Home based factors influencing girls' performance at Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education in Nyatike District, Kenya

The purpose of the study was to determine the influence of home based factors on girls' performance at K.C. S.E in Nyatike District. The study was guided by the following objectives. To established the influence of family economic income on girls' performance at KCSE, to determine the influence of parents' involvement in provision of learning requirements on girls' performance in KCSE, to establish the influence of home chores on girls' performance in KCSE and to determine the influence of family size on girls' performance. The study was guided by Maslow Hierarchy of needs theory (1954). The research study design was descriptive survey. The study targeted 33 secondary schools, of which 2 are purely girls and 31 were mixed schools. The researcher employed random sampling to select 24 schools. Stratified random sampling was used to ensure that all mixed schools were represented. Purposive sampling was used to ensure all girls were represented in the study. Simple random sampling was used to select 4 girls from form four to make a total of 96 girls. Purposive sampling was used to select 24 PTA chairpersons from the 24 participating schools. Questionnaire was appropriate for this study. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the quantitative data obtained. The results of this study indicated that Home based factors and majorly economic incomes of parents influence their daughters' academic performance. Other home based factors influencing poor performance included parents lack of involvement in the girls' education which leads to low motivation among girls. Engagement of girls in home chores is another detriment to their academic work because girls can not get extra time for personal studies and for doing home work resulting to poor performance in K.C. S.E. From the study, it emerged that family size directly influence girls performance as they are faced with many challenges such as being unable to acquire personal effects like sanitary towels, school fees, textbooks for personal reading, clothing, food and good shelter. Trends observed on home based factors indicated that most parents are willing to educate their daughters but the above mentioned factors are barriers to provision of quality education to their daughters. However, it emerged that girls are willing to go to school for future employment and development. The following conclusions were drawn from the findings that the economic status of the family has a great impact on the academic performance of girls. It is evident that the family income determines the girls' involvement in education. Parental involvement adversely affects girls' performance. Majority of the parents are not able to pay school fees on time indicates that girls are often absent from school in search of school fees. Absenteeism and lack of text books and other learning materials are leading causes of poor performance among girls. Domestic chores have an effect on girls' performance. Girls performance is also affected by the family size, large families make it harder for the parents to supervise the performance of their girls and even give necessary attention. This can lead to poor performance because of lack of lack of basic requirements and motivation. From xiii