A Study of Factors Affecting Students Performance in Kenya: Certificate of Secondary Education in Public Secondary Schools in Amboseli Division, Loitokitok District, Kenya

The core objective in any education system is to mould the young minds to become responsible citizens by providing the basic education which is a prerequisite for economic development in any county. As a school endeavors to achieve these core objectives, various challenges abounds which results to a tide of decline in the education performance and standards. A head teacher must learn and be able to deal with some of the educational challenges that cause schools standards and performance to dwindle. Due to the Free Secondary Education, the government of Kenya has provided approximately Kshs 10,250/= per student, yet the academic standards in most secondary have continued to dwindle or deteriorate. The allocated disbursement of the Free Secondary Education funds has seen fewer students being sent home to collect fees, meaning the teachers-student contact has improved but still most secondary schools continue to perform disappointingly. According to the Loitokitok District Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (K.C.S.E) results evaluation presented during the Loitokitok education forum in 2012, it was noted that poor performance in secondary schools is attributed to the following; Lack of engagement of students in academic work, In effective team work between teachers and students, Poor payment of fees, Inadequate monitoring of students academic progress, Non/late syllabus coverage, Mismanagement of available resources by some school heads, Irregular attendance of pupils/student, Teachers absenteeism, and Students indiscipline, Limited school infrastructure of laboratories, enrolments teachers houses and Poor syllabus coverage. There are many factors that affect the performance of learners in schools. Some of these factors can be within the learners, the teachers or the school itself. More often than not, these factors are not critically digested and assessed by teachers, the school administration and the community at large. There is need to determine the performance indicators for the students, teachers, school administration and all those who are at the helm of overseeing the day to day life of our learners. This report carried out a critical analysis of the factors affecting the academic performance of students. The findings of this report will enable all the teachers to come together and like a team move towards bettering the performance of the school in future. In addition the findings will act as a valuable reference for school managers who want to run schools effectively and efficiently so as to make their schools perform better.