Pupils’ performance of peaceful and conflict prone public primary schools in Nzambani sub-county Kitui county, Kenya

Abstract

The study sought to compare pupils’ performance between peaceful and conflict prone public primary schools in Nzambani Sub-County Kitui County, Kenya. Conflict in schools in Nzambani Sub-County has reduced access to quality education which include pupils’ transition enrolment, retention, completion and also performance. The study objectives were: to determine how conflict in schools affects pupils’ conflicts in schools influence pupils’ transition rate, enrolment rate, retention rate and completion rates public primary schools. The study used a descriptive survey research design. The target population of this study was 36 public primary schools in Nzambani Sub-County with 36 head teachers, 275 teachers, 1,137 class eight pupils and 5790 parents. Stratified sampling was used to select the schools, where the sub-county is divided into three educational zones. Simple random sampling was used to select 10 percent of teachers and pupils. Purposive sampling was used to sample 5 parents who were PTA board members in each sampled school. Therefore the study sample comprised of 12 headteachers, 84 teachers, 134 pupils and 60 parents. The study primary data was collected by using a questionnaire for head teachers and teachers while interview guide was used for pupils and a focus group discussion for parents. The research instruments validity was established by availing them to the lecturers in the University of Nairobi and peers who established content validity. The reliability of the instruments was established using Pearson Product moment after a pilot study. After collection of data the quantitative data, the study used descriptive statistics while qualitative data was analyzed using content analysis. The study findings indicate that conflict negatively affected pupils’ performance to a great extent consequently negatively affecting the pupils’ participation in education. The conflicts significantly contributed to low pupils’ enrollment. The conflict breeds insecurity making schools unsafe for learning and consequently significantly reducing pupils’ enrollment. Conflicts significantly contribute to low pupils’ retention in education. Pupils’ retention in school was greatly compromised during conflict and therefore they could barely financially support their children education. Conflicts significantly contribute to poor completion rates in education through; high dropout rates, repetition, decreased attendance rates, and wastage. The study recommends that the national and county government should hire more teachers to ensure the Teacher Pupil Ratio TPR is within the recommended range of about 1:40 per school. The management of public primary schools with the support from local administration should conduct regular campaigns to sensitize parents to take their children to schools. The county government and the community leadership should fast track the peace building initiatives to mitigate the occurrence of ethnic conflicts. The schools’ management in collaboration with the ministry of education should formulate a strategy to deal with high dropout rates, repletion decreased attendance rates and wastage rates in their schools. A similar study is recommended on private schools since the present study focused on public schools.