An inquiry into the attitude of students in secondary schools towards Christian religious education in Kapsabet division, Nandi County, Kenya

Abstract

Religious Education (RE) is regarded to be of great importance in developing moral values in students at all levels. In Kenya, Christian Religious Education (C.R.E) is taught as a compulsory subject in primary schools but as an elective subject in secondary schools. However the extend towards which the attitude of students in secondary school towards Christian Religious Education is not well understood. Thus the need to inquire into this aspect with reference to Secondary schools in Kapsabet Division. The study was guided by the following objectives that guided the study were: To find out the students attitude towards CRE in Secondary Schools in Kapsabet Division, to investigate factors influencing CRE subject choice at Secondary School level in Kapsabet Division and to evaluate the relevance of CRE in the development of morals, and values among students. The study was based on the functional theory. This study employed survey research design. This study employed quantitative and qualitative methods in addressing the objectives. The unit of analysis was form 3 and 4 students in the selected schools. Simple random sampling was used to select 5 secondary schools out of the total number of schools in the Division. It was also used to select 18 respondents from each sampled school with one school having 19 respondents, 2 CRE Teachers and1 Head/Teacher was chosen from each school. Purposive Sampling was used to select the target population who were specifically form 3&4 students. Self-administered questionnaires were carried out on a sample size of 91 Form 3 & 4 students out of the total 1048 students. The interview schedule was used on 2 CRE Teachers and 1 Head/Teacher who were key informants, from each selected Schools. The data collected was analyzed with the help of SPSS (version 16) and presented using Descriptive Statistics such as percentages, tables and pie charts. The findings showed that there are a low number of students taking CRE as an elective subject. The study indicated that majority of students agreed that Teachers and career counselors are key players in affecting their choice of subjects. Finally, it was revealed that students were in support that CRE played a major role in moral. The study would benefit the learning institutions, government, and religious organization, policy planners and the Ministry of Education to improve and have effective strategies to enhance adequate participation of students in C.R.E. as in other subjects. It is further recommended that, CRE be made a compulsory subject at all levels of education due to its importance.