Kenya because some public schools are located in urban set up while others are in remote areas. The results elicit empirical platform for developing a framework and schedules for care, handling and maintenance of teaching and learning resources meant for agriculture.