Influence of Religious Sponsorship on Academic Performance by Protestant and Catholic Secondary Schools in Kenya: A Comparative study in Trans-Nzoia County, Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to establish the influence of church sponsorship on academic performance of schools. The study was guided by the four research objectives: to establish the influence of provision of teaching/learning resources on academic performance among Catholic and Protestant church sponsored secondary schools in Trans Nzoia County, to determine the influence of financial support services by Catholic and Protestant churches on academic performance among secondary schools in Trans Nzoia County, to investigate the influence of provision of guidance and counselling on academic performance among Catholic and protestant church sponsored secondary schools in Trans Nzoia County and to identify the influence of provision of spiritual support services on academic performance among Catholic and protestant church sponsored secondary schools in Trans Nzoia County.The study was guided by the systems theory and structural functional theory. The study adopted a cross-sectional descriptive survey research design under a mixed research design paradigm. The target population for the study were 192 secondary schools in Trans Nzoia County. The sampling units were 92 religious sponsored public schools and stratified sampling was used to select a sample of 45 school heads from catholic and protestant sponsored schools. Questionnaires were used in data collection. Document analysis was used to extract school means as a measure of performance. The findings of the study indicates that there was no significant relationship between provision of teaching learning resources and students’ academic performance in KCSE (Rho=0.170, p= 0.264) among religious sponsored schools. A similar result was observed among Catholic sponsored schools (Rho=0.208, p=0.379) and protestant sponsored schools (Rho=0.130, p= 0.537). Sponsor churches’ contributions towards course books, revision materials and writing materials were to a less extent. Less than one third of the schools reported being assisted by their church sponsor to construct classrooms, libraries and laboratories. The findings indicated that there is no significant relationship between provision of financial support and students’ academic performance in KCSE (Rho=0.135, p= 0.375) among religious sponsored schools. A similar result was observed among Catholic sponsored schools (Rho=0.114, p= 0.631) and protestant sponsored schools (Rho=0.108, p=0.608). There was no significant relationship between provision of social support services and students’ academic performance in KCSE (Rho=0.234, p= 0.121) among religious sponsored schools. A similar result was observed among the protestant sponsored schools (Rho=0.024, p= 0.909). However, the results showed a positive and significant relationship for Catholic sponsored schools (Rho=0.647, p= 0.002). A similar result was observed among Catholic sponsored schools (Rho=0.157, p= 0.509) and protestant sponsored schools (Rho=0.134, p= 0.522). The Ministry of education needs to review, regulate and supervise the policy on sponsorship of public secondary schools. This will ensure church sponsor activities to schools that have positive and significant effect on KCSE performance