Effects of Drugs and Alcohol Abuse on Performance of Students in Public Day Secondary Schools in Nyangati Ward Mwea-east Sub-county,kirinyaga County, Kenya

Abstract

The major concern of the study was that despite Kenya introducing strict alcohol regulations “Mututho law” and the endless efforts made to create awareness on effects of alcoholism; high school students continue to indulge in binge drinking and other drug taking-thinking it’s normal. This often leads to drug abuse and alcohol dependence. Mental illness is one of the effects of alcoholism. This study was formulated to investigate the effects of drug abuse and alcoholism on the performance of a student which was measured using the following level of factors: the number of hours taken during drug taking and alcohol consumption (in the 8 months of learning), the number of drugs and drinks (glasses) taken per occasion and the average grade point of the student in the academic year of reference (GPA).The year of reference used was second year of the study in high school. The data was collected using questionnaires whereby 95 printed questionnaires were administered to the respondents (students) in five sampled schools in Nyangati Ward. These schools are: Nyangati sec school, Gakuo Sec school, Mungara Sec school, Kiorugari sec school and Urumandi sec school. The questionnaires enabled the researcher to obtain quantitative and qualitative data. Pilot testing was conducted in one of the mentioned schools, Nyangati Sec School; this helped the researcher to improve the questionnaire and enhanced the validity and reliability of the research instrument. The data collected was cleaned, edited and classified in order to achieve accurate deductions and inferences to answer the researcher’s questions. Qualitative data was examined through content analysis and quantitative data was analyzed through descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. According to the findings, coefficient for the number of hours consumed during drinking was ( ) = -0.55, coefficient for number of glasses taken was ( = - 0.63 and the constant was ( ) =65.189. Therefore the regression model became .In a nutshell, the researcher discovered that the GPA of students in public day secondary schools was largely affected by alcohol consumption of different kinds of brews. It was shown that the hours used in drinking and numbers of drugs/glasses of alcohol consumed per academic year were significantly affecting the performance of students. In that, it was directly proportional that, the more drugs/ alcohol one consumed and the more time (hours) one used in consuming drugs/alcohol the low the GPA was noted. The study recommended that learning institutions (and more so the public day secondary schools who have greater accessibility of the drugs/ alcohol which is just sold within their reach) should use this prediction model so as to prepare students for the bright future by finding ways on how they can minimize alcohol consumption among students before the situation gets out of hand. The study suggests that, a comparative study can be conducted in other high (boarding) schools to assess the extent, factors and causes of alcohol intake in them, a study can be carried out to investigate the remedies that can be put in place to abate the rate of drug use/alcoholism among students and also a study can be carried out to determine whether different brands of alcohol affect the performance of a student in the same.