The Effect Of FFBE Policy On Teaching Methods And Academic Performance

Different education policies have been introduced in Tanzania with the aim of improving access to and quality of education system in general.The fee-free basic education(FFBE)policy launched in 2015 has provided equal opportunity to every child to access basic education regardless of financial background.Despite these tremendous achievements,the FFBE policy is still facing many challenges such as overcrowded classrooms due to high enrollment rate,shortage of resources and high teacher-student ratio.Therefore,there is a need for instructors to adjust teaching methods to cope with the situation while ensuring the quality of education.This study employed a descriptive survey design to examine the influence of FFBE policy challenges on teaching methods and quality of mathematics&science education offered by public secondary schools in Dodoma urban.Purposive sampling was applied to pick 80 mathematics&science teachers,10 Headmasters,and 140 Form ? students from 10 public secondary schools.Mixed-methods research was used by involving both qualitative and quantitative data that were collected through questionnaires,interview schedules,and documentary analysis.Data collection instruments were checked for validity and reliability.Cronbach's Alpha and piloting were applied to determine the reliability of instruments.Thematic analysis was used for qualitative data and quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS 27.0,Chi-Square and Fisher's Tests were calculated for hypothesis testing.The results showed that more than 5 schools involved in this study had average pass rate of less than 60%in science subjects and 34%in Mathematics for all schools.The poor performance is attributed to the following factors as observed by this study;inadequate number of teachers,teacher-centered teaching approach,scarcity of teaching and learning resources,inadequate infrastructure for quality instruction,insufficiency of classrooms,laboratories,and their resources,as well as ICT facilities.Based on the findings,this study recommends the government to prioritize the supply of school resources and,mathematics&science teachers to Dodoma urban,capacity building for teachers,community involvement in school development,create suitable working environment that promotes teachers'cooperation and professional development.