| dc.description.abstract | This study investigated the factors that influenced girl child education in primary schools in Kenya with in Kadibo Division, Kisumu East District. It was prompted by the fact that despite the introduction of Free Primary Education in schools and other government incentives towards girl child education, they have continued to miss out in primary education. The objectives of the study were to examine, asses and establish how socio- cultural issues, economic, environmental and health factors influenced girls education. In doing so, the study critically analyzed the various socio- cultural issues such as gender parity, attendance, and early marriages. The economic factors delved more on occupation of the families, family size food availability and pupils guardians. Realizing the contribution of environment, the study investigated the role of sanitary towels and physical infrastructure, especially toilets and source of water.
Finally on Health and Psycho- social support the study assessed health seeking behavior of the children, Common diseases within the community, especially the burden of HIV / AIDs, besides parental role in the welfare of children, on education. The study was conducted using descriptive survey design as it sought to obtain respondents views and opinions. The research instruments used were questionnaire and key informant interviews. The questionnaires were administered to 345 pupils and 50 Key informants that included head teachers, class teacher and area education officers. Selection of schools and class teachers were done through purposive sampling technique, while pupils were selected through simple random sampling technique.
The researcher also collected qualitative data through key informant interviews which were used for triangulation. Quantitative data was coded and analyzed using the statistical package for social scientists software. The qualitative data was analyzed manually through content analysis to create themes, trends and patterns. The· analyzed quantitative data was presented using graphs and frequency tables, as well as direct quotations to present the qualitative findings. The study established that socio-cultural issues, economic, environment; health and psycho-social support had great bearing on girl child education in primary school.
The study also revealed that schools were not friendly for girls due to inadequate facilities, while families were less interested in their children's education. Similarly, there were still preferences of the boy child over the girl child in terms of resource allocation towards education. On the other hand high within the region poverty was a major cause of girl child lack of attendance in school. The study therefore recommends continuous sensitization of parents and guardians on the benefits of girl child education and enforcement of the return to school policy. Also, schools should initiate income generating activities for sustainability, on the hand the government could initiate partnerships with various organizations, besides setting aside funds to improve the schools infrastructure to ensure a friendly learning environment and especially for the girl child. Suggested areas for further study includes factors influencing boy child education, Roles of sanitary towels as a factor influencing girls education and finally impact of school income generating activities on pupils performance. | en_US |
