Influence of home and school environment on Kenya certificate of secondary education performance in Siakago Division Kenya

Abstract

The mission of the Ministry of Education is to work with the other stakeholders to provide, promote and co-ordinate quality, life-long education, training and research for Kenya's sustainable development and responsible citizenry. To meet these challenging tasks, the Ministry of Education will continue to fulfill its mandate and obligations through strong partnership with all stakeholders including communities which form the home environment, civil society, Community Based Organizations (CBOs), Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs), religious organizations, other government institutions, development partners and the private sector. (RoK 1999).The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of home and school environment on the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) performance in Siakago Division. There had been an outcry from the general public about the poor performance in the division with the parents and teachers blaming each other for the poor performance. Despite what had been said there was no empirical evidence to prove the case. There was therefore the need for research in order to investigate and present the situation as objectively as possible with a view to identifying the factors responsible for this state of affairs. The study adopted a survey design on six secondary schools in Siakago Division. Data were collected from six head teachers, twenty one teachers and one hundred and twenty five students by means of questionnaires and observation schedules. A pilot study was conducted in Siakago Girls Secondary School to test the reliability of the instruments which yielded in 0.9. Data collected were organized according to research questions and analyzed manually. Descriptive statistics such as percentages and means were used to present the data in tables. The study found that home and school factors affected performance in the KCSE. Some of these factors were lack of adequate learning resources, lack of school fees and lack of in-service courses for teachers. The main recommendations made included the fact that the schools should initiate and diversify their income generating activities in order to provide the necessary learning and teaching resources, the task of bursary allocation should be left to teachers as they know the needy students and that in-service courses should be regularized for all teachers by the MoE and other stake holders in education.