SCHOOL FACILITY PLANNING IN RWANDA: AN ASSESSMENT SURVEY ON THE NATURE OF LIBRARIES IN THE SELECTED PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF MUHANGA, NYANZA, NGORORERO, AND KARONGI DISTRICTS

Abstract

This study was conducted with the aim of assessing the nature of school libraries and whether the libraries have

librarians in the selected public schools of Muhanga, Nyanza, Ngororero and Karongi Districts. The rationale

for this study was that various education reforms have been done in Rwanda, including building of new class

rooms to accommodate students in the EFA programs. However, the library issue has not been given attention in

those reforms, yet various researches from different countries reveal that library component in any school estab

lishment is vital for student’s self-learning. There is no conclusive research in Rwanda, however, that has been

conducted on this topic and this justifies the need for this research. The theories of learning and environmental

psychology guided this study. The study was designed as descriptive. The study population was 8292 teachers

in the four districts. The sample size was 400 but only 374 responded. Purposive sampling was used to select

the four districts as well as determining the number of respondents in each school. Simple random sampling was

used to select eight schools in each district while cluster sampling was used to select respondents in schools. A

four likert scale structured item instrument collected both pilot data for reliability testing and final data. Alpha

coefficient was set at .065. Reliability on the nature of school libraries was .823 and .685 for the school librar

ian. Collected data were computed in SPSS. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze data. Study findings

indicated that public school libraries were very inadequate because they lacked reading space, seats, enough

shelves, and a librarian. The implications were that promotion of self-learning and creativity skills which are the

main focus of the newly established competency-based curriculum was hampered. It was recommended that the

public schools libraries be built and staffed with qualified librarians