Role of Instructional Materials in Academic Performance in Community Secondary Schools in Rombo District”

The purpose of this research work is to examine the extent to which the selected community secondary schools in Rombo District utilize quality and adequate instructional materials in classrooms and how this has promoted academic performance of students. This research was based on three objectives including: to explore the views of teachers and students on the extent to which instructional facilities affect student performance, to examine the challenges that teachers in community secondary schools face in accessing instructional materials and to assess the strategies that teachers use to minimize the challenges of attaining and using quality instructional materials. The study adopted a cross sectional survey design. The study population involved all community secondary schools in Rombo district. Out of 38 community secondary schools in Rombo district 5 schools were randomly selected for data collection. In each school, 5 teachers and 20 students filled semi-structured questionnaire. Also heads of each school and 1 secondary district education officer were interviewed. The following were findings of the study: first, instructional materials are the key to teachers’ and students’ performance. Secondly, most community secondary schools in Rombo District suffer shortage of essential teaching and learning materials. Thirdly, the study revealed that teachers used different strategies to minimize the challenges of attaining and using quality instructional materials like borrowing books and improvation. The study recommends that the government should budget sufficient funds for improving the availability of instructional materials in all secondary schools. For further research, this study proposes that aspects of how teachers and students use instructional materials for effective teaching and learning processes need to be examined