Influence of television viewing on school perfomance of children aged 8-9 years in Tetu zone, Nyeri County, Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to establish the influence of television viewing on school performance of children aged 8-9 years in Tetu Zone in Nyeri County, Kenya. Specifically, it endeavoured to identify the time used in viewing television and its influence on school performance ofECE children in Tetu zone, to establish the types of TV programs watched and their influence on school performance of the ECE children in Tetu zone, to find out whether parental involvement on TV watching has any influence on the school performance of their ECE children in Tetu Zone and to investigate the role of teachers in television viewing by the ECE children and its influence in their school performance in Tetu Zone. The study adopted descriptive survey and targeted 14 private and public schools.

Questionnaires and interview schedules were used as the study instruments. A total of 50 teachers, 50 parents and 100 children took part in the study. Data was collected and analysed using descriptive statistics with the help of Social Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software. The findings were presented in tables. As established in the findings, there are several factors related to TV viewing which might affect children's performance. In relation to the time spent, it is recommended that children should watch TV for 1 to 2 hours. However, most of the children who participated in the study spend more than 2 hours in TV viewing and this could be contributing to poor performance.

Regarding the types of programs watched, most children prefer programs meant for entertainment. These can contribute to poor performance since they interfere with memory and attention of the children. Only a few children prefer educational programs which would help them to improve their performance. The type of programs watched therefore influences children's performance. In connection to parental involvement, many parents watch some programs with their children. This means that they can control what the children watch. Parents are of the opinion that TV viewing has positive effects on children's performance as long as it is controlled. In relation to teachers' involvement in TV viewing, it was concluded that most teachers act as a guide by informing the children the programs which would support good academic performance and the ones which would lower it.

The study recommended that parents should be in control to the time spent by children in TV viewing in order to prevent them from over watching TV hence suffering the consequences. They should as well control the type of programs that the children watch so that they can watch what is likely to benefit them. The researcher suggests that a research of this nature should be carried out in the other regions in the country to establish how TV viewing influences children's academic performance.