Title:
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PARENTAL EDUCATIONAL INVOLVEMENT AND GIRL-CHILD ACADEMIC PARTICIPATION IN MIXED DAY SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN NDHIWA SUB-COUNTY, KENYA

Authors:
Ndinda N.B., Dawo J.I. and Gogo J.O ,Kenya

Abstract:
Globally, the significance of parental involvement in accelerating girl-child education is a worldwide-accepted factor that influences their participation. In Ndhiwa Sub County, girl-child performance in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) in mixed day secondary schools has been comparatively low over the years indicative of their low academic participation. Data available at the Ministry of Education offices in Ndhiwa Sub-county shows that consistently in the period 2014 to 2018 boy students performed better than girl students with an average Homa Bay county mean-score difference margin of a total of 4.4, more so in Ndhiwa Sub-county case lagging at a disadvantage of total 5.9 mean score difference. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between parental educational involvement and girl-child academic participation in mixed day secondary schools in Ndhiwa Sub- County. The specific objectives were; to determine the relationship between parental provision of auxiliary educational needs and girl-child academic participation in the mixed day secondary schools; and to determine relationship between parental academic involvement and monitoring, and girl-child academic participation in mixed secondary schools in Ndhiwa Sub-county, Kenya. The Rational Choice Theory guided the study. The population of this study was the 32 principals, 132 class teachers and 3340 girl-students in the 32 mixed day secondary schools in Ndhiwa sub-County from which 11 principals and 20 girl students were interviewed, and 40 class teachers and 334 girl-students were sampled randomly for questionnaire. Face validity and content validities were tested using expert judgment while Cronbach’s Alpha (?) was used to test for the instrument reliability. The data collected was analysed descriptively while Pearson’s correlation coefficient was used to establish the relationship. Results showed that parental provision of girl-child auxiliary needs is positively and significantly correlated with girl-child academic participation (R = 0.769, p< 0.01), and that there is a positive significant relationship between parental academic involvement and progress monitoring and girl-child academic participation(R = 0.786, p< 0.01). It is concluded that parental provision of girl-child auxiliary needs could significantly lead to improved girl-child academic participation; and that parental academic involvement and progress monitoring could significantly lead to improved girl-child academic participation. It is recommended that exclusive ways of managing schools should be adjusted to create a space for active parental involvement. The findings of this study will provide reference material for policy makers, educational administrators and researchers in addressing girl-child educational participation.