Kuru, Michael Macharia2016-05-172016-05-172015http://ir-library.ku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/14715Research project submitted in partial fulfillment of ~the requirements for the award of degree of master of education, Kenyatta University, October, 2015Education is a basic requirement for human development and the right to education is a fundamental human right. This fact has been recognized by the Kenyan constitution as well as various international conventions and declarations. Educating girls is viewed as a "strategic investment" for the individual, the family, the local community and the whole nation, greatly improving the nation's development indicators by providing numerous beneficial outcomes. Despite the government of Kenya allocating huge budget expenditure to education sector as a way of promoting economic growth and introduction of education policies like affirmative action and FDSE, Kenya appears to have not yet achieved gender balance in academic performance especially in Mombasa County. This study, therefore, sought to establish the strategies adopted by the principals to promote girls academic performance in public secondary schools in Mombasa County. The objectives of the study were to find out the causes of poor academic performance of girls in public secondary schools in Mombasa County, to determine the school based strategies adopted to promote girls academic performance in Mombasa County, to determine the social cultural strategies adopted to promote girls academic performance in Mombasa County and to analyze the effectiveness of the strategies adopted by the principals to promote girls academic performance in Mombasa County. The study was based on the effective model by Lezotte (2011). The study employed descriptive survey design. The study population involved 23 principals, 344 teachers and. 1600 form three girls in public secondary schools in Mombasa County. The sample for the study was 21 principals, 184 teachers and 160 form three girls. The research instruments for this study were detailed principals, teachers and form three students questionnaires. The quantitative data were analyzed using the descriptive statistics while the qualitative data were analyzed through content analysis; the analyzed data were then reported in summary form using frequency, percentages and pie charts. The study revealed that girls performed poorly in their academics mainly due socio-economic, cultural, school-based and individual factors. However, the findings revealed that, the key factors were schoolrelated factors. The main school-related factors revealed were; 65 (66.3%) students and 72 (73.5%) teachers stated inadequacy of female teachers who are expected to act as role models to the young girls while 13 (83%) principals stated inadequate physical resources. The study further revealed that, the key strategies adopted to promote girls academic performance were; 16 (100%) principals established life skills lessons in their schools and ensured adequate learning time in classroom and also created extra time to assist girls in the areas where they were weak, 97 (92.3%) students followed school rules and regulations as one strategy to promote their academic performance while more than 67 (68.4%) teachers referred students to guidance and counselling. The study revealed that, as a result of the strategies adopted, 13 (81.25%) principals reported reduced cases of girl-child pregnancies to a large extent while 73 (74.5%) teachers and 78 (74.3%) students reported improved discipline in schools. From the findings, the study recommended that, the school administration need to collaborate with guidance and counselling departments to invite various motivational speakers so as to help girls deal with negative attitude towards learning.enThesis