Adequacy of Physical Infrastructure on Trainees’ Performance in Public Technical and Vocational Education Training Institutions in Bungoma County, Kenya

: This study sought to establish how adequacy of physical infrastructure and trainers in public Technical and Vocational Education Training institutions in Bungoma County influences trainees’ performance. Education Production Function Theory (EPFT) is the theoretical foundation upon which this study was grounded on. Prior to the study, a preliminary survey was carried out to ensure that research instruments employed was reliable. Descriptive research design was utilized in the study. The target population was 1,563 it involved 1 county director, 82 principals, 250 Head of Departments and 1,230 trainers, Data was collected from 1 county director, 25 Principals, 75 Head of Departments, and 302 trainees from study institutions. County director were purposively sampled while random sampling was employed to sample Principals, Head of Departments and trainers. Data were collected through questionnaires, interview schedule, and document analysis guide. Qualitative data was systematized under various themes then evaluated using inferential statistics while quantitative data was analyzed by frequencies, standard deviation, percentages and mean. Hypothesis were tested using simple linear regression with the help of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23. The study established that there’s limited and inadequate infrastructure in the study institutions.


Introduction
Beside teaching and learning resources and trainers, the state of infrastructure is also very important not only in access but also on quality of education attainment, in a measure of performance.According to the theory of infrastructure (Man, 2005), Public access to infrastructure would help generate value in skill development.The author found out that lack of workshops hinders institutions ability to

Suggested Citation
Wanjala, S.R., Barasa, J. & Alunga, J. (2023) promote practical teaching; lack of electricity hinders institutions ability to use ICT in the learning including use of other machines such as welding to expose students to practical lessons, which are critical in skill development.It is on this basis that Glickman et al (2004), a renowned Professor and educational author contends that when learners are interrogated on the challenges they encounter on daily basis in the learning process, they are most likely to cite the poor conditions of school buildings as opposed to curriculum standards.Parnwell (2015) investigated the influence of school infrastructure on academic performance in public primary schools in Ruiri Location, Kenya.The study employed descriptive survey research design.The researcher targeted 7 primary schools in Ruiri Location including 7 head teachers, 14 teachers and 181 standard eight pupils.The study adopted purposive sampling techniques to sample its respondents.Observation schedule and questionnaires for head teachers, class teachers and pupils were used for data collection.Reliability was achieved by using testing and re-testing methods and validity was tested through pilot study in other two schools outside the area of study.The data was analyzed using SPSS software (Statistical Package for Social Sciences).The researcher used descriptive analysis.The study finding indicates that only one public primary school has a library, and schools have inadequate study materials.However, generalizability of the findings of this study was limited since Parnwell (2015) used descriptive analysis which only summarizes data; and doesn't draw conclusions or test hypotheses.The current studies therefore employed simple regression analysis to address the gap Wachiuri, Shisha& Kimathi (2017) explored the influence of physical resources on learners' performance in public primary schools in Narok County Kenya.Descriptive survey design was used.The study adopted purposive sampling technique since the head teachers, class teachers and Pupils believed to be having reliable information relevant for this study.Documents from the education offices were also analyzed.The study used two instruments namely The sample comprised 37 principals of the 37 secondary schools, and 1 SCQASO.Data was collected using questionnaires, interview schedule and document analysis guide.The instruments were validated for content and face validity.A test-retest correlation of r=.7 showed that the instruments were reliable.Descriptive statistics as well as linear multiple regressions were used in data analysis.The results of the study revealed that the three variables, science laboratory, quality classroom and computer laboratory (which are components of physical facilities) had weak but significant relationship with student performance in KCSE.Ojuok, Gogo & Olel (2020) findings could not be generalized since the study focused on secondary school Musyoka (2013) investigated the influence of physical infrastructure on students' performance of Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education in secondary schools in Mwingi Central district, Kenya.The study utilized descriptive survey design.All the 30 principals, 238 teachers and 2400 students were targeted.The researcher used three sets of questionnaires; for the principal, teachers and another for 624 students.Quantitative data was analyzed using SPSS and the results presented in frequency tables, pie charts, bar graphs and percentages.The study established that schools do not have adequate physical facilities.Such as classrooms, laboratories, library, desks and toilets which negatively influenced students' academic performance.
Ochwada Youanita Etale, Oseko Agnes & Murunga Felicity (2020) examined the influence of sufficiency of physical facilities on the teaching learning process in public primary schools in Bungoma South Sub County, Bungoma County, Kenya.The study employed descriptive survey research design.The targeted population was the head teachers/deputy head teachers, class teachers, and pupils in the public primary schools in Bungoma South Sub County, Bungoma County.Three methods of sampling were used; stratified sampling, simple random sampling and purposive sampling.Questionnaires and focus group discussions were used in collection of Primary data.The findings revealed that sufficiency of physical facilities specifically adequacy of classrooms significantly affected the teaching learning process.Those who reported having adequate classrooms performed better than those who reported inadequacy.
Onyebuenyi, Nonso, Ugochukwu & Ndubueze, conducted a study to determine the influence of school physical facilities on students' academic performance in senior secondary schools in Aba Education Zone of Abia State, Nigeria.A descriptive survey research design was used by the study with a sample size of 47 respondents purposive sampling was used from the 11 secondary schools in Aba educational zone of Abia State.Two research questions and two null hypotheses guided the study.The instrument for data collection was a structured 27-items statement questionnaire.Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the two research questions while the null hypotheses were tested using t-test statistics at .05 level of significance and appropriate degree of freedom.The result of the analyses revealed that library as a school physical facility has great influence on the students' academic performance in senior secondary schools in Aba Education Zone.Blaigh (1998) writing importance of infrastructure in learning observes that a study carried out by American Society of civil Engineers in 2003 established that over 75% of country's school system was inadequate to cope with demand, a report that came out when the student's education attainment had remained stagnantly low over the years.Similarly, a report prepared by Nation Priorities Project in America in 2000 titled 'Recess is over' noted that students who were in institutions with deficiency in facilities posted 10-17 scores lower compared to their counterparts who were in institutions that had adequate facilities in standardized examination This is a clear pointer of correlation in learning and the state of infrastructure.
Writing on importance of school building, Ali, N., Khan, A. B., & Ahmad, T. (2020).Noted that school building as critical for promotion of academic achievement.However, Bowen, Morara and Muriithi (2000) and Nyerere (2009) state that in most developing countries TVET is a sub-sector of the education that is neglected as evidenced through budgetary allocation, a situation that results in poor infrastructure.In Kenya, underinvestment in training institutions such as Youth Polytechnics (YPs) have resulted into inadequate and outdated infrastructures, a situation that ends up compromising quality training objective (Nyerere, 2009).Therefore, TVET graduates end up facing challenges in the workplace due to lack the skills demanded by industry.The author called for provision of adequate infrastructures at TVET institutions as a way of fostering effective skill development.
Infrastructural facilities such as computers and laboratories are important in the promotion of Information Communication Technology (ICT).Writing on importance of infrastructure, Olutola (1982) noted school infrastructures as critical for promotion of academic achievement.However, Bowen, Morara and Muriithi (2000) and Nyerere (2009) state that in most developing countries TVET is a sub-sector of the education that is neglected as evidenced through budget allocation, a situation that results in poor infrastructure.In Kenya, underinvestment in training institutions such as Youth Polytechnics (YPs) have resulted into inadequate and outdated infrastructures, a situation that ends up compromising the training objective (Nyerere, 2009).Robert (2005) considered internal efficiency concept as multidimensional, and argued that its attainability is multifaceted.The Education for All (EFA) Report observes that the Vocational education in Kenya is characterized by high wastage in terms of repetition and dropout (Hicks et al., (2011), UNICEF, (2001).This may be attributed to availability, adequacy and proper utilization of resources.These resources can either be school resources (i.e., human, physical or financial), teacher quality or family attributes (Hanushek, 2007).In this study, the researcher was only limited to school 26 resources that is operationally defined as the institutional resources.These are indicated by human resources, physical resources that is operationally defined as the level of institutional preparedness for practical skills training and financial resources.Effective use of these educational resources is required to establish a functional and quality education system.Moreover, Athmandu (2001) observed that how resources are used within an educational institution guarantees its success or failure.This is because all resources availed to an educational institution are necessary for effective achievement of the set objectives.Key resources to an educational institution fall under the human resources, especially the teaching staff.This is because the staff are responsible for the management and proper utilization of other resources to ensure that the mission of an educational institutional is realized."Utilization factor" refers to the weekly frequency of resource use as a ratio of the number of times it can be put to use.Proper use of available resources results from relatively higher ratios, and vice versa.On the other hand, resource utilization can be described as the quantity of resource provided for use in an educational institution (Ananga, 2011).Therefore, resources in an educational institution can be said to be over-utilized when scarcely supplied, hence limiting effective teaching and learning within an institution.On the other hand, resource "underutilization" occurs when resources stay idle (not put to use) when they should be in use.For example, when resources like staff, furniture, buildings (classrooms & laboratories), playground, and other physical and material resources are not in regular use.Results by Athmandu (2001) showed that proper utilization of resources, such as recommended class size 27, teacher-pupil ratio, and the level of teacher qualification, are key performance indicators (KPI) of internal efficiency.

Research Design
The study used descriptive research design.Descriptive research design was appropriate for educational fact-finding, gives a lot of accurate information, and produces statistical data for a phenomenal study (Orodho, 2002).This design was suitable for the study since it enabled the researcher to describe and summarize variables to gather information concerning the utilization of institutional resources on performance in public technical and vocational education and training institutions in Bungoma County.

Sampling Procedure and Sample Size
The sample size of this study was 403 respondents that involved of 1 County director, 25 principals, 75 H.o.ds and 302 trainers which translated to 25.7% of the target population.Sample size of between 10-30% is adequate for descriptive research (Mugenda & Mugenda, 2003).The information on sample size was summarized in Table 1.

Adequacy of Infrastructure and Trainee Performance
The objective of the study was to establish the influence of the adequacy of physical infrastructure on Trainees' performance in public Technical and Vocational Education Training institutions in Bungoma County.
The study sought to verify the null hypothesis (H0) stating that 'there is no statistically significant influence of adequacy of physical infrastructure on trainees' performance in Public TVET institutions Bungoma County.
In order to meet the objective, questionnaires were admitted to trainers and HODs.They were required to give opinion by rating five statements on a five point likert scale, where; 1-Strongly Disagree, 2-Disagree, 3-Undecided, 4-Agree and 5-Strongly Agree.The findings of their opinions were presented in Table 2.  Significant differences were established for ratings on four statements.On the statement that classrooms were spacious and adequate, F(4,365)=3.448, ρ<0.05;On whether there were adequate workshops, F(4,365)=13.487,ρ<0.05;On whether the departments were adequately supplied with power, F(4,365)=2.915,ρ<0.05and; Lessons were never interrupted due to power failure, F(4,365)=2.514, ρ<0.05.However, there was no significant difference in ratings across the departments on the statement that the department had well developed infrastructure, F (4,365) = 0.971, ρ>0.05.

Aggregation of variables of adequacy of infrastructure
The ratings of the Trainers and HODs were aggregated in order to compute an index that measure the levels of adequacy of infrastructure across the departments in the institutions sampled for study.The index had values ranging from 5 to 25.Values above 15 imply higher levels of adequacy of infrastructure while values lower than 15 imply fairly low levels of adequacy.
The descriptive statistics for the index were presented in Table 4. From Table 4 it can be deduced that the Infrastructure Adequacy Index was low (M=12, SD=2.5993).This implies that generally, infrastructural facilities in the sampled institutions were inadequate for registered programmes.

Hypothesis Testing on Influence of Adequacy of Infrastructure on Trainee Performance
The study sought to verify the hypothesis one which stated Ho1: There is no statistically significant influence of adequacy of physical infrastructure on trainees' performance in Public TVET institutions Bungoma County In order to verify the hypothesis, the study used simple regression analysis, which was in the form:

I -Trainee performance Adequ
The test consisted of three sections, the model summary, the ANOVA and table of coefficients.
The model summary for the regression analysis was presented in Table 5.The study sought to determine the significance of the regression coefficients for the variables.
The independent samples t-test and standard error of the estimate was conducted for the coefficients.The results were presented in Table 7.

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Classrooms were found to be overcrowded.Most classrooms are not painted, not plastered and floors not cemented which adversely affected academic performance of pupils.
Findings of the study were equally corroborated by Doreen (2020), who carried a study on the influence of school infrastructure utilization on learners' academic performance in Kajara County, Ntungamo District.The study established that there is a strong positive correlation between physical infrastructure and students' academic performance Writing on significance of infrastructure, Olutola (1982) attested that school infrastructure is critical in enhancement of students' academic achievement.However, Bowen, Morara and Muriithi (2000) and Nyerere (2009) contend that in most emerging economies, TVET Sub-sector is majorly neglected with limited budgetary allocation, leading poor infrastructure development, a situation that has ended up compromising achievement of trainees in final standardized examinations.

Conclusion
The study findings demonstrate that the major factor that the failure by many trainees in TVET and Vocational Training institutions in Key departments of Automotive Engineering, Building Technology, Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering is largely attributed to shortage of critical infrastructure.
Specifically, the departments have limited and inadequate Classrooms, Inadequate Workshops for practical classes and poorly developed ICT infrastructure.

Recommendations
Based on the findings and conclusion made, the study recommended that there is need to upgrade the state of infrastructural resource at study institutions in order to cope up with increasing enrolment.
Questionnaires and observation schedule.The researcher analyzed the data by use of the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS).The study used quantitative techniques (measures of central tendency) and qualitative techniques which are basically descriptive.The study established that schools have inadequate facilities.The research was sceptical on generalizability of the findings since Wachiuri, Shisha, Kimathi (2017) used only two research tools, to achieve a more reliable data the current studies addressed this gap by using variety of research instrument Ojuok, Gogo &Olel (2020) carried a study on the influence of physical facilities on student academic performance in CDF built secondary schools in Rachuonyo South sub-County.Kenya the study was guided by Education Production Function Theory based on the input and output variables.Descriptive Survey and Correlation research designs were used.The study population was 42 principals of CDF built secondary schools and 1 sub-County Quality Assurance and Standards Officer (SCQASO).

Table 5
illustrates the correlation between the Trainee Performance and Adequacy of Infrastructure, as well as the coefficient of determination.There is a positive though weak correlation between the variables (+0.155).The coefficient of determination (R 2 ) indicates that 628 Adequacy of Infrastructure accounts for 2.4% of the changes in Trainees performance.Analysis of Variance test was used and results were presented in table 6, the second part of the analysis tested the significance of the regression model.

Table 7
The study findings also agreed with that of Anitha (2021), established that students' performance in rural public secondary schools in Iringa district was unsatisfactory due to inadequate school infrastructures like libraries, laboratories, shortage of classes, dormitories, and instructional materials.In another study carried out byPamwell (2015), found out only one public primary school had a library, and schools had inadequate study materials.