The sociological character of the school on the education of orphans in selected secondary schools in Gem sub county, Siaya County, Kenya.

Abstract

Secondary schools in Gem Sub - County have increasingly experienced the challenge of orphans and vulnerable children arising from deaths especially occasioned by HIV / AIDS scourge. Education is an important intervention for orphans since it provides a safety net and enables them to be productive and responsible members in the society. The purpose of this study was to determine the sociological character of the school on the education of orphaned learners in selected secondary schools in Gem Sub - County, Siaya County, Kenya. The study objectives were: to determine the social responsibility of the schools towards the education of orphaned learners in selected secondary schools in Gem Sub - County ; to establish ways in which secondary schools related with other agents to cater for the education of orphaned learners in selected schools in Gem Sub - County; to establish ways in which secondary schools dealt with the psycho-social development of the orphaned learners in selected secondary schools in Gem Sub - County and to assess the extent to which HIV/AIDS main streaming policy had been implemented in selected schools in Gem Sub- County. The study used a mixed methodology and adopted a descriptive study design. The study was guided by the Social Capital Theory. The scope of the study was 39 public secondary schools in Gem Sub - County. The target population comprised of 1460 orphans in secondary schools, 39 Principals, 39 Guidance and Counselling teachers, 39 co-curricular masters, 39 Board of Governors (BOM) members, 39 Parents Teachers Association (PTA) members and 39 church leaders from selected secondary schools in Gem Sub - County, the Sub - County Education Officer, Constituency Development Fund officer, 6 Members of County Assembly (MCA) and 6 Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) in Gem Sub - County. Multi stage sampling technique was used to select the 13 schools. Purposive was used to select 13 Principals, 13 Guidance and Counselling teachers, 13 co-curricular masters, 13Board of Management (BOM), 13 Parents Teachers Association ( PTA) members and 13 church leaders, the Sub - County Education Officer, Constituency Development Fund officer ; stratified sampling was used to select orphaned learners and simple random sampling was used to select the MCAs. A pilot study was conducted to establish the reliability of the research instruments whereas validity was ascertained by presenting the instruments to experts in the educational foundations department of Moi University. Qualitative data was collected through interview schedules and document analysis while quantitative data was collected through questionnaires. Qualitative data was organized thematically and reported in text form. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequency counts and percentages. The study established that majority of secondary schools were socially responsible despite challenges, support from the agents promoting education was inadequate, there were few professionally trained Guidance and Counselling teachers and inadequate resources in the department. Further, there was very little implementation of HIV main streaming policy in secondary schools. The study recommended that the Ministry of Education (MoE) should ensure that there was adequate teaching staff in schools and mobilize resources for infrastructural development; government should reduce school fees , increase bursary allocation for orphans and solicit for more donor funding in secondary education; the MOE should invest in capacity building of personnel in Guidance and Counselling and enhance the implementation of HIV/AIDS mains teaming policy by revising the delivery mode. These would contribute significantly to the development of appropriate policy for the holistic education of orphaned learners in Kenya.