| dc.description.abstract | This study was carried out to investigate the factors contributing to drug abuse
among secondary school students in Kirinyaga central division. Drug and
substance abuse is not only a problem in Kenya but also a global one. Drug
abuse has penetrated into learning institutions at a high rate, causing untold
suffering to the students, riots, strikes, indiscipline and poor academic
performance. This study is therefore expected to contribute information that
could be useful in intervention measures that could be undertaken to prevent
the use and abuse of drugs in secondary schools in Kirinyaga central division.
The research was conducted in Kirinyaga central division whereby 13
secondary schools were used. Purposive sampling technique was used to select
the 260 students. All the 13 head teachers participated in filling the
questionnaires. One teacher was selected from each school using simple
random sampling. Questionnaires were used for these groups of respondents
and questionnaire return rate was 99.7%.
The findings of the study were that the most commonly abused drugs in the
division were alcohol, cigarettes, miraa and bhang. Students also had
knowledge on drugs like cocaine and heroine. The study findings also found
out that drug abuse was mainly caused by peer pressure being the major factor,
curiosity, stress, age, mass media, parental influence, and availability of cash.
The study findings also revealed that drug abuse among students has led to
poor academic performance, indiscipline, school drop out and poor school
attendance.
The findings of the study recommended that there should be a control of
availability of drugs in the markets and more so around the schools. Parents
should be counselled on the adverse effects of drugs. Peer counselling should
be encouraged by organizing seminars and workshops. Stakeholders in
education should do a thorough survey on the root cause of drug abuse among
learners and deal with it.
The findings from the study also recommended for further studies to be carried
out in other divisions to come up with a general assessment of the whole
country on the factors contributing to drug abuse among students. There
should be a study on the management of drug abuse in Kenya. Ministry of
Education should allow expulsion and corporal punishments in schools. Kenya
Institute of Education should make sure that teacher's curriculum include drug
prevention education. Finally teachers should be trained on how to deal with
drug use and abuse. | en |
