Use of Science Laboratory Facilities and Students Academic Performance in Chemistry Subject in Rwanda, A Case of Kayonza Public Secondary Schools

The main purpose of this Research was to evaluate the effect of the available and utilization of science laboratory facilities on students’ academic performance in chemistry subject in Rwanda, with a focus on public secondary schools in the Kayonza District, Rwanda. This research was supported with Piaget’s theory of constructivism, The researcher used descriptive research design and targeted population was 624 respondents including 26 secondary schools and 78 science teachers of secondary school level, 26 head teachers and 520 students and sample size was 244 from the population of 624. The researcher used a simple random sampling to get information from the sampled students, teachers was selected purposively due to their teaching experience specifically chemistry teachers and head teachers was chosen purposively. A vast majority of students (82.4%) strongly agreed that they are motivated during chemistry practicals in the lab. An additional 8.3% agreed, meaning 90.7% of students feel a sense of motivation in the lab. Only a small percentage of students expressed a lack of motivation, with 2.5% strongly disagreeing and 1.5% disagreed. Hydrochloric acid received a strong rating, with 56.7% of teachers classifying it as very adequate. Only 13.3% viewed its availability as inadequate, and a small percentage rated it as serious inadequate (3.3%). The responses regarding the availability of a well-constructed chemistry laboratory indicate that a significant proportion of teachers (40%) perceive their schools to have adequate facilities. However, the combined percentage of those who rated it as either "Strongly Disagree" (13.3%) or "Disagree" (16.7%) suggests that there are still concerns about the quality of the laboratory infrastructure in some schools. Findings presents a statistical correlation analysis that examines the relationship between the use of science laboratory facilities and students’ academic performance in chemistry. The data shows a remarkably strong positive correlation, as indicated by the Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.948. This high correlation suggests that increased usage of laboratory facilities is associated with higher academic performance in chemistry among students. The government should prioritize and allocate more funding for the development and maintenance of science laboratories in public secondary schools, particularly in underserved areas like the Kayonza District.