| dc.description.abstract | Teachers’ qualifications, physical facilities, availability and effective use of
instructional resources as well as teachers’ workload contribute towards
integration of child rights education. The purpose of this study was to investigate
school-based factors influencing integration of child rights education in public
primary schools in Buuri district, Meru County. In Buuri district, there has been
cases of school dropouts as a result of early pregnancies, child labour, drug abuse
among others (Buuri District Education Strategic Plan 2009-2013). There is no
study that has been done in the area to find out the factors that influence child
rights in the area. Teachers’ qualifications, physical facilities, availability and
effective use of instructional resources as well as teachers’ workload contribute
towards integration of child rights education. The study was based on social
constructivist theory. The study adopted descriptive survey design. The study
employed simple random sampling to sixteen head teachers, sixty three teachers
and two hundred and twenty one pupils from various primary schools in Buuri
district. The total sample size was three hundred respondents. Questionnaires and
observation check list were used to collect data. A pilot study was undertaken to
ensure validity and reliability of the instruments. Quantitative data was analyzed
using descriptive statistics by use of frequencies and percentages. Qualitative data
was organized into themes corresponding to the study objectives. The study noted
that most teachers were professionally qualified. The results further indicated that
professional qualification of a teacher in child rights education was vital for the
integration of children’s rights education in primary schools. In addition, the
study established that physical facilities played an important role in the
integration of child rights education in schools. The study findings also indicated
that inadequate instructional materials in most schools in Buuri district were
impacting negatively on the integration of child rights education. Finally, the
results indicated that teachers in Buuri district were overloaded and this hampered
integration of child rights education in schools. It was concluded that inadequate
professional qualification of a teacher in child rights education was hampering the
integration of children’s rights education in primary schools. It was also
concluded that availability of physical facilities in schools in Buuri district
influenced the extent of integration of child rights education. The study further
concluded that availability of instructional materials on child rights education
influenced the extent to which child rights education was integrated in the school
curriculum. Finally, it was concluded that the level of teachers’ workload did not
affect the extent to which child rights education was integrated in public primary
schools. The study recommended that teachers should be encouraged to attend in
service training on child rights education; more funds should be spent on
acquisition of physical facilities and instructional materials and the ministry of
education should employ more primary school teachers to ease the workload of
current teachers. The study suggested that a similar study should be conducted | en_US |
