Factors influencing student’s retention in secondary schools in armed conflict areas: a case of Mount Elgon district

Abstract

The aim of the study was to investigate factors that influence retention of students in secondary schools in Mt. Elgon District because of the armed conflict that occurred in the area in the period 2006 to 2008. The objectives of the study were to establish effects of armed conflict on parental socio-economic factors that influence retention of students; find out the influence of armed conflict on school related factors that determine retention; determine effects of armed conflicts on school policies that influence retention. The theoretical framework of the study was based on the systems theory which assumes the concept that organizations are strongly influenced by their environment which exerts various forces of an economic, social or political nature. The research was a descriptive survey design. Multistage sampling was employed to cater for difference in geographical and school characteristics. Stratified sampling was used to select 16 secondary schools from a population of 25 schools in the district. Form three students in the selected schools were used because they had adequate experience about the variables under consideration. 27 class teachers that were teaching form three were purposively selected because they had privileged information about the students. Principals from the selected schools were also purposively selected because of their role as custodians of school records in total the study used 459 respondents. Data collection instruments namely; questionnaire, interview schedule was used. Descriptive and statistics were used to analyze the data collected. Findings indicate that the main parental socio-economic factors that influence retention was lack of food and poverty after destruction of property during the armed conflict. Inadequate number of teachers, lack of enough text books and lack of physical facilities are the school related factors that determine retention and were affected during the armed conflict. Guidance and counseling was the only school policy that was used to retain students in school during the conflict period. Recommendations were; provision of bursaries and financial support to the needy students, peace education in schools and provision of security in schools in the affected areas.