Abstract

The study sought to assess Factors influencing implementation of Free Secondary Education in selected government schools in Maswa District. The objectives of the study established whether the Government provides adequate funds for Free Secondary Education in relation to the schools’ budgets and how this affects quality of education; examined the availability of trained teachers and other teaching and learning materials compared the number of students enrolled in the school; analyzed the role played by the community in the presence and quality of school infrastructure related to the school needs. The study employed a descriptive survey design using both qualitative and quantitative data collection approaches. It targeted 290 people from whom 165 were determined using Krejcie and Morgan sample size table. Data was collected through questionnaire and interview methods and analyzed using MS Excel to generate frequencies and tables from which interpretations were made. Results indicated that, the government provided inadequate funding to public schools under FSE is (45.8%), and adequate funding was supported by 32.2% while only 21.9% revealed that somehow adequate funding, additionally, physical facilities that were inadequate were classrooms, desks, Science Laboratories and houses for teachers, which impacted negatively on the implementation of FSE. Further, the teachers were available though majority had attained diplomas (71.7%) and 25% completed degree but only 3.6% had attained masters. The study concluded that, increase in enrolment had a negative effect on the quality of education. The study found out that funding of government schools be enhanced to support the FSE and more education capacity needs to be given to the teachers for enhancing the quality teaching and learning.