Influence of Provision of Child’s Survival Rights on Students Academic Achievement in Secondary Education in Igembe South Subcounty Meru, Kenya

Abstract

The study was aimed at investigating the influence of provision of survival rights on students’ academic achievement in secondary school education in Igembe South Sub County. The study was based on the following objectives: to examine the influence of food provision on student’s academic achievement, to establish how the provision of health services in the school affect student’s academic achievement, to determine the influence of the availability of water on student’s academic achievement, and to examine the influence of school uniforms on students academic achievements in secondary schools in Igembe South Sub County. This study is based on the principals of hierarchy of needs theory by Maslow (1954) , which provides the relationship between provision of survival rights and students’ academic achievements. The study was conducted using descriptive survey research design. Target population consisted of the 16 public secondary schools in Igembe South Sub County.16 Principals, 215 teachers, 1522 students and Sub County Education Officer were the respondents targeted by the study. Stratified sampling technique was used to select 65 teachers and 152 students and then survey sampling method to select 16 principals. Questionnaires and interview schedules were used for collecting data and were designed basing on the objectives and by use of test-retest technique. Data was then analyzed both manually and by use of SPSS. Thereafter, results presented mainly in frequencies and percentages in form of tables. The research came up with the following findings. Lack of clean water has serious effects on students’ attendance rates and academic achievements. 87.5 % of schools had piped water as their main source of water though it was rated fair by 62.5%. Health services were found to influence students’ academic achievements. Results from the respondents indicated that secondary schools in Igembe South Sub County do not have health services within the school hence students miss classes as they seek medical attention outside the school when never they fall sick. Basing on the findings on food provision, 33.3% of teachers indicated that food influence academic achievements of students in Secondary education to a great extent. Findings show that Parents play a great role of buying uniform to students. The study arrived at the following conclusions: Survival rights should be used as a positive reinforcement for learners. However students should be provided with clean water, every secondary to be provided with health services near the school, secondary schools to implement school feeding programmes, and each student should be provided with school uniform to foster positive students’ outcomes. The study recommends that the school community to support the school feeding programmes for the disadvantaged students to remain in class, the government to provide health facilities for example school clinics, the government to partner with NGOs to provide water services to schools and the government to support uniform provisions to students since uniforms foster positive academic outcomes.