dc.description.abstract | The study sought to investigate challenges that affect students’ academic performance in public day secondary
schools in Kiambaa sub-county. The government of Kenya intends to improve access to quality, relevance
and management of secondary education in public day secondary schools. To achieve this, the government
needs to: encourage the establishment of more day secondary schools, improve the academic performance in
day secondary schools, observe how school attendance influence day scholars academic performance in day
secondary schools and to establish the extent in which availability of school resources affect academic
performance. Mechanisms for bringing about improvement in the academic performance of day secondary
schools have been suggested by this study. The study examined the factors affecting academic achievement
in day secondary schools in Kiambaa sub-county. The factors were subdivided into student factors and school
factors.
The data for this study was collected from primary and secondary sources. The research instruments were
questionnaire, observation and interviews schedule. The research design was validated by experts in the
subject area including the supervisor. Descriptive survey research was used to get information on the effects
of day secondary schools on academic achievement.
Four secondary schools were selected randomly to form the study sample. The finding was that students
perform very poorly in day secondary schools. Majority of secondary day students score an average grade of
C minus (C-) and below. It was established from the study that teachers have a negative attitude towards day
students.
The findings showed that religious affiliation and peer influence as the most pre-dominance social factors
which influence the performance of day schools while the challenges facing secondary day schools include
tribal and church politics, poor living standards and unconcerned parents. Based on the findings of this study
the research recommend the following recommendations: the need for learning environment in day secondary
schools in Kenya to be given priority attention by the government so that students can learn well. There is
need for head teachers of day secondary schools to conduct periodic checking of their inventories of their
textbooks, teaching aids and other teaching materials and adopt policies for the acquisition of adequate and
up-to-date textbooks and teaching materials. Administration should provide seminars geared towards moral
change for all teachers. Students study habits and attitudes could be improved by orientations, counselling,
holding friendly competitions in various academic subjects, encouraging membership in academic clubs and
monitoring of students study habits by parents. | en_US |