The effect of social - economic variables on Student’s performance in Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination in Isiolo District

Abstract

The overall goals of secondary education is to provide the youth of this country with relevant knowledge, skills and expertise so as to make them effective and productive in the life of the nation. Whereas some of the secondary schools in the country provide effective learning towards these goals, others among them schools in Isiolo district have failed to do so. There is a general problem of performance in secondary schools in Isiolo district. The quality of students' performance in KCSE examinations is such that very few candidates qualify for university education. The performance has been going down over the years while on the contrary the cut-off points for university admission have been going up. No single student from the local schools ever qualified for the competitive courses like medicine, pharmacy or engineering since the 8.4.4 system of education was introduced.

The objectives of this study were to: establish a relationship between social- economic variables that affect student's performance in KCSE examination; find out the relationship between home background and students performance in KCSE examination; find out the relationship between Nomadic lifestyle and parents participation in school activities and students performance in KCSE examination; establish a relationship between syllabus coverage in preparation for KCSE examination and students performance in KCSE examination; establish a relationship between other non-cognitive variables and students performance in KCSE examination; and establish a relationship between cultural background and students' performance in KCSE examination.

The study was conducted using ex-post facto design; with primary data collected using questionnaires from students, teachers and head teachers from 10 schools in Isiolo district. The data was then coded and checked for coding errors and omissions. It was then run through statistical package for social sciences (SPSS).Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data by way of frequencies, percentages and mean scores for all variables in the questionnaire.

From the findings, the researcher established that that the social- economic variables that affected student's performance in KCSE examination included lack of school fees, background of the students, nomadic lifestyle, inadequate coverage of the KCSE syllabus and other problems at home. The school environment was also characterized by poor students attitude, lack of discipline among students, low admission cut off points, lack of exposure to KCSE examination, inadequate

facilities and resources, poor reading habits, lack of motivation of teachers, poor management and lack of cooperation from parents.

It was concluded that there was a relationship between Social economic variables and students performance in KCSE examination. The researcher recommended sensitization of parents and other stakeholders in their roles as a way of improving students' performance. The government was also requested to provide facilities and the resources as well as wave secondary school fees in this region.