Publication:

Challenges faced by public secondary schools in the academic Performance in Kieni east district, Nyeri county

The study sought to find out on the causes of low academic performance in Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examination in Kieni East district. The low academic performance in the district has been an issue of concern to the ministry of education, teachers, students and other stake holders. The purpose of this study is therefore to find a long- lasting solution to the challenges facing academic performance in the district. The following objectives guided the study: to find out the effect of teachers’ qualification on students’ poor academic performance; to assess the influence of teachers’ methods of teaching on students’ poor academic performance and to establish the influence of environment on students’ poor academic performance. Survey design method was adopted for this research. The researcher used a questionnaire to collect data. The questionnaires were administered by the researcher to all the respondents sampled. The data was analysed using quantitative technique where frequency tables were generated using SPSS for the purpose of presentation. The following results are the basis on which the researcher made the subsequent recommendations; engagement of unqualified teachers in schools affects the academic performance of the students, lack of adequate instructional materials affect the academic performance of the students, lack of seminars, workshops and in-service courses for teachers and inadequate motivation affects the performance of teachers and hence the academic performance of the students. Out of these results, the research made the following recommendations; teachers should improve on their teaching skills and knowledge acquisition, there is a need for all stakeholders in the education sector to equip the schools, purchase more instructional materials for the schools and ensure that teachers are adequately motivated