Publication:

An investigation of the causes of truancy in public secondary schools in Kiharu sub-county (Murang’a East District) , Murang’a county , Kenya.

The purpose of this study was to determine the causes of truancy in Public Secondary schools in Kiharu sub-county, Murang’a County, regarding the causes of truancy and high rates of excused absences in the schools. The subjects of study were 20 Public Secondary schools in Kiharu Sub- county. The subjects of the study were selected based on this researcher’s familiarity with the area and out of convenience of locality to this researcher. Since the sub-county has many Public Secondary schools, a sample population was selected from these schools based on the type of school: Boarding Schools, Mixed Boarding/Day schools (county school) and Day schools, using stratified random sampling. Therefore, the schools selected were to represent Boarding Boys / Girls schools and mixed day schools. The survey consisted of a demographic section and eight questions. The first four questions were asked to provide an understanding of the teacher’s and student's awareness of their school’s policies and procedures for addressing truancy and high rates of excused absences. The next two questions were asked to gain an understanding of perceptions regarding the causes of truancy and high rates of excused absences. Next one question was asked to provide an understanding of the awareness of their school’s prevention and intervention services for addressing the same issues. The last question was asked to gain the will adopted descriptive correlation between the truancy and academic performances of students. The data collected was analyzed using both qualitative and quantitative methods and was presented finally in tables, pie charts and graphs. The results show that the majority of the principals and teachers in the sample population were aware of their school’s policies and procedures for addressing truancy and high rates of excused absences. The results show that the majority of students were not aware of their school’s policies and procedures for addressing truancy and high rates of excused absences. Teachers were also aware of the social causes of truancy but were not aware of the psychological and educational causes. Most of students in the sample population were aware of their school’s rules $ regulations in dealing with truancy. And most of mixed day schools in the sub-county have high number of unexcused absences in schools compared to their counterpart in boarding schools. Also the results shows that truants students have poor academic performances .And only half of the sample population were aware of their schools prevention and intervention services for addressing attendance issues. Based on the results of this study, it was recommended that the schools should put effort to strengthen the guidance and counseling department to prepare students on various issues affected them to curb truancy in schools, and the parents and all stakeholders should be involved in formulations of policies and regulations of the school. Also the parents and the teachers should be sensitized on the role modeling and how conflict can affect the behaviour of their children in schools. Parents should support their children and improve on their parental lifestyle. In order to effectively deal with issues of absenteeism, it is critical to understand the causes of truancy and high rates of excused absences, as well as their prevention and intervention strategies.