Assessment of the Shortage of Science and Mathematics Teachers and Its Effects on Secondary Education in Karatu District

Assessment of the Shortage of Science and Mathematics Teachers and Its Effects on Secondary Education in Karatu District

Robert John Sijaona
District Secondary Academic Officer,
P.O Box 190- Karatu. District.
Email: sijaonarobert1@gmail.com

Paul Raphael Kitula
St. Augustine University of Tanzania (SAUT), Arusha.
P.O Box 12385 – Arusha, Tanzania.
Email: kitula07@gmail.com

Abstract: This study assessed the shortage of science and mathematics teachers and its effects on secondary education in Karatu District. The objectives of this study were to: determine the effects of shortage of science and mathematics teachers on syllabus coverage in secondary schools and identify the effects of shortage of science and mathematics teachers on students’ learning behaviour in secondary schools. This study employed descriptive survey design. Total of 158 respondents participated in the study, which included 102 students, 48 teachers selected using clustered and random sampling, while 6 Head of Schools and 2 Educational Officers were purposively selected. Questionnaires were used to collect quantitative data while interview guide was used to collect qualitative data. Research experts validated the instruments and the reliability test (TQ=0.91 & SQ=0.89) was conducted using Cronbach alpha. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and qualitative data was analyzed thematically. The findings revealed that shortage of science and mathematics teachers in secondary schools affects the early syllabus coverage and some topics are not covered at all. Similarly, shortage of science and mathematics teachers affects students’ learning behaviour in secondary schools as students lose the passion to learn science and mathematics and decide to take arts subjects due to the negative attitude developed towards science and mathematics subjects. The study recommends that in order to mitigate the shortage of science and mathematics teachers, new systems to recruit, support, and retain teachers need to be developed and those recruited teachers should be motivated.