Assessing the causes of drug abuse and their effects on performance among secondary school students in Tigania East district, Meru County

Abstract

The purpose of this study will be to investigate factors influencing prevalence of drug use among secondary school students in Tigania East District, Meru County with an aim of suggesting extra corrective measures to the vice. The study will be guided by the following objectives: - To establish the influence of parenting roles on causes of drug abuse among secondary school students, to establish the influence of school administration on causes of drug abuse among secondary school students and to establish the influence of peer pressure on causes of drug use among secondary school students. The findings of the study may be important in that :The government can seek to offer guidance and counseling ,in service teachers training course .The findings may also help the school administration to strengthen its guidance and counseling in schools. The government may use the findings to advocate that campaigns against substance use should be incorporated in health education curricula of secondary schools with special focus on the adverse consequences of the substance use. The Ministry of Education (MOE )may use the study findings to identify the role of preventive drug abuse education through Area chiefs to start public enlightenment campaigns in schools ,with messages focusing on promoting awareness that drugs are dangerous and they do not enhance personal well being and self esteem. To the non-governmental organizations helping in the illegal sale of anti narcotic substances may use the findings of this study to restart undertaking activities aimed at reducing the demand for supply of drugs in the global market. The study will be based on constructivism theory advocated by Piaget (1969).It is a theoretical perspective concerning how people come to know and hence it is about acquisition of knowledge which constitutes teaching and learning process. The study will consist of review related literature which includes influence of parents on drug abuse among students, influence of availability of drugs on drug abuse among students, influence of administration on drug abuse among students and influence of peer pressure on drug abuse among students Descriptive survey research design will be used in conducting this study. The target population for the study will be 4,000 students in 23 secondary schools in the district. A sample of 616 students (10% of the population) with 308 boys and 308 girls will be selected from the 6 schools and that will be selected using stratified random sampling to include one third of all schools in each category, with 2 boys 2 girls and 2 mixed school. The using simple random sampling equal number of girls and boys will be selected from each category of schools. A student’s questionnaire will be used to collect data.