FACTORS INFLUENCING SUCCESSFUL IMPLEMENTATION OF ONE LAPTOP PER CHILD PROJECT IN PUBLIC PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN RWANDA: A CASE OF GASABO DISTRICT
Journal Title: European Journal of Business and Social Sciences - Year 2017, Vol 6, Issue 2
Abstract
Education sector in Rwanda has undergone a major transformation due to amongst other factors, changing patterns of curriculum delivery and technological innovations. One of such initiatives is the IT curriculum implementation to primary schools which is a key development pillar in line with Vision 2020. The introduction of one laptop per child to public primary schools in Rwanda has been a long-term development since inception in year 2008. This study sought to assess the factors influencing implementation of one laptop per child project in public primary schools in Rwanda; a case of Gasabo District. The independent variables in the study included procurement procedures, financing issues, teacher’s capacity, and power supply. Cross sectional descriptive design was adopted in this study. The study specifically targeted head teachers and teachers of public primary schools in Gasabo District as well as the education officials of MINEDUC. The study adopted cluster sampling to pick the head teachers and teachers from the sectors in Gasabo District. However, simple random sampling was used to select the head teacher, ICT teacher and the finance officer; one head teacher and three regular teachers; from every sampled school; giving a total of 180 respondents. The study used a semi-structured questionnaire for the teachers and an interview guide for the officials. The researcher used both qualitative and quantitative analysis. The variables were subjected to correlation analysis and the Software Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyze data. Frequency distribution tables and percentages was adopted to present the data. The relationship between the variables will be tested using the Pearson’s correlation technique. Ethical issues related to the study will be addressed by maintaining a high level of confidentiality of the information given by the respondents. From the findings, the researcher thus concluded that procurement procedures, financial constraints and teacher’s capacity had the major impact on implementation of the laptop project. Since the value of R square is less than 50%, the researcher deduced that the proportion of variation associated to the independent variables had a moderate effect. Some of the factors mentioned by the MINEDUC officials as hindering the implementation of the process include political interference, corruption, poor oversight, procurement bottlenecks, and lack of funds, poverty, laptop security, electricity and rampant impunity. Out of the listed factors, the main cause of slow implementation of the laptop project according to most respondents was corruption and rampant impunity. An important finding is that the explanatory variables in the model result in the direct influence on the implementation of the school laptop project. Study recommends that: the government of Rwanda strengthens the POA (procurement oversight authority) to come up with mitigation measures to control the external factors that interfere with procurement procedures and processes for the laptop project with a possible measure to cushion the entire laptop project from international monetary fluctuations; political control and moderation.
Authors and Affiliations
RITA KABANYANA| Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology,, Kigali, Rwanda, Dr. MIKE IRAVO (PhD)| Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology,, Juja Kenya, Nkechi Euginia| Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Kigali, Rwanda
Keywords
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