| dc.description.abstract | This study was a descriptive survey of the enrollment and participation of pupils in rural public primary schools in Central Division, Narok District. The study had five objectives. The purpose of the study was to investigate the factors that affect the enrollment and participation of pupils in rural public primary schools in Central Division of Narok District.
Data were collected from rural public primary schools through the use of questionnaires. There were questionnaires for pupils, class teachers and headteachers or their deputies. An interview schedule was also used to solicit information from parents. Pupil's questionnaires were prepared in such a way as to solicit information concerning the educational background of their parents, socio-economic status of the parents and enrollment and school participation of other children in the family and also parental involvement in the education of the children. The questionnaire for headteachers sought information on educational attainment, training and professional experience. The questionnaire also sought information on job satisfaction and parental commitment and support for the education of the children .
The questionnaire for headteachers and their deputies was designed to solicit information on their training and professional experience, staffing levels in schools, adequacy of learning facilities with respect to stipulated policies such as textbooks¬pupil ratios, teachers work load among others. The target population of the respondents in the thirty rural schools included 100 pupils, about 60 class teachers, 20 headteachers and about 40 parents. There was also an interview schedule for parents which sought demographic information of parents, their socio-economic background, educational level attained level, and involvement in their children's education.
In sampling the schools, boarding or partial boarding schools were excluded from the study. The geographical location as being in the wet highlands or dry low lands were a major factor that informed the sampling. The cosmopolitan nature of the catchments or environs for the schools was also considered. Limited or total absence of basic amenities such as piped water, electricity and tarmacked roads was also considered to determine the rural nature of the schools. Representative schools were obtained from the four zones in the division through random sampling.
From the sampled schools, pupils were obtained from each of the upper classes (4-8) through stratified sampling. Teachers were selected according to their role as class teachers. Overall, 44% schools took part in the study with 60% pupils, 52% class teachers 60% headteachers and 58% parents. Data collected was then organized according to the demographic aspects such as gender, group (pupils, class teachers headteachers or their deputies and parents). Descriptive statistics was then used to compute percentages and frequency distributions and draw graphs and pie charts.
Before the main study, a pre-test was carried out in three schools randomly selected from the 30 schools to test the validity and reliability of the instruments. The return rate of the questionnaires was 57.2%. Research questions/hypotheses were used to obtain the required information for the study.
According to the findings, girls are more likely not to enroll in school than boys. Pregnancy was found to be the main reason girls drop out of school. Other factors identified included poverty, lack of parental concern, lack of interest, early marriages, need to work and supplement family's income, assist in house chores and look alter cattle among others. Distance from school and insecurity were also found to have contributed to low enrollment of pupils especially in lower primary classes. Under staffing and lack of teachers' houses were also given as major contributory factors affecting teacher's performance and enrollment and participation of pupils in school.
Among the recommendations the researcher suggested included;
Improvement of parental involvement in the education of their children through sustained campaigns on the importance of education and improvement of teachers' salaries and working conditions. Teachers also suggested that more teachers should be employed to reduce the workload, physical facilities should be improved and guidance and counseling introduced as a means of curbing the low participation of pupils particularly girls. The researcher also recommended establishment of warmand healthy relationships along pupils and also between pupils and teachers. | en |
