Abstract: Students’ school attendance is still a major challenge in Kenya secondary levels of education. Therefore, this research analyzed student’s school attendance and measures put in place to curb the problem in secondary schools in Njoro sub-county in Kenya. This study was set to look into: student’s school attendance; causes of student school non-attendance and students performance in order to establish ways of mitigating this trend. Moreover, findings of this study were to assist the following individuals: students, teachers and the school administration such that it will assist students to know effects of school non-attendance; it will also assist teachers to be able to formulate ideas on how to reduce student’s absenteeism.The study used descriptive survey design targeting all public secondary schools in Njoro sub-county. The target population for the study comprised of 169 male and 89 female teachers. There were more than 30 public secondary schools. Simple random sampling was used to select 8 schools and 156 teachers. Data was collected using questionnaires for teachers. Data collected was analyzed by descriptive statistics. Analyzed data was presented by use of frequency distribution tables. The researcher established that schools do not vary the ways of improving student’s school attendance, since there is strong negative correlation between absenteeism and academic performance. Keywords: Attendance Pattern, Absenteeism

Education is a key element in the socioeconomic development required to improve quality of life in Kenya. Despite the introduction of free primary education, primary school enrollment and attendance levels remain low. Drawing on qualitative and quantitative data, this study explores the determinants of non-enrollment and absenteeism in rural western Kenya and potential mitigation strategies to address these issues. The study was conducted in Bwaliro village in rural western Kenya. A random sample of 64 students was obtained by blocking the village primary school's student population according to grade level, gender, and orphan status. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected through interviews with parents, guardians, and key informants, and focus group discussions with students. Quantitative data were compared using chi-square tests, Student's T-test, and Poisson regressions. Qualitative data were analyzed using thematic content analysis. Malaria, menstruation, and ...

The problem under investigation is the causes and effects of absenteeism on pupil’s performance at Kumawu-Bodomasi Methodist Primary School in Kumawu Afram Plains District. Kumawu-Bodomasi is a town of over 4,000 population. The main occupations predominant in the town are farming and a large Friday’s market. A descriptive research design was used in investigating this problem. A purposive sampling method was used to select 56 pupils out of the 370 general school population. The 56 sample size represent the number of pupils who absent themselves from school predominantly, using the school registers for each class, from primary one to primary six. Questionnaires were given to the subjects to check the appropriate responses. The questionnaires were collected and the results were analyzed. The analysis revealed that, pupils’ continuous absence from school was due to three main factors; pupils’ related factors, parents’ and home related factors, school and teachers’ related factors, which have been expatiated in the results discussion section in chapter four. We believe that, if these causes are properly addressed, pupils would have interest in coming to school always in order to benefit from instructions and other school activities that help to shape students for as better future.

The link of learner absenteeism to academic performance has often been a subject of concern for schools that do recur .They have therefore felt that, those learners who miss classes for whatever reason(s), miss important knowledge and competencies, a fact that can match fix their academic performance and achievements at the end of their programme (Bantu, 2003).The curriculum is designed for the completion of the syllabus broken down at topic per lesson of 40 minutes or more for blocked lessons and others double lesson of 80 minutes. The majority in the field of research in educational institutions have majored on the link between other school characteristics like class size, teacher-student ratio, expenditure per student and differences between public and private schools and not on academic outcome (Staffolani, S. and Massimilano, B. (2002). Nevertheless it should not be looked down upon that a student will occasionally miss class due to sickness, lack of school fees, student delinq...

Education is an important aspect for overall development of every person irrespective of gender. In Kenya, the girl child is faced with a number of challenges in the process of her secondary school education. Such challenges might include absenteeism and dropout rate which may lead to diminishing girl child participation in formal education. Determining factors affecting girl-child educationis a worthy cause. This study sought to investigate the causes of absenteeism and dropout among the girls in secondary schools in Bureti Sub County.Survey research design was used in the study. The target population of the study was 5541 girl students and 62 secondary school teacher counselors. The accessible population was360 girl students and 16 teacher counselors in the study area. Stratified sampling techniquewas used to sample the accessible population. Piloting of the instruments was carried out to find out the content validity of the items. Cronbach Alpha coefficient was used to estima...

This study sought to establish the influence of home-based and school-based factors on pupils’ school attendance in Alternative Primary Schools in Mathare Constituency, Nairobi. The study employed the correlational design. The Study population was 18,000 pupils, 58 head teachers and 604 teachers. The sample size comprised of 12 head teachers (20%), 60 teachers (10%) and 317 pupils (1.8%). The study established that there was a strong positive and statistically significant correlation between home background characteristics and pupils’ school attendance in Alternative Primary Schools (r = .935, p = .012) at alpha 0.05 level of statistical significance. Further, a strong negative and statistically significant (r = -.662, p = .033) correlation at alpha 0.05 level of confidence exists between family size and pupils’ school attendance in Alternative Primary Schools. Key words: School participation, School attendance, Home-based factors, School-based factors, Alternative Primary Schools

Absenteeism refers to the practice of regularly staying away from school without good a reason. It can also refer to the habit of staying away from school without providing a genuine or any reason for not attending classes. It is a truant behavior that negatively affects the performance among pupils. Absenteeism can lead to depression and also result in poor quality of education as a result of time lost while being away from school. It could also lead to moral degradation that leads to drug abuse, early pregnancies and unruly behavior. Hence, the study aimed at analyzing the impact of absenteeism in rural primary schools in Luwingu district of Northern province, Zambia. The study was guided by the following specific objectives: (a) To identify factors influencing absenteeism in rural primary schools in Luwingu district, (b) To assess the effects of absenteeism on the academic performance of learners in primary schools in Luwingu district and (c) To determine measures that should be taken to rectify problems of absenteeism in rural primary schools in Luwingu district. Purposive sampling of the site was preferred to select the research area from which participants participated in this study with a sample size of 120. The study employed both the qualitative and quantitative methods that sampled head teachers, primary teachers and pupils from the selected schools. Interview guides were used to obtain qualitative data which was analyzed using thematic analysis while quantitative data were collected using questionnaires which were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The study found out that, learner’s absenteeism was as a result of parental poverty, lack of parental care, punishment at school, ineffective Parent Teacher Association (P.T.A), pupil’s attitude towards education and unconducive classrooms. The study therefore recommended that parents should try by all means provide their children especially those in early childhood with their basic school needs such as uniforms, books, pens, school bags and all that is needed so that they can feel comfortable and enjoy school life. Teachers on the other hand should also motivate their learners to always be in school.