|Household factors influencing students’ dropout in public secondary schools in Kitui Central District, Kenya
Abstract
Education is an important life process that plays a vital role in forming the
foundation for a student's future better being, as it equips the learner with basic
knowledge, skills and altitudes that will enable her/him to cope well in life. In Kitui
Central District most students who attend public secondary schools do not complete
secondary level of education. Despite Kenya Government's commitment to
subsidize students‟ education, their completion rate at secondary school level is not
a hundred percent. The purpose of this study was to determine household factors
that influence students‟ dropout in public secondary schools in Kitui Central
District. The study objectives were, to determine the effect of households‟ income
on dropout of students, to examine the extent to which parental level of education
affects student's dropout, to establish the effect of household‟s size on student's
dropout and to determine the effect of type of family on students‟ dropout in public
secondary schools in kitui central district.The study adopted a descriptive survey
design to collect information. The target population was all the 31 public secondary
schools in Kitui Central District. The sample used was 12.6 percent of the target
population where Principals, class teachers and form four students were sampled
randomly. The study instruments employed were questionnaires for the class
teachers‟ and form four students and interview schedules for Principals. Expert
judgment of the research instrument's validity was carried out and test retest to
determine the research instrument reliability was also done. The primary data
collected were edited, coded and analyzed using basic descriptive statistics,
frequencies and percentages. The data results were presented in frequency tables,
and percentages. The findings from the study indicated that household factors such
as the household income, parental level of education, household size and family
type affects dropout of students in secondary schools, other follow-up factors such
as child labour, unsupportive parents, lack of role models, involvement in income
generating activities, broken families, poverty in the households, divorce, lack of
self esteem, lack of guidance and counseling and orphanhood were identified as
some of the major factor Influencing dropout. Based on these findings the study
recommended that: Poverty alleviation measures should be strengthened in the
society to enable all families to get reliable and higher income so as to retain their
children in school till completion. The government should enhance and enforce
parental laws to ensure children do not fall victim to family instability. The
Government should conduct awareness campaigns to ensure parents and students
fully understand and appreciate the importance of completion of secondary
education. That the government should take off the total burden of school fees from
the parents so that students do not drop out of school due to lack of school fees.
The Government should conduct effective awareness and sensitization campaigns
on importance of family planning to all families to ensure that parents have a
number of children that they are able to effectively take care off. Subsidized
secondary education is not enough. Students from poor households should be
offered total free secondary education if access to education for all is to be
actualized. The researcher proposes further research in the following areas: This
study needs to be replicated in private schools in the district in order to compare
results. Similar study should be undertaken in primary schools in the district in
order to compare results. The study only examined household factors influencing
students dropout in Kitui Central District, study needs to be done to examine school
based factors influencing students dropout in the district.
Publisher
University of Nairobi
Subject
Public Secondary SchoolsDescription
Thesis Master of Education in Educational Planning
Collections
- Faculty of Education (FEd) [6020]