Overcoming Domestic Labour among Secondary School Students in Kenya

Abstract

This study was set to establish the impact of domestic labour on students' academic achievement in mixed day secondary schools in Kisii Central District, Kenya and formulate appropriate policy recommendations. A total of 119 boys and 100 girls were randomly selected from 14 mixed day secondary schools to participate in the study. Additionally, 14 parents and 14 teachers were purposively included. Interview schedules and questionnaires were used to gather relevant data. Holmes (1965) problem-solving approach, a scientific method of inquiry in comparative education, was used as a benchmark while formulating the relevant policy recommendations to mitigate against the involvement of students in domestic labour. The findings associated boys' and girls' engagement in domestic labour to weak academic achievement. In a bid to address the negative impact of domestic labour on students in mixed day secondary schools, the study provides the following policy recommendations: reducing the domestic workload, educating parents and the community on the need to attend and participate in civic affairs, offering tuition in the morning and evening, conducting guidance and counseling to the affected students, equipping mixed day secondary schools with the appropriate teaching and learning resources, providing lunch to students in schools and combining efforts to fight poverty.

The role of secondary school teachers in shaping a political culture of ethnicity and ethnic favouritism: the case of Kenya

“…County and extra-county schools, lastly, form the middle tier. They attract respectively middle-range to high-performing students coming from within the district, but also from outside students’ own districts and/or provinces (Lewin et al 2011; Makori & Onderi 2014; Nyatuka & Bota 2014).…”

“…At the time, only few African students attended school as many could not afford for school fees, had to herd cattle or lived too far away (Hornsby 2013: 139). School proximity was to a large extent determined by communities’ openness to missionaries (Nyatuka & Bota 2014: 49). When Kenya gained independence, President Kenyatta pledged to improve access to education for African children and invested large amounts of government funds in the education sector.…”

“…Inequalities were even more obvious at the secondary level. Where Central and Nyanza provinces were fairly well provided for, there were virtually no secondary schools in the Coast and North-Eastern provinces, nor among nomadic groups (Hornsby 2013: 141; Nyatuka & Bota 2014: 50). Regional inequalities further deepened with the building of harambee schools – nearly 58% of all harambee projects concerned education (Opalo 2022: 5) – which were primarily constructed by Kikuyu.…”

“…The newly built schools were, however, not only attended by local pupils, but also by pupils from privileged provinces such as Central. In an attempt to further enhance regional equity for pupils from underprivileged marginal areas, Moi then introduced regional quota stipulating that 85% of admitted students should come from the local area (Hornsby 2013: 447; Nyatuka & Bota 2014: 51). Whereas primary enrolment rates improved significantly among all groups (Hornsby 2013: 446), there was a 54% increase in secondary school attainment among the Kalenjin relative to the national average under his administration (Kramon & Posner 2016: 7).…”

“…Today, access to education is most precarious in Northeastern province, largely because of security threats in the region (Smith et al 2016: 49). Reminiscent of the experience of the 2007–2008 post-electoral crisis, the Kenyan authorities have sought to address these differences, among others, by vesting each county with at least two national schools (see the final report of the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission 2013; Makori & Onderi 2014; Nyatuka & Bota 2014: 48). The distribution of national schools remains unequal however: in (2010) 2014, there were (6) 9 national schools in former Central province; (6) 7 in Nairobi; (5) 11 in Rift Valley; (0) 4 in Coast Province; (0) 5 in Eastern Province; (1) 6 in Nyanza; (0) 1 in Northeastern; and (0) 5 in Western (Nyatuka & Bota 2014: 52).…”