Abstract:
Human capital investment in developing countries is often viewed as significantly
constrained by household resources and other social factors. The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of socio-economic factors and home environment on pupils academic performance in primary schools of Barwesa division north in Baringo District. The division has recorded relatively poorly in Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) in the past three years.
descriptive survey. The research design used was The methodology used was both quantitative and qualitative in approach. The conceptual framework
used involved pupil's academic performance a the major dependent variable while the independent variables were the parents' level of education, occupation of parents, parents' levels of income and home environment. The total number of primary schools involved in the study was eighteen schools. The study targeted 18 schools which was 50% of the total number of schools. The study further employed purposive sampling to select 20 pupils from each school to get 360
pupils respondents but there was 302 properly filled questionnaires
which were used in the study. The targeted respondents were standard seven pupils and their Head teachers. A total of 18 school heads were targeted but only 12 of them were interviewed. The research instruments used were interviewquestionnaire. Both open and closed ended questionnaires
data. Both descriptive and inferential schedule and were used to collect the statistics were used to analyze data. The descriptive statistics include frequencies, percentages and means. The inferential statistics were analyzed using the regression, correlation and chi-square tests which revealed that indeed socio-economic status affects pupils' academic performance. The study findings revealed that Barwessa division people depend mainly on crop farming which earn them below Kshs 5,000 per annum. They also practice livestock
farming with most of them keeping indigenous cows, goats and sheep. The sales from livestock fetch them approximately Kshs 15,000 annually. According to the
interviewed Head teachers the socio-economic status of people in the division affects pupils' education performance. It is expected that the findings helped to determine the effects of socio- economic factors on pupils academic performance
and once parents have the knowledge of the factors then they may work to improve on the academic performance.
