Factors Influencing The Academic Performance Of Girls In Secondary Schools: A Case Of Embakasi District, Nairobi County, Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the factors that influence the academic performance of girls within Nairobi County, Embakasi District. Despite the fact that girls in Nairobi are doing better than those in other counties their performance is not as good as that of boys thus the need to explore the factors influencing their performance so that there is gender streamlining in the K.C.S.E results achieved yearly.The researcher has identified factors that affect the academic performance of girls. They include cultural factors, availability of mentors, sexuality and family background.The research design that was employed in the study was descriptive survey research which is a method of collecting information by interviewing or administering questionnaires and observation guides. It also incorporated both qualitative and quantitative analysis of data. . The target population consists of 331 female students as well as 148 teachers within Embakasi District both private and public schools. The questionnaires were dropped in fifteen schools and three research assistants administered the questionnaires. Each research assistant was covering five schools. The DEO’s office provided the researcher with documents for analysis. The data coded was later analyzed through SPSS and percentages obtained were used to examine how the mentioned variables influence the academic performance of the girls. The findings of the study were that the girl child’s academic performance in Embakasi is influenced by cultural factors, availability of mentors, sexuality and family background. The study therefore recommends that the society should be enlightened on the need of educating the girlchild; the society should ensure that they are good role models to the girls. The parents should ensure that they are keen on what their children are watching and reading as it has great influence on their personality/ shaping of their character. The government and the society should take issues of sexual harassments among the girl child seriously and punish the perpetrators heavily to reduce the incidences, the parents should also practice family planning so that they are able to provide for their children this will reduce the rate of child labor and facilitate the parents in providing their children with the appropriate learning environment they require to enablethem perform in schools. The study has also suggested other areas of studies which are: factors affecting the academic performance of girls in other counties, factors examining how availability of role models influences performance either negatively or positively and how sexuality influences performance of both girls and boys