Publication: Socio-economic determinants of wastage in public primary schools in Magumoni Division of Meru South District in Tharaka Nithi County, Kenya.
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2012-11
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Mount kenya university
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Abstract
Despite heavy investment in primary education, wastage in
form of dropout and repetition persists. Wastage hampers
the attainment of education for all (EFA) goals which the
government targets to attain by the year 2015. Socio-
economic determinants of wastage in Magumoni Division in
Tharaka Nithi County had not been investigated and
understood. The purpose of this study was to find out the
socio-economic determinants contributing to wastage in
public primary schools. The objectives of the study were: to
determine social factors that contributes to dropout, to
investigate economic factors that contribute to repetition
and assess the cultural factors that contribute to education
wastage. This study was guided by production theory in economics as revealed by the work of Psachalopoulos and
Woodhall (1985). The study was conducted in public
primary schools in Magumoni Division in Tharaka Nithi
County and adopted a descriptive survey research design.
The target population for this study was 2848 subjects
comprising all 194 teachers, 2653 pupils in 14 public
primary schools in Magumoni Division and 1 DEO. The
study employed purposive, cluster sampling, proportionate
sampling and simple random sampling to select a sample of
370 subjects that comprised 14 headteachers, 54 teachers,
265 pupils and 1 DEO. The instruments for data collection
were questionnaires and interview schedule. A pilot study
was conducted in one school in Chuka Division in Meru
South District which did not participate in the study. The
split-half
technique
of
measuring
reliability
of
the
instruments was used. A reliability coefficient of 0.7 was obtained with the head teachers, 0.74 for teachers and 0.82
for pupils’ questionnaires was deemed reliable for the study.
Questionnaires were administered to the head teachers’,
teachers’ and pupils’ respectively. The interview schedule
was administered to the Education Officer in charge of
Meru South District. The researcher got a research permit
from National Council for Science and Technology. Data
collected
using
questionnaires
were
analyzed
using
descriptive statistics, namely; frequency counts, percentages
and means. Data generated from the interview was analyzed
and discussed thematically. The findings were presented in
form of tables and pie chart. The findings revealed that the
main social factors contributing to dropout and repetition
included: indiscipline as reported by 58.3% head teachers,
94.1% teachers and 80.4% pupils; poor performance as
reported by all head teachers and 89.4% teachers; substance abuse as reported by 85.9% head teachers, 85.9% teachers
and 56.3% pupils; pregnancy as reported by 66.7% head
teachers, 76.4% teachers and 92% pupils. The main
economic factors contributing to dropout and repetition
were: poverty as reported by all head teachers, 85.9%
teachers and 68.3% pupils; failure to pay other school levies
as reported by 68.0% head teachers, 81.2% teachers and
55.6% pupils and child labor as reported by 33% teachers
and 34.5% pupils. The study further established that the
main cultural determinants of education wastage were
initiation and cultural practices as 14.1% teachers and
17.9% pupils; early marriages as reported by 43.6%
teachers and 43.6% pupils and lack of community support
as reported by 93% head teachers, 31.7% teachers and
pupils. Results from interview reveal that poor performance,
pupils’ indiscipline, pregnancy and substance abuse were the main contributing factor to dropout and repetition. This
study concluded that various social, economic and cultural
factors contributed to education wastage in the study area.
The study recommends strongly that guidance and
counseling be strengthened in schools to mitigate wastage
among other measures. Guidance and counseling will help
pupils to see the essence of avoiding early marriages,
indiscipline and substance abuse that have been found to
contribute to dropout and repetition.
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Keywords
Master of education in educational planning