Effect of Affirmative Action on the Academic Performance of the Boy-Child in Public Primary Schools in Kieni East Sub County – Nyeri County

Abstract

Education is fundamental to development of human resource capacities and economies. It is a vital tool in achieving greater autonomy, empowerment of women and men and in addressing gender gaps in all aspects. Academic performance has, hence become a vital stop gap measure towards achieving education across many nations. That notwithstanding, there has been great concern over poor academic performance of boy child in Kenya. This is partly attributed to the overemphasis on girl child as a result of the affirmative action in education. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of affirmative action on academic performance of the boy child in public primary schools in Kieni East Sub-County, Nyeri County. It was guided by specific objectives that aimed to establish the effect of gender parity, gender mainstreaming and women advocacy on academic performance of the boy child in Kieni East Sub-County, Nyeri County. The investigation was guided by three theories namely: motivational system theory, reciprocal determinism theory and theory of justice. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The target population for this study comprised 52 head teachers, 542 teachers and 17,824 pupils in the 52 public primary schools in Kieni East Sub-County. A sample of 10 head teachers, 108 teachers and 357 standard seven pupils was selected. Data was collected using a semi structured questionnaire for teachers and pupils. An interview guide was used to solicit data from head teachers. Piloting of research instruments helped to test the validity and reliability accordingly. A reliability coefficient of 0.83 was noted. Qualitative data from interviews and open-ended questions in the questionnaire were analysed using content analysis which involved making inferences by identifying specified characteristics of messages and describing the attributes of the messages. Quantitative data was analysed through descriptive statistics. Association between variables was tested using Chi-square tests. Statistical analysis was done with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22.0. Results were presented using charts, frequency tables and narratives. Findings of the study showed that gender parity was not statistically significant in affecting boys’ academic performance. Gender mainstreaming and women advocacy had significant effect on the academic performance of the boy child. It emerged that girls were more favoured than boys during awarding of scholarship and in providing gender based training. Academic performance of the boy child was generally found to be lower than that of the girl child. Ministry of Education should re-evaluate the implementation of the affirmative action policy in education in order to enhance gender equality and equity in primary schools. There is need to shift from girl-centred affirmative action to a more inclusive approach in order to accommodate the needs of the boy child in public primary schools. Gender sensitization and awareness trainings on basic principles of affirmative action are also needed. The results have implications on policy regarding equality in education hence the Ministry of Education should develop inclusive policies intervention measures for addressing the academic performance of boy-child in Kieni-East Sub-county and other regions.