School based factors influencing girls performance at Kenya certificate of primary education in public primary schools in Isiolo sub- county, Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to establish school based factors influencing girls’ performance at Kenya certificate of primary education in public schools in Isiolo Sub-county. The study was set to establish the influence of school physical resources on girls’ performance, influence of teachers training and qualification on girls’ performance, influence of facilitation of sanitary towels girls’ performance as well as assessing the influence of teachers’ attitude on girls’ performance. The study was influenced by the fact that girls’ KCPE performance in Isiolo Subcounty is low compared to other sub-counties. There were also limited researches done in Isiolo Sub-county on school based factors influencing girls’ performance at KCPE. The study employed descriptive research design where the target population consisted of 33 head teachers of the public primary schools in Isiolo Subcounty, 484 primary school teachers, 704 class eight pupils and Sub-County Director of Education Isiolo Sub-county. From the study it was established that; girls’ performance is influenced by the school physical facilities as indicated by 52.7% of the respondents, teachers training and qualification as indicated by 76.6%, facilitation of sanitary towels as indicated by 54.5% as well as teachers’ attitude towards girls as indicated by 38.2% of the respondents. It was concluded that; majority of public primary schools in Isiolo sub-county had enough school facilities though some schools had few classes and had to congest pupils in one class rooms, majority of schools in the study area had no library facilities and the ones which had a library they were poorly equipped, well trained teachers are able to develop interest and ability for teaching girls who are sometimes slow in understanding some subjects especially mathematics and sciences as compared to boys, public primary schools in Isiolo sub-county outsourced for facilitation of sanitary towels from the NGOs, CBOs and ministry of education, some teachers preferred teaching boys as compared to girls which demotivated them. Majority of girls in the study area who give birth or get married do not go back to school. The study recommends that the government should provide funds to build and equip libraries which are resource centers for both pupils and teachers, establish more public primary schools to reduce the distance between the pupils and the school so that girls walk to school within the shortest time possible, the school supervision by the head teacher and the directorate of Quality Assurance and Standards should be enhanced for monitoring to give proper guidance to the teachers on the need to implement child rights education in their schools and also take strict action upon teachers who discriminate girls as well as provide quality sanitary towels to adolescent girls to curb absenteeism during menstruation which affect girls performance. Girls in school should be helped by female teachers to develop positive attitude towards education. The county government of Isiolo should take up all measures to curb forced marriages, advocate for girl-child education rights and encourage the school administration to readmit girls after birth/marriage and also offer them a conducive environment for learning. The study suggested a further research to be carried out on school based factors influencing performance of girls in schools in Arid and Semi-Arid areas in Kenya.