A study of factors affecting academic performance of girls in mixed day public secondary schools in Nyamira District, Nyamira County, Kenya

Abstract

The study was conceived on realization that girls in mixed day secondary schools performed poorly at KCSE in Nyamira District.It set to find out factors affecting academic performance of girls in mixed day secondary schools in Nyamira District,Nyamira county. The study was conducted in fourteen secondary schools covering two educational divisions. The researcher used stratified random sampling covering each division. Two schools were used for pilot for the purpose of pretesting instruments for data collection and to ensure their reliability and validity. The instruments for data collection included questionnaires for students, teachers, and head teachers. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, multiple correlation and regression analysis. The SPSS statistical package was used to determine correlation and regression results. The study elicited a number of factors which affect academic performance of girls in mixed day secondary schools. Some factors emanated from school and others from home environment of the learners. They include; type of school, physical facilities, parental involvement in education and parental level of education, proximity of the school and influence of social economic background. These factors impacted negatively towards performance of girls in mixed day secondary schools in Nyamira district. The study made far reaching recommendations to arrest factors which affect performance of girls in mixed day secondary schools. They geared towards the well- being of improving academic performance of girls in mixed day secondary schools. The recommendations made include; government establishing more single sex boarding public secondary schools for girls, provision of social and public education to parents, strengthening Parents Teachers Associations through legal enactment and provision of adequate teaching staff into the area, especially those favored by girls like English and History. The study also made far reaching suggestions for further researcher. These include a critical examination of decreasing number of boy child in schools, a comparative study within context of secondary schools on factors that lead to poor performance in secondary schools and a replica study should be carried out incorporating more variables that lead to poor academic performance.