Challenges Facing Perfomance In Public Day Secondary Schools In Kiambu Sub County, Kiambu County.

Abstract

The study sought to investigate challenges that affect students’ academic performance in public day secondary schools in Kiambaa sub-county. The government of Kenya intends to improve access to quality, relevance and management of secondary education in public day secondary schools. To achieve this, the government needs to: encourage the establishment of more day secondary schools, improve the academic performance in day secondary schools, observe how school attendance influence day scholars academic performance in day secondary schools and to establish the extent in which availability of school resources affect academic performance. Mechanisms for bringing about improvement in the academic performance of day secondary schools have been suggested by this study. The study examined the factors affecting academic achievement in day secondary schools in Kiambaa sub-county. The factors were subdivided into student factors and school factors. The data for this study was collected from primary and secondary sources. The research instruments were questionnaire, observation and interviews schedule. The research design was validated by experts in the subject area including the supervisor. Descriptive survey research was used to get information on the effects of day secondary schools on academic achievement. Four secondary schools were selected randomly to form the study sample. The finding was that students perform very poorly in day secondary schools. Majority of secondary day students score an average grade of C minus (C-) and below. It was established from the study that teachers have a negative attitude towards day students. The findings showed that religious affiliation and peer influence as the most pre-dominance social factors which influence the performance of day schools while the challenges facing secondary day schools include tribal and church politics, poor living standards and unconcerned parents. Based on the findings of this study the research recommend the following recommendations: the need for learning environment in day secondary schools in Kenya to be given priority attention by the government so that students can learn well. There is need for head teachers of day secondary schools to conduct periodic checking of their inventories of their textbooks, teaching aids and other teaching materials and adopt policies for the acquisition of adequate and up-to-date textbooks and teaching materials. Administration should provide seminars geared towards moral change for all teachers. Students study habits and attitudes could be improved by orientations, counselling, holding friendly competitions in various academic subjects, encouraging membership in academic clubs and monitoring of students study habits by parents.