Assessment of school material resources’ utilisation in public secondary schools in Tanzania:the case of Iringa Municipality

This study anchored in assessing utilization of material resources in public secondary schools in Tanzania, taking Iringa Municipality as a case study. The study rests on the following research objectives: (i) to determine the material resources available in schools; (ii) to assess the extent to which students and teachers utilize the available material resources; and (iii) to establish the problems that students and teachers encounter in utilizing material resources. The study employed qualitative approach with some aspects of quantitative approach informed by a case study design. The study deployed simple random sampling and purposive sampling techniques to obtain 100 informants drawn from secondary school heads, academic master/mistress, teachers and students. The data were sought through observational checklist, document search, semi-structured interviews and focused group discussions. Qualitative data was analysed qualitatively using thematic analysis, and quantitative data were analysed quantitatively with the help of Microsoft Excel and presented in tables and graphs. The study revealed the following findings. First, public secondary schools in Iringa Municipality had a shortage of material resources, where art subjects registered a higher shortage than science subjects. Second, teachers and students in public secondary schools were ineffective in utilizing the material resources. Third, teachers and students encountered several problems during utilization of material resources. The problems included inadequate storage facilities, lack of competence to master the new syllabi, shortage of personnel as well as a mismatch between the textbooks’ contents and that of syllabi. The study concluded that due to ineffective utilization of material resources in schools, the teaching and learning process was adversely affected. The study recommends that teachers and students should utilize material resources available in their schools to enhance effective teaching and learning. Moreover, the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training should direct more material resources into the education system to match with the number of students.