Parent Participation and Student Academic Performance in Public Secondary Schools in Dadaab Sub County

Abstract

Despite Kenya’s education system having adopted measures for seeking to ensure equitable access to quality education for all (EFA), many pupils in Daadab sub-county of Garissa county are still unable to access higher education due to their poor performance in Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education. Despite a large body of literature, globally, there really is no definitive evidence on how parent involvement affects academic performance in Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education exams in Dadaab sub county, Kenya, hence this study This study sought to establish whether there existed a relationship between parent participation and academic performance of students among secondary schools in Dadaab sub county, Kenya. The study, which embraced a mixture of qualitative and quantitative methods and used pragmatism research paradigm and adopted descriptive research design. Its target population was 1198 stakeholders comprising of. 1140 parents, 50 teachers in addition to the 4 principals of secondary as well as the four chairpersons of PTAs. A sample size of 300 respondents was used in the research. Dara was collected using questionnaires and interview schedules. Data from questionnaire was analysed using descriptive statistics and Pearson r’ while that from interview guide was analysed using verbatim. The results were presented using tables of Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25. The study found that parents’ participation in decision-making (r = 0.236, p<0.01), parents’ school financing activity (r = 0.273, p<0.01), parents’ motivation on learners (r = 0.281, p<0.01), and parents’ maintenance of school physical facilities (r = 0.286, p<0.01) statistically low significant and positive relationship witht performance of students among secondary school students in Dadaab sub county.