Income generating activities and students’ retention Rates in public secondary schools in Ng’arua Division Of Nyahururu District.Laikipia County

Abstract

Many countries in the world, Kenya included have embraced the concept of basic education to include secondary education. Consequently, the Kenyan government has introduced strategies aimed at improving access to secondary education, such as free day secondary education, opening of more secondary school and addition of more streams to existing schools among others. However, in view of the diminishing resources and the growing competition for resource allocation among the various sectors of the economy, the trend in the world has been to cut on public spending so as to release more of the scarce resources to other demanding sectors of the economy. As a result, there is increasing pressure on parents and communities to increase their financial support in order to place their children in secondary school. The purpose of the study was to investigate ways in which income generating activities improve students’ retention rates in public secondary schools in Ng’arua division. The objectives of the study were: to determine the types of income generating activities engaged in by public secondary schools and how they enhance retention of students in public secondary schools in Ng’arua division, to establish the extent to which income generating activities improve retention of students in public secondary schools in Ng’arua division, to investigate the challenges faced by managers in initiating income generating activities in public secondary schools in Ng’arua division as a measure of enhancing students retention, to examine how income generating activities are managed to boost students’ retention rates in public secondary schools in Ng’arua division. The literature reviewed was based on empirical findings on income generating activities in schools and what different authors have documented on it.The study employed qualitative methodology adopting the descriptive survey research design to study income generating activities in public secondary schools in Ng’arua division. The target population was 383 and the data was collected from a sample of 115 respondents. Purposive sampling was used to collect data from 5 principals, 5 bursars, 5 PTA chairpersons and 8 class teachers. Simple random sampling was used for selecting 92 form 4 students. The researcher used questionnaires, and observation checklist for data collection. Data was both qualitative and quantitative. Quantitative data collected was coded and entered into an SPSS programme for analysis. Qualitative data was put under themes consistent with the research objectives. The findings of the study indicated that income generating activities though they could have eased education financing budget was not fully exploited in Ng’arua division and most principals lacked entrepreneurial and business skills to exploit income generating activities as an alternative source of education financing to promote retention. The study recommends that due to the high potential for income generating activities to contribute towards school budget, they should be enhanced to mitigate retention of students in public secondary schools in Ng’arua division. The school principals should be equipped with entrepreneurial and business skills to make them effective in exploiting income generating activities. Lastly, the study further recommends that the schools should purchase high crops and high quality grade cows to improve production