Effects Of Miraa Trade On Regularity Of Attendance Of Primary School Pupils In Meru County- Kenya

Abstract

Miraa trade has tremendously expanded without concern on its negative effects on the society and school going children in particular. Miraa trade is associated by many global and local observers, both academic and lay, with the breakdown of family life, prostitution and a host of social evils. However, the conceptions of Miraa trade have not been fully described and analyzed, particularly focusing on pupils’ school attendance. This study aimed at investigating the effect of miraa trade on regularity of attendance of primary school pupils. Specifically, the study investigated effect of Miraa harvesting on regularity of attendance of primary school pupils, effect of Miraa selling on regularity of attendance of primary school pupils, effect of Miraa consumption on regularity of attendance of primary school pupils and the effect of Miraa income on regularity of attendance of primary school pupils. The study was informed by Theory of Exploitative Child Labor. Descriptive survey design was employed. The study targeted 19254primary school pupils from 30 public primary schools in Kangeta. Systematical sampling technique was used to select a sample size of 261primary school pupils and45 teachers who were randomly picked from the 9 sampled primary schools were interviewed. Structured questionnaires and an interview schedule were used to collect primary data from the pupils and teachers. Descriptive statistics such as means and standard deviation and inferential statistics were used in analyzing data. Pearson correlation was used for assessing linear relationship between the independent variables and dependent variables. Study findings indicated that harvesting, selling and consumption of miraa negatively influenced regular school attendance. However, income from miraa has both negative and positive effects on regular school attendance. Pupils are involved in several miraa trade activities which negatively influences regular school attendance therefore, there is need to have Monitoring and supervision of the entire miraa trade activities so that it does not compromise the education system leading to poor quality of life in future for the school going pupils.