Home and School Determinants of School Dropouts in Public Mixed Day Secondary Schools in Laikipia County, Kenya
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Date
2020
Authors
Ringera, Moses Mwirigi
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kenyatta University
Abstract
Education participation is a crucial factor impacting the life chances of everyone
globally. Despite the investment on education by the government, Kenyan schools
are still experiencing dropout. This study was undertaken mainly to investigate the
home and school determinants of school dropout rates in mixed day secondary
schools in Laikipia East Sub-County, Laikipia County. The specific objectives of
the study were to investigate: the direct home- based factor determining the school
dropout rates; the indirect home- based factors determining the school drop outs
rates; the direct school- based factors determining the school drop outs rates; and
the indirect school- based factors determining the school drop outs rates in public
mixed day secondary schools in Laikipia East Sub-county. The study was based on
Maslow‟s theory of human motivation. This study employed descriptive survey
design, where independent variables were home and school determinants of school
dropout rates. The intervening variable was government intervention whereas the
dependent variable was the school dropout rate. The target population for this
study involved students who dropped out of school, from all 15 mixed day
secondary schools in Laikipia East Sub-County- Laikipia County between 2013
and 2017. The study applied snow balling and accidental sampling technique to
sample the school dropouts. For the school dropout students, ten percent (217) of
the target population of 2166 was selected. The researcher adopted the
questionnaire as the primary instrument of data elicitation from school dropout and
key informants who comprised principals and teacher counsellors. Observation
method was the secondary elicitation method. The researcher pre-tested the
questionnaires using 2 teachers, 2 principals and 10 school dropout from two of the
secondary schools in Laikipia Central Sub-County which were randomly sampled.
The researcher reviewed the data for the completeness of the questionnaires after
completing the data collection and before embarking on compiling and coding the
data. Coding was carried out to make data reduction feasible and manageable for
analysis by using numerical values. The data was coded and entered into the
Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet and transferred for analysis to the Statistical Software
for Social Scientists (SPSS). Simple frequencies, percentages, and means were
used to tabulate and interpret the quantitative data. Qualitative data derived from
open-ended questions were evaluated on the basis of the research goals and
research questions and inferences and conclusions were drawn afterwards. Using
frequency distribution tables and percentages, the results were then presented. The
study found that direct home determinants are preoccupation of parents and
guardians, impact of distance of school from home, and family size of school
dropouts. The study concluded that the fear for failure in exams recurrently, cost
implication, and teachers „characteristics including professional qualification and
experience were the major determinants of school dropout. It was recommended in
the study that the Ministry of Education should ensure that there are adequate day
schools to ensure that students do not walk over long distances to get to school.
The teacher counsellor should be relieved of their teaching duties and should
preferably be the school chaplain. The study further recommended that all day
secondary schools to be fully developed, equipped and given enough personnel.
Description
A Research Project Submitted to the Department of
Management, Policy and Curriculum Studies in Partial
Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Award of
Degree of Master in Education of Kenyatta University
Keywords
School Dropouts, Public Mixed Day Secondary Schools, Laikipia County