Strategies Adopted to Improve Retention in Secondary Education in Low Income Areas: A Case of Mathare Slums, Nairobi County, Kenya

Abstract

Education is an important aspect of growth and development. Provision of secondary education to young people enable them acquire skills necessary for sustainable economic growth and better quality of life. Despite efforts by the government to improve access and retention of students in secondary schools through the Free Secondary Education policy, evidence shows that access and retention to secondary education is still highly skewed in favour of the rich. A good number of those enrolled from low income families drop out before they complete the cycle. The purpose of the study is to find out the strategies adopted to improve retention in secondary school of low income people in Mathare slums, Nairobi County. The main objectives are to find out the strategies adopted by the community and the effectiveness of the government interventions aimed at improving retention in secondary education in the slums. The researcher will use descriptive survey design to investigate the strategies adopted to improve retention, among the low income community in Mathare slums, Nairobi County. The target population will be the 9 principals and 128 class teachers in the 9 public day secondary schools in the slums and its environs. Informed specialists including the area District Education Officer will also be included. 5 out of the 9 schools will be sampled using stratified random sampling to include I girl's, 2 boys' and 2 mixed schools. The principals in these schools will all be included in the study. Purposive sampling will be used to sample 5 class teachers in each of the sampled schools,3 informed specialists from organizations supporting education in the area and the DEO. Questionnaires will be used to gather information from class teachers and interview scheduled to gather information from the principals and the other key informants. Quantitative data will be analyzed using descriptive statistics assisted by the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) computer program. Qualitative data will be analyzed thematically. Data will be presented using frequency tables, pie charts and graphs.