Background To The Study

CHAPTER ONE

1.0 Introduction

The purpose of this chapter was to provide the background to the study, a statement of the problem, research objective which was based on general objective and specific objective, research questions, the scope of the study and the last part will explain the significance of the study of the influence of NGO’s to the academic performance of primary school in Kisarawe District.

1.1 Background of the study

Education is an essential human need and basic requirement for the economic development of every country. It is also a key component to improving economic competitiveness, raising incomes, improving health, and achieving sustained growth (Bruns, et al. 2014). Therefore, education is seen as a fruitful investment. Marco, (2017) observed that a high quality nondiscriminatory education system contributes fundamentally to social cohesion, stability and equality. Such an education system produces highly competitive and informed professionals who are willing and able to serve the country’s strategic interests anywhere in the world.

Patrinos, et al. (2009) notes that lack of full capacity and the budgetary constraints have led to NGO involvement in the sector. NGOs carry out different activities in the education sector; these activities include improvement of infrastructure, health and feeding program, provision of educational material among others. These activities are perceived to be beneficial to the schools, however, there is no evidence based on research that supports the fact that NGOs help in the improvement of academic performance in schools. (Edwards et al., 2013).

NGOs play a key part in supporting the government to harmonize the education sector and to develop its efficiency. This is affirmed by (Brown, 2014) who highlights that often, NGOs work collaboratively with
Government on
programs
neither could do alone, and they generally
use
their
funds
expediently
and
cost effectively. Furthermore, by
way of
positive Example NGOs influence
Government
Offices
and
Employees to improve the quality of Services
They provide.

In the United States of America, NGOs put into practice programs to boost agricultural productivity, make bigger financial and communal opportunities, offer health care, construct schools and training centers and care for the environment (Maclean, et al. 2017). They often develop and address new approaches to social and economic problems that governments cannot address alone. Since the beginning of the 20thcentury, NGOs in USA has been taking part in the provision and improvement of education. For examples, The Washington State PTA is one of the leading NGO in the state, it supports child’s welfare and education. The PTA has a lot of activities and has succeeded both at the federal level and at the state level. Its activities include the creation of pre- school units, pupils‟ welfare support and the school lunch program.

Fielmua, (2012) observed that in developing countries of Africa including Ghana, Non- Governmental Organizations play a very important role in the development process. In sub-Saharan Africa, their contributions are particularly significant in supporting literacy, community schools, health education, early childhood care, and other forms of learning, thus helping people to improve their living conditions. Shizha, et al, (2012) conducted a study in four countries in Africa and concluded that if the experience in the four countries under study here can be generalized, NGOs have become an integrated and important component of education systems throughout Africa. Considerable variation exists from country to country, region to region, and within the education sector. However, the study found that across all four countries, NGOs increasingly participate and contribute to the delivery of educational services, influence education policy, and is included by donors and governments in different aspects of the education system.

Elibariki, (2014) in his study asserted that, Education system in Tanzania face a number of challenges, including a vast difference in the quality of education, both in government and private schools. Another problem is the poor school infrastructure, such as shortages of classrooms and toilets, lack of school fees and poor health. Problems also exist when it comes to teachers and how well they practice their jobs. OECD (2012) found out that the involvement of NGOs in Tanzania’s education sector is inevitable if the government is to succeed in providing Universal free primary education.

The recent influx of 1.5 million primary students in schools in 2003, has led to the detrimental impact of the introduction of free basic education. There is need to find out the contribution of NGO activities in the academic performance of pubic primary schools. Southeast Africa is the SOS Children’s Villages. SOS has operated in Tanzania since 1975 and provides homes, care, education and skills training for orphans in Meru, Nairobi, Mombasa and Eldoret. Other NGOs that work in Tanzania are Action Aid Tanzania and Foster parents Plan international (FPPI) which have a major objective of improvement of the capacity and learning environment of the schools. Action Aid is also one of a very few which are financed and recruiting for boarding schools, however, it is up to the community to make sure the school runs smoothly, with reliable teachers and house mothers, and an adequate amount of provisions – meals, laundry, feminine products, (OECD, 2012).

Kisarawe is one of the six districts of Pwani Region of Tanzania located in coordinates 6° 54′ 0" South, 39° 4′ 0" East (Source; Google maps, accessed through url on 1245, 28/01/2018). Other districts are Mkuranga, Bagamoyo, Kibaha, Rufiji and Mafia. In Kisarawe District, school going age children had suffered low enrollment, high dropout rate and low completion for over twenty years. It is based on this background that a number of NGOs decided to work in Kisarawe and support education. Millennium villages‟ project (MVP) is one of the NGOs that invested resources according to the needs of individual schools in Kisarawe District. It was launched in 2005/2006 to create a pathway to achieve millennium development goals in the poorest regions of Africa and had interventions that range across five key sectors: Agriculture, education, health, infrastructure (including water and sanitation), and business development.

The project provided quality educational resources to schools in the Sauri village (Kisarawe District). Generally, this revolved around investment in textbooks, science equipment, infrastructure (electricity, water, computers, Internet), support for the management of resources, teacher training, promoting health and gender issues to pupils, promoting awareness of opportunities after secondary school and encouraging schools to organize extra-curricular activities. The project worked to ensure that pupils attend school and stay in school to complete the system.

In Kisarawe District., 75% of public primary schools have ever been supported by NGOs. These NGOs help with the provision of infrastructure, health, sanitation and nutrition services, and capacity development for teachers and scholarship for pupils. Although they carry out the above educational activities in Kisarawe District., it’s not clear whether these activities affect academic performance in primary schools or not. This study attempts to assess the influence of NGO activities on academic performance in public primary schools in Kisarawe District, Tanzania.

Despite the deliberate government efforts on improving education quality to public and private schools, the education sector in Tanzania still face a number of challenges including low enrollment rate of primary schools pupils where by 17% of children of official primary school ages are out of school (EPDC extraction of DHS dataset, 2011), poor education facilities such as poor classrooms, lack of desks, large number of students in a one room, large rate of students per teacher, lack of toilets etc.

1.2 Statement of the problem

Education is a fundamental human right, every child is entitled to it. It is critical to our development as individuals and as societies, and it helps pave the way to a successful and productive future. Education enhances lives, it ends generational cycles of poverty and disease and provides a foundation for sustainable development (UNICEF, 2011). The sustainable development goal 4 is ensuring quality education, whereby among the targets is “ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant” (UNDP, 2018). As such, different local and international stakeholders and the government have been playing different roles to ensure this goal is achieved. Besides, these efforts, the academic performance in primary schools is still limited, characterized by drop out, poor attendance, poor learning environment and among others, (EPDC extraction of DHS dataset, 2011).

Different studies have been carried out and shown the involvement of NGOs and their role of in education sector and performance of primary schools (Blum, 2009; Bandi, 2011; Joseph, 2015). However none of them has ever discussed in details the contribution of NGOs towards academic performance in primary schools. Therefore, there is a need to examine the contribution of NGOs in academic performance to address this gap. Specifically by examining types of services provided, find out the difference in primary examinations academic performance in schools supported by NGO’s and none supported, as well as other factors contributing to academic performance other than NGO’s assistance taking in Kisarawe District, Pwani region to draw lessons for learning.

1.3 Research objectives

The study will be guided by the following objectives, general and specific objectives;

1.3.1 General objective

To assess contribution of NGO’s towards Academic Performance in Primary Schools in Kisarawe District in Tanzania.

1.3.2 Specific Objective

i. To determine the types of services provided by NGO’s to Primary Schools in Kisarawe District.

ii. To find out the difference in primary leaving examinations academic performance in schools supported and non-supported by NGO’s in Kisarawe District.

iii. To find out other factors contributing to performance other than NGO’s assistance to primary schools in Kisarawe District.

1.4 Research Question

The study will be guided by general research question and specific research questions as follows;

1.4.1 General Question

What is the contribution of NGO’s in Academic performance of primary schools in Tanzania?

1.4.2 Specific Questions

i. What are the types of services provided by NGO’s to Primary Schools in Kisarawe District?

ii. Is there any difference in primary leaving examinations academic performance in schools supported non-supported by NGO’s in Kisarawe District?

iii. Are there any other factors contributing to performance other than NGO’s assistance to primary schools in Kisarawe District?

1.5 Significance of the Study

The findings of this research will not only add to the body of information on the influence of NGO educational activities on academic performance, but also provided information to education policy makers especially the Ministry of Education, on the support needs for public primary schools hence formulating better policies that would facilitate good academic performance in schools.

This research will show whether the NGOs contribute to the achievement of UPE and if they have any impact on academic performance in public primary schools. This will motivate NGOs to continue working with primary schools incase their work influences school academic performance positively. The local community will also benefit from this study by learning the role of NGOs in relation to academic performance in public primary schools with a view of making informed decisions in the future when an NGO approached them in a bid to extent educational assistance to public schools. Furthermore, the data provided by the researcher could assist NGOs improve their approach to educational assistance to primary schools.

The findings of this study will also enable the NGOs to develop knowledge of responsibility, identify their weaknesses and strengths, understand their role in education and identify and explore the opportunities for improvement. The study will also help the government and NGOs to understand the problems surrounding performance improvement strategy and help them come up with a policy that would help in improving academic performance in schools.

1.6 Scope of the Study

The study is confined on assessing the contribution of NGO’s towards academic performance in primary schools in Kisarawe District, Tanzania. The study will focus on 16 selected NGO’s among 19 that operate in the area and deal with helping children achieve universal primary education. The respondents of this study will be education government officials, NGO’s officials, and teachers, parents of the children and head teachers and pupils of 10 selected primary schools in Kisarawe District.

1.7 Limitation of the Study

The subjectivity of the respondents, they may provide wrong information due to various reasons such as fear of not respected on disclosing their family matters. Limited availability of resources and time to undertake the study on a wider scale.

1.8 Delimitation of the Study

Due to limitation of the study area the research, in order to ensure reliability of the data collected had to review several literatures to compare the reality to the information provided. The study had to minimize cost by using simple methods of data collection for example using pen and a piece of paper rather recording respondent’s conversation during interviews. Time constraints was dealt accordingly by ensuring the study is properly organized this included setting up every item at its place so that when needed grab and use.

CHAPTER TWO.

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.0 Introduction

This chapter analyzed the existing literature on different conceptualization of the Contributions of NGO’s towards Increasing the Academic Performance in Primary Schools. The review comprised theoretical framework, empirical study and identified gaps to be investigated. This chapter also provided a critical review of related literature on the study variables, definition and understanding of relevant terms used.

2.1 Definition of terms

a) Non-Governmental Organization

Private organizations which are organized on a local, national, or international level, that pursue a public interest agenda, rather than commercial interest activities to relieve suffering, promote the interest of the poor, promote basic services such as education and health or undertake community development. The term NGO encompasses a broad range of organizations, varying in their specific purpose, philosophy, sectoral expertise and scope of activities and therefore there is wide variation in the functions of different NGOs. (Patrinos, et al. 2009)

b) Academic Performance

Academic performance refers to school rank based on students’ scores in a particular examination. At an individual level, it refers to grades or scores awarded to students who sat for a prescribed examination. In this study, academic performance refers to the ability of an individual student to present concepts learned during a specific period of time and conditions in a prescribed examination. It is the standard of achievement in an examination. In conceptualizing education, performance, scholars have tended to fall under four groups, namely education inputs, education processes, educational output and education policy (Lugayila, 2002).

c) Performance Management

(Swanepoel, Erasmus, Van Wyk & Schenk 1998:404) describe performance management as an approach to manage people. Such approach entails planning, employee performance, facilitating the achievement of work related goals and reviewing performance as a way of motivating employees to achieve their full potential in line with the organization’s objectives. Performance management should be aiming to clarify the organization’s needs for business performance and setting up a process which ensures that it is delivered.

This can only be done with a high level of strategic alignment of all processes involved in the management and development of people throughout the whole organization (Lockett, 1992:25). The United States Office of Personnel Management (2003:1), summarizes performance management as the systematic process by which an agency involves its employees, as individuals and members of a group, in improving organizational effectiveness in the accomplishment of agency missions and goals.

2.1.1 Universal Primary Education in Tanzania

Since gaining independence in 1961, Tanzania has made public education a national priority, prompting waves of related policy changes and investment strategies. Soon after independence, the nation focused on strengthening secondary education to prepare workers to join the new, domestic public sector. Another clear priority, however, will provide widespread basic education to a socialist Tanzania. For the rest of the twentieth century, policymakers and leaders launched various programs and strategies to achieve universal primary education (UPE).

In 1978, the government passed an Education Act making education compulsory for children between the ages of 7 and 13. Actual enrollment levels have fluctuated since that time—from about 70% to 95%—due to a number of factors, including concerns over education quality in the context of a struggling national economy (Al-Samarrai & Peasgood, 1998). Today, challenges to establishing an effective and stable education system persist. UPE remains a goal of the Tanzanian government and a United Nations Millennium Development Goal. With support from international donors, in 2001 Tanzania began the Primary Education. Development Program (PEDP).

The PEDP’s goals are to improve quality and equity throughout the education system, improve retention in the seven years of primary education, and build school capacity at all levels (World Bank 2011). In addition to making enrollment in primary education mandatory until age 15, the PEDP eliminated school fees in an effort to encourage attendance. However, according to different figures, 15-20% of children under age 15 still do not attend school. This could be due to other costs associated with education either direct household expenditures on books or uniforms, or opportunity costs of being in school or contextual factors such as school quality or labor market demand. Our goal is to determine what factors increase the probability that a child does not attend school, both until the compulsory age of 15 and beyond, with a particular focus on the role of schooling-related household expenditures.

2.2 Theoretical Literature Review

This study is guided by the assumptions that the government is the main educational provider, intended to work in partnership with NGOs, donors, religious organizations, parents’ teachers associations (PTAs) and other stakeholders (Republic of Kenya 1997:136). This study used the partnership model between the government as the main educational provider and the NGOs as the main study variable, in helping the needy children access primary education and be retained in school for a full primary cycle. A full primary cycle in Kenya is eight years of primary schooling. The Republic of Kenya (1997) gives the understanding that education provision would only be fruitful if combine efforts by all stakeholders were put together.

Issues related to poverty eradication, quality and equity influence the plan. It was very clear that the 1997-2001 Development Plan shows the government’s recognition of the role of NGOs in education. This development Plan was influenced by poverty eradication, quality and equity, which were the core area of study in this research. In partnership model, user costs were removed in order for all school age going children to enroll in primary schools. This was expected to increase enrollment to possibly 100 percent and completion of 47 to 70 percent for both boys and girls by 2012 (Republic of Kenya, 1997).

The researcher saw a gap that confirmed that poverty was still a major hindrance to attainment of basic education, though the government through FPE and in partnership with other stakeholders like NGOs expected to meet most of its challenges in providing affordable basic education to the needy for faster development in line with the attainment of international standards. The study is also guided by the open system model in assessing the contribution of NGO’s to primary school’s academic performance in Kisarawe District. The model regarded non-supported government primary schools and NGO’s supported primary schools as an open system, thus needed to look at how the various components within inputs, processes and outputs are related to one another (Scott, 2003; and Rizzo, 1987).

2.2.1 Theories Governing Academic performance

Theories underpinning this study are derived from factors affecting the academic performance of students explained by Spady (1970), Tinto (1975) and Bean (1980). Tinto’s (1975) theory on the academic and social integration of university students forms the basis of this study because firstly it has laid a foundation for research on retention of pupils in primary education; and secondly its methodological approach to pupil retention is broad-based, focusing on individual characteristics prior to entering learning institutions, the individuals’ experience upon entering the schools and the effect of external factors that interfere with pupils’ academic performance.

2.2.1.1 Spady’s sociological theory

Spady was one of the first researchers to propose a widely recognised theory on student retention in 1970 (Spady 1970, 77). The basic assumption of this theory is that student dropout is best explained by a process involving an interaction between the individual student and the university environment. In this interaction, the student’s attributes such as attitudes, skills and interests are exposed to influences, expectations and demands of the university. The result of this interaction will determine whether the student will be assimilated in the academic and social system of the university and subsequently whether the student will be retained in the university.

Linked to this process are variables that promote the academic and social integration of students in higher education. These variables are family background, academic potential, normative congruence, grade performance, intellectual development and peer support. All these variables are further linked to two other variables namely satisfaction with the university environment and institutional commitment (Spady, 1970).

2.2.1.2 Tinto’s integration theory

According to literature studies done by authors such as Swail (2006, 1 of 4), Draper (2005, 2 of 20) and McCubbin (2003, 20) Tinto’s theory of social and academic integration is the most referred to in the area of student retention. In 1975 Tinto drew upon the work of Spady (1970) who was the first to apply Durkheim’s theory of suicide to student retention. This theory is based on the assertion that the likelihood that an individual will commit suicide is predicted by the level of their integration into society (Tinto 1975, 91). While in Durkheim’s model of suicide individuals commit suicide because they are insufficiently integrated into society, Tinto asserts that dropout occurs because students are insufficiently integrated into different aspects of the university. Tinto further contends that dropout could occur through lack of integration in either the academic or the social systems of the university (Tinto 1975, 92). Based on further research, Tinto revised the theory in 1987 by including the three stages of moving from one community to the other. The first stage, separation, refers to the student’s parting with one group to join another one.

During the second stage, which is transition, students deal with the stresses of coping in a new, unfamiliar environment. In the last stage of incorporation students become competent in being members of the new environment (McClanahan 2004, 3; Swail, Redd and Perna 2003, 46). A further revision of this theory in 1993 added other variables affecting the social and academic integration of students in the university. These variables are adjustment, difficulty, incongruence, isolation, finances, learning and external obligations or commitments of the students in the university (Tinto 1993, 45).Tinto further revised the integration theory in 1997 by focusing on the classroom experience. From this perspective, Tinto asserts that the interaction process that takes place in the classroom determines the social and academic integration of students (Tinto 1997, 1 of 4).

Bennett (2003, 127) elaborates on the two aspects of Tinto’s model. The first aspect, academic integration, includes factors such as academic performance of students, intellectual development and whether the student believes that lecturers are personally committed to teaching and helping students. Social integration in turn, includes factors such as the student’s self-esteem and the quality of his/her relationship with fellow students and lecturers. A further elucidation of Tinto’s model by Berge and Huang (2004, 8), McCubbin (2003, 2) and Seidman (1996, 1of 6) shows that students’ pre-entry college attributes such as family background, academic ability, race, sex and prior schooling will determine their academic and social integration into the university environment, and subsequently their academic performance.

2.2.1.3 Bean’s psychological theory

In 1980 Bean (1980, 158) developed the psychological theory of student retention by asserting that the background characteristics of students must be taken into consideration in order to understand their integration into a new university environment. According to this theory, Bean (1980, 183) further contends that the intentions of students to persist are influenced by their attitudes and behaviors. These attitudes and behaviors might affect the degree to which the student is satisfied with the institution. The level of satisfaction might increase the level of commitment to the institution. In 1985, Bean and Metzner developed a theory on nontraditional students.

According to Bean and Metzner (1985, 2 of 3), these are older, part-time and commuter students. The attrition of these students is mostly affected by the external environment variables such as family responsibilities, finances and outside encouragements, rather than social integration variables such as university memberships and friends which tend to affect traditional students. In 1995, Eaton and Bean (1995, 617) added coping behavior as a variable into this theory, stating that students’ ability to adapt to the university environment reflects their ability to cope, which is related to previous coping skills in other environments.

2.3 Contribution of NGO’s towards Academic Performance

Madale (2007) conducted a study for his PhD thesis in Sokoine University of Agriculture. Tanzania Assessing the Contribution of Plan International to Primary Education in Tanzania: The Case of Kibaha and Kisarawe District Councils. The study attempted to assess the intervention of private sector particularly NGOs to primary education as an effort to back up the government’s efforts in the primary education sub-sector during the era of Primary Education Development Programme (PEDP) which came in place in 2001. He traced the existence of NGOs as key partners of the public sector to social service provision since the pre-independence in Tanzania but their effect were mainly felt during the era of Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) which took effect in the early 1980s (Madale, 2007).

The study sampled 10 (18%) schools from each district; the total sample size was 467. This included 80 teachers, 40 school committee members, 160 parents, and 160 pupils (STD IV – VII). The sample of officials covered 20 school head teachers; 3 education officials; 2 District Education Officers from Kibaha and Kisarawe; and 4 NGOs officials. Checklist of questions, Focus group discussions, participant observations and documentary review were the key instruments of data collection. Frequencies and cross tabulation were the major tools for analyzing descriptive data, whereas statistical analysis employed Chi-square and T-test (Madale, 2007).

Assistance by PLAN related to improved enrolment and lowered drop out. The study revealed that the enrolment in schools with Plan International support both in Kibaha and Kisarawe District Councils was 93.5%. Kibaha had the highest enrolment rate of 94% whereas in Kisarawe enrolment rate was 93%. There was no significant difference on enrolment between schools with Plan International support and schools without Plan support and this was attributed to the Tanzanian government’s initiative of offering free primary education, commonly referred to as the Primary Education Development Programme (PEDP) that was initiated in 2001.

The PEDP‟s efforts together with the support by Plan International to construct and improve school infrastructure, and teaching and learning facilities, Schools met the national standard of pupil desk ratio of 1:3 and were at 1:2 or 1:3. However, schools had no culture of maintaining the available facilities despite availability of capitation grants. They waited for PLAN to repair “PLAN desks” (Madale 2007:9) unlike in India where Suharko (2007) found that an NGO known as Gram Vikas had built the capacity of those it assisted to an extent that a system of maintaining the infrastructure was built and it was the responsibility of the villagers. “Generally, each village decides its own method to collect the fund to cover the repair and maintenance of the pumps and the salary of the pump operator” (Suharko 2007:5).

The pupil-pit latrine ratio of schools with Plan was at 1:36 and a pupil-pit latrine ratio in schools without Plan International support was 1:40 against the national pupil-pit latrine ratio that was 1:25 for boys and 1:20 for girls. In schools without Plan International support most pit latrines were dilapidated and some were in use but without fixed doors and windows. The implication of these findings is that an improved pit latrine project in the studied schools had a positive correlation with increased girls‟ attendance in school (Madale 2007). On dropout 130 pupils dropped out in 20 selected schools in Kibaha and Kisarawe District Councils. The results indicate that dropout in schools without Plan International support was higher compared to schools with Plan International support both in the District Councils of Kibaha (0.5%) and Kisarawe (1.4%).

The dropout rate in schools without Plan International support in Kibaha District Council was 3%. Findings indicated a dropout rate of 1.7% in schools without Plan International support in Kisarawe District Council. Reasons for dropout responses registered pregnancy, truancy, illness, death, child labour, petty trade, and lack of school needs. (Madale 2007).

2.4 Active NGO’s that provide proper schooling support

The efforts by the Tanzanian government of creating conducive environment for NGOs to work and help the community with easy has led to the emergence of some active NGOs in Kisarawe of which up to November 2017 there were nineteen (19) NGO’s operating in Kisarawe District including; Plan international, Feed the Children, Youth for young, ISHI HURU/Wenza Huru and Intermediary Gender Network are among 19 NGOs that work alongside the government to help children achieve universal primary education in Kisarawe District.

2.5 Quality Service Provided

Gronroos (2008) classified service quality as: (1) Technical Quality, referring to delivery service quality level; (2) Functional Quality, referring to service delivery means. Good service quality was consistency of customer quality experience with expected quality experience. Kaoru Ishikawa considered that quality is a kind of characteristic enabling consumer or user decide and ready to buy. He insisted that total organization quality management was not only pursuit of product quality and service quality, but a kind of good work quality, and what organization QC department did was not just quality control but adjustment of total operation management. Crosby [4] argued that quality and demand had consistency, and thus put forward “flawless” concept. He stressed that quality was the result after doing the job well at first time, and repeating operation, doing well each time.

2.5.1 Service Quality in Private Sector

In private sector, customer satisfaction and loyalty could be attained through high quality products and services that could meet customer needs and provide value for money. The public sector organisations, on the other hand, provide services based on the needs and expectations of the stakeholders (Wisniewski, 2001). The challenge for a public sector organisation was achieving results, while maintaining internal systems that would keep the organisation on track to reach its goal. The goal of the public sector organisation was to ensure services were provided to the public. The end goal was to provide public value through service delivery excellence.

Changes in the public sector in recent years saw the need to quantify and internalise the public value and value added services. Changes occurring in the operational environment within which the government business was translated into action. Services had also been replaced by service viability as the primary variable to determine priorities. These changes made obsolete the ways public organisation work to meet the organisational goals, as well as created opportunities for public organisation to experiment for new tasks and social innovation. As the result, senior public sector executives had to develop new skill sets and new models of management to accommodate the changes (Christopher. L et al, 2004).

There was greater emphasis on contracting out services, as well as the development of leadership frameworks and skill matrices that demanded for new and improved ways for executive development to be designed. These demands called for the public organisations to be entrepreneurial and to innovate. Managers in the public sector were under increasing pressure to prove that their services were customer focused and continuous performance being delivered. Financial resources constraints made it essential that customer expectations were understood and identified to assist managers to find cost effective ways of closing service quality gaps and prioritizing which gaps to focus on (Wisniewski, 2001).

The public sector services were responsible and accountable to citizens and communities, as well as to the customers and the service users. Thus, the definition of service quality in the public sector took a wider meaning than in the private sector (Wisniewski, 2001).

2.5.2 Service Quality Measurement

Quality service is a process for providing competitive advantage and adding benefits in order to maximize the total value to the customer. “Customer service is a function of how well an organization meets the needs of its consumers”. “Customer service is a function of how well an organization is able to constantly and consistently exceed the needs of the customer”. Lewis (1999), these days doing business is getting more complicated. You can be on line, brick and mortar (meaning if you have a physical space), or click and mortar (meaning you are both on line and have a physical space).

This means you have more competitors than ever. Once you just completed within a few block radius. Then the car came along and started competing with someone across town. And as technology grew, so did the competitors. With the growth of the interest, your competition isn’t just around the block, but around the globe.

2.5.3 Service Quality Model (SERVQUAL)

The SERVQUAL model proposes that customers evaluate the quality of a service on five distinct dimensions: reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, and tangibles. Perceived service quality results from comparisons by consumers of expectations with their perceptions of service delivered by the service providers (Zeithaml et al., 1990). It can be argued that the factor underpinning the delivering of good perceived service quality is actually meeting the expectations of the customers. Thus, excellent service quality is exceeding the customers’ expectations.

(Zeithaml and Bitner 2000) suggested that customer expectations are beliefs about a service that serve as standards against which service performance is judged. (Parasuraman et al. 1988) suggested that customer expectations are what the customers think a service should offer rather than what might be on offer. In this Model a gap is addressed by identifying and implementing strategies that affect perceptions, or expectations, or both (Parasuraman et al., 1985; Zeithaml et al., 1990). (Parasuraman et al. 1988) stated that SERVQUAL had been designed to be “applicable across a broad spectrum of services” and the format could be adapted to fit specific needs, and that it would be most valuable when used to track service quality trends periodically.

They proposed that the SERVQUAL model could be extended to measure gaps in quality and could therefore be used as a diagnostic tool to enable management to identify service quality shortfalls. The gap score is calculated by the perception statements being deducted from the expectation statements. If any gap scores turn out to be positive then this implies that expectations are actually being exceeded. This allows service managers to review whether they need to re-deploy resources to areas of underperformance (Wisniewski, 2001). The SERVQUAL instrument ascertains the level of service quality based on the five key dimensions and also identifies where gaps in service exist and to what extent (Table 2.1).

Gap 5 (the perception gap)

The difference between what management believes the consumer wants and what the consumers expect the business to provide.

The difference between the service provided by the employee of the business and the specifications set by management.

The promises communicated by the business to the consumer do not match the consumers ‘expectations of those external promises.

The difference between the consumer’s internal perception and expectation of the services.

Table 2.1 presents the five SERVQUAL gaps as generally defined by (Zeithaml et al., 1990)

The lower the mean score, the larger the gap in service quality and conversely the higher the mean score, the smaller the gap in service quality. Gaps 1 to 4 are within the control of an organization and need to be analysed to determine the causes and changes to be implemented which can reduce or even eliminate Gap 5, which is the gap reflecting the difference between customers perceptions and expectations of the firm’s level of service. Surveying of employees can help to measure the extent of Gaps 2 to 4 (Zeithmal et al., 1990). This may reveal a difference in perception as to what creates possible gaps.

2.6 Empirical Literature Review

In light of the literature discussed in previous sections, Literature reviewed in this work related the literature on the influence of NGO educational activities on academic performance in primary schools. Blum (2009) carried out a study on the importance of education that is provided by NGOs and her focus was on small, rural, multi graded schools in India the basis of her research was education provided by an Education Centre. She concluded that NGOs that provided education for children from marginalized groups had a positive impact on the number of children enrolled in schools, completion and retention. However, she also warned that it was too early to conclude about the overall effects of the programs since there is not enough research done on the subject. Bandi (2011) observes that the involvement of NGOs in Kenya’s education sector is inevitable if the government is to succeed in its promises of providing Universal free primary education. For example, governments want NGOs to work with underserved groups because governments have difficulty doing so, and this is where NGOs feel the imperative to serve.

Joseph (2008) in her study revealed different contributions provided by several NGOs including World vision, Compassion, Monduli Orphans Project (MOP), Monduli Pastoralist Development Initiatives (MPDI), Emusoi, Pastoralist Women Council (PWC), Asante Africa and Maasai Women Education Development Organization (MWEDO) improving to secondary education. These NGOs have paid school fees, provided basic needs and learning materials, providing public educating on importance of education.

Hanchett (2008) in his study on the role of NGOs in girl’s education, found at the local, grassroots level, NGO-led advocacy plays a very significant role in challenging harmful traditional practices and attitudes that keep girls from completing their education. Similarly, NGOs empower communities, including girls, to know their rights to education and work with their government at various levels to ensure all people have access to education. As partners, NGOs prioritize funding for education that creates inclusive, quality, safe and gender equitable learning environments that ensure girls and boys are empowered to become agents of gender equality. Even though different stakeholders especially NGOs play different roles in education still access to education for girls is limited.

Willstatter et al, (2004) observed that the government had been the main source of social services for the past 100 years and was mostly seen as the most reliable and consistently provides services to all classes of people with the different economic level. Aduda, (2015) observes that since the introduction of free primary education in Tanzania, academic performance has gone down especially in public primary school due to the focus by the government of increasing enrolment without similar attention paid to the improvement of quality (HakiElimu Report, 2017). There are over 8000 NGOs in Tanzania that play different roles in development such as design and implementation of projects as well as provision of basic needs to disadvantaged rural and urban population. According to Sessional Paper No 1 (2006) the activities of NGOs have increased since 1980s.CHAPTER ONE

1.0 Introduction

The purpose of this chapter was to provide the background to the study, a statement of the problem, research objective which was based on general objective and specific objective, research questions, the scope of the study and the last part will explain the significance of the study of the influence of NGO’s to the academic performance of primary school in Kisarawe District.

1.1 Background of the study

Education is an essential human need and basic requirement for the economic development of every country. It is also a key component to improving economic competitiveness, raising incomes, improving health, and achieving sustained growth (Bruns, et al. 2014). Therefore, education is seen as a fruitful investment. Marco, (2017) observed that a high quality nondiscriminatory education system contributes fundamentally to social cohesion, stability and equality. Such an education system produces highly competitive and informed professionals who are willing and able to serve the country’s strategic interests anywhere in the world.

Patrinos, et al. (2009) notes that lack of full capacity and the budgetary constraints have led to NGO involvement in the sector. NGOs carry out different activities in the education sector; these activities include improvement of infrastructure, health and feeding program, provision of educational material among others. These activities are perceived to be beneficial to the schools, however, there is no evidence based on research that supports the fact that NGOs help in the improvement of academic performance in schools. (Edwards et al., 2013).

NGOs play a key part in supporting the government to harmonize the education sector and to develop its efficiency. This is affirmed by (Brown, 2014) who highlights that often, NGOs work collaboratively with
Government on
programs
neither could do alone, and they generally
use
their
funds
expediently
and
cost effectively. Furthermore, by
way of
positive Example NGOs influence
Government
Offices
and
Employees to improve the quality of Services
They provide.

In the United States of America, NGOs put into practice programs to boost agricultural productivity, make bigger financial and communal opportunities, offer health care, construct schools and training centers and care for the environment (Maclean, et al. 2017). They often develop and address new approaches to social and economic problems that governments cannot address alone. Since the beginning of the 20thcentury, NGOs in USA has been taking part in the provision and improvement of education. For examples, The Washington State PTA is one of the leading NGO in the state, it supports child’s welfare and education. The PTA has a lot of activities and has succeeded both at the federal level and at the state level. Its activities include the creation of pre- school units, pupils‟ welfare support and the school lunch program.

Fielmua, (2012) observed that in developing countries of Africa including Ghana, Non- Governmental Organizations play a very important role in the development process. In sub-Saharan Africa, their contributions are particularly significant in supporting literacy, community schools, health education, early childhood care, and other forms of learning, thus helping people to improve their living conditions. Shizha, et al, (2012) conducted a study in four countries in Africa and concluded that if the experience in the four countries under study here can be generalized, NGOs have become an integrated and important component of education systems throughout Africa. Considerable variation exists from country to country, region to region, and within the education sector. However, the study found that across all four countries, NGOs increasingly participate and contribute to the delivery of educational services, influence education policy, and is included by donors and governments in different aspects of the education system.

Elibariki, (2014) in his study asserted that, Education system in Tanzania face a number of challenges, including a vast difference in the quality of education, both in government and private schools. Another problem is the poor school infrastructure, such as shortages of classrooms and toilets, lack of school fees and poor health. Problems also exist when it comes to teachers and how well they practice their jobs. OECD (2012) found out that the involvement of NGOs in Tanzania’s education sector is inevitable if the government is to succeed in providing Universal free primary education.

The recent influx of 1.5 million primary students in schools in 2003, has led to the detrimental impact of the introduction of free basic education. There is need to find out the contribution of NGO activities in the academic performance of pubic primary schools. Southeast Africa is the SOS Children’s Villages. SOS has operated in Tanzania since 1975 and provides homes, care, education and skills training for orphans in Meru, Nairobi, Mombasa and Eldoret. Other NGOs that work in Tanzania are Action Aid Tanzania and Foster parents Plan international (FPPI) which have a major objective of improvement of the capacity and learning environment of the schools. Action Aid is also one of a very few which are financed and recruiting for boarding schools, however, it is up to the community to make sure the school runs smoothly, with reliable teachers and house mothers, and an adequate amount of provisions – meals, laundry, feminine products, (OECD, 2012).

Kisarawe is one of the six districts of Pwani Region of Tanzania located in coordinates 6° 54′ 0" South, 39° 4′ 0" East (Source; Google maps, accessed through url on 1245, 28/01/2018). Other districts are Mkuranga, Bagamoyo, Kibaha, Rufiji and Mafia. In Kisarawe District, school going age children had suffered low enrollment, high dropout rate and low completion for over twenty years. It is based on this background that a number of NGOs decided to work in Kisarawe and support education. Millennium villages‟ project (MVP) is one of the NGOs that invested resources according to the needs of individual schools in Kisarawe District. It was launched in 2005/2006 to create a pathway to achieve millennium development goals in the poorest regions of Africa and had interventions that range across five key sectors: Agriculture, education, health, infrastructure (including water and sanitation), and business development.

The project provided quality educational resources to schools in the Sauri village (Kisarawe District). Generally, this revolved around investment in textbooks, science equipment, infrastructure (electricity, water, computers, Internet), support for the management of resources, teacher training, promoting health and gender issues to pupils, promoting awareness of opportunities after secondary school and encouraging schools to organize extra-curricular activities. The project worked to ensure that pupils attend school and stay in school to complete the system.

In Kisarawe District., 75% of public primary schools have ever been supported by NGOs. These NGOs help with the provision of infrastructure, health, sanitation and nutrition services, and capacity development for teachers and scholarship for pupils. Although they carry out the above educational activities in Kisarawe District., it’s not clear whether these activities affect academic performance in primary schools or not. This study attempts to assess the influence of NGO activities on academic performance in public primary schools in Kisarawe District, Tanzania.

Despite the deliberate government efforts on improving education quality to public and private schools, the education sector in Tanzania still face a number of challenges including low enrollment rate of primary schools pupils where by 17% of children of official primary school ages are out of school (EPDC extraction of DHS dataset, 2011), poor education facilities such as poor classrooms, lack of desks, large number of students in a one room, large rate of students per teacher, lack of toilets etc.

1.2 Statement of the problem

Education is a fundamental human right, every child is entitled to it. It is critical to our development as individuals and as societies, and it helps pave the way to a successful and productive future. Education enhances lives, it ends generational cycles of poverty and disease and provides a foundation for sustainable development (UNICEF, 2011). The sustainable development goal 4 is ensuring quality education, whereby among the targets is “ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant” (UNDP, 2018). As such, different local and international stakeholders and the government have been playing different roles to ensure this goal is achieved. Besides, these efforts, the academic performance in primary schools is still limited, characterized by drop out, poor attendance, poor learning environment and among others, (EPDC extraction of DHS dataset, 2011).

Different studies have been carried out and shown the involvement of NGOs and their role of in education sector and performance of primary schools (Blum, 2009; Bandi, 2011; Joseph, 2015). However none of them has ever discussed in details the contribution of NGOs towards academic performance in primary schools. Therefore, there is a need to examine the contribution of NGOs in academic performance to address this gap. Specifically by examining types of services provided, find out the difference in primary examinations academic performance in schools supported by NGO’s and none supported, as well as other factors contributing to academic performance other than NGO’s assistance taking in Kisarawe District, Pwani region to draw lessons for learning.

1.3 Research objectives

The study will be guided by the following objectives, general and specific objectives;

1.3.1 General objective

To assess contribution of NGO’s towards Academic Performance in Primary Schools in Kisarawe District in Tanzania.

1.3.2 Specific Objective

i. To determine the types of services provided by NGO’s to Primary Schools in Kisarawe District.

ii. To find out the difference in primary leaving examinations academic performance in schools supported and non-supported by NGO’s in Kisarawe District.

iii. To find out other factors contributing to performance other than NGO’s assistance to primary schools in Kisarawe District.

1.4 Research Question

The study will be guided by general research question and specific research questions as follows;

1.4.1 General Question

What is the contribution of NGO’s in Academic performance of primary schools in Tanzania?

1.4.2 Specific Questions

i. What are the types of services provided by NGO’s to Primary Schools in Kisarawe District?

ii. Is there any difference in primary leaving examinations academic performance in schools supported non-supported by NGO’s in Kisarawe District?

iii. Are there any other factors contributing to performance other than NGO’s assistance to primary schools in Kisarawe District?

1.5 Significance of the Study

The findings of this research will not only add to the body of information on the influence of NGO educational activities on academic performance, but also provided information to education policy makers especially the Ministry of Education, on the support needs for public primary schools hence formulating better policies that would facilitate good academic performance in schools.

This research will show whether the NGOs contribute to the achievement of UPE and if they have any impact on academic performance in public primary schools. This will motivate NGOs to continue working with primary schools incase their work influences school academic performance positively. The local community will also benefit from this study by learning the role of NGOs in relation to academic performance in public primary schools with a view of making informed decisions in the future when an NGO approached them in a bid to extent educational assistance to public schools. Furthermore, the data provided by the researcher could assist NGOs improve their approach to educational assistance to primary schools.

The findings of this study will also enable the NGOs to develop knowledge of responsibility, identify their weaknesses and strengths, understand their role in education and identify and explore the opportunities for improvement. The study will also help the government and NGOs to understand the problems surrounding performance improvement strategy and help them come up with a policy that would help in improving academic performance in schools.

1.6 Scope of the Study

The study is confined on assessing the contribution of NGO’s towards academic performance in primary schools in Kisarawe District, Tanzania. The study will focus on 16 selected NGO’s among 19 that operate in the area and deal with helping children achieve universal primary education. The respondents of this study will be education government officials, NGO’s officials, and teachers, parents of the children and head teachers and pupils of 10 selected primary schools in Kisarawe District.

1.7 Limitation of the Study

The subjectivity of the respondents, they may provide wrong information due to various reasons such as fear of not respected on disclosing their family matters. Limited availability of resources and time to undertake the study on a wider scale.

1.8 Delimitation of the Study

Due to limitation of the study area the research, in order to ensure reliability of the data collected had to review several literatures to compare the reality to the information provided. The study had to minimize cost by using simple methods of data collection for example using pen and a piece of paper rather recording respondent’s conversation during interviews. Time constraints was dealt accordingly by ensuring the study is properly organized this included setting up every item at its place so that when needed grab and use.

CHAPTER TWO.

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.0 Introduction

This chapter analyzed the existing literature on different conceptualization of the Contributions of NGO’s towards Increasing the Academic Performance in Primary Schools. The review comprised theoretical framework, empirical study and identified gaps to be investigated. This chapter also provided a critical review of related literature on the study variables, definition and understanding of relevant terms used.

2.1 Definition of terms

a) Non-Governmental Organization

Private organizations which are organized on a local, national, or international level, that pursue a public interest agenda, rather than commercial interest activities to relieve suffering, promote the interest of the poor, promote basic services such as education and health or undertake community development. The term NGO encompasses a broad range of organizations, varying in their specific purpose, philosophy, sectoral expertise and scope of activities and therefore there is wide variation in the functions of different NGOs. (Patrinos, et al. 2009)

b) Academic Performance

Academic performance refers to school rank based on students’ scores in a particular examination. At an individual level, it refers to grades or scores awarded to students who sat for a prescribed examination. In this study, academic performance refers to the ability of an individual student to present concepts learned during a specific period of time and conditions in a prescribed examination. It is the standard of achievement in an examination. In conceptualizing education, performance, scholars have tended to fall under four groups, namely education inputs, education processes, educational output and education policy (Lugayila, 2002).

c) Performance Management

(Swanepoel, Erasmus, Van Wyk & Schenk 1998:404) describe performance management as an approach to manage people. Such approach entails planning, employee performance, facilitating the achievement of work related goals and reviewing performance as a way of motivating employees to achieve their full potential in line with the organization’s objectives. Performance management should be aiming to clarify the organization’s needs for business performance and setting up a process which ensures that it is delivered.

This can only be done with a high level of strategic alignment of all processes involved in the management and development of people throughout the whole organization (Lockett, 1992:25). The United States Office of Personnel Management (2003:1), summarizes performance management as the systematic process by which an agency involves its employees, as individuals and members of a group, in improving organizational effectiveness in the accomplishment of agency missions and goals.

2.1.1 Universal Primary Education in Tanzania

Since gaining independence in 1961, Tanzania has made public education a national priority, prompting waves of related policy changes and investment strategies. Soon after independence, the nation focused on strengthening secondary education to prepare workers to join the new, domestic public sector. Another clear priority, however, will provide widespread basic education to a socialist Tanzania. For the rest of the twentieth century, policymakers and leaders launched various programs and strategies to achieve universal primary education (UPE).

In 1978, the government passed an Education Act making education compulsory for children between the ages of 7 and 13. Actual enrollment levels have fluctuated since that time—from about 70% to 95%—due to a number of factors, including concerns over education quality in the context of a struggling national economy (Al-Samarrai & Peasgood, 1998). Today, challenges to establishing an effective and stable education system persist. UPE remains a goal of the Tanzanian government and a United Nations Millennium Development Goal. With support from international donors, in 2001 Tanzania began the Primary Education. Development Program (PEDP).

The PEDP’s goals are to improve quality and equity throughout the education system, improve retention in the seven years of primary education, and build school capacity at all levels (World Bank 2011). In addition to making enrollment in primary education mandatory until age 15, the PEDP eliminated school fees in an effort to encourage attendance. However, according to different figures, 15-20% of children under age 15 still do not attend school. This could be due to other costs associated with education either direct household expenditures on books or uniforms, or opportunity costs of being in school or contextual factors such as school quality or labor market demand. Our goal is to determine what factors increase the probability that a child does not attend school, both until the compulsory age of 15 and beyond, with a particular focus on the role of schooling-related household expenditures.

2.2 Theoretical Literature Review

This study is guided by the assumptions that the government is the main educational provider, intended to work in partnership with NGOs, donors, religious organizations, parents’ teachers associations (PTAs) and other stakeholders (Republic of Kenya 1997:136). This study used the partnership model between the government as the main educational provider and the NGOs as the main study variable, in helping the needy children access primary education and be retained in school for a full primary cycle. A full primary cycle in Kenya is eight years of primary schooling. The Republic of Kenya (1997) gives the understanding that education provision would only be fruitful if combine efforts by all stakeholders were put together.

Issues related to poverty eradication, quality and equity influence the plan. It was very clear that the 1997-2001 Development Plan shows the government’s recognition of the role of NGOs in education. This development Plan was influenced by poverty eradication, quality and equity, which were the core area of study in this research. In partnership model, user costs were removed in order for all school age going children to enroll in primary schools. This was expected to increase enrollment to possibly 100 percent and completion of 47 to 70 percent for both boys and girls by 2012 (Republic of Kenya, 1997).

The researcher saw a gap that confirmed that poverty was still a major hindrance to attainment of basic education, though the government through FPE and in partnership with other stakeholders like NGOs expected to meet most of its challenges in providing affordable basic education to the needy for faster development in line with the attainment of international standards. The study is also guided by the open system model in assessing the contribution of NGO’s to primary school’s academic performance in Kisarawe District. The model regarded non-supported government primary schools and NGO’s supported primary schools as an open system, thus needed to look at how the various components within inputs, processes and outputs are related to one another (Scott, 2003; and Rizzo, 1987).

2.2.1 Theories Governing Academic performance

Theories underpinning this study are derived from factors affecting the academic performance of students explained by Spady (1970), Tinto (1975) and Bean (1980). Tinto’s (1975) theory on the academic and social integration of university students forms the basis of this study because firstly it has laid a foundation for research on retention of pupils in primary education; and secondly its methodological approach to pupil retention is broad-based, focusing on individual characteristics prior to entering learning institutions, the individuals’ experience upon entering the schools and the effect of external factors that interfere with pupils’ academic performance.

2.2.1.1 Spady’s sociological theory

Spady was one of the first researchers to propose a widely recognised theory on student retention in 1970 (Spady 1970, 77). The basic assumption of this theory is that student dropout is best explained by a process involving an interaction between the individual student and the university environment. In this interaction, the student’s attributes such as attitudes, skills and interests are exposed to influences, expectations and demands of the university. The result of this interaction will determine whether the student will be assimilated in the academic and social system of the university and subsequently whether the student will be retained in the university.

Linked to this process are variables that promote the academic and social integration of students in higher education. These variables are family background, academic potential, normative congruence, grade performance, intellectual development and peer support. All these variables are further linked to two other variables namely satisfaction with the university environment and institutional commitment (Spady, 1970).

2.2.1.2 Tinto’s integration theory

According to literature studies done by authors such as Swail (2006, 1 of 4), Draper (2005, 2 of 20) and McCubbin (2003, 20) Tinto’s theory of social and academic integration is the most referred to in the area of student retention. In 1975 Tinto drew upon the work of Spady (1970) who was the first to apply Durkheim’s theory of suicide to student retention. This theory is based on the assertion that the likelihood that an individual will commit suicide is predicted by the level of their integration into society (Tinto 1975, 91). While in Durkheim’s model of suicide individuals commit suicide because they are insufficiently integrated into society, Tinto asserts that dropout occurs because students are insufficiently integrated into different aspects of the university. Tinto further contends that dropout could occur through lack of integration in either the academic or the social systems of the university (Tinto 1975, 92). Based on further research, Tinto revised the theory in 1987 by including the three stages of moving from one community to the other. The first stage, separation, refers to the student’s parting with one group to join another one.

During the second stage, which is transition, students deal with the stresses of coping in a new, unfamiliar environment. In the last stage of incorporation students become competent in being members of the new environment (McClanahan 2004, 3; Swail, Redd and Perna 2003, 46). A further revision of this theory in 1993 added other variables affecting the social and academic integration of students in the university. These variables are adjustment, difficulty, incongruence, isolation, finances, learning and external obligations or commitments of the students in the university (Tinto 1993, 45).Tinto further revised the integration theory in 1997 by focusing on the classroom experience. From this perspective, Tinto asserts that the interaction process that takes place in the classroom determines the social and academic integration of students (Tinto 1997, 1 of 4).

Bennett (2003, 127) elaborates on the two aspects of Tinto’s model. The first aspect, academic integration, includes factors such as academic performance of students, intellectual development and whether the student believes that lecturers are personally committed to teaching and helping students. Social integration in turn, includes factors such as the student’s self-esteem and the quality of his/her relationship with fellow students and lecturers. A further elucidation of Tinto’s model by Berge and Huang (2004, 8), McCubbin (2003, 2) and Seidman (1996, 1of 6) shows that students’ pre-entry college attributes such as family background, academic ability, race, sex and prior schooling will determine their academic and social integration into the university environment, and subsequently their academic performance.

2.2.1.3 Bean’s psychological theory

In 1980 Bean (1980, 158) developed the psychological theory of student retention by asserting that the background characteristics of students must be taken into consideration in order to understand their integration into a new university environment. According to this theory, Bean (1980, 183) further contends that the intentions of students to persist are influenced by their attitudes and behaviors. These attitudes and behaviors might affect the degree to which the student is satisfied with the institution. The level of satisfaction might increase the level of commitment to the institution. In 1985, Bean and Metzner developed a theory on nontraditional students.

According to Bean and Metzner (1985, 2 of 3), these are older, part-time and commuter students. The attrition of these students is mostly affected by the external environment variables such as family responsibilities, finances and outside encouragements, rather than social integration variables such as university memberships and friends which tend to affect traditional students. In 1995, Eaton and Bean (1995, 617) added coping behavior as a variable into this theory, stating that students’ ability to adapt to the university environment reflects their ability to cope, which is related to previous coping skills in other environments.

2.3 Contribution of NGO’s towards Academic Performance

Madale (2007) conducted a study for his PhD thesis in Sokoine University of Agriculture. Tanzania Assessing the Contribution of Plan International to Primary Education in Tanzania: The Case of Kibaha and Kisarawe District Councils. The study attempted to assess the intervention of private sector particularly NGOs to primary education as an effort to back up the government’s efforts in the primary education sub-sector during the era of Primary Education Development Programme (PEDP) which came in place in 2001. He traced the existence of NGOs as key partners of the public sector to social service provision since the pre-independence in Tanzania but their effect were mainly felt during the era of Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) which took effect in the early 1980s (Madale, 2007).

The study sampled 10 (18%) schools from each district; the total sample size was 467. This included 80 teachers, 40 school committee members, 160 parents, and 160 pupils (STD IV – VII). The sample of officials covered 20 school head teachers; 3 education officials; 2 District Education Officers from Kibaha and Kisarawe; and 4 NGOs officials. Checklist of questions, Focus group discussions, participant observations and documentary review were the key instruments of data collection. Frequencies and cross tabulation were the major tools for analyzing descriptive data, whereas statistical analysis employed Chi-square and T-test (Madale, 2007).

Assistance by PLAN related to improved enrolment and lowered drop out. The study revealed that the enrolment in schools with Plan International support both in Kibaha and Kisarawe District Councils was 93.5%. Kibaha had the highest enrolment rate of 94% whereas in Kisarawe enrolment rate was 93%. There was no significant difference on enrolment between schools with Plan International support and schools without Plan support and this was attributed to the Tanzanian government’s initiative of offering free primary education, commonly referred to as the Primary Education Development Programme (PEDP) that was initiated in 2001.

The PEDP‟s efforts together with the support by Plan International to construct and improve school infrastructure, and teaching and learning facilities, Schools met the national standard of pupil desk ratio of 1:3 and were at 1:2 or 1:3. However, schools had no culture of maintaining the available facilities despite availability of capitation grants. They waited for PLAN to repair “PLAN desks” (Madale 2007:9) unlike in India where Suharko (2007) found that an NGO known as Gram Vikas had built the capacity of those it assisted to an extent that a system of maintaining the infrastructure was built and it was the responsibility of the villagers. “Generally, each village decides its own method to collect the fund to cover the repair and maintenance of the pumps and the salary of the pump operator” (Suharko 2007:5).

The pupil-pit latrine ratio of schools with Plan was at 1:36 and a pupil-pit latrine ratio in schools without Plan International support was 1:40 against the national pupil-pit latrine ratio that was 1:25 for boys and 1:20 for girls. In schools without Plan International support most pit latrines were dilapidated and some were in use but without fixed doors and windows. The implication of these findings is that an improved pit latrine project in the studied schools had a positive correlation with increased girls‟ attendance in school (Madale 2007). On dropout 130 pupils dropped out in 20 selected schools in Kibaha and Kisarawe District Councils. The results indicate that dropout in schools without Plan International support was higher compared to schools with Plan International support both in the District Councils of Kibaha (0.5%) and Kisarawe (1.4%).

The dropout rate in schools without Plan International support in Kibaha District Council was 3%. Findings indicated a dropout rate of 1.7% in schools without Plan International support in Kisarawe District Council. Reasons for dropout responses registered pregnancy, truancy, illness, death, child labour, petty trade, and lack of school needs. (Madale 2007).

2.4 Active NGO’s that provide proper schooling support

The efforts by the Tanzanian government of creating conducive environment for NGOs to work and help the community with easy has led to the emergence of some active NGOs in Kisarawe of which up to November 2017 there were nineteen (19) NGO’s operating in Kisarawe District including; Plan international, Feed the Children, Youth for young, ISHI HURU/Wenza Huru and Intermediary Gender Network are among 19 NGOs that work alongside the government to help children achieve universal primary education in Kisarawe District.

2.5 Quality Service Provided

Gronroos (2008) classified service quality as: (1) Technical Quality, referring to delivery service quality level; (2) Functional Quality, referring to service delivery means. Good service quality was consistency of customer quality experience with expected quality experience. Kaoru Ishikawa considered that quality is a kind of characteristic enabling consumer or user decide and ready to buy. He insisted that total organization quality management was not only pursuit of product quality and service quality, but a kind of good work quality, and what organization QC department did was not just quality control but adjustment of total operation management. Crosby [4] argued that quality and demand had consistency, and thus put forward “flawless” concept. He stressed that quality was the result after doing the job well at first time, and repeating operation, doing well each time.

2.5.1 Service Quality in Private Sector

In private sector, customer satisfaction and loyalty could be attained through high quality products and services that could meet customer needs and provide value for money. The public sector organisations, on the other hand, provide services based on the needs and expectations of the stakeholders (Wisniewski, 2001). The challenge for a public sector organisation was achieving results, while maintaining internal systems that would keep the organisation on track to reach its goal. The goal of the public sector organisation was to ensure services were provided to the public. The end goal was to provide public value through service delivery excellence.

Changes in the public sector in recent years saw the need to quantify and internalise the public value and value added services. Changes occurring in the operational environment within which the government business was translated into action. Services had also been replaced by service viability as the primary variable to determine priorities. These changes made obsolete the ways public organisation work to meet the organisational goals, as well as created opportunities for public organisation to experiment for new tasks and social innovation. As the result, senior public sector executives had to develop new skill sets and new models of management to accommodate the changes (Christopher. L et al, 2004).

There was greater emphasis on contracting out services, as well as the development of leadership frameworks and skill matrices that demanded for new and improved ways for executive development to be designed. These demands called for the public organisations to be entrepreneurial and to innovate. Managers in the public sector were under increasing pressure to prove that their services were customer focused and continuous performance being delivered. Financial resources constraints made it essential that customer expectations were understood and identified to assist managers to find cost effective ways of closing service quality gaps and prioritizing which gaps to focus on (Wisniewski, 2001).

The public sector services were responsible and accountable to citizens and communities, as well as to the customers and the service users. Thus, the definition of service quality in the public sector took a wider meaning than in the private sector (Wisniewski, 2001).

2.5.2 Service Quality Measurement

Quality service is a process for providing competitive advantage and adding benefits in order to maximize the total value to the customer. “Customer service is a function of how well an organization meets the needs of its consumers”. “Customer service is a function of how well an organization is able to constantly and consistently exceed the needs of the customer”. Lewis (1999), these days doing business is getting more complicated. You can be on line, brick and mortar (meaning if you have a physical space), or click and mortar (meaning you are both on line and have a physical space).

This means you have more competitors than ever. Once you just completed within a few block radius. Then the car came along and started competing with someone across town. And as technology grew, so did the competitors. With the growth of the interest, your competition isn’t just around the block, but around the globe.

2.5.3 Service Quality Model (SERVQUAL)

The SERVQUAL model proposes that customers evaluate the quality of a service on five distinct dimensions: reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, and tangibles. Perceived service quality results from comparisons by consumers of expectations with their perceptions of service delivered by the service providers (Zeithaml et al., 1990). It can be argued that the factor underpinning the delivering of good perceived service quality is actually meeting the expectations of the customers. Thus, excellent service quality is exceeding the customers’ expectations.

(Zeithaml and Bitner 2000) suggested that customer expectations are beliefs about a service that serve as standards against which service performance is judged. (Parasuraman et al. 1988) suggested that customer expectations are what the customers think a service should offer rather than what might be on offer. In this Model a gap is addressed by identifying and implementing strategies that affect perceptions, or expectations, or both (Parasuraman et al., 1985; Zeithaml et al., 1990). (Parasuraman et al. 1988) stated that SERVQUAL had been designed to be “applicable across a broad spectrum of services” and the format could be adapted to fit specific needs, and that it would be most valuable when used to track service quality trends periodically.

They proposed that the SERVQUAL model could be extended to measure gaps in quality and could therefore be used as a diagnostic tool to enable management to identify service quality shortfalls. The gap score is calculated by the perception statements being deducted from the expectation statements. If any gap scores turn out to be positive then this implies that expectations are actually being exceeded. This allows service managers to review whether they need to re-deploy resources to areas of underperformance (Wisniewski, 2001). The SERVQUAL instrument ascertains the level of service quality based on the five key dimensions and also identifies where gaps in service exist and to what extent (Table 2.1).

Gap 5 (the perception gap)

The difference between what management believes the consumer wants and what the consumers expect the business to provide.

The difference between the service provided by the employee of the business and the specifications set by management.

The promises communicated by the business to the consumer do not match the consumers ‘expectations of those external promises.

The difference between the consumer’s internal perception and expectation of the services.

Table 2.1 presents the five SERVQUAL gaps as generally defined by (Zeithaml et al., 1990)

The lower the mean score, the larger the gap in service quality and conversely the higher the mean score, the smaller the gap in service quality. Gaps 1 to 4 are within the control of an organization and need to be analysed to determine the causes and changes to be implemented which can reduce or even eliminate Gap 5, which is the gap reflecting the difference between customers perceptions and expectations of the firm’s level of service. Surveying of employees can help to measure the extent of Gaps 2 to 4 (Zeithmal et al., 1990). This may reveal a difference in perception as to what creates possible gaps.

2.6 Empirical Literature Review

In light of the literature discussed in previous sections, Literature reviewed in this work related the literature on the influence of NGO educational activities on academic performance in primary schools. Blum (2009) carried out a study on the importance of education that is provided by NGOs and her focus was on small, rural, multi graded schools in India the basis of her research was education provided by an Education Centre. She concluded that NGOs that provided education for children from marginalized groups had a positive impact on the number of children enrolled in schools, completion and retention. However, she also warned that it was too early to conclude about the overall effects of the programs since there is not enough research done on the subject. Bandi (2011) observes that the involvement of NGOs in Kenya’s education sector is inevitable if the government is to succeed in its promises of providing Universal free primary education. For example, governments want NGOs to work with underserved groups because governments have difficulty doing so, and this is where NGOs feel the imperative to serve.

Joseph (2008) in her study revealed different contributions provided by several NGOs including World vision, Compassion, Monduli Orphans Project (MOP), Monduli Pastoralist Development Initiatives (MPDI), Emusoi, Pastoralist Women Council (PWC), Asante Africa and Maasai Women Education Development Organization (MWEDO) improving to secondary education. These NGOs have paid school fees, provided basic needs and learning materials, providing public educating on importance of education.

Hanchett (2008) in his study on the role of NGOs in girl’s education, found at the local, grassroots level, NGO-led advocacy plays a very significant role in challenging harmful traditional practices and attitudes that keep girls from completing their education. Similarly, NGOs empower communities, including girls, to know their rights to education and work with their government at various levels to ensure all people have access to education. As partners, NGOs prioritize funding for education that creates inclusive, quality, safe and gender equitable learning environments that ensure girls and boys are empowered to become agents of gender equality. Even though different stakeholders especially NGOs play different roles in education still access to education for girls is limited.

Willstatter et al, (2004) observed that the government had been the main source of social services for the past 100 years and was mostly seen as the most reliable and consistently provides services to all classes of people with the different economic level. Aduda, (2015) observes that since the introduction of free primary education in Tanzania, academic performance has gone down especially in public primary school due to the focus by the government of increasing enrolment without similar attention paid to the improvement of quality (HakiElimu Report, 2017). There are over 8000 NGOs in Tanzania that play different roles in development such as design and implementation of projects as well as provision of basic needs to disadvantaged rural and urban population. According to Sessional Paper No 1 (2006) the activities of NGOs have increased since 1980s.