INFLUENCE OF SCHOOL RESOURCES ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF VISUALLY IMPAIRED LEARNERS IN INTEGRATED PUBLIC PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN BARINGO COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

Despite the provision of school resources by Kenyan government through the Ministry of Education, there has been an outcry from stakeholders owing to dismal performance among Visually Impaired Learners at Kenya Certificate of Primary Education examination in Marigat and Kabartonjo Sub-Counties. The purpose of this study was to establish the extent to which school resources influence academic performance of visually impaired learners in integrated primary schools in Baringo County. The study adopted mixed methods methodology where data was collected by use of questionnaires, interview, and observation guides to obtain both quantitative and qualitatively data, respectively. The target population involved501 participants comprising 2 head teachers, 68 regular teachers, 49 VI learners, 380 sighted learners and 2 Educational Assessment Resource Centers (EARC) officers. From this population, a total sample of298 participants was drawn. Simple random sampling technique was used to draw 59 regular teachers, 191 sighted learners and 44 VI learners, while 2 EARC officers and 2 head teachers were purposively sampled. Data was collected using questionnaires for teachers and sighted learners, interview guide for heard teachers and EARC, and observation checklist for Visually Impaired respondents. The tools were piloted to establish their reliability and adequately validated. The quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics while thematic analysis was used for qualitative data. The study found out that inadequate learning materials was a major cause of low academic performance of VI learners in Marigat and Kabartonjo integrated public primary schools. It further established that there were inadequate learning resources, support services and a learning environment that was not conducive for VI learners. The study recommends that the government provides more learning resources to VI learners and school management to provide barrier free learning environment. This study results would be of great value to teachers, parents, head teachers, schools, stakeholders, and Ministry of Education in enhancing academic performance of the V.I learners in Integrated schools. Article visualizations: