Impact assessment of rural schools’ income generating projects on entrepreneurship education

Abstract

The purpose of this research study was to assess the impact of rural schools’ income generating projects on entrepreneurship education in Makonde district, Mashonaland West province, Zimbabwe. Based on the Exposure theory of Entrepreneurship, the researcher used a quantitative method of research design using questionnaires as the main data collection method to collect quantitative data from 65 respondents from District Schools Inspectors, Headmasters, Teachers and two sets of School Leavers in Makonde Rural . Hypothesis testing was done using the paired samples statistical method which aggregates the paired differences to come up with the mean denoted by d Testing was done at 5% significance level to find out if the school income generating projects have an impact on entrepreneurship education in rural schools in Makonde District using results from the score sheets on questionnaires.Since |T0| > tα / 2(n-1) i.e. 58.596 > 2.101, The researcher rejects H0 and conclude at 95% confidence level that there is a significant statistical relationship between school income generating projects and Entrepreneurship Education in Rural Schools.The researcher found that most schools are struggling to carry out income generating projects. Capital, infrastructure and financial literacy are among the chief problems encountered by schools in caring out income generating projects, Record keeping is also a problem leading to schools keeping only the very basic books of accounts just to maintain a debtor and creditors’ list but most books that help in the continuity of the project the returning customers’ record are not kept. It was established that school leavers exposed to income generating projects at school are a bit more likely to keep business records although they proved to have less records their records are very different for those of their schools. It was also established that the problems of fostering entrepreneurship education to learners are amplified by lack of resources especially capital and infrastructure as well as the marketing problems and the human capital when it comes to financial literacy. If these challenges are addressed the learner can benefit more from income generatingprojects in schools when it comes to entrepreneurship education.