Influence Of Socio - Economic Factors On Pupils’ Transition Rates From Primary To Secondary Schools In Kisumu East Sub County, Kenya.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to establish the Socio-Economic factors influencing pupils’ transition rates from primary to secondary schools in Kisumu East Sub-County. Four objectives guided the study to establish the influence of family structure on transition rates; the influence of parental level of education on transition rates; the influence of pupils’ parental income on transition rates and finally the influence of pupils’ participation in domestic chores on transition rates from primary to secondary schools. The study was influenced by the fact that transition rates in Kisumu East Sub-County is low at an average of 48.74 compared to the neighboring Sub-Counties such as Kisumu West Sub-County at an average of 50.31 and Kisumu North Sub-County which is also at an average of 51.40. There are also limited researches done on Socio-Economic factors influencing transition rates between primary and secondary schools in the County. The study employed a descriptive survey research design where the target population consisted of 68 head teachers of the public primary schools and 500 primary school teachers in Kisumu East Sub-County. The study findings indicated that some of the socio-economic factors had the highest influence on the transition of pupils from primary to secondary schools, they include; family structure, parental level of education, parental income level and participation of pupils in domestic chores. When looking at orphaned children sixty seven percent were found not to transit to secondary school. Parental level of education equally determined the transition rate, seventy four percent of the teachers agreed that most of the parents have primary education. Given that the Kenyan education system insists on a free and compulsory primary education as well as a subsidized secondary education, this study recommends that the government should instigate effective mechanisms to ensure that no learner is blocked from transiting to secondary school due to high cost of education.