ABSTRACT

Education is important to both the individual and the society because it helps one to grow physically, mentally and socially. It also brings developments in the society. In particular the primary education lays the foundation for further education and training. Despite its importance, learners in primary schools seem not to participate fully due to dropout and repetition. This study, therefore, sought to establish determinants of wastage in public primary schools in Starehe District in Nairobi County. The key objectives of the study were to establish social and economic factors influencing dropout and repetition in public primary schools, to find out cultural factors influencing dropout and repetition in public primary schools and to propose strategies to reduce dropout and repetition in public primary schools in Starehe district, Nairobi County. The study was based on production Function theory. The main areas on which the literature review was done were social factors, economic factors, cultural factors and strategies that can be employed to minimize educational wastage. The study adopted a descriptive survey targeting 2903 pupils, 28 teacher counselors and 28 headteachers. The sample comprised of 14 Head teachers and 14 Guidance and Counseling teachers which is 50% of the total population. It also included 291 pupils which is 10% of the total population of the class seven pupils. The study adopted purposive, stratified, proportionate and random sampling procedures. The data was collected using questionnaires which were issued to the respondents and collected after two weeks. The collected data was analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequency counts and percentages with the aid of SPSS. The study established that social, economic and cultural factors influenced pupils to drop out of school. In relation to social factors, the study found out that distance covered from home to school, family problems and drug abuse were the major factors influencing pupils to drop out of school. The study also found out that most of the pupils dropping out of school were from low income families, their parents’/guardians had attained low education level (primary education) and they were in self employment jobs or causal workers. With regard to cultural factors, the study concludes that early pregnancies, child labour and poverty accounted for large number of dropout in the district. The study recommends that; parents should be involved in their children’s learning; government through Ministry of education should ensure that education is totally free, all schools should have guidance and counselling sessions for teachers, parents and pupils and child labour should be discouraged in the community.