Influence Of Lifeskills Education On Reproductive Health Among Primary School Pupils In Mbeere South Sub-County, Embu County, Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to investigate the influence of Life Skills Education on reproductive health among primary school Pupils in Mbeere South sub –county. The objectives of study was to determine the adequacy of Life Skills Education curriculum for equipping learners with knowledge ,Skills and attitudes towards reproductive health, to establish the influence of Life Skills Education on pupils sexual behavior, and to find out teachers and pupils attitude towards implementation of Life Skills Education in primary schools. The researcher used descriptive survey research in which 345 respondents comprising 15 head teachers, 30 Life Skills Education teacher and 300 class eight pupils from the 15 sampled schools. The data was collected using questionnaires and interview schedules. The data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics in the form of frequencies and percentages presented in tables facilitated by Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). The study established that the availability of teaching and learning materials are inadequate by 50% and 56% and adequate by 18% and 20% from teachers and pupils respectively. This influences implementation of Life Skills Education in public primary schools to some extent as lack of some materials such as video tapes, films, textbooks and posters made it difficult for the effective teaching and learning of Life Skills Education. Based on the findings of this study the government needs to put more training courses to train more teachers on Life Skills Education. vi The study also established that Life Skills Education create self-awareness to the pupils on the reproductive health on various aspects as follows: reproductive organs (59.33%), menstrual cycle (92%), abstinence (91%) and HIV/AIDS (72%), respectively. Finally, the study also established a large number of boys 63.53% and large number of girls 60.22% engage in sex. Based on this all the stakeholders in Education need to factor this as a concern in Gachoka Division hence, the study recommended that all the schools in Gachoka Division Mbeere South Sub-County, Embu County should supervise implementation of Life Skills Education so that it can be used to help the pupils learn importance of avoiding premarital sex.