Large class sizes in public schools affect quality of teaching and learning

The government has made considerable investments in inclusive, quality education. The most transformative policy initiative the government has undertaken so far is ensuring all children who sat the KCPE exam transitioned to secondary school. 

While this is laudable, it resulted in congestion in classrooms. The massive transition did not trigger a corresponding expansion of infrastructure and other accessories in secondary schools. The 100 per cent transition meant there was a need for additional teachers, classrooms, laboratory and library facilities, and for boarding secondary schools, additional dormitories.

This did not happen. Additional infrastructural facilities weren’t on a scale equal to the influx of new learners into secondary schools. A secondary school classroom is designed to hold, at most, 40 learners, but they hold more today.

Class size should be aligned to the allowable student to teacher ratio. Education policy, standards and curricula recommend a Student-Teacher Ratio (STR) of 35:1. That is, 35 learners against one teacher. Without additional classrooms and recruitment of new teachers, the students have been forced to squeeze into classrooms designed for 40 learners at most. 

Most public schools, however, have more than 50 students per class. This has had disastrous effects on teaching and learning in such a classroom environment. First, it has affected the quality of education. A smaller class size means that teachers give individual attention to each student’s learning needs. They can easily identify their strengths and weaknesses, and then provide personalised instruction, which enhances the quality of education and improves learning outcomes. 

More importantly, the teacher has the capacity to take every child along without leaving any learner behind. The students have more opportunities to actively participate in class activities, ask questions, and engage in discussions. Congested classrooms have made this inaccessible to learners.

Classroom management is not an easy task for teachers. The larger the class size, the more herculean the management of students’ discipline becomes. Effective classroom management happens in small class sizes and lower STR.

Undeniably, the government goes through many financial constraints trying to balance competing interests and priorities. However, it should consider strategies to help reduce class size and STR. The government allocates about 30 per cent of the national budget to education. Combined with investments in education by households, the country is spending about six per cent of GDP on education. 

The government should rethink some of its priorities in the education sector and across the public finance system and rationalise. The annual allocation of resources for textbooks could be rerouted when the need for curriculum materials has been met, to invest in the construction of classrooms, laboratories and libraries.

It could also consider supporting more day secondary schools to decongest boarding secondary schools. Equipping, and staffing day secondary schools will result in quality delivery of the curriculum in these schools, thereby improving their potential to impart quality education. The schools will become attractive to parents and students.

The government can also consider reassigning to the classrooms the vast cohort of trained teachers under the Teachers’ Service Commission, deployed at the regional, county and subcounty offices.

Under the independence Constitution, TSC had a lean staff in the field, which used to work closely with Ministry of Education officials in managing teachers at the school level. The working relationship was seamless. 

Today, the bureaucracy in the field is massive. It is composed of highly experienced and professionally trained teachers duplicating what Ministry of Education officials do in the field.

Get a big proportion of these staff back in the schools—as teachers and heads of institutions—and you will have addressed some of the challenges of the STR the government is grappling with.