Impact of socio- economic background on student’s academic performance in secondary schools. Takaba, Mandera, Kenya.

Abstract

Performance is the accomplishment of a given task performance measured against preset known standards of accuracy, completeness and speed. Performance measurement is the process of collecting, analyzing and/or reporting information regarding the performance of an individual, system or component. Over the years there has been a great diversity of performance standards as measured through the national examinations held at each end of the year for KCPE and KCSE. The purpose of this study is to determine whether the social-economic factors contribute to the performance in the national examinations taking a district school as a representative of the school system in the view of elevating the performance and making the area productive in terms of boosting the number of professionals who have the skills of managing the available resources and improvising new where possible. The area was chosen since it represents one of the counties which poses very poor results in both KCPE and KCSE examinations when according to the national rankings. It was also easier for the researcher to get the information from the audience since it is accessible and the distance between the schools in the area is minimal. The researcher adopted the cross section survey research design and quantitative and qualitative approach of data collection. 2 schools in Mandera west district were used as a sample for the study constituting 2 head teachers, a sample of 10 teachers and a sample of 40 students with 20 students per school. The researcher used questionnaires, interview guides and secondary data. Data analysis was done using the descriptive statistics which included percentages and frequency counts. Qualitative data was analyzed by arranging responses according to the research questions and the objectives. The result obtained can be used by the education administrators and managers to improve the social and economic status of their respective areas. The politicians can also use the data to formulate policies in their areas that can improve the education sectors. The result showed that the social-economic factor has an effect on the education performance. Where it is stable holding all other factors constant, the level of education high and where the economic status is low, the level of education is also low. The study also established that the marital status of the parent did not have a direct influence on the academic performance of the learners. The study recommends that the government should grant financial aids to the learners so as to make the education sustainable. The Ministry of Education in line with the other ministries should intensify supervisory of secondary schools to ensure the school going children are continuing with their study and organize how to cater for the financial needs of the less fortunate.