Home and school based factors influencing students’ participation in public day secondary schools in Nyatike sub county, Kenya

Abstract

The study purposed to establish the school and home based factors influencing students‟ participation in public day secondary school education in Nyatike Sub-county, Migori County, Kenya. The participation of students in secondary schools especially in Nyatike has been found to be low. The four research questions include: how family income, parental level of education, staff personnel and school community affects the students‟ participation. In the study reviewed various literature based on four main objectives of the study .The study was anchored on the system approach theory of kart Lewin (1947) and Maslow theory of motivation and hierarchy of needs (1943).The study employed both qualitative and quantitative research methods. Questionnaires were issued to a sample size of 9 principals and 162 students from 9 secondary schools while quantitative data was analyzed through descriptive statistics. The findings revealed many parents had low income which greatly influenced their student‟s participation negatively. Most Parents their level of education was found to be low therefore the student‟s participation was influenced negatively. The study further established that the inadequate and quality of staff was found to have greater impacts of students participation because most schools do not have enough trained teachers to handle all subjects effectively. The study recommended that the government should ensure that educational resources like text books are equitably and adequately distributed to public day schools. The schools should be equitably with adequate staff personnel. The study further recommends that the future research should investigate other factors that could influence students‟ participation in secondary schools.