| dc.description.abstract | Poor performance in Kenya Certificate of Primary Education in some regions of Kenya has been
attributed to various factors which differ depending on the region under study as well as the
school. Performance in Miriga Mieru East Division in Meru County Kenya has been dismal in
the recent past. The purpose of the study therefore was to investigate the influence of school
based factors on performance in Kenya Certificate of Primary Education Examination in Miriga
Mieru East Division, Imenti North District. The objectives of the study were to determine the
influence of learning resources, school physical facilities and human resource on academic
performance in K.C.P.E in public day primary schools. This study was guided by systems theory
input-output model developed by Ludwig Van Bertalanfly in 1956. According to the theory, an
organized enterprise does not exist in a vacuum in which it is established, and the inputs from the
environment are reserved by the organization which then transforms them into outputs. As
adapted in this study, the students (inputs) are admitted into the primary school from different
social-economic backgrounds. The target population for the study was the 27 public day primary
schools in Miriga Mieru East Division. The study employed a descriptive survey design. This
design was the most appropriate for this study because the researcher sought information from
respondents regarding their opinion of the performance and how it has been influenced by the
school based elements. When they get into the school system, the management of the school
transforms them through the process of teaching and learning and the students output is seen
through their academic performance. A simple random sampling technique was used to sample
11 out of the 27 schools. In every school, purposive sampling technique was used to sample the
head teachers in every school visited. Four pupils two from class eight and 2 from class seven
and three teachers who teach class eight pupils were sampled randomly from each school.
Questionnaires were used as instruments for data collection. Two public day primary schools
from Miriga Mieru West Division were used for pilot study to test validity and reliability. The
researcher visited the sampled schools and administered the questionnaires to the head teachers,
teachers and pupils. The data was analyzed by descriptive statistics (frequencies and
percentages). The research findings show that the schools in the division have adequate
resources but the performance was still below average. Human resource was inadequate. The
study recommends that more teachers to be employed, in service programmes for both the head
teachers and teachers through the ministry of Education, parents to be fully involved in school
programs and a study to be carried out to establish the external factors influencing performance
in the same division. | en_US |
