| dc.description.abstract | Drug and substance abuse threatens and tends to derail these noble strides by
demotivating the students in learning and subsequently ruining school going
children that the government intends to rely on in driving the economy to the next
level. Despite the overwhelming intervention strategies by the Government,
religious organizations, non-state actors and many other keen stakeholders to
curb the problem of drug and substance abuse especially among the youth, the
number of school going youth being suck into drug abuse seems to be escalating
day by day. The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of drug and
substance abuse on participation in learning among secondary school students in
Kathonzweni District, Makueni County in Kenya. The study used descriptive
survey design combining both qualitative and quantitative research strategies.
The research targeted all the form three students and their respective school
principals in the 31 secondary schools in Kathonzweni District. Nine schools
constituting 30% of the 31 schools in Kathonzweni District were sampled.
Purposive sampling was used in the selection of the nine schools and their
respective principals. From each selected school, 20 Form three students were
selected using systematic sampling. Questionnaires were used for data collection.
Once data was obtained from the field it was coded and analysed by computer
using a statistical software SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences). On
basis of the findings, the study concludes that all the principals had experienced
cases of drug abuse by students in their schools. Majority of the principals
(87.5%) kept records of those students engaging in drug abuse. The study
concluded that most of the schools offered guidance and counselling to the
students and that most of the students had attended guidance and counselling
against drugs in their schools. Alcohol was the frequently abused drug in the
schools as expressed with a mean of 2.632. The study concluded that drug abuse
among the students caused dropping out of school, strained relationship with
other students, lack of interest in studying, low concentration span and declining
grades. The study concluded that anxiety, headache, feeling sleepy, confusion
and vomiting were serious effects of drug abuse among students and that the
students have friends who take drugs. The study recommends that all schools
should set up guidance and counselling offices facilitated by professionals to
counsel students who indulge in drug abuse. Parents and teachers should
discourage students and be firm in ensuring that the students do not take alcohol
which is the most abused in the schools. The parents should also ensure they do
not give so much money to their children and if they do so they should ensure
that the money is put into constructive use | en_US |
