ABSTRACT
. This study was an investigation of challenges of teaching and learning materials in public secondary schools in Tana River District, Coast Province, Republic of Kenya. Teaching and learning materials greatly influence education quality and standards since it affect the teaching and learning process at all levels. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of shortages of teaching and learning materials in public secondary schools in Tana River District. The specific objectives of this study were to; Find out challenges of inadequate teaching and learning materials, Determine ways, in which teaching and learning materials are sourced, Investigate how teaching and learning materials are maintained and replaced, Assess whether teaching and learning materials are adequate and Establish ways and means of improving existing teaching and learning material in public secondary schools in Tana River District. The study adopted exploratory approach using descriptive survey design. The population comprised of ten public schools, 3500 students and 126 teachers. The sample was having 5 public schools,4 principals, 4 laboratory Technicians,24 HODs ,2 DQASOs ,5 parents representatives of either form three or four and 97 students from form three and four students where stratified and interval random sampling was applied to select them. Piloting was done in school F and test retest was done to determine reliability of the instruments. The data collected was both Qualitative and Quantitative. Spearman rank order correlation coefficient gotten was 0.6 and the instruments were regarded of good reliability. The results indicated that (69.2 %) of the respondents agreed that teaching and learning materials are inadequate. All respondents (100%) showed that ICT infrastructure is lacking in the institutions. The teachers (79.2%) showed that inadequate funds and great distance (45%) are the biggest problem in relation to teaching and learning materials acquisition. (50%) 0f the respondents said materials are fairly maintained and (22.4 %) commented that there is no specific period of replacement while (33.3 %) said storage rooms are lacking in our institutions. Concerning teacher‟s availability (100%) of the respondents commented they are not enough and (33.3%) of the respondents asserted that tours and excursions are not undertaken. The study revealed that there is only one laboratory in all the institutions (100%) and (100%) of the respondents said it is not spacious. All the parent Representative respondents (100%) reported that computers and daily newspapers are lacking in their homes. Availing more teaching and learning materials was mentioned by (45.8%) of the respondents and more funding was highlighted by (82.5%) of the respondents as ways of improving teaching and learning materials. Conclusions made by the study were that teaching and learning materials are inadequate and this leads to ineffective teaching and learning and also poor performance. Resource rooms, modern libraries are not in place in most schools and storage rooms are in poor state of neglect. Inadequate funds and long distance was a major problem in relation to teaching and learning materials acquisition and this consequently lowers time utility. The government policy guiding IT infrastructure is long overdue. Research of this kind was recommended to all other educational institutions and teachers challenges in bid to develop and improve education quality and standards hence poverty alleviation in this country.
