Implementation of co-curricular activities in secondary schools: a case of Kikuyu Division, Kiambu County, Kenya

Abstract

Co-curricular activities (CCA) are part of an education system and they prepare and mould the students' to be holistic. However, more emphasis has generally been given to the formal curriculum aspect resulting in a student inability to link the excellence in performance academically to the active participation in co-curriculum. The main problem is when this dimension of the curriculum is not implemented effectively or when no relationship is found between the co-curricular activities and enhancement of student's competencies. The purpose of this study was to assess the implementation of co-curricular activities in secondary schools in Kikuyu Division, Kiambu County. Implementation was based on four variables which are planning, resource allocation, actual/physical implementation and monitoring of the activities. The co-curricular activities included athletics; games and clubs and societies with a wider inclusion of subject based clubs and community work The main objectives of this study were to show the student profile in terms of gender, form or class participation in CCA, the time allocated for CCA in the school routine, resource allocation for C.C.A, monitoring tools for CCA activities, recognition of CCA participants and the challenges experienced in iniplementation of CCA within the school. A survey research design was carried out in secondary schools in Kikuyu Division on school based CCA implementation. Questionnaires schedule and school records were used to collect data. The research site of the study was Kikuyu Division of Kiambu County. The rationale for the choice of the site was due to its proximity to Nairobi City Centre, about 20 km since information can be accessed from the Ministry of Education Headquarters, Jogoo House and also because the researcher needed to be in constant consultation with the research supervisions at Kenyatta University which is about 20 km from Nairobi City Center on Thika Road. The target population of the study was drawn from 26 public secondary schools in the whole of Kikuyu Division, Kiambu County; where the researcher used stratified sampling technique to ensure schools from the three strata were represented. The strata were eighteen (18) mixed day schools, five (5) girls boarding schools and four (4) boys boarding schools. Nine (9) were then randomly sampled, i.e. 5 mixed day school, 2 girls boarding then 2 boys boarding schools. During the piloting of the instruments, researcher designed questionnaires schedules for principalslheadteacher, teachers and students then administered them in Limuru Division of Kiambu County among public secondary schools. By choosing this division the researcher avoided use of same respondents. The pilot test was used to test reliability. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used in the analysis of the collected data. The calculations were done using the Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS) computer programme. One major finding of this study is that there is evidence that a variety of co-curricular activities are being carried out in the schools and they are implementation are influenced by several factors. These factors are resource allocation, pre-planning of the activities, training of student leaders and teacher patrons of CCA, monitoring and evaluation of the CCA. Teachers and students perception regarding the value of CCA also affected CCA effective implementation. Recommendations were made to policy makers, school administrators, teachers' parents and students on the need for effective implementation of CCA which improves academic performance. This study may help in decision making on co-curricular programmes for students so as to improve academic performance, character modeling and at the same time enhance co-curricular participation. It may also assist in setting up programmes for teacher patrons to help mentor students in the CCAs.