Effects of Free Day Secondary School Programme on Students? Participation in Agriculture in Mbita Sub-County, Kenya

Although many countries, including Kenya, are implementing policies aimed at increasing enrolment, access and the general participation in secondary school, agriculture included, to some extent, Free Day Secondary School Programme has not achieved the objectives of increasing enrolment and access in secondary schools. Moreover, studies on how this programme has influenced enrolment and access of students in agriculture in secondary schools in Mbita sub-county remain scarce and inconsistent. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of Free day secondary school programme on students� participation in terms of enrolment and access to agriculture in secondary schools in Mbita sub-county, Homa-bay county, Kenya. The study will also investigate students� participation in agricultural activities like agricultural shows, field days, and membership in 4-k club. The study design was Cross sectional survey. The target population of study was 106 participants in public secondary schools that were in existence prior to the year 2008 when Free day secondary school programme was implemented. The accessible population was the principals (51), teachers of agriculture (51) and the quality assurance and standards officers (4). An interview guide and two sets of self-administered questionnaires, was developed for data collection. These are QUASOs interview guide, principal�s questionnaire and the agriculture teacher�s questionnaire. The researcher presented the instruments to the supervisors and experts in the department of agricultural education and extension at Egerton University in order to ascertain their face and content validity. The instruments was piloted with 30 principals and 30 teachers of agriculture in 30 schools in Rachuonyo North sub-county. Rachuonyo North sub-county was chosen for piloting because it had similar conditions and characteristics as Mbita sub-county. Reliability of the questionnaire was established by computing Cronbach�s coefficient alpha. To be accepted for use the instrument needed to have an alpha reliability coefficient of at least 0.70 at confidence level of 0.05 set. The data was analyzed with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS v.22) to provide descriptive and inferential statistics presented in terms of tables, means, t-test, chi-square, and graphs. The study may give an insight into the Free Day Secondary School Programme and how it affects the students� enrolment, access to agriculture resources and overall participation in agriculture in secondary schools. This may guide Government policy makers, Ministry of Education, and school administrators in providing students with supportive learning agriculture subject environment.