Effects of drug abuse on academic performance among students in public secondary schools in Matungulu constituency Machakos county

Abstract

Drug abuse has become a major problem which is affecting mostly the secondary school students. Some of these drugs have effects on the student’s body and their brains. This study was carried out to investigate the effect of these drugs on academic performance in Matungulu district in Machakos County. Drug abuse being a worldwide problem it has caused much suffering especially to the learning institutions. These have caused silent sufferings to the students which have resulted to incidences like strikes, riots, indiscipline and poor performance in academics. The study intended to look for the better measures that could be undertaken to prevent the use and abuse of these drugs in secondary schools in Matungulu district. The research was conducted in Matungulu district whereby 8 public secondary schools were used. Random sampling was used to obtain a sample of two schools from every ward and 12 students from every school. Four principals and twelve guidance teachers were also selected to be used in giving information during the interviews. Data was collected and analyzed by use of a computer program and presented further in a form of frequency distribution tables and pie charts. These presentations were to help in description and giving a detailed explanation of the study.